Barclays / Woolwich (Lounged)

[Domitianus]

Well said DE, I agree with much of what you say. I had to get money wired to my account from the US and with Wollwich they could just go into the computer and get me my SWIFT code or whatever it is. It took me several visits to Barclays to be able to obtain the same information and meant that my transfer of funds was highly inconveniently delayed. Barclays is meant to be a leading high street bank but it is just one inconvenience after another. I am still livid that they gave me a new account without the basic functionality of my old one - I am referring to something as simple as a Debit card.

[Administrator]

Lounged - it is no longer about Barclays / Woolwich

[Marmora Man]

-- moved topic --

[morty]

Move banks!

[Domitianus]

morty Wrote:

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> Move banks!

Why the f**k should I move banks when Barclays gives me such an opportunity to have a bitch and a moan? Joking apart, the only other local options are Lloyds or HSBC, again high street banks which prolly have much less customer service than a building society. I am hacked off at the thought of having to trek down to Camberwell or Peckham every time I need to lodge a cheque.

[morty]

I used to bank with Barclays and got tired of the way I was treated having been a customer for 20 years. That combined with wanting to lead a more ethical lifestyle I moved to Smile. Best thing I ever did. They pay a really good rate on your current account, offer extremely secure internet banking and invest ethically. I post cheques (free) to them. You can order curreny direct with them and they deliver it to you. We don't vote with our feet enough in this country. We are lucky that we have so many available options. Go on tell Barclays to shove it!

[louisiana]

char1ie Wrote:

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> Why would anybody bank in person? You have to

> queue. You waste time. You can't do your banking

> whenever you want as you have to go to the bank

> when it is open. And you have to deal with surly

> miserable staff. Who are miserable because they

> work in a bank.

Not always. HSBC ED staff don't tend to be too bad.

>

> Online and phone banking is instant, 24 hour,

> based at home and at your convenience.

Again though, some are better than others. FirstDirect is excellent and HSBC is appalling. Strange, as it's all part of the same group of companies.

>

>

> If someone steals money from a bank they are

> stealing from the bank, not from you.

Not quite.

Check out the evidence submitted by FIPR to a current Hunt Review on the Financial Ombudsman Service.

http://www.fipr.org/

You'll find

- banks are trying to pretend to individual customers that various kinds of card cloning are not going on

- the FOS is not conducting proper investigations into bank customer complaints, tending to take at face value bank claims that the bank customer is liable, without looking at such things as primary ATM logs

- the FOS adjudicators don't seem to understand what the bank systems are reporting, and the limitations of that information

- bank customers are being walloped for - in the cases used with permission by FIPR to illustrate - several thousand pounds apiece

The FIPR submission was co-written by Ross Anderson, who quite literally wrote the book about security software engineering, so he knows what he's talking about.