Your bank your views please

[enaid]

Would love to hear what your local branch has facility wise, etc.
What you would like to change if you could?
Just a general idea of how you are treated and if you think the way you are treated is good or bad.
We are just trying to get a picture of the different banks and how they are with personal banking customers.

[Sapphire]

Re: Your bank your views please

Just for starters, will probably be on a roll and bore you all silly with my mini rants.

1). Local branch has 4 windows, one person working and a queue a mile long.

Improvement

More people working on the counters.

2). Countless calls from there people based in Mumbai up to 9pm including weekends, who with all the will in the world I cannot understand.

Improvement

Someone calling who is based in Britain who you can talk too without them resorting to scripted responses and whom I can understand.

[Main man]

Re: Your bank your views please

Straight forward counter service without the need for a full blown sales pitch.

A written response/ log of complaint when a dispute is raised over the telephone.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Your bank your views please

Is this forum private or can everyone see this part of the forum?

[Luminol]

Re: Your bank your views please

Ok not my bank, but HSBC in Preston, has 0 staff except for 2 guys who stand there like Concierge, there are rows of machines, Cash, deposit, business cash etc, if you get stuck the staff will point you to the right machine, there are phones to the call centre I believe.

What can I say, except I wouldn't want to bank with them, talk about 'personal service', not a human insight, you'd be better asking your kettle to go in and talk to one of the machines if you had a problem.

Lumi x

P.S. Nattie you look really well in piccy

[Amethyst]

Re: Your bank your views please

Is this forum private or can everyone see this part of the forum?

First post is public, subsequent posts for registered users only.

[natweststaffmember]

Re: Your bank your views please

apologies amethyst for my words earlier in chatbox(VIP bit of the forum).
My understanding on RBS Group is that they are moving to a HSBC style of branch ie less cashiers more "sellers/advisers" and more automated pay in.

The branch where I worked was fairly new 2007. Reception desk at the front, open plan ie no glass for cashiers of which there was 3 which meant there were cash limits due to security. Upstairs was business til and large transaction til. However, this meant that there were at time large queue's upstairs. One interview room downstairs and 3 upstairs.

My previous branch was fairly new 2005, similar but no reception desk downstairs(BIG MISTAKE) imho, and 4 cashier positions, one of which was a business till. Upstairs was reception and interview rooms.

My personal belief is that a bank should serve its customers and not be hard sell. Sales through service was the phrase we were told. You are not selling, you are providing a service by telling customers of what you do(and yes I do see both sides of the coin).

Amethyst, would you be ok if I gave feedback in terms of what people say re saffy's post(not as a criticism but in terms of how the banking system at local level works?)

[Luminol]

Re: Your bank your views please

Straight forward counter service without the need for a full blown sales pitch.

Yes in addition I agree with this, at Halifax you go to cashier desk and am asked do you have a mortgage?, do you have a credit card? etc etc

All a bit much really, especially when ive been stuck in the queue for 15mins.

Lumi

[enaid]

Re: Your bank your views please

Not a lot of response to this thread as yet, one thing that is obvious though is the sales pitch at the counter is not welcome. When you reflect on this it is often this that has ushered people into having loans, PPI and account deals that are either useless to them or indeed not always affordable in the long run. I think the worst of them being for some the consolidation loans, they often end up being a bad thing.

Also the call centers, maybe there is a place for them as with internet banking often a 24 hr service is required , but for them to call you is for no other reason then to sell, again something not very welcome.

By the look of how nattie was talking more banks are to go robotised (is that a word?) a big mistake IMO as there are lots of things that can be done automatically, when these things are not gotten just right can be a nightmare to put right.
The way things have gone over the last few years I think the young (who imho have no respect for money) and the old (who are just coming to terms with pin numbers, cards and the such) need proper help with their finances not leaving to get on with it.
Us middle aged (not a word ok lol), in the midst of the beginning and hopefully the end of this financial crisis should therefore make sure that the banks and other financial institutions get it right and proper once and for all.

