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Comments:
I banked with Barclays since I was 18 for 18 years. No major problems until I took out a Barclays loan. They lsot the documents four times, told me I was not eligable for loan protection because I had lived abroad in the past, lsot the agreement documents and after a year started to take out random payments. My fifth premier banking manager said they could not help (fifth becuase all the others had resigned) Ritcheet kotcha said I needed to talk tobarclays loan, who referred me back to barclays premeir banking. I complained to head office, who said they will inviestigate the matter. After 8 months, 30 emails, faxes, barclays tried to say they never received my complaint. Anita Hicks got invovled and delayed the answers to my basic questions wheres the agreement, what was the payments for , the term. She decided that Barclays dont have to supply this information,she had no agreeement, barclays did not have to tell me what the payment was for andI ahd to go to the financial Ombudsmen. (Barclays hope that people wont complain and use the Ombudsmen as their customer service department!) I was disgusted, Anita hicks wouldnt even commenton my questions and refused to answer any detials about the loan. I asked for statemnts fot he money in my account, frist they refused for 5 months then sent me a photocopy. PLEASE whatever you do dont use Barlcays, they are not honest and do not care about customer service. I have 22 letters saying they will investigate the matter but they never found out what happened to the documents or gave me an option to pay of the amount
If you want to make an appointment at your local branch DO NOT CALL 0845 755 5555, They leave you on hold for ages transfer you to different departments and then tell you they can not transfer you to your local branch. I will have to go into town tomorrow to book the appointment we need for the end of the week! (The bus fare will be cheaper than the call I made!!)
I closed my Barclays account years ago due to the extortionate charges and downright bad service. Apparently so did my parents. I didn’t know this the other day when I transferred some money to their non-existent account. Barclays of course have accepted my payment and my money is somewhere in cyberspace.
After a quick call to my own bank today (prompt reply, friendly staff with some knowledge of the bank’s processes), I was directed towards Barclays. I couldn’t have spent a more frustrating day. After scouring the myriad of numbers to call, I decided on one that said Customer Services. Wrong one apparently and I was given another number. So I called that, selected the option for not having my banking details (I don’t hold an account there after all) and the woman that answered told me I was again in the wrong place and forwarded me to another number. The new number had me on hold for an hour and a quarter. I timed every second. And then I gave up.
I ended up on here reading everyone else’s stories and thanks to speedduck, used an alternative number which only took 10 minutes to answer (it’s worrying that I now consider that a good time!). After much explaining and to-ing and fro-ing between people who might know bank procedure for this situation I was told to phone my bank again. When I did my bank answered promptly, gave me some knowledgeable information on how CHAPS trace procedures require 10 days waiting period from the transfer date (I’m just below that) and advised me to call back in a few days. I hung up on my bank feeling a lot better since at least they knew what they were doing!
I find myself reminded today of why I left this bank in the first place – all I was left with was infuriation. We may not be able to cause a boycott but we can let others know what these companies are like (this being the worst I have personally dealt with in the past).
After today, I’ve decided to create a YouTube documentary on their customer service, based on your stories. If you have access to a webcam and you’re happy to appear in it then please take a video of yourself telling your story (what happened, who you spoke to (if possible), how you tried to contact them, how/if your issue was resolved, etc.). Your video can be emailed to WhereAreTheWatchdogs@googlemail.com and I will let you know when it’s up.
Thanks, J
I have been with Barclays for 10 years, Staff have always been very helpful and friendly, I find if you treat them like human beings they do the same to you. When I've been in trouble they have always helpedonce needed an emergency card delivery they actually arranged a next day courier delivery for NO charge.
I have recieved charges on my account from Barclays and of course was not happy about this BUT it was my fault for going overdrawn I accept the responsibility for my actions. I have challenged the level of the charge with their staff earlier last year(unfair fees ruling) and recieved an appropriae rebate without any hassle or question.
The only problems I have ever had with barclays was with arranging my mortgage recently were the Indian staff were infuriating to deal with as communication was difficult. Also admittedly they dont have the best intrest rates in the world.
In summary very pleased with the bank, helpful/knowledgable staff and handy services.
