Barclays bank Rye Lane

[Guest]

Had to go to bank today to find the branch was closed due to "technical difficulties", blinds pulled down and only minimal engagement with customers when they opened the doors to allow staff to leave. The sign on the door stated the nearest branch was Borough High Street, so had to trapes over there. Couldn't have been a more pleasant experience in that branch, they were so helpful.

Don't know if the issue at the Rye Lane branch is or will be sorted, can't recommend the Borough High Street staff enough.

[Lynne]

Going to the branch in Rye Lane is a pretty horrible experience. It's too small, there's graffiti over the windows, it feels grubby and the first time I went there was someone begging inside the bank, unhindered by staff. Not something you want when dealing with cash.

insecure, shabby, cramped. Not what a bank should be.

[Nigello]

Sounds pretty typical of the RL shopping and banking experience! Southwark have cleaned up - literally - Walworth and New Kent Roads but leave RL to its own devices, which is perplexing. Best avoided unless you’re ok with litter, vandalism and the like. 

[Lynne]

I quite agree that RL is dirty, covered in graffiti and heaped with rubbish, but I feel that the inside of a bank is not Southwark's responponsibilty. 

[OutOfFocus]

+1 for Barclays at borough.

Better than my other bank.

 

[Nigello]

On 22/08/2024 at 15:54, Lynne said:

I quite agree that RL is dirty, covered in graffiti and heaped with rubbish, but I feel that the inside of a bank is not Southwark's responponsibilty. 

No, I agree - that’s a given. Ask the branch manager to get his/her finger out and make it as pleasant a branch and experience as is possible in the circumstances - a bank as big and as rich as that ought to do so much better. 

[Sue]

Barclays online  service is appalling, in my experience, so probably their offline service  isn't usually much better.

I was briefly a customer (I only joined to get a payment for switching) and had so many unnecessary problems.

If memory serves they don't come out well in customer satisfaction tables in things like Which and MoneySavingExpert.

Edited August 24, 2024 by Sue

[Guest]

Got to say the experience at the Borough High Street branch exceeded all expectations 3++, they could not have been more pleasant, kind or helpful, a really +VE experience,  

[Twoddle]

I find it incredible that banks in 2024 have a hard time changing my £50 note so I can spend it in Gregg's. Lloyds on the Strand refused to change it because I didn't bank there and Nat West said they couldn't open the till to change it, they eventually did it but could only give me fivers.

It never used to matter, that's what we used banks for when out shopping, now even Post Office staff look at you funny and refuse when you ask to change a £20 for the launderette.

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Twoddle said:

I find it incredible that banks in 2024 have a hard time changing my £50 note so I can spend it in Gregg's. Lloyds on the Strand refused to change it because I didn't bank there and Nat West said they couldn't open the till to change it, they eventually did it but could only give me fivers.

It never used to matter, that's what we used banks for when out shopping, now even Post Office staff look at you funny and refuse when you ask to change a £20 for the launderette.

How did you come to have a £50 note in the first place?!

[Penguin68]

It's not worth printing smaller ones... 

[teddyboy23]

Twoddle are  you a train driver.

[Earl Aelfheah]

On 22/08/2024 at 15:06, Nigello said:

Sounds pretty typical of the RL shopping and banking experience! Southwark have cleaned up - literally - Walworth and New Kent Roads but leave RL to its own devices, which is perplexing. Best avoided unless you’re ok with litter, vandalism and the like. 

I don't understand why the state of Rye Lane is not being addressed by Southwark.

[JohnL]

I suspect Rye Lane is seen as an experience and purposely kept as it is.  

For some visitors there is an attraction in the grittiness.

 

[Lynne]

People used to go to RL for an enjoyable, useful shopping experience. Difficult to believe.

[alice]

Loads of people go to Rye Lane.  I go at at least twice a week. 

[Nigello]

2 hours ago, JohnL said:

I suspect Rye Lane is seen as an experience and purposely kept as it is.  

For some visitors there is an attraction in the grittiness.

 

It is condescending and patronising to like such “grittiness”. Maybe a small number of visiting trendies like it but I can’t see many others wanting the status quo to last.