Alliance & Leicester

[johndy]

There we have it, yet another business in the town closes its doors, :~(

[CHESTER]

That's a shock when you think of the profit they make .

In Thurso we've got a charity (HOMEAID) buying a shop at £140,000. plus the rates ,light and heating etc. £140,000 . COULD HELP ALOT OF PEOPLE.

Is the end of the locally owned shop in site ??????????????????????????????

[kenimac1]

Not surprised. I wanted to arrange a new mortgage on Monday and tried to phone my local A & L branch (400m away) to make an appointment. The phone went through to a call centre (found out later the branch is one of those to be closed and had shut for the day). The surprising thing was that I was able to arrange the mortgage in 20 minutes on the phone. No appointments, no waiting, so easy so I'm not surprised that the offices are closing. Incidentally the nearest branch of my bank is 150 miles away, my branch is 500 miles away and I haven't set foot in it for 17 years.

[JAWS]

Fine kenimac1 but wait until you have a problem that's not straight forward and you go "off script".

After the fifth reply of, "I'm sorry but I don't know anything about that so I'll have to start again. Just a minute." and you find yourself on hold yet again until the person you are speaking to tries to find out what to do from another person who has never been "off script" either then you might find the pitfalls.

Been there, done that! And have the scars to prove it.

My bank is now just down the road and I speak to another Human Being who I recognise and who recognises me and not a dis-embodied anonymous voice who thinks I'm just another set of numbers on a computer screen.

No Branch, No Me! I'll be closing my account and moving it elsewhere.

If a Financial Institution will "Penny Pinch" with it's service then it will certainly do the same with me and probably at a time I would least need it!

Without customers they would not exist, without them life would still carry on!

[gravedigga]

i think it's quite unfair on elderly people who aren't to sure of using phone systems and are hard on hearing. i know for a fact my granny won't want to go traipsing up to the Thurso branch everytime she has a query and i imagine she won't be to sure of the phone system either, even when i phone places like vodafone i'm not always sure what option to take.

Just hope it's a free phone number!

[ATHRoss]

I agree with Jaws. The personal touches are very important.

I am now about to move my custom to either the RBoS or BoS and close all of my savings accounts,ISA, transfer Mortgage, pay off Bank Loan, move direct debit account, current accounts and switch VISA.

I feel for the staff as they were/are brilliant. They deal with anything you ask of them and never object to you popping in to ask about something or sort an enquiry. Not that you get this service from a call centre.

Good luck to all those at the Wick A&L - I know you will be missed.


ATHRoss

[kenimac1]

I agree the loss of personal service is regrettable and is a big blow for some people. Fact is though, that with the levels of electronic services provided now, 90% of customers need never set foot in a branch of a financial institution. Small branches like Wick and Dingwall just don't have the volume of traffic required to keep them open.
My own banking experience over 17 years has convinced me that, most unfortunately, face to face contact is not necessary.

[JAWS]

Alliance and Leicester please note -

"I am a Human Being, do not Bend, Fold or Mutilate!"

Please Press Three and get through to the wrong person. [evil]

[Hate Mornings]

[quote="CHESTER"]

In Thurso we've got a charity (HOMEAID) buying a shop at £140,000. plus the rates ,light and heating etc. £140,000 . COULD HELP ALOT OF PEOPLE.quote]

just to let ya know, i dont think charity shops such as homeaid,cancer research,highland hospice etc. etc, they dont pay rates no matter where they get a shop,pretty sure charitys dont have to pay rates.....

[brokencross]

I was sat, sitting, waiting for my wife, as you do when she goes on a shopping expedition.

I spotted in the Post Office window "Is one of these your Bank??" If so, you can make cash, cheque deposits and cash withdrawals (with your cash card and PIN) here. YES, Alliance & Leicester as on the list. (By the way this is in Engerland, I presume up with you in God's own country, it is the same)

So that is your answer, Alliance & Leicester have franchised their local "money" banking to the P.O. and the mortgage stuff will be handled by the dreaded "CALL CENTRE"!!!! Could they going to be going abroad with that in the near future???

Progress, Regress or WOT??

[JAWS]

Try getting back to the person you spoke to five minutes ago in a call centre, even if you know their name.

How do I stick the pretty little book All & Leic gave to me into a cash card machine it won't fit in the little hole?

Can the P.O. give me information about my account whilst I am paying money in?

No Branch, No Bank! Simple solution!

Bye Bye All & Leic. You need customers more than customers need you. Simple business economics. :evil

[brokencross]

Jaws.....I am with you all the way.

