Bank of Scotland - Halifax Building Society-HBOS.

[brokencross]

I have been with the B.O.S. for over 40 years now and have been happy with "the Auld Bank". Not so happy now.

I have lived in England for many, many years now, but always remained faithful to the "auld bank". I used to use their "Bank of Scotland Phoneline" to check on balances and transactions and was always chuffed to hear the recorded message of the nice, friendly Scots girl giving me all the information in a reassurring Scottish lilt.

Last month, everything has changed, the layout of my bank statements have changed totally; it comes from HALIFAX, the Phoneline is now abrupt, sounding robotic, and when I enquired about paying cash into my BOS account via Halifax I was told I would have to pay a charge because I do not have a Halifax account.

Also in some accounts it takes "6 working days" for a cheque paid into your account to clear so you can withdraw the money....i.e. pay in the cheque in on Monday but you cannot withdraw the money until a week Tuesday.

Are we being let down or what?????

[MadPict]

I like you have had a BoS account for many years - over 30 - and have always been more than happy with the service.
But I fear the merger with Halifax is a nail in the coffin (or should that be coffer?) - I hate the new statement, the new online service has twice kicked me out, a year or more after the merger I cannot use a Halifax to pay cash into my BoS account.
I used to sit, quietly smug, as I listened to the tales of woe of the customers of the other big UK banks, the complaints and problems knowing that BoS would see me right.
But I am not so sure now.
I hope I am wrong, but I won't be holding my breath.

[Absolut1]

Your not the only one unhappy with the new phoneline, I questioned this last timeI was speaking to an operator, after all it was easy to use before, dail one number,used one account details & then get access to all accounts, now I have to re-register all accounts seperatly setting up seperate passwords etc. I was told the halifax gave X customers to BOS & vice versa. I also had a acc for my bills which had a decreasing OD with payments worked out for the year. Halifax come in & change my account to a current account & thus stopping standing orders to said acc due to this I became overdrawn & then they had the cheek to take £1 out another account just because they can!!

[simian sally]

Interesting....

Not for the first time, I appear to be in a minority of one!

I think HBOS is infinitely better than the old BoS. The service is better, the products are better (accounts, mortgages, credit cards, debit cards, ...), the bank statement is better (it doesn't look as if it was printed on a 1980s dot-matrix printer), I can now phone my branch directly, ... I could go on and on and on ....

I can go into BoS branches and get service with a smile. In the bad old BoS days, if I wanted to do something other than pay in a cheque at a branch other than my own, the answer was usually "you will have to go to your own branch to do that". I would then go into the RBoS next door and they would do it for me, and I wasn't even a customer!

I have had no serious problems with the phoneline. They aren't in the same class as Direct Line but they are not bad.

Remember the failed bid for Nat West, the failed attempt at liaison with some American right wing religious loony, the outright opposition to devolution? Their senior management was, errr, "not at all good", shall we say. I know some of them, I know some of their RBOS equivalents, and I know someone who has worked in senior management for both. Can't name names obviously.

Thank you Halifax. You have rescued a doomed financial institution.

[AR]

Bos has definatly gone downhill, I pay money into 2 accounts each week and used to get a receipt with the account nos. on them(I coul tell which each one was), now i get something with a "roll number" I went to open a new account and found out that I needed my passport for proof of identity( been a customer sinse i was 5!), I didnt bother with their new account, went to Rbos instead, and i know most of the staff personally, also, as far as i am aware the staff are not chuffed either.And everything is the hard sell, IF I WANT SOMETHING I WOULD ASK. I think they have been englisized!!!

[Moira]

To everyone apart from Simian Sally - you are right - the service has gone downhill drastically - and the "merger" was more of a takeover by Halifax than anything else. Could Simian Sally please post the local number for contacting his branch direct - mind you - I have not tried the number I have in ages 'cos I was so frustrated at not being able to get thru'

I am glad Simian Sally agrees he is usually in the minority - I have read a huge number of his contraversial posts - and now he is thanking the Halifax for "rescuing us" - and I think not !!! Hasn't a clue what he is talking about regarding customer service - has he ??

