Archive for May, 2007

Another Empty Email

Published May 30th, 2007 in Internet Banking. Closed

Abbey have very kindly sent me an email this morning however I am still no further forward. The email, from Abbey Customer Services reads as follows;

Thank you for your further comments.

I’m sorry to hear that you havent had any further correspondance at this stage and I apologise that you’ve had to contact us to chase the matter.

I do appreciate your comments and I can assure you I have sent your email to the relevant team and have marked it for their immediate attention.

I sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused and the department who are in receipt of your past communication will make every effort to respond to you in full as soon as possible.

Regards

So again, it is simply an apology telling me the information has been passed to the relevant department. The department that has been contacted by Customer Service for the past 3 months and still haven’t acted up on their requests. Due to this, I expect the relevant department will not act on the latest communication sent by Customer Service.

Bearing this in mind, I have now started to PPC this website on Google and MSN on Abbey relevant search terms. In my reply to Customer Services, I have requested that this matter be resolved in 7 days by which I mean, money refunded, interest owed refunded and charges applied to my account because this has taken me overdrawn, also refunded. If this is not carried out within 7 days, then I will be speaking to the media in an attempt to bring it to possible future customers of Abbey, warning them of the experience I have received.

My Address Has Changed

Published May 30th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Firstly, credit where credit is due… After I hung up the phone after being on hold for 17 minutes yesterday, they did ring me back, and put me through to Fraud again, in order to save my own phone bill. Very (happily) surprised at this and greatful for. I managed to get through to Fraud with only being on hold for 5 minutes and confirmed all transactions were mine.

However, later that evening I spoke to my parents and was a little alarmed to find that the Abbey had initially phoned my parents house asking for me. I left home over 10 years ago, and have always informed Abbey of my new address and contact numbers. I even have my mortgage with them! New cards and statements are always posted to my correct address, however I am now extremely concerned at how they still have details on file for me, that are over 10 years out of date! Luckily my parents are still around, had it been a fraudster, then this is another possible breach of security that could result in more problems in the future.

CEO Email Response

Published May 29th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Today I am in receipt of a response to my email sent to the CEO of Abbey yesterday. At first it appears that it is a personal response from Customer Service team, however the more I read, the more I realised this is a standard response as it goes on to say ‘If we are unable to do this within 4 weeks, we will contact you to update you with our progress.’. This obviously isn’t the case as my problem would have been resolved by now, and as for the contact me with updates, again this clearly isn’t being followed.

The whole email read;

Hello

We are writing to let you know that we have received your complaint. Thank you for contacting us and telling us about your concerns.

At Abbey we want to keep our customers happy, however we know that sometimes things can go wrong and we welcome complaints as an opportunity to improve the service we offer you.

Unfortunately we are unable to trace your details from the information provided. So that we can investigate further and send you our response, please could you reply with your full postal address.

We try our best to resolve complaints quickly. If we are unable to do this within 4 weeks, we will contact you to update you with our progress.

The following link tells you about the Complaints Procedure we have set up to make sure you receive a quick and fair reply:

www.abbey.com/customer_satisfaction

If you would like to talk to us about anything else please give us a call. You can find the number you need by clicking on www.abbey.com/contact_abbey

Regards

Who knows, I may actually be on to something here. Anyway, I have promptly replied;

Many thanks for the email. As you will see from the history of my complaint I have followed the procedures on your website, however these clearly don’t work. You have had nearly 3 months to deal with my complaint, and Visa Disputes & Customer Service NEVER contact me with any update on progress.My postal address is;
nn xxxxxxxxx xxxxx
xxxxxxx
xxxxxx
xxnn nxx

My original complaint ref is 581nnn and relates to Visa Disputes on my account identified on 9th March. As the website details, all forms were duly completed and faxed immediately by my Branch to Visa Disputes Department, yet nothing has been done at all. I have not been contacted by the department in relation to this, despite requesting over 45 times that they do so. I have been unable to get in touch by phone due to it constantly being engaged, and the Customer Service Department, my last hope, doesn’t follow up on anything it promises either.

If you wish to discuss further, or require any more information, please do not hesitate to contact me on 07nnn nnnnnn

Many thanks

Card Is Not Blocked

Published May 29th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Phoned Abbey again, and their systems were back online. They confirmed that my card had not been blocked and I confirmed all transactions on my account were legitimate, however they still tried putting me through to Fraud Department. The phone shows I’ve been on hold for 17mins 27 seconds and its time to hang up again as I have to go out at lunch.

Before I pop out, I thought I would ring Customer Services, you know, the ones who always promise to call me back but never do. The idea was to chase up my outstanding claim yet again, and also find out why I was not called back on Friday despite the promise. Lucky for them, the number (08456 006 014) is constantly engaged again. No message or queue to join, just simply beep beep beep beep :(

Card Has Been Blocked

Published May 29th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

This morning I received a phonecall from a Private/Witheld number with someone saying they were calling from Abbey National in relation to recent purchases on my current account. In order to pass security they wanted me to hand over a load of information such as Date Of Birth, Mothers Maiden Name etc. I informed them that I wasn’t willing to give this information as I had no proof of they were who they said they were, especially with the current problems I am having.

