I'll start by saying I'm an Abbey National customer because I used to work for them, and liked the company. I'm a Santander shareholder.

 As a company they're dying on their feet.

My debit card expired on 1st November. I noticed on 27 October that I hadn't had the replacement. So I phoned them. They blamed the post strikes.

OK.

New card ordered, no problem, except that the young man I spoke to had all the traditional problems of call centre agents on the Indian sub-continent - arrogant, no empathy and responding to any questions with an air of injured pride. (I've just spent 18 months analyzing customer satisfaction surveys for a multi national call centre company - I know what I'm talking about...)

 Card didn't turn up. So I phoned again - but it's been sent sir... 'I'm not denying that, but it hasn't arrived.' 'There's nothing we can do about that sir...'

Time passes - I phone the lost and stolen section - Abbey have never yet apologized for my having no money last Christmas a a result of how long it took them to resolve a problem over my card being cloned but I learned then that they usually responded to queries via lost and stolen more effectively. 

Young man somewhere in Scotland responds politely and explains that they've moved all their systems to a new platform that is supposed to improve CRM. In the process they've changed my address back to my old address from 7 years ago, and marked it unconfirmed, meaning no mail will go out.

 He can't fix this - I'm not the only one this has happened to, but he can only fill in a data correction form and send that to someone who can fix it and then order my new card.

Time moves on another ten days - no card. Phone India and get an idiot who tells me that if he can't find any record of my previous calls on his system then they can't have happened. Call High Level Complaints in UK who admit to the systems problem, promise to fix the data problem and order new card. After some discussion they offer me £30 on a non liability basis as a goodwill gesture to cover the cost of my calls. I tell them I'll gladly take the £30 to cover the cost of my calls but I want separate compensation for the loss of service. 'That's above my level sir - it'll take eight weeks to sort out.' So I say OK, I can wait so long as I get my card.

Seven days later? No card. Phone India. No joy. Agent hangs up on me after 11 minutes of him telling me that my card was sent out in October and he has no record of any of my other calls. Yesterday I finally speak to someone in complaints who confirms that yes the address problem is fixed, but no my card hasn't been ordered and he can't explain why, He's got a note of my complaint and he'll add this problem to the list.

How can a bank who used to have great customer service have fallen so low?

How can they have engaged in such a badly managed change of platforms?
 

This country is being sold out to Indian call centres that are worse than useless and are specifically designed to stop complaints. If we were all to revert to the written word and then seek legal action through the lack of responses from the company concerned, there would be a very rapid change of heart in the faceless boardrooms.

Abbey National is another national disgrace along with virtually every high street bank who sold us out to Bangalore!

SHARK! 

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For every positive action, there's an equal and opposite government plan.

Update; 31 days to replace my debit card....

Had the same problem, lost my card.  Replacement card never came. 

 

Advice about the indian call center.  Abbey also has a scotland call center, just phone in the afternoon. 

Agree totally with ex banker. Am still waiting for replacement debit card that expired on 30 November despite repeated calls to the call centre and one trip to a local branch.

Having been told by Abbey that they had sent a new card on 4 separate occassions, I was told tonight that due to a computer problem they had sent the previous cards to a previous address which I moved from in 2001. ( not my last address but the one before that). The Indian Sub Continent Call Centre agent suggested that I should go around to my old address ( which is over 150 miles away) and ask for the card.

He refused to issue a new card to my current address ( the one to which they have been sending my bank statements for 5 years) or refused to allow me to speak to a supervisor and suggested I ring the call centre again tomorrow after 9.00am. He did agree to put a stop on the card.

Having ben an Abbey customer for 37 years I an contemplating moving my current account.

Agree totally with ex banker.

Quick update; going rate is £75 compo for loss of service, on top of cost of calls etc...

Bank freely admit they botched it all, but claim that they're improving service inthe process.

I hate Shabby National with a vengence & I used to work for them. They screwed me out of hundreds, until I rang to complain & sent a letter of complaint. To which they reduced the amount I actually owed by about £400. The recent spate of claiming the bank charges back isn't new as I believe I got fairly lucky with this about 6 years ago. Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole now & have been happy ever since

They are still employing criminals to work at their call centres. Last week my girlfriend had £1100 stolen from her account. The statement said it was done via telephone banking.Its another inside job. I have already read they jailed 2 employees for skimming accounts as part of some big fraud ring.