Treat the staff with respect and you'll be amazed at the service you recieve but this rings true for most companies. A person who you respect also respects you and will go that little bit further to help you.
I'm an international user living in Africa and I take regular business trips to Australia, USA, etc. My Barclays account worked smoothly for about 15 years but for the last 12 months it has been hell.
Several months ago they confused my old UK correspondence address, where I don't live, with my residence address, in West Africa, and got me into deep water with the tax authorities.
Six months ago they blocked my debit card when on a trip to Europe, leaving me unable to pay bills and take out money, although I had a large sum in the account. When I rung them up they quoted my security details were out of date. Thanks for telling me in advance, you bankers.
It has still not been corrected, despite me sending all the checks to them, and now they refuse to transfer money to my son at uni in Britain, necessitating trips by my family to the downtown Western Union and 25% interest.
Finally they blocked me out of my internet account.
When I ring them I'm asked for yet more security checks, so I ask to close the account. But they say they cannot. Excuse? Yes, more security checks.
When I set up a new bank account with a completely different bank (far better service) they advise me to go to the Banking Ombudsman. I'm now still trying to close the account, and after 6 months I have a closure number, finally, although the bankers are still holding on to my money.
Anybody who works permanently abroad - DON'T bank with a UK High Street bank, especially not Barclays, go for one of the smaller private banks who offer good public service.
I am a former Customer Service Rep. for Barclay's Bank (an EU /
UK based company) and was illegally fired for hanging pictures of
Jesus Christ up at my private cubicle in the Wilmington, Delaware call
center. My position required no face to face customer contact and
religious, personal and inspirational material is permitted to be hung
in workers' cubicles.
I've taken the proper steps with the Delaware Department of Labor
("DOL") and the EEOC but I think media attention would be more
beneficial in this "culture battle" than simple litigation.
Apparently, some of my co-workers found these Renaissance art
depictions of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection "offensive"
and reported me to my superiors. I was fired for "insubordination"
[standing up for my civil rights, Title VII of Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended ("Title VII")] after I respectfully declined to
remove the pictures. Company policy doesn't prohibit this material.
I was a model employee and was never placed on corrective action
or counseled for breaking policy in the past. In fact, I was
subjected to sexual harassment by several of my co-workers and handled
it with out giving the names of the culprits to my superiors. It was
agreed upon by me and my supervisor that a general e-mail be sent to
my team to remedy the situation.
I wasn't raised to make trouble but
this company pushed too hard and I'm not going to take it laying down.
This is a matter of principal to me and I believe that pursuing a
remedy to this matter is of the utmost importance to preserving
diversity in the work place. I'm humbly asking your attention to this
matter and I
hope to hear from your organization. I'm a proverbial David fighting
a global Giant and need as much help getting the message out as I can get.
I have pictures and a detailed explanation of events that are
available upon request.
Please e-mail me at christian.romansky@gmail.com or call me at 856.803.9253.
Sincerely,
Christian Romansky
christian.romansky@gmail.com
I work in the Barclays customer services, or customer sales department, so to speak. There are alot of people, myself included who are fed up of the way that customers are treated over the telephone. Surprisingly enough we do sympathise with the fact that customers do need help and are struggling to manage finances, and all barcvlays seems to do is to charge them and cancell all their direct debits to make them even more in debt!
If it was up to most of us, we would help customers much more than we can if it wasnt for the fact that we are pushed and pushed by contact center team leaders and other management to sell as much as we could and to get as many customers to purchase other products with us!
I apologise if you have come through to me with charges on the account aswell, but again we are monitored on the refunds we give out aswell, and this is also a bug bearer for us. Ask to speak to a manager, they cn refund the same day...
Just a few more things id like to say before i finish my rant... 1. If ya dont want to use the 08457555555 number, then there is 02476842100 to get straight through to an advisor, without the telephone banking jargon at the beginning (yes, barclays do make money from the 0845 number) we will also put you through to the relevant department if you need to speak to other people and also if you want your statements for the past 6 years, there is NO charge for them, so, even if you only want the past month, get the past 6 years, barclays are sending these out free of charge as Barclays are offering this as a gesture of 'goodwill' to customer wanting their charges back, aka, a bribe lol. (6 yrs may take a little while longer to get to you, but it saves a fiver)
One last thing, we cant refund the past 6 years of charges over the telephone, so please dont shout at us. If you follow the correct channels, you should get these back.. just it can take some time.