Because of this, they said they would have to block my card until I phoned them back to confirm the payments which is fine if a little inconvenient. It made me think, why don’t banks have a challenge and response system in place? So when Abbey phone me, in order for them to verify themselves, I ask them a question that only Abbey know the response to? Surely this would make communication a little more secure?

I was put on hold for 10 minutes and as per usual was told they ‘are busy helping other’ and thanking me for ‘being so patient’. Eventually I get through to someone and explain I have been asked to check some recent transactions with them. Sadly, I was told that their internal systems are offline again and I would have to call back in 1hr. In the meantime I am once again stuck without any money.

Emailed The CEO

Published May 28th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Today I have finally decided that Abbey have left me with no other option, other than emailing the CEO of Abbey. I think I have been more patient than most other Abbey customers and have exhausted all the correct channels of resolving this matter, without success.

Dear Antonio

Firstly, accept my apologies in emailing you direct, however Abbey has left me with no further option after exploring all other avenues made available to me as an Abbey customer. I would like to bring to you attention the following website that I have created that chronicles my ongoing problems with Abbey;
http://www.switchtoabbey.co.uk

Please note, this is NOT related to Unfair Bank Charges.

I hope that by contacting you direct, someone, somewhere will take responsibility on behalf of Abbey as to date, the customer service I have received, is nothing short of shambolic. I sincerely hope that I get a response, as I have mentioned on the website that I have contacted you directly. I am also paying for the website to be advertised on MSN and Google in order to gain exposure and hope that swift resolution will follow.

 

Many thanks

Here’s hoping this may result in some sort of response!

Transaction Declined

Published May 27th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Today, I was shopping in Costco and handed over my Abbey National Visa Debit card, only to be told that my transaction had been declined. At first I thought it was my PIN as I knew for sure, the money was available as I only got paid 5 days ago. After a 2nd attempt it was declined again, and as Costco don’t accept Credit Cards, I was slightly stuck. Luckily a friend who I was with, used her Visa Debit card which also happens to be with the Abbey National and the purchase went through with no difficulties.

Phoned Abbey and as per normal I was place on hold for 30 minutes whilst waiting for someone to take my call. I was eventually told there was a problem with Visa Debit Card transactions that affected only some cards, hence why my friends worked. While on the phone I asked for a balance on my account to make sure there were no problems and no unexplained transactions. I was then informed that Abbeys internal computer systems were also offline and she was unable to provide me with any  information on my account.

Let Down Again

Published May 25th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

Today I rang Abbey Cusomter Service for chat as I hadn’t spoke to them for some time and was missing our regular chats. I quoted my reference number and was promptly informed that they will email Abbey Fraud Department AND Abbey Visa Dispute Department to see what was happening. I was then told that the delay maybe because I have not completed all the forms!

I started to lose it a little. I asked if it had anything to do with missing forms, then why hadn’t anyone contacted me earlier. I then realised that it was just another lie in an attempt to stall me and get me to hang up as when I quizzed what other forms needed to be filled in, Customer Service were very vague and couldn’t answer me.

I insisted that they found something out, and asked;
“Will someone phone me back today?”
“Yes”
“Can you guarantee it? Will it be you or will it be passed to someone else again?”
“I will guarantee to ring you back by end of day”
“Even if its with no update, just ring me on 07950 xxxxxx”

Did I get a call back? You’re joking aren’t you!

Offline With No Access

Published May 23rd, 2007 in Internet Banking. Closed

For the past 5 days I have been trying to gain access to my account details online but sadly the Abbey website is down and has been unavailable since late Saturday! There is no announcement on the website, and whenever you phone any Abbey Departments you are put on hold for god only knows how long. Surely it would make sense to have a message about the website unavailability?

The problem I now face is that I want to move money from my eSaver account to my personal account. This process can not be done over the telephone as eSaver accounts are only accessible via the internet!

So I have an account with Abbey which I need to transfer funds from and to, yet I have had no access to this money for 5 days!

2 Months & Still Nothing!

Published May 8th, 2007 in Telephone Banking. Closed

For the past few days I have actually started to lose the will to live regarding my fraudulent claim with Abbey. I am seriously thinking is it worth it? Seems crazy when you think the figures we are talking about here are in excess of £1000 but how much longer can I seriously go on for without cracking up?

Today I relcuntantly picked the phone up on 5 different occasions and tried to ring Abbey Customer Service. Sadly, but not surprisingly, each time I received the BUSY tone and had to hang up.

I just need to remember that tomorrow is a different day!

My Time Wasted

Phone calls to Abbey - 47
Phone calls from Abbey - 3
Hours on phone - 49

Emails to Abbey - 3
Emails from Abbey - 2

Days between claim and receiving full refund = 96

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