The utterly diabolical thing is, Abbey National have suspended my girlfriends account. They said this is for 7-10 days while they do their "investigations". It is now over 10 days, no one at the fraud department will give us any answers as to when the account will be re-activated and the money returned, Shes spoken to the local branch manager who is completely useless. So not only has Abbey National stolen her money, they've frozen her account.

Has anyone else experienced similar, or have any advice of what we can do ??

I have been with Abbey for 10yrs+ and was a satisfied customer until recently. I started a new business venture and applied for a new current account. As an existing customer, I thought it would be easy as I logged in to online banking to open the account. Not a bit of it.

They asked me to prove who I was even though I had logged in through security and owned an account with them. It took 10 weeks to receive the account details and card. I had asked on the form to open internet banking and tried to log in. Nothing had been set up so phoned customer services and spoke to an Indian chap. The security questions were bizarre - when did you receive your last statement? It's a new account, so never. What's the balance? Nil - it's new. Last transaction? None - it's new. I was then told I had failed security and had to go to a branch. I asked about the security questions, why not DoB, postcode, etc? He wasn't allowed to tell me why!! Finally, he admitted they don't have access to the details as they are waiting on a new system.

Cue complaint to customer service. Sort this out please or when I go to the branch, I will close my new account. No response. I have finally received an answer 12 weeks later and was a waste of paper. You failed security, we told you this, concerned you want to close account. I had closed the account 10 weeks before and they hadn't even noticed.

I went to branch and young manager (I mean really young) was terrified and apologised profusely, but I closed the account. I opened one the next day at Natwest and received cards & logon within a week - no hassle. I am now in the process of moving my main Abbey account which I have held for 10yrs+ & my savings, to Natwest Private account.

Abbey do not care about customers and have not a clue how to keep business. The Indian call centre is worse than poor, with no concept of customer handling. The response from complaints was risible and proved they do not care about my business. The delay also proves they have a huge issue with disgruntled customers. It is a real shame as they were great for me for so many years when I moved to them after being totally disgruntled with my previous bank (Lloyds TSB) and I was satisfied with their service. Something serious has happened which has decimated service quality and I do not believe they should be trusted with your business.

So far so good with Natwest. New account will be opened soon

Hi guys - Had similiar problems with Natwest so started looking around I've moved to Alliance and Leicester, better rates and i have found them really good to deal with! Pleased i moved.

Shanks

I have experienced significant issues with Abbey and despite my best endeavours they remain unresolved. In this instance Abbey continually debit my account with charges that they verbally confirm are not applicable and then fail to credit these charges back! This is made worse by the fact that that my visa card is actually in credit but the card has not been activated despite my receiving it two years ago!

Why do I continue to bank with such an organisation? - this issue is just one in a saga that goes back over 20 years. Perhaps it is because (one sided) misplaced loyalty? Laziness? Or the expectation that my loyalty would one day be recognised if I ever required one of Abbey services; eg a mortgage or a loan etc.

I am firmly of the opinion that Abbey 'rate' their customers, and regardless of the customers financial status this rating affects all subsequant services - I have complained regularly over the years when overcharged, when incorrect Abbey charges have been applied or when the counter assistant 'accidently' gives me a receipt for a lesser amount then the cash deposit (this occurred twice in one branch in the same week) etc etc.

To date I have never received a single written apology or explanation - however, when I once erred with a payment, Abbey bombarded me with demands and charges.

The usual situation is that Abbey allege that written complaints are not received or that they have no record of the subject matter. A very dubious organisation and one which I am now 'divorcing' myself from.

I was conned into joining Shabby by the greedy members of National & Provincial Building Society. Who I had been with very happily for about 5 years. During g that time N&P made one blunder which they readilly admitted for which I received a letter of apology (something that that I had not experienced before or since). Unfortunately I was out-voted in the buy-out poll, and they were sucked into Shabby's den of incompetance.

I had numerous problems with AN, the major one being, a total lack of customer service. I suffered for about 2 years, mainly because I was caught in an identity trap; banks had started to demand passport/drivers license as ID. Being a non-driving stay at home I hadn't got either. I have shares in Shabby / Satandar but at any chance I get advise people to go elsewhere.

I was surprised to see the OP's comment about good customer service, how many years ago was that?

The most annoying thing was that they never took responsibility for anything, it was always the custmer's fault or error that had caused the problem. Even when it was blatantly an AN generated problem