I have had a few problems with Barclays myself recently.
In order to study for my IT qualifications, i took out a career development loan with barclays to pay for the course.
recently they sent a letter stating 'congratulations, according to our records, you have now completed your training'.
As this was inaccurate, i proceeded to write to Barclays and explained that i hadn't qualified and why. Only, i barclays failed to respond to this letter. few weeks after they failed to respond, i write again to barclays, re-iterating my situation. barclays also ignored this letter.
well, at the end of february, i find that £100 had been withdrawn from my account by barclays.
what barclays had said in their letter is that if it was not the case that the training was complete, then i should make contact with them and they would review the repayment schedule as long as i did this before the first payment was due. i did this as soon as the letter landed on my doorstep, so they should have acted upon this appropriately and didn't
i have now written another letter asking them to suspend the payments until a later date. it'll be interesting to see what happens.
I am in the process of leaving Barclays. They no longer even try to hide the fact they are out to rip you off. From the 1hr wait on their premium rate help lines to hiking up mortgage rates and trying ever stalling trick in the book to stop you getting back on a discounted rate. I've moved my mortgage and am delighted with my new service. Barclays had a few pounds out of me but lost about 300K of interest over the next 20 years. I like the 50p account mention earlier - I think I will do the same.
i abhor barclays, they promised me a 3 month statement in 10 working days, took out a payment of £5 from my account and failed to send any statement out!!! Then they have the gall to tell me that I have to wait another 10 working days for something that was a mistake of theirs in the first place. They have sullen staff who only ask you why you came into the branch so that they can tell you that they cannot help you! barclays sucks!!!
I visited my Barclays branch in Eastbourne today about a business account they had closed. I was unhappy with the way my 'Business Relationship Manager' dealt with the problem. I said I wanted to close my other accounts. "No problem" he said. I asked to close an account with a considerable balance as well and said I would arrive tomorrow at 4pm to collect the cash.
No can do, was the reply. It will take about 7 days. 7 days! It's a current account!
Asked to speak to the branch manager. No can do. "He will only tell you the same. He's not here. I won't give you his name. I won't make an appointment for you to see him. As far as you're concerned I am your manager. If you don't leave now I will call the police".
Always willing to enjoy free entertainment I sat down and waited. Off went the manager and came back with an offer of 4 days to pay the cash. Not good enough. I still want to make arrangements to see the branch manager.
The police did arrive and after enquiring into the problem "escorted" me from the building.
So, if you have a healthy bank balance but want to get thrown out from Barclays by the police, ask to withdraw your money!
Needless to say, a complaint is winging it's way to the Group Chief Executive - well, he may care about customer service and his staff wasting police time. Someone should.
I used chargeclaims.co.uk to get my bank charges back from Barclays. I had £1200 in charges and £2800 in contractural interest. So got a nice £4000 payout. Could not have been easier, just completed the form and chargeclaims.co.uk did the rest.
I left Barclays approx 12 years ago because of bad service. I worked for an American Company at the time, and my salary was paid at 4 weekly intervals. It went directly into my current account. That means I got paid 13 times per year, but the downside was, the quite high salary payments become out of sych with the mortgage payments which were monthly. So, one month, the mortgage payment went out just 2 or 3 days before payday, making me overdrawn by literally just a very tiny amount over the agreed limit. Then they bounced 5 other standing orders, charging me £125 and really sending me well overdrawn by now. Did I close the account? No. I just opened an additional account elsewhere and kept 50 pence in the Barclays one, which is there to this day. I regularly request statements and continue to check my balance, keeping a close eye on my 50p. Over a lifetime, I'll have my £125 back in what it costs them to keep sending me statements and fresh cash cards.
They asked if I'd like to close my dormant account. I said no!
To be fair - all banks will screw you, and my current bank isn't perfect either.
