Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Is this normal behaviour for a bank?
My 18-year-old son went to open his first proper bank account at Nationwide in Crouch End today. They had insisted that he must come at 2 p.m and when he got there, he was ushered into a back room and interviewed via webcam by a woman in America, for almost an hour. No-one explained to him what was going to happen, and he was completely confused and really put off by not being dealt with by a human being. They kept telling him to speak clearly to camera, so that they could film his replies. It's positively 'Big Brother.'
His bank account has been set up, but it sounds a pretty awful experience and no way to treat what might be a lifelong customer - I feel bad for recommending he go there as I thought they were a decent organisation, and he's had a savings account there since childhood.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Nationwide? They're a building society... and a UK one. He may have been randomly selected for money laundering questions. Did you give him a big (> £1000) deposit?
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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No he had a few hundred in birthday cheques to pay in. I think this is their standard practice, as he tried to open it a few weeks ago and was given the same appointment time, which he then missed.
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Permalink Reply by Mike on
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I have accounts with Nationwide myself and am shocked that they would treat a new customer in that manner. Perhaps worth complaining in writing to the branch manager & demanding an explanation + apology? If the response is anything but contrite, it deserves more publicity - eg if you felt like forwarding the ensuing correspondence to the Sunday Times, possible publication would provide a great example of how to lose customers and alienate people.
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Totally agree, I'd be really interested in thir rationale. Are you on Twittter? That would be another starting point (tweeting their customer services).,
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Permalink Reply by Philip on
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I opened a Nationwide account so I could get their credit card for use on holiday abroad. Natwest are the pits when it comes to using cards abroad and have let me down badly in the past. I was treated in a very courteous manner but had I been treated like this then I would have taken my business elsewhere. Insult to injury is to be interviewed by an AMERICAN!
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Spoken to Nationwide this morning and apparently this is how their new account-opening system works, so be warned. The webcam person wasn't in America (he thought they said New Hampshire, but it was actually Northampton - which just about shows how much he understood of the proceedings...)
I've made a general complaint on his behalf, but as he's18 he would have to make a formal complaint himself, which I doubt he will.
If I were him I'd take my business elsewhere.
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Plus it took me three calls to get through to a person in customer services, as the call options they give you do not include this. I used the age-old method of just pressing the hash key several times...
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Yea get him to switch to Halifax and they give you £100, win win situation :)
And I don't work for them incase...
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Yes I suppose that's all that can be done - protest and take one's business elsewhere, as indeed I would if treated like your son. The process smacks of sacrificing customer perception on the altar of cost-cutting to me - centralisation of approval resources, use of technology etc. Filming such interviews is particularly naff - courtesy clearly subordinate to the need for interrogation. I personally think that service businesses such as Nationwide which travel down that route risk loosing to firms that treat people more like valued customers than potential criminals
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Yeah all that banking regulation that we screamed for after 2007 is totally unnecessary and the poor and young are bearing the brunt of it eh?
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