[JAWS]

"We trained hard, but it seemed that every time we were begining to
form into teams, we would be re-organised.

I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by re-organising, and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency and demoralisation."

GAIUS PETRONIUS. A.D.66.

If it's new it's good!
Nineteen and a Half Centuries and still some people fall for it!

[MadPict]

'

I am glad Simian Sally agrees he is usually in the minority - I have read a huge number of his contraversial posts - and now he is thanking the Halifax for "rescuing us" - and I think not !!! Hasn't a clue what he is talking about regarding customer service - has he ??

I sometimes wonder about SS's real purpose here - :roll:

[Loafer]

Since we have had the new "HBOS" the standard has been diabolical! I will number them as I can remember, but I'm sure I've missed some!!

1) My fiance (now my wife) opened a joint account and were obviously the guinea pigs with the new account and our cards did not work when we went through the check-out in the Wick Co-op, very embarrasing, luckily my cousin was in the queue, if not where the hell would we have stood?
2) The Solo cards are not recognised in approx about 70% of shops you go in to.
3) Any direct debits we phoned off did not recognise the sort code as HBOS did not inform them of the new numbers they use.
4) Our cheque books were sent to wrong address THREE time despite me phoning them on three occasions to inform them of my new abode, therefore three chequebooks had to be cancelled causing much distress, you never know who's hands they might have gotten into.
5) We have yet to receive our new cheque book 8 weeks after informing with full details of our marriage, yet the RBOS had it done within 3 days!
6) After going into the bank and telling them of our hassles,the polite lady kept saying "I'm so sorry" yet nothing was done.
7) We have been called SIX times by their customer services, saying things will be done yet STILL no improvement.
8) When I called the "Callcentre" they laughed at me.
9) Would I recommend an account at HBOS? Read above
10) I could go on all night...........................................

[simian sally]

Goodness me, what polemic!

You can't all be wrong, so what is going on?

I am very happy with what has happened in the last couple of years. The service from my local branch of the Bank of Scotland is excellent. It isn't the branch I have my account with, but this is part of the reason for my happiness.

Could it be geographical?

I deal mostly with Edinburgh branches and they have changed a lot recently, mostly for the better. The staff don't always seem happy with the changes, but I take a hard-nosed approach and hope all will turn out well in the end for unhappy staff.

Looking back at this thread, it appears that all or most unhappy people are either in Caithness or in England, and the latter may well have branches in Caithness. Perhaps the Caithness branches and Caithness retail outlets are the problem? I don't know.

I am a loss to explain our differences of opinion. I changed my account and my debit card recently and the changes were so smooth that I barely noticed. My new current account pays a competitive interest rate, and I have never had any problems with phone banking, using either the new generic number or when phoning my own branch or my local branch. I have never encountered any form of hard sell either.

Although I don't have one myself, I have observed that BoS-branded credit cards have very competitive rates of interest (unlike a few years ago), and BoS branches offer mortgages that I would no longer ignore.

I am happy. I am sorry that you are all suffering.

[Moira]

Sorry Sally for upsetting you with my "gender references etc" (per your message to my personal Inbox). How you doing tonight, girl ??

Your posted reply assures me you were not upset for long & contains the answer someone here wished to know about your purpose on the Board.

[quote] I am happy. I am sorry that you are all suffering" - NOT - I guess

The main point of my post was agreeing with the falling standards in customer service with Bank of Scotland in Caithness since HBOS took over and if these have improved in Edinburgh City - then fine for you - but maybe up here we are trying to hang onto the superb customer service we have been used to from our local banks - and maybe your opinion just doesn't count here - just maybe - please don't be hurt if you think it does. I am sure you will post & let us all know your opinion anyway.