Had no problems with barclays over 30 years. Friendly staff who know me in the branch. Even their automated charging system was friendly. I had a charge of £25 for inadvertently going over my credit limit but because I manage the account well, it was credited back to my account on the same day. Only paid minimal interest for the amount and period overdrawn
Have just been informed that I will not receive a refund for money that was taken from my account when my card was cloned. Hundreds of pounds were taken in dribs and drabs from my account over a period of a week from the same cash machine which I had the misfortune of using once. As soon as I found out I rang Barclays, the staff cancelled my card immeadiately and sent out fraud forms. I also reported the matter to the police and included the crime reference number on the fraud forms. The police have established that there was indeed a crime but they have been unable to find out who was taking the money out and assured me that I was entitled to and would get my money back as the card was in my possession the whole time and the bank is obligated by law to refund me. Today, three weeks after I returned the fraud forms, I was contacted by a patronising member of Barclays staff who got confused about the dates of the disputed transactions and also found it difficult to read the notes made by someone else which she was simply repeating to me. She then said that they had decided that I or someone I know had taken the money out as the Chip and Pin system has shown that it was definitely my card that was used and there is no way the card could have been cloned - even though I was at work with my card in a different town when an amount of £70 was withdrawn from my account, no one else knows or has access to my PIN (the details of which are not stored anywhere apart from my own head) and I have always been in possession of my card. Barclays have said it must be someone I know who has been stood with me at a cash machine, managed to get my PIN number and then took my card without me noticing. Account - closed, funds - withdrawn, my bank - no longer.
Went to pay a bill on 4 aug. 2006 at Barclays in Cowley, Oxford. They refused to take my money which was Scottish £100 notes. As Scottish money is legal tender and I have used it before at the same branch and they accepted it I don't know what the duty manager's problem was(must have got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning). If the Scottish banks take Bank of England notes what's the problem with Barclays accepting Scottish notes?
I've never really had any problems with Barclays apart from the crazy "penality" charges they add on your account for things like failed direct debits and so on but because of this, they get the worst score. They are no different to any other high street bank, they are just after one thing - your money!
The good news? You can get any charges (going back 6 years) back. I've had over £1000 back and will be putting in another request for a full refund of all charges since the last claim, which is over £600 at present. You are also entitled to copies of all of your statements, for no more than a £10 charge, under the Data Protection Act, so quote this and also what the Information Commissioner's Office says when making a request for copies of your account statements. Send a nice letter asking for a refund, if they don't give it you, open a claim. They will back down (as they all do, in most cases) after you open the case, but before it hits court, in a nice out of court settlement.
If you want more information, there is a load of us over at http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl who will be ready to help you get these charges back, from any of the high street banks.
banks!! barclays in particular. all out to get money off us. i have a spanish bank account in the canaries which operates quicker cheaper and more efficiently than any uk bank ihave or have had.
Just don't go there. Seriously, these guys just have no idea what customer service, or customer rights, are. Both me and my friend have transferred to other banks because of the appaling, ridiculous customer service they have.
I agree that they seem ok, until there is an issue. Of any kind. They can never help you (computer says no). When I asked to transfer my account the retention team called up after a week and they were ever so helpful, but guess what - then it's too late. I am with HSBC now and very happy.
oh my god, this company is a JOKE! i have been with them for years and never had a problem, untill recently. APPARENTLY with barclays, if you use your card to pay for items in a shop, or take cash out at a cash machine, it takes a few days for it to affect your balance!!! REALLY??? i thought that balances were updated immediately when you used your card, isnt a balance there for you to keep track of your spending?
WELL last week, everytime i checked my balance it was completely different. one minute it said there was money in my account, the next there was nothing, then money in again, untill i stopped using my card for 2 days and watched my balance go down and down and down...they told me this was because they're computer systems take a couple of days to clear purchases and withdrawals. i ended up going overdrawn, because they were telling me i had money in my account when i actually didnt. so i went over my overdraft limit, therefore got charged £25...i had money go in, but the charge and the overdraft ate it up and left me with no money...so i went into the branch, waited in line for about an hour! and asked what was going on with my account. the lady was not very helpful at all, was very abrupt, treated me like a scrounger and told me because my account was still overdrawn (by 60p!) that if it wasnt brought back within the overdraft limit by 15:30 i would be charged another £25! for 60 pence...robbing b*****ds!