It was I, who started the thread about Halifax/Bank of Scotland and lack of customer care and service.

I have a cousin, who still lives in Wick, who used to work in the bank just beside the bridge on Bridge Street. He absolutely loved it; while serving the customers, he could chat to the old ladies, chat up the young ladies, laugh with the lads and on market day have a really good joke with the farmers. The fishermen never seemed to make it all the way from the harbour to that particular bank. I am sure they were still "investing"their money well!!?

Disaster then struck, he was transferred to the Inverness branch of the bank for a while.
From then on every customer was an account number and a lump of cash and no longer a real, living breathing person with a life....just an account. Needless to say as a caring human being, he left the banking INDUSTRY.

What can I do?? Underneath my mattress is nearly full!!

[JAWS]

Brokencross, banking will soon go the way of Pension Funds where you wonder if the advice you are being given is for your benefit or the Banks.

Maybe the 'good advice' you have just recieved is perhaps just the quickest way to get you off the line so the turnover of calls is maintained to somesore of imaginary 'efficient' limit.

If somebody looks over a counter and recognises you they will give you the best advice they can because they know if they don't you will know who to go back to.

With a Call Centre? Well once you have gone off the line you are somebody elses problem so who cares!

[brokencross]

Go Jaws Go

Over the past two days, I have HAD to contact three different call centres (or were they the same one),.. I mean any idiot can answer a phone and say "My name is John, can I help you????" I had no satisfaction in any of the calls.

Recently, I had to contact my energy supplier 3 times over a month period and each time I got through to a person whose first language was definitely not English. I had to give up each time because I was sick fed up of repeating my questions and not getting a satisfactory or understanable answer. (That is not a racist comment) we just could not communicate.

[The Angel Of Death]

Snap me as well i had to phone Nu direct to report a car acident and then phoned back a few weeks after to update them got through to india and then spent 10 mins with the adviser trying to give my car reg number to find my account !!! 10 mins to give a reg number is mental even the good old A for apple b for Bannana was failing

I personally dont see why all these call center jobs are going over to india when i deal with any adviser i like to be able to understand what they are saying and them for me as well keep them in the uk if its a uk company i say

Again not a racist comment just my opinion and the same views as a few people i know as well

[Anonymous]

I have seen both sides of an Indian help desk, for a Taiwanese Company :)

First call of the day lasted just over 4 hours, as Mr I-can-barely-speak-english-and-am-reading-everything-letter-by-letter-from-the-screen would not accept (or did not realise) that I am a reasonably technical person and forced me to listen to him say:


ok sir, click start, click on run, type, p, i, n, g, space, one, nine, two, dot, one, six, eight, dot, zero, dot, one and then press enter or return. What does it say on the screen now?

After four hours of this (much pacing about and trying to encourage him to speed up), he gave up on my problem, rattled out a case number and told me to reboot and call again.

Next call, about 10 mins after the first one ended, I got through to a guy on the same help desk that reduced the first guys rant to:


Can you ping your router?

Helpdesks, unfortunately are staffed by a wide variety of personalities and abilities and therefore its luck of the hunt system if you get someone in a good mood who also knows how to fix your problem.

My tip for dealing with helpdesks in general is be nice, they have a job that sucks sooooo badly you will never appreciate how bad unless you have to do it. Having to deal with irate customers all day can be very harrowing. Remember also that not many people call a helpdesk unless they have a problem, so no, you are not the first upset customer they've had that day.

Also remember that the "expert" that everyone seems to expect to be the one answering the phones gets paid about ten times the money of the poor helpdesk employee thats had a little training and has to deal with your problem by trying desperately to pick their way through a set of questions that may or may not cover your problem. So when you get through to this poor soul at "bank HQ" or wherever, remember that if you make their call a little easier to deal with and you are a little patient, then they will most likely do their very best to help you out. They might even try to get the "expert" to call you back.

On the point of callcentres being in India, easy one, cash, they work for much less of it. If we as a society didnt now have such a depenancy on helpdesks they would still be in this country. Speaking of which, I've had more language problems contacting helpdesks in the south of england, so this is not just a foreign problem, a Caithness accent can be just as alien to a Londoner as it is to an Indian.

As for banking, I recommend Cahoot, no branches, great friendly helpdesk, easy to use web site and good interest rates :)

BTW: if you do get someone good when you call a helpdesk, get their name and always ask for them when you call again, even if you dont get them, the person you do get is usually much more willing to be nice to a "known" customer :cool: