Complaining

After so many attempts to register my complaint I finally succeeded on Tuesday when I spoke to a lovely person named Sinaed. Today I had a lengthy conversation with Pamin who told me the call had not been recorded, which may be why he got away with talking to me the way he did. However, she accepted everything I said and has assured me that Marcus and his manager will get feedback about what happened. When I told her that the two complaints I had made online had not got through she was not the least bit surprised as she said it is a very old system which will take a lot of work to update and that all the staff are complaining about it!

She is sending me an apology, a cheese hamper and a bottle of wine! I will drink her health.

I didn't know untill reading this thread that old ten pound notes were being phased out now

Oh, go away!

Gabrielle yes, i had no

idea!.! Wot a. Ignorant twit I am! Big deal

jane I didn't object to it being done by snail mail but by what happened afterwards. Marcus was clearly incompetent because he seemed to be making it up as he went along. If it was 'easy access' and they have 'faster banking' then I should have got my money on the day they put the note on my account that it was being closed. I should not have had to chase it up and finally get my money a week later. I should not have been told that my account had been closed if it hadn't. I was very worried about where my money was if it wasn't in the account!

Referring really to the first part of your OP nonnie, about closure of an account being done by snail mail.

jane and vicky are you referring to the OP? At a stretch I can understand the NatWest money transfer, although no why they didn't bother to contact me, but surely money laundering does not apply to what I wrote in the OP?

I’m afraid Vicky is right Nonnie.
It doesn’t have anything to do with you personally, but the fact is that massive sums of money are laundered -money from drug running, protection rackets, prostitution etc. This has become a lot worse in the last 30 years since the fall of communism in the USSR and the rise of global networks in organised crime. Banks have to adhere to procedures and if they were found to be laundering money the penalties would be severe.
The other thing is internet scams that are very easy to fall prey to. For example, a forged email purporting to be from
your solicitor (during a house purchase) directing you to pay funds into an account which turns out to be fake. Some people have lost £100K’s in this way.
So tedious though it all is, and undoubtedly banks don’t always get it right, the measures are there to protect all of us.

Nanna I have an ongoing Facebook conversation with them and will hold Twitter until I need to bring in the 'big guns'. Thanks

Vicky I would be interested to know how any of what is happening to me has to do with 'customer protection'? Looks far more like incompetence to me.

Gabriella Yes, I have named and shamed him in my complaint. It working with HMRC, their complaints team listened to my calls and gave me compensation!

UPDATE:

I have used the link sent to me on Facebook by UB and made my complaint again. I think the form must have been designed to put people off as it kept reappearing after I had clicked submit but without any indication of what it didn't like. I kept reformatting dates, phone numbers etc until it finally accepted it and gave me a message saying they had emailed me. That was last evening, still waiting for the email! I have, of course, kept a copy of the message saying it was sent!

These organisations should learn that you shouldn't mess with old people!

I agree that it wasn't the kindest thing that you could have done, but let's face it, you were driven to it. I'm all for being considerate and kind but there are times when you have to kick up a fuss (or kick ass as the Americans say) or you'd never get anywhere.
You know that phrase, 'nice guys come last' and it's sad to learn that it's true.

Morgana
Why didn't you just do a bank transer/immediate payment on the phone?
Takes under 2 hours to reach recipient.

wot
You have the internet and presumably a tv or radio and newspapers, yet you had no idea that the old tenners were being phased out and couldn't be used beyond a certain date?

moobox

It's 8 weeks, regardless of the company. You also need a deadlock letter before contacting the relevant ombudsman.

I have always banked with Halifax and cannot fault them.

Nonnie
All banks record their calls therefore 'Marcus' can't deny having spoken to you. You will have a record (of the date and time on which you spoke to him) in your phone lists and can cite that in your complaint.

which

NanaandGrampy
You can certainly ring the FO but they won't do anything unless 8 weeks have passed since a formal complaint (to the company/bank) is lodged in writing or by e-mail and they have failed to resolve it. The complainant then needs to ask for a 'deadlock' letter whuch enables the FO to take up the cause. It takes a looooong time.

We had trouble some years ago with Halifax. DS travelling and we were trying to get money into his account urgently. DH took cash from our own bank, walked up the road to Halifax with it and they said it would take 3 days to reach DS's account! Needless we have had nothing to do with Halifax since.
We are very happy with our bank but DD had trouble when buying a house - they insisted she sent proof of her address - she had a mortgage with them at the time!!!

wot you should be able to pay into your account at the Post Office just using your own Bank paying in book, I have done this when NatWest closed our local Branch. Just complete your paying in slip as you would in a Branch. Post Office give you a receipt to keep with your paying in book.

Interesting thread here, but a common theme of Gransnetters sounding REALLY CROSS. Many of the procedures complained about are put in place for customer protection and compulsory money laundering regulations. Of course, there often seems to be a lack of common sense applied, but bank staff are not allowed to ‘make it up as they go along’ and find some required processes very frustrating themselves. It’s easy for First Direct to be good at customer service, they have no branches or visible staff for anyone to complain about....

Thank you, jenpax, I 'll be able to get to a post office. I suppose I should take my bbank paying n book with me and ID can't believe how I missed the information about the tenners. Nuisance them mucking about with it all!

The new polymer tenner launched in September last year and you can't spend the old tenners in shops anymore

THE Bank of England unveiled and launched its new state-of-the-art £10 polymer note in autumn last year.
The old cotton paper notes have now expired and will no longer be accepted as legal tender – here’s what that means, and all you need to know about the changeover…

The old £10 note went out of circulation officially at 11.59pm on March 1, 2018.

However, old notes can still be exchanged at the Bank now that this point has passed.

Although the new tenners came in last year, until the deadline the paper money continued to be legal tender so could be spent freely.

The old paper fivers went out of circulation on May 5 last year.

The Bank of England released a new tenner last year to replace the old one
What happens if you haven’t spent your old £10 note?

Now that the deadline has passed you won’t be able to spend your notes in shops or restaurants.

If you want to swap the old notes over for new tender you will have to make the trip to a bank, building society or Post Office.

You will need to be an account holder with the bank for them to exchange the note.

You can use your local Post Office to deposit the old tenners into your bank account too.

It is possible that a high street bank will stop exchanging them after the cut-off date but The Bank of England is legally obliged to.

You can either do this in person or via post. Although if you post it to The Bank of England, you do so at the “sender’s risk”.

If you are exchanging large amounts of old £10 notes, you may be asked to provide identification, such as a passport or driving licence.

I didn't know until two days ago that the paper ten pounds notes are no longer useable. I saw it on the news. I have several of them which I saved for bills. I phoned my bank and firstly the girl said she knew nothing about it. Then she said I would have to bring them into the bank but as it's eight miles sway I can't. She said I.couldn't use a different bank as it would have to be transferred into my current account. So I don't know what to do now. Can anyone advise, please?

Hi Nonnie you may not want to receive tweets from all of them, but the point is that they will receive your tweets!
The public media forum is now incredibly powerful. Look at the kids in Florida, USA, who because of social media have managed to arrange millions in funding, and are having nation wide marches this month in favour of anti-gun laws.
Ulster Bank will NOT like the fact that you have gone to a public forum to express your frustration. But you are telling the truth. They behaved badly!
You never know, you may start a thread when you start seeing responses to your tweet from others who have also had the same bad treatment. Good Luck

Finally been told no complaint has been raised and given a link to where to start again!

Time to name and shame - Ulster Bank, part of RBS.

Submitted complaint form and confirmation says they have sent an email to me. Must be stuck somewhere then!