Barclays are only concerned about making money, not helping their customers. they try and push people into debt so they can make money on the interest! disgraceful. i am stopping all money going into my account, clearing my overdraft in one go, and then closing the account...id rather bank with someone who gives a damn!
WOW, lots of people hate barclays.
I have had problems with them since day1.
We originally had our mortgage with them, and they just screwed that up since day1.
One of the requirements was to have have buildings or contents insurence with them, so I chose buildings insurance.
But they went ahead and setup both.
I told them that I was not doing contents insurence with them, so please cancel it.
So they promptly cancelled both contents and buildings insurence.
I then contacted them and stated, according to their own terms and conditions I had to have one of them, so why did they cancel both.
They then went and created both again.
Repeat the previous fiasco 3 more times.
In the end I gave up, and left them both cancelled and got them sorted elsewhere. So for the 3 years I had my mortgage with Barclays I was in breach of their terms and conditions through their own actions.
--
As for bank accounts, I have lost count of all the stupid things they did, there were so many.
I was constantly p**sed off by the fact that they would try and put payments through just hours before my salary went into my account, knowing full well it would fail and then charging me £20 to write and tell me that fact.
In the end I started replying to all their letters and charging them £35 for the priviledge.
--
I also had a business account with Barclays, and once they sent all my chequebooks, cards and pin to the totally wrong address. When I called them about this they had just randomly changed the address on my account.
Then after I moved house, and gave them new address, they continued sending everything to my old address.
Everytime I called them about this, they sai dthey had my new address on the computer and they don't know how mail was going to my old address.
After months of this and speaking to numerous people, I finally spoke to someone who knew that my address was kept in 2 depts. One for my general account details, and one for where new chequebooks and cards were sent to.
So this was supposedly my own fault for not telling them to change both addresses in both depts, even though I had no idea about this and neither did any of the other Barclays staff. So I how wa sI meant to know internal info about how the bank worked when even the staff did not know this?
Why is it that someone who has lived in this country for less than 3 years can get a current account with barclays and me who has lived in this country all of my life and ok I have had ONE default against my name for £1025 which I paid off four and a half years ago can't get a visa electron?? I don't get it?! And i'm talking about the people who come here and get thown into appauling living conditions with no job or money!! However, Natwest did give me the current account I have been looking for so Bye Bye Barclays!!!!
appalling service with my mothers power of attorney bank account. have lost the power of attorney registration four times. then call service and online banking wont let you check if payments have been made.
wont give you branch number. call service rude and unhelpful
Barclays are a very poor company whose only concern is how much money they can squeeze from their customers whilst paying their staff peanuts, reducing services for customers and transferring jobs offshore.
And their computer systems suck as they keep going down every time I ring.
Having said all that I have some advice if, like me, you have had cause to complain.
The direct number to their Complaints department is 0845 6090806 and gets you through to an adviser that is empowered to refund you up to £250 instantly on their own authority based on their own personal assessment of whether your complaint is worth it. They will also, almost automatically, refund any charges you have incurred on your account if you push hard enough and kick up enough fuss (eg threaten to go to the ombudsman as this would cost the bank over £100.)
So the moral of the story is don't let the b*****ds push you around and steal YOUR money. Push back!! Complain and demand compensation!
I guarantee if you stick at it and keep at them then you will succeed in winning your argument because in 99 cases in 100 the customer is in the right and even if your not the bank would rather give you £50 to shut up and go away than have you keep pestering them with complaints.
Add a comment about this blagger
Visitors to the site are reminded that the details contained within user comments are uncorroborated and as such should not be read as fact but as the opinion of the person who left the comment.
Comments:
After a quick call to my own bank today (prompt reply, friendly staff with some knowledge of the bank’s processes), I was directed towards Barclays. I couldn’t have spent a more frustrating day. After scouring the myriad of numbers to call, I decided on one that said Customer Services. Wrong one apparently and I was given another number. So I called that, selected the option for not having my banking details (I don’t hold an account there after all) and the woman that answered told me I was again in the wrong place and forwarded me to another number. The new number had me on hold for an hour and a quarter. I timed every second. And then I gave up.