[WendyB]

Re: Your bank your views please

Natwest - used to have 5 windows but never enough staff so now they have been refurbed and have 3 windows. In place of the other 2 windows they now have paying in machines, which can be quite handy if you are paying in cheques and don't want to wait in the queue which is usually about 20 minutes long. They have a reception/enquiries desk dealing with issues which don't involve paying in/withdrawing, like dd queries, etc. However the branch up the road from my work has no reception and queues usually a mile long.
You can actually ring straight through to your own branch too, although if it's not answered in 5 rings it diverts to the telephone banking service, who on the whole are ok. All the call centres are based in the UK which is a big big plus in my opinion. Don't get many cold calls or selling, but that could be because once they look at the state of my account they just don't bother lol. Sometimes the counter staff will ask if i have a mortgage etc but I don't mind that, I just treat it as idle chit chat and after all they are only doing their jobs as they have been told to do them.

I don't agree with the selling but at the end of the day they banks are a business and if they did't sell their products then they would cease to exist. I also think that for every one of us who does their own research into products available etc and doesnt need to be "soold to" there's others who can't be bothered/don't understand/whatever who would find the sell usueful - if that makes sense?

[charitynjw]

Re: Your bank your views please

Are the 'extra' items commission-based?

[catinahat]

Re: Your bank your views please

Our HSBC branch (I live in a market town, suburb of a city which used to be independant of the city) its kind of a hybrid of the 'old' and 'new'. There are 2 (I think?) cashier points, a couple of automated machines for paying in cheques etc, then a sort of open plan 'interview area with a screen and a guy generally 'floor walking' to assist should anyone need help. I think there are private interview rooms down the corridor too. My main beef is that the cashier points don't afford much privacy as the queue area is far too close to the cashier points; not a step away... I think with the open space they have for the floor walker, they could've better utilised it to place the queue line a couple feet back from where customers are conducting what should essentially be, private and confidential matters. But that's just one branch of one bank. There are 5 others within spitting distance literally!!! (different banks I mean) and a main post office too! X

[TUTTSI]

Re: Your bank your views please

Abbey - Now Santander

Sometimes you can queue for 20/30 mins and you are in a hurry, then they ask you, do you have a mortgage, yes, by this time I have somewhere else I want to be, I did not go in for a mortgage, or insurance etc, etc, I say to them we are fine with what we have etc. They then try the sales pitch from another angle again I remind the lady that I am in a hurry and by this time the queue is out the door. It is annoying and one thing I have learned over the years is never to sign up on anything on impulse. They should know that when a customer is in a hurry they do not want to be given a sales pitch and should stop once told NO.

Call centre, when you need to speak to them it is always in India, it is very hard sometimes for them to grasp what the problem is and conversley they do not always - or want to fully understand the question which I find very frustrating.

However, the branch I go to when I am up in the city are excellent, they never try to sell me anything, I do not have to tell them that I do not want the receipts, I told them once and they remember every time when I pay in money they are very efficient, it is different though when I go to local branch they automatically even when I have told them I do not want the receipts print them anyway, I just don't need a bag full of receipts and have to explain this every time. Basically, the staff in the city are much better trained than local branch staff.

Fortunately of late I have not been in the charging zone to often and really my account has been running quite smoothly for a change.

I have now got into the habbit of paying my bills online and this has worked for me rather than set up regular payments or send cheques. I can pay my credit cards etc as soon as I know I have cleared funds. This way I have not been getting rejected DD's or bounced cheques and I still pay on time and an amount of my choice as long as it is over the minimum.

Tuttsi

[enaid]

Re: Your bank your views please

Can anyone explain the automated system to me then please?
I can't even stand them help yourself checkout desks in supermarkets tbh I always have to have help lol so won't use them now.
Apart from paying in cheques (which will soon no longer be) what else can you do with them?
Can you deposit cash for instance? and would you trust this method ?
I have seen enough gaming machines in my time that can not go very long without problems and being fiddled, this has not been solved over many years of thier use, so I would be very unsure about using a machine to bank cash.

[Luminol]

Re: Your bank your views please

I think, because I havent used one for ages, that you put your card in, select how much your paying in, the machine prints you an envelope with your details on you put the cash in and post it in the machine.

It then gives you a reciept.

I dont like the self serve supermarket either, I think that they will think Im stealing :P especially when the machine goes that is not the right weight, and then lady has to come over