[zagor]

I have to say that I agree with the lack of service at the HBOS. I am not a customer there but I know plenty who are and even the staff don't like the new way it is run.
Please forgive them all the hard sell on products, it is now linked with their performance and bonuses and they all know that if you want them you would ask but I am sure you will all agree when I say that if asking and selling gets you your bonus then you would ask and sell away.

I am with the RBOS and the service at the branch is excellent, thoroughly recommend it to all of you

[JAWS]

This is obviously a symptom of a growing problem. The City Branches will have all the latest equipment with all the bells and whistles and plenty od Branches. That's where the easy money is!

"Ignore the peasants in their hovels they have old fashioned ideas about 'service' whatever that is! They don't give us enough profit. Drive them away and then we can close their Branches."

Remember people _ Bankers are just glorified shop-keepers buying and selling money! The days when you could trust your local Bank Manager like your local Doctor are long gone. They are now no different to your local Supermarket Manager and would you trust him to give you dietary advice for your child? I think not!

Treat them the same way as you would a shop that didn't provide what you want, go to another! It's not difficult nowadays, it's not like it used to be, HBoS have to give your new Bank all the details they require and off you go!
But make sure you write to HBoS and tell them why.
Don't complain to your local Branch for they will just be ignored. Their "Betters" know more than they do.

[KitKat]

While we are on this subject, what bank would you all recommend? I am not staying with the Alliance and Leicester when they close the Wick branch so I will be looking for someone else to hold my money. I think this will be the case with lots of other disgruntled A&L Wick customers so over to you folks. Where do we put our money now?

[JAWS]

I've had no problems with Royal Bank. There are several Branches in the area and you can still talk to real people.

I will be doing likewise with All. & Leic. even though I've been with them for 20 years or so.

Many organisations go in for Business New-Speak to hide what they are really saying e.g. Downsizing etc. on the arrogant assumption that Joe Public is too stupid to understand what they mean. Well I have my own Dictionary of New-Speak.

"Hard-sell" - Avoid us like the Plague!
"Closing your Branch" - Clear off, we don't want your business! (Fine by me!)
"Concentrating on our Core Business" - If you are not talking Millions then go away!
"Reasons of Efficiency" - We want to give you less service for greater expense.

Oh yes! and the one currently in vogue amongst the Arrogant Elite :-
"The Status Quo is Not an Option" - What we are doing is the biggest load of shoe-repaireres you have ever come across but we are going to do it no-matter what the results are!

Basically it boils down to - "You are an insignificant little Pleb and we are going to ride rough-shod over you!"

Just try Baby, you just try!

[KitKat]

OOOH Jaws, can I use some of those great phrases in my protest letter to the Alliance & leceister MD?

[JAWS]

Why not KitKat! It might just dent their "Superior" attitude towards their customers.

What they all tend to forget is that we can do without them but without us they do not have a business.

[kwbrown111]

sorry can't agree with most of you. I've been with the Thurso Branch at least 20 years and i can say the service is excellent and they always call me by my 1st name. they seem to have the attitude that nothing is to much trouble(i am not exactly clued up on banking)and are willing to find the best way to go about things.

[JAWS]

I don't think anybody is knocking the local staff of either organisation, I certainly am not.
They are probably just as frustrated as the rest of us and have my sympathy.

The way you describe the actions of the Staff you deal with is how it should be. You no doubt recognise one another when you pass in the street. You realise that you are human beings and that is what is going to be lost.

The people doing the organising have lost track of the fact that they are dealing with real people. This is nicely demonstrated by the fact that companies now have "Human Resources" Departments, makes it easier to hide from the fact that your actions affect real people. Nice to know that yoiu somebody is looking at you as something as important as paper-clips or the office stapler.

All that matters is the percentages, the turnover, the input, the output etc.

"Service, were's that on the Balance Sheet? Is it up or down on last year and by how much? Can we write it off against tax? Show me the figures!"