I ended up on here reading everyone else’s stories and thanks to speedduck, used an alternative number which only took 10 minutes to answer (it’s worrying that I now consider that a good time!). After much explaining and to-ing and fro-ing between people who might know bank procedure for this situation I was told to phone my bank again. When I did my bank answered promptly, gave me some knowledgeable information on how CHAPS trace procedures require 10 days waiting period from the transfer date (I’m just below that) and advised me to call back in a few days. I hung up on my bank feeling a lot better since at least they knew what they were doing!
I find myself reminded today of why I left this bank in the first place – all I was left with was infuriation. We may not be able to cause a boycott but we can let others know what these companies are like (this being the worst I have personally dealt with in the past).
After today, I’ve decided to create a YouTube documentary on their customer service, based on your stories. If you have access to a webcam and you’re happy to appear in it then please take a video of yourself telling your story (what happened, who you spoke to (if possible), how you tried to contact them, how/if your issue was resolved, etc.). Your video can be emailed to WhereAreTheWatchdogs@googlemail.com and I will let you know when it’s up.
Thanks, J
I have recieved charges on my account from Barclays and of course was not happy about this BUT it was my fault for going overdrawn I accept the responsibility for my actions. I have challenged the level of the charge with their staff earlier last year(unfair fees ruling) and recieved an appropriae rebate without any hassle or question.
The only problems I have ever had with barclays was with arranging my mortgage recently were the Indian staff were infuriating to deal with as communication was difficult. Also admittedly they dont have the best intrest rates in the world.
In summary very pleased with the bank, helpful/knowledgable staff and handy services.
Treat the staff with respect and you'll be amazed at the service you recieve but this rings true for most companies. A person who you respect also respects you and will go that little bit further to help you.
Several months ago they confused my old UK correspondence address, where I don't live, with my residence address, in West Africa, and got me into deep water with the tax authorities.
Six months ago they blocked my debit card when on a trip to Europe, leaving me unable to pay bills and take out money, although I had a large sum in the account. When I rung them up they quoted my security details were out of date. Thanks for telling me in advance, you bankers.
It has still not been corrected, despite me sending all the checks to them, and now they refuse to transfer money to my son at uni in Britain, necessitating trips by my family to the downtown Western Union and 25% interest.
Finally they blocked me out of my internet account.
When I ring them I'm asked for yet more security checks, so I ask to close the account. But they say they cannot. Excuse? Yes, more security checks.
When I set up a new bank account with a completely different bank (far better service) they advise me to go to the Banking Ombudsman. I'm now still trying to close the account, and after 6 months I have a closure number, finally, although the bankers are still holding on to my money.
Anybody who works permanently abroad - DON'T bank with a UK High Street bank, especially not Barclays, go for one of the smaller private banks who offer good public service.
UK based company) and was illegally fired for hanging pictures of
Jesus Christ up at my private cubicle in the Wilmington, Delaware call
center. My position required no face to face customer contact and
religious, personal and inspirational material is permitted to be hung
in workers' cubicles.
I've taken the proper steps with the Delaware Department of Labor
("DOL") and the EEOC but I think media attention would be more
beneficial in this "culture battle" than simple litigation.
Apparently, some of my co-workers found these Renaissance art
depictions of Jesus Christ's crucifixion and resurrection "offensive"
and reported me to my superiors. I was fired for "insubordination"
[standing up for my civil rights, Title VII of Civil Rights Act of
1964, as amended ("Title VII")] after I respectfully declined to
remove the pictures. Company policy doesn't prohibit this material.
I was a model employee and was never placed on corrective action
or counseled for breaking policy in the past. In fact, I was
subjected to sexual harassment by several of my co-workers and handled
it with out giving the names of the culprits to my superiors. It was
agreed upon by me and my supervisor that a general e-mail be sent to
my team to remedy the situation.
I wasn't raised to make trouble but
this company pushed too hard and I'm not going to take it laying down.
This is a matter of principal to me and I believe that pursuing a
remedy to this matter is of the utmost importance to preserving
diversity in the work place. I'm humbly asking your attention to this
matter and I
hope to hear from your organization. I'm a proverbial David fighting
a global Giant and need as much help getting the message out as I can get.
I have pictures and a detailed explanation of events that are
available upon request.
