RAGE

[tamaranth]

March 1st, following news of Paid Employment: ring Barclays to transfer some money from business account to FirstDirect

March 6th, following discovery of Massive Overdraft on FirstDirect account: ring Barclays to enquire as to whereabouts of said money.

It hasn't gone across and they've no record of any call. They are transferring the money for me again, but it won't be there until Thursday.

I am looking at my BT bill. I can see the call: 1st March, 13:54, 2 minutes and 42 seconds. Not to mention my ticking it off on my 'to do' list, surely Evidence of a sort.

This is not how I was planning to spend my last afternoon of freedom, pre-Employment.

They're "very sorry".

I have threatened to take my business elsewhere. Any recs?

Comments

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Abbey National - free business banking, interest paid, with web for transfers, payments and all that stuff...

[miramon.livejournal.com]

I really wouldn't recommend Abbey National for anything. Bunch of rip-off merchants.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

Their free business banking account is currently the best rated in cix:own_business.

marypcb and I both have one (as do a lot of people I know).

YMMV of course...

[tanais.livejournal.com]

I've been an Abbey customer for nigh on 15 years, Two mortgages, overdraft, credit card (now cancelled as I do without credit cards quite nicely). Abbey are very good to deal with on the phone although it is routed to a very professional office in India, the web interface is okay and reasonably easy to make payments from. No SMS-balances like FD but you can request a tranasction ID for any phone call transactions made -- which I occasionally ask for when xferring large sums.

I have no idea about their business accounts but ISTM every bank has its shite points and its good points and of course to err is no longer the sole purdue of the hy00man...

Oh Abbey ATM cards (not the visa/switch debit cards but the actual ATM-only cards work in the USA on the Cirrus network as well... now that is seriously seriously cool. £1.40p per transaction though so best to do large denominations...

I am not a business customer though, just an ordinary hight street customer.

[miramon.livejournal.com]

Given the way they blatantly lied to me, then changed the interest rate on my savings account to 0.01% (that's one hundreth of a percent) without informing me or warning me in any way (in fact after having explicitly stated that they would not do this), I stand by my statement that Abbey are rip-off merchants. Count your fingers carefully every time you deal with them.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

That's something all banks do!

And they think an advert in a newspaper counts as notice...

[miramon.livejournal.com]

Nonsense. I've had savings accounts with Barclays and Lloyds for nearly 30 years, they've never reduced the interest rate to an insignificant level at all, let alone without warning. I've also got a long-standing building society account which has never done this. The only people I have come across doing it are Abbey.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

No, they all do it. Lloyds has done it to me. It's standard practice for "obsolete" accounts.

Just listen to Moneybox some Saturday!

[incy.livejournal.com]

i may have a sugsetion, but I may be bias.

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

I'm no unhappy with FD for my current account, though I actually do nearly all of it from an Abbey eSaver for personal and an Abbey Business for business. The eSaver has excellent interest and I do it all through the Web interface or by paying in cheques through the cash machine; it doesn't do standing orders or direct debits so I hav all those set up on the FD account and I just pay money across once a month.

Cahoot has good interest rates and the Halifax claims to give cashback on current accounts now. I've never found Barclays inspiring; I'd sack them. I'd also ask them to whom you can send your claim for overdraft interest based on your record of the call.

[nisaba.livejournal.com]

Smile (smile.co.uk) have been nothing but brilliant for my current account. 3.something% interest, and I'm able to do everything online any time of day or night (like transfer money out of that account into another...). I love how easily visible everything is, and how easy it is to control everything online (transfer money, cancel direct debits, pay bills etc).

Their customer service is also the best I've ever experienced. When I've lost my card I've had a new one within two days. When I've had to ring them (very rarely) I've never been on hold for more than about a minute and their staff actually seem to know what they're talking about (unlike when I used to bank with Lloyds...). Twice when I've needed extra overdraft to cover me in an emergency, they've given it to me with minimum fuss (I just sent them a message and asked for it, explaining why), and within 2-3 days. In short they've been nothing less than brilliant for me.