Bank Branches what are they there for?

Did you speak to the manager?
I would move my account.

Can you manage to get hold of a personal email address of someone "higher up" in the bank hierarchy, tell them what happened and (in a very firm tone of voice) ask if you are going to be staying with the bank or swopping to another bank and that the answer to that depends on whether they pull their fingers out and help you.

Some time before current era I was having a problem with the local branch of the Nationwide (who I had a mortgage with still) and all I needed was something they (not I) had to do - ie take literally two minutes to sign a bit of paper (more of a formality than anything - just because they owned all of about £2,000 of my house - as I'd paid off the rest of my mortgage by then). I pushed and I pushed and I pushed and reminded them it would take precisely two minutes and still nothing (despite a manager's personal promise on the phone to me).

I was still in England at that time. I don't know how I got the idea or the details to do it - but I rang a little branch somewhere in Wales, explained the problem, explained it was urgent and a couple of days later she'd made sure I had the signature and could proceed.

This was years back - but could you find some other branch of theirs somewhere and ring and explain the problem to someone there and they could do it from their branch? I learnt at that point a suitable person to contact was a middle-aged woman just trying to do her job (properly) and not a (possibly ambitious) young man.

Rule of life I've discovered several times = try and find a middle-aged woman to help you. They are often the best bet.

I will praise HSBC who were my late mothers bank, they fully supported me when she lost mental capacity, there wasn’t a POA, they lined everything up for me so when the guardianship came through they could action immediately.
They even sent me flowers.
All this was done in the branch.

Virgin money were superb recently, we went into the branch to transfer a large amount of money.

I had a problem with my Nationwide account, I went into the branch to sort it, service was excellent and they gave me £50 compensation for their error.

I bank online with three banks and a building society, they are all offer a professional service online and in the branch

I closed a Starling online account as they went from being outstanding to dreadful under a new CEO.
A branch network is important.

A new development in our area is the creation of banking hubs. Different banks take a day to be in the hub. Sounds promising.

Nationwide.

There’s a constant stream of people in our one and they sort everything on the spot usually.

And there’s a coffee machine and chairs if it’s complicated and they need a bit of time.🙂

Our town now does not have any banks. There is a banking hub.

What bank branch? Every branch I’ve been to has closed over the past few years and I am told I can use “my main branch” which is 6 miles away and no bus to get there. I pay in and withdraw money from my small village post office, plus I use the mobile app because there isn’t much choice. There is, however a banking hub set up in town which allocates one day to each bank. I haven’t tried it yet so don’t know how good they will be at queries. ATM I ring up and wait and wait for someone to answer and then have umpteen security questions to get through. Sometimes you get cut off and have to start all over again.🤦‍♀️

I assume if you ring up, what you think is your ‘local’ branch, you’ll just get a call centre or a bank staff member WFH answering calls from any part of the country, not your local town.

We only have one bank operating in our town now, only 1 counter position, but you have to be triaged by a tablet wielding staff member as you go in the door.

They try to do anything except let you get up to the till.

Just go through the complaints procedure. You'll get to speak to a real person and will be able to get to the bottom of things.

Just checked on Chat GPT - "What is the complaints procedure for...." and checked two difference banks. It did come up with useful info on both I felt as to how to do so.

Saves a lot of general googling - as one tries to find information they've hidden (apparently).

I sympathise. DH and I were both setting up payments from Germany. We’d filled in forms with our bank details and just needed Santander to stamp the forms to confirm that these were correct. DH sorted his form first and had it done at our local branch in seconds, no problem.

Two weeks later when mine was ready, the friendly local branch had closed down and I had to trail in to the next town. To be told “we don’t sign forms” and given the suggestion that I should try my GP (who of course knows all about my financial arrangements ). When I asked to see the manager, the clerk disappeared and hid out back for a couple of minutes, then came back to say the manager had authorised it “as a gesture of good will”. I was suitably grateful.

I had such a problem with the 'Bereavement Suite'of my bank. Miscommunication over a number of years and not being able to speak to anyone there.
Finally made an appointment at a not so local branch and the matter was resolved beautifully.
Made an appointment

The staff in branches that are left have no idea how to handle customers issues!
Not like in my day. Sadly!

Judy54 If you can, go online and search for the email address of the CEO of the bank. I was advised some time ago to always contact the CEO if I wanted any matter resolved. I have found that complaints get dealt with quite promptly. Good luck.

I wonder if this was Lloyd’s. I had appalling service there a while back similar to what you describe. However, my main account is with NatWest and they are great. A lot of older customers bank with them here and although we are online, many have accounts that clearly aren’t and they deal with them really well. I dread the day they close….as they surely will.

I always go straight to the top and email a complaint and occasionally at times praise to the CEO. www.ceoemail.com/ - to find the direct email address which goes to the Executive team - never failed me yet. Good luck

Our banks have been replaced by a banking hub which has one day a week for each bank. DH went in because he had a large ish cheque to pay into his account and was told they couldn't do it there. Beyond belief.

Just a suggestion, but if you use online banking there are lots of places to go to within your banking app where you can report a problem online. I didn't know this until the other day when my Mum had a query about a payment going out which she didn't recognise. My daughter actually pointed me in the right direction. I know you'd just like to speak to a person, but unfortunately doing everything online is just becoming the norm now.

When you phone it is a call centre there are no direct lines to branches. It was a middle aged woman CairadAgain that I saw and she was next to useless. The saga continues. Thanks everyone for your advice I am still deciding how to take it forward.

This is a shame. Our local Barclays has recently closed down but they have installed an advisor in an office in a local coffee shop. They don’t handle cash but I recently went in as I’ve been having problems making a regular payment through the banking app as the company I was paying had changed their banking details. The advisor couldn’t have been more helpful and talked me through the whole procedure. I hope they don’t decide to close this facility as well.

I agree, I left banking in 2014 and even then, loads of experienced staff had already left. There has since been a gradual move away from staff being able to think for themselves. This has meant being restricted on freedom of common sense actions and service, unless the computer says 'yes'. Services such as executor accounts and anything slightly 'out of the ordinary' are mostly alien to the inexperienced staff that remain

TheMaggiejane1

This is a shame. Our local Barclays has recently closed down but they have installed an advisor in an office in a local coffee shop. They don’t handle cash but I recently went in as I’ve been having problems making a regular payment through the banking app as the company I was paying had changed their banking details. The advisor couldn’t have been more helpful and talked me through the whole procedure. I hope they don’t decide to close this facility as well.

Our local Barclays closed 3 years ago.

They set up an office in the library 3 days a week.

The contract was for 3 years.

It has now closed, the reason being it was underused, strange as there were always customers queuing to be seen.

But obviously once the contract was up, they had no intention of carrying on.

We're lucky we still have a Barclays branch. Although we bank online, occasionally we go into the branch. We did a week or so ago to transfer some money into an ISA. The staff are really helpful whenever we go in. Firstly my o/h got the day wrong for the appointment, they managed to squeeze us in. The woman member of staff was very personable and thorough, there were a couple of snags which she diligently worked through.

Ali61

Just a suggestion, but if you use online banking there are lots of places to go to within your banking app where you can report a problem online. I didn't know this until the other day when my Mum had a query about a payment going out which she didn't recognise. My daughter actually pointed me in the right direction. I know you'd just like to speak to a person, but unfortunately doing everything online is just becoming the norm now.

Yes, I WOULD like to speak to a person. A real one.

That's what I tell the AI robots who answer the phones/online queries at my bank.

" Please may I speak to a live human being. "