Please e-mail me at christian.romansky@gmail.com or call me at 856.803.9253.
Sincerely,
Christian Romansky
christian.romansky@gmail.com
i understand that companies have to make a proffit, but in order to do this they fail to look after the staff
as long as the directors can get their round of golf at the weekend, then to hell with the staff and the customers!!
martyr
If it was up to most of us, we would help customers much more than we can if it wasnt for the fact that we are pushed and pushed by contact center team leaders and other management to sell as much as we could and to get as many customers to purchase other products with us!
I apologise if you have come through to me with charges on the account aswell, but again we are monitored on the refunds we give out aswell, and this is also a bug bearer for us. Ask to speak to a manager, they cn refund the same day...
Just a few more things id like to say before i finish my rant... 1. If ya dont want to use the 08457555555 number, then there is 02476842100 to get straight through to an advisor, without the telephone banking jargon at the beginning (yes, barclays do make money from the 0845 number) we will also put you through to the relevant department if you need to speak to other people and also if you want your statements for the past 6 years, there is NO charge for them, so, even if you only want the past month, get the past 6 years, barclays are sending these out free of charge as Barclays are offering this as a gesture of 'goodwill' to customer wanting their charges back, aka, a bribe lol. (6 yrs may take a little while longer to get to you, but it saves a fiver)
One last thing, we cant refund the past 6 years of charges over the telephone, so please dont shout at us. If you follow the correct channels, you should get these back.. just it can take some time.
speedduck at 13th Mar 2007, 12:28AM
In order to study for my IT qualifications, i took out a career development loan with barclays to pay for the course.
recently they sent a letter stating 'congratulations, according to our records, you have now completed your training'.
As this was inaccurate, i proceeded to write to Barclays and explained that i hadn't qualified and why. Only, i barclays failed to respond to this letter. few weeks after they failed to respond, i write again to barclays, re-iterating my situation. barclays also ignored this letter.
well, at the end of february, i find that £100 had been withdrawn from my account by barclays.
what barclays had said in their letter is that if it was not the case that the training was complete, then i should make contact with them and they would review the repayment schedule as long as i did this before the first payment was due. i did this as soon as the letter landed on my doorstep, so they should have acted upon this appropriately and didn't
i have now written another letter asking them to suspend the payments until a later date. it'll be interesting to see what happens.
No can do, was the reply. It will take about 7 days. 7 days! It's a current account!
Asked to speak to the branch manager. No can do. "He will only tell you the same. He's not here. I won't give you his name. I won't make an appointment for you to see him. As far as you're concerned I am your manager. If you don't leave now I will call the police".
Always willing to enjoy free entertainment I sat down and waited. Off went the manager and came back with an offer of 4 days to pay the cash. Not good enough. I still want to make arrangements to see the branch manager.
The police did arrive and after enquiring into the problem "escorted" me from the building.
So, if you have a healthy bank balance but want to get thrown out from Barclays by the police, ask to withdraw your money!
Needless to say, a complaint is winging it's way to the Group Chief Executive - well, he may care about customer service and his staff wasting police time. Someone should.
I left Barclays approx 12 years ago because of bad service. I worked for an American Company at the time, and my salary was paid at 4 weekly intervals. It went directly into my current account. That means I got paid 13 times per year, but the downside was, the quite high salary payments become out of sych with the mortgage payments which were monthly. So, one month, the mortgage payment went out just 2 or 3 days before payday, making me overdrawn by literally just a very tiny amount over the agreed limit. Then they bounced 5 other standing orders, charging me £125 and really sending me well overdrawn by now. Did I close the account? No. I just opened an additional account elsewhere and kept 50 pence in the Barclays one, which is there to this day. I regularly request statements and continue to check my balance, keeping a close eye on my 50p. Over a lifetime, I'll have my £125 back in what it costs them to keep sending me statements and fresh cash cards.
They asked if I'd like to close my dormant account. I said no!
To be fair - all banks will screw you, and my current bank isn't perfect either.
