Ive just spent 2 entire hours trying to get to talk to someone who can help with my account. Basically ive been passed from pillar to post and back again via the street down the road type thing, just hung up on, cut off and so forth.

All I wanted was the # for my personal adviser !

Im so p*ssed at barclays now im tempted to just completely bin em and move banks.

Anyone else had such a bad experience ? Can anyone recommend a better bank ?

 

Banks are all tossers. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img] "Better the devil you know".

Where do you think the rhyming slang for merchant banker came from?

 

I've had accounts at Barclays for many years and I've never had a problem with them. They've always been very helpful and I've found any problems I have encountered have been resolved fairly quickly, and without too much aggravation. Of all the bank accounts I've had, Barclays have been the least hassle.

 

If you think Barclays are bad, try NatWest. Transfered the business account to Barclays from NatWest after they were bought out by Bank of Scotland. In the main banks are much the same, it just depends if you have:

a) a good branch or account manager

b) lots of money

 

Yes they are
They do not know their ar$ from their elbow, no personal touch, call centre staff do not give a toss and generally poor service. I am going to First Direct or such.

 

Sorry to hear of your problems. I've used Barclays for 20 years and they've always been extremely helpful and at times have bent over backwards to help me. Maybe try changing branch?
I've heard good things of First Direct, but haven't got any personal experience.

 

Wunch of bankers - the lot of them

 

Its always been a dream for me to win a massive lottery jackpot £20 Million +(!!!)

Then at the little meeting with the press etc..a lot of banks come along. I would love to ask for the barclays rep to stand up.

"Then I would tell him to F*CK Off"

i would be happy just for that ...not even the money !!

 

If you are with any bog standard high st bank then it is impersonal and crap.

I've been with Barclays Premier Private Clients for the last 4 years and although you have to pay a fee it is worth it for the service. You get an assigned banker who deals with you on a personal level and will even visit you at your convenience at work to discuss business etc. The only problem is you still have to queue with the masses in the branch when you want to pay in cheques, no fast track/first class counters as yet.

 

I have no time for Barclays sine they told me that if I moved house, I couldn't keep my existing mortgage, or have a new one from them...

I only wanted to give them some money back - to have a smaller mortgage as I was moving out of London.

Strange bank

 

I was with barclays for over 14 years and the whole they were pretty good, lent money to me for my business which kinda restored my faith in banks in general. However wasnt too impressed with their online banking and now I have moved to first direct, change over was good, couple of hitches with moving DDs but they took care of that, free £500 overdraft facility, free online banking and sms banking too.

I think the customer service in all banks is poor, guess it's just a case of picking the best of a bad lot, apparently its widely known that UK banks are amongst the worlds worst.

Gary

 

When I was a student, Barclays were awful - most students go overdrawn at some point - but when they move money from your savings account into your current account without telling you - that was the biscuit for me. They said they had the right to do it - I told them to get stuffed and moved to Lloyds TSB. They were ok for a bit, then I had a few troubles with them, so went to HSBC. They have been good all the time, although the interest rates are not brill. I am now with Citibank as well and so far have been excellent. Try the Citibank Internet Current account - good interest rates etc.

Jim

 

Don't see the problem with not being able to get hold of the Bank Manager, being married to one I have the reverse problem

 

Interesting thread.

I bank with Barclays International Premier Private Clients as I work (in the loosest possible meaning of the word) for Barclays.

I told them I wanted to reduce my mortgage from £250k to £150k and they told me to take my business away! Their new minimum is £300k for mortgages. Finally managed to escalate up the line and got it authorised.

I would suggest if you have problems within Barclays to just speak to someone more senior. As in most large organisations, some of the front line troops are not picked for their initiative. (Bet that makes me popular with the junior staff )

 

Banked with Barclays for over 10 years and never had any problems until I moved house recently and it took around 3 months to get my address details changed over!

To cut a long story short they claimed that my signature was different to the one they had on their records despite the fact that they had been accepting my cheques all along.

Anyway, finally got it sorted and as an apology they sent me 2 bottles of wine which kinda made up for the hassle

Bas

 

Go with Citibank. All I have had is superb service from them. On the high street you use Lloyds for depositing cash and paying bills with Citibank cheques. I have been with them since 1999, and they have ALWAYS let you use any cash machine free of charge since that time. You can phone them 24/7 - there are only a few buttons you have to press before you are speaking to a real person. The call is also always free.

0800 00 55 00 www.citibank.co.uk

I'm not connected with them by the way - I have just received excellent service from the always.

 

Last Saturday I sold my scoob. The buyer gave me a draft bankers cheque from Barclays. I wanted to get it cleared straight away to pay for the new car. Nationwide where I have an account said this could be done if they could contact Barclays to confirm it was a genuine draft. I spoke to Barclays last Friday and found that Barclays customer service are not open on Saturday morning and they could do nothing to help. So I phoned Nationwide where a very helpful branch manager contacted Barclays and got it sorted for me. Just wish all the banks / building societies were so helpful.

 

I bank with First Direct - and I think they're excellent. Everything is over the phone 24 hours a day. Actually I find I go most months using Internet Banking only - which is pretty good. But then I did work for ICL and was on the project that developed it