Halifax

Parthiban · May 15, 2008

I needed to send a CHAPS transfer earlier today, and as the Halifax had screwed it up once before when I did it over the phone, I thought it would be easier to just head down to the branch. The cut off for same day was 2.30pm, I went in at 2pm, thinking it's a 5 minute job, no problem. :)

Go in, speak to the guy at the front desk, and he says "do you have an appointment?" I looked at him funny, and asked him if he was joking as it seemed totally stupid to have to make an appointment to make a bank transfer..........he then proceeded to tell me that I could sit and wait but all the advisers were with customers so it might take a while.

At this point, I was starting to get a little annoyed, but still stayed calm and repeated to him again that I don't need mortgage advice or anything, I simply want to make a bank transfer, please give me the form, I'll fill it out, then we can get this sorted and I'll be on my way. Again he told me to take a seat and that I'd have to wait as I couldn't expect to be seen "straight away".

At this point I got really pi :tsktsk: ed off and asked to see the manager (as I clearly wasn't going to get this transfer sent anyway). He then sat me down and explained to me how I can't expect to come in at 2pm when the cut-off is 2.30 and expect to be seen straight away! This was just making me angrier so I simply told him I didn't come in to be seen straight away by any adviser, I simply came in with half an hour to spare, to do a 5 minute job! I then just got up and left as I couldn't be bothered anymore.

All I want to know is, was I being unreasonable to expect to walk into a bank half an hour before the deadline, to do something that would only take a few minutes? Is it really reasonable to have to make an appointment to make a bank transfer?

I was doing this for my parents and afterwards I just told them to pull all the money they have there out and close the account - there's no point in having money with a bank that doesn't help you when you need it............

WylieCoyote · May 15, 2008

I don't think it's unreasonable. It would be unreasonable if you turned up a couple of minutes before 2.30, but even then, good customer service would mean you didn't miss the deadline.

It is a bit, what's the word, excessive to have to make an appointment to transfer some money. My bank is the same, if you want to do anything other than withdraw money or pay it in (having said that they don't even do that for you - they just point you in the direction of the quick deposit box) It does make you wonder what the desk monkeys do all day. Could it be that they do in fact have the best job in the world - getting paid for just handing out money all day? I for one have never seen them do anything else. You could train a sheep to do that!

Steve_D · May 15, 2008

Sounds like you need to join a new bank/building society - thats terrible customer service.

bridgerippa · May 15, 2008

seems to me if they busy they busy. if everybody turned up at 2pm wanting to transfer money by 2.30 then it would still be a matter of waiting your turn? dont matter what bank ya go to they always gonna have other customers. if ya made an appointment then yes i could understand not wanting to wait about. my bank is always heaving with Q's too! sod's law innit. another thing is the kiosks are always all open when theres no Q's but when there are Q's theres like 2 kiosks open then ya have to wait for the little arrow to flash n buzz then you can be prodded forward to a kiosk where ya get fleeced like a sheep- sheep shearing the sheep! still at least ya banks still got ya money unlike barings a few years back!!!

Parthiban · May 15, 2008

It is a bit, what's the word, excessive to have to make an appointment to transfer some money.

Cheers, yep far too excessive, the other thing I pointed out to the manager was that if you can't be bothered to help, why not just make it possible to do it online!

seems to me if they busy they busy. if everybody turned up at 2pm wanting to transfer money by 2.30 then it would still be a matter of waiting your turn? dont matter what bank ya go to they always gonna have other customers. if ya made an appointment then yes i could understand not wanting to wait about. my bank is always heaving with Q's too! sod's law innit. another thing is the kiosks are always all open when theres no Q's but when there are Q's theres like 2 kiosks open then ya have to wait for the little arrow to flash n buzz then you can be prodded forward to a kiosk where ya get fleeced like a sheep- sheep shearing the sheep! still at least ya banks still got ya money unlike barings a few years back!!!

Don't get me wrong, I don't have an aversion to queues, but you can't simply queue up and do it at a kiosk, nor are there members of staff available to do it on the floor. It's not about being busy, because the bank wasn't, it was that you needed to see an adviser - and when have you ever been able to walk into a bank and see an adviser? This is what annoyed me, as it is just ludicrous to have to follow the same procedure to do a simple bank transfer as if I was arranging a mortgage..........

Of the other banks we deal with, none of them are like Halifax, which is why I think we'll be pulling out of requiring their