The good news? You can get any charges (going back 6 years) back. I've had over £1000 back and will be putting in another request for a full refund of all charges since the last claim, which is over £600 at present. You are also entitled to copies of all of your statements, for no more than a £10 charge, under the Data Protection Act, so quote this and also what the Information Commissioner's Office says when making a request for copies of your account statements. Send a nice letter asking for a refund, if they don't give it you, open a claim. They will back down (as they all do, in most cases) after you open the case, but before it hits court, in a nice out of court settlement.
If you want more information, there is a load of us over at http://www.bankchargeshell.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl who will be ready to help you get these charges back, from any of the high street banks.
I agree that they seem ok, until there is an issue. Of any kind. They can never help you (computer says no). When I asked to transfer my account the retention team called up after a week and they were ever so helpful, but guess what - then it's too late. I am with HSBC now and very happy.
WELL last week, everytime i checked my balance it was completely different. one minute it said there was money in my account, the next there was nothing, then money in again, untill i stopped using my card for 2 days and watched my balance go down and down and down...they told me this was because they're computer systems take a couple of days to clear purchases and withdrawals. i ended up going overdrawn, because they were telling me i had money in my account when i actually didnt. so i went over my overdraft limit, therefore got charged £25...i had money go in, but the charge and the overdraft ate it up and left me with no money...so i went into the branch, waited in line for about an hour! and asked what was going on with my account. the lady was not very helpful at all, was very abrupt, treated me like a scrounger and told me because my account was still overdrawn (by 60p!) that if it wasnt brought back within the overdraft limit by 15:30 i would be charged another £25! for 60 pence...robbing b*****ds!
Barclays are only concerned about making money, not helping their customers. they try and push people into debt so they can make money on the interest! disgraceful. i am stopping all money going into my account, clearing my overdraft in one go, and then closing the account...id rather bank with someone who gives a damn!
**** DO NOT BANK WITH BARCLAYS! ****
I have had problems with them since day1.
We originally had our mortgage with them, and they just screwed that up since day1.
One of the requirements was to have have buildings or contents insurence with them, so I chose buildings insurance.
But they went ahead and setup both.
I told them that I was not doing contents insurence with them, so please cancel it.
So they promptly cancelled both contents and buildings insurence.
I then contacted them and stated, according to their own terms and conditions I had to have one of them, so why did they cancel both.
They then went and created both again.
Repeat the previous fiasco 3 more times.
In the end I gave up, and left them both cancelled and got them sorted elsewhere. So for the 3 years I had my mortgage with Barclays I was in breach of their terms and conditions through their own actions.
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As for bank accounts, I have lost count of all the stupid things they did, there were so many.
I was constantly p**sed off by the fact that they would try and put payments through just hours before my salary went into my account, knowing full well it would fail and then charging me £20 to write and tell me that fact.
In the end I started replying to all their letters and charging them £35 for the priviledge.
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I also had a business account with Barclays, and once they sent all my chequebooks, cards and pin to the totally wrong address. When I called them about this they had just randomly changed the address on my account.
Then after I moved house, and gave them new address, they continued sending everything to my old address.
Everytime I called them about this, they sai dthey had my new address on the computer and they don't know how mail was going to my old address.
After months of this and speaking to numerous people, I finally spoke to someone who knew that my address was kept in 2 depts. One for my general account details, and one for where new chequebooks and cards were sent to.
So this was supposedly my own fault for not telling them to change both addresses in both depts, even though I had no idea about this and neither did any of the other Barclays staff. So I how wa sI meant to know internal info about how the bank worked when even the staff did not know this?
wont give you branch number. call service rude and unhelpful
And their computer systems suck as they keep going down every time I ring.
Having said all that I have some advice if, like me, you have had cause to complain.
The direct number to their Complaints department is 0845 6090806 and gets you through to an adviser that is empowered to refund you up to £250 instantly on their own authority based on their own personal assessment of whether your complaint is worth it. They will also, almost automatically, refund any charges you have incurred on your account if you push hard enough and kick up enough fuss (eg threaten to go to the ombudsman as this would cost the bank over £100.)
So the moral of the story is don't let the b*****ds push you around and steal YOUR money. Push back!! Complain and demand compensation!
I guarantee if you stick at it and keep at them then you will succeed in winning your argument because in 99 cases in 100 the customer is in the right and even if your not the bank would rather give you £50 to shut up and go away than have you keep pestering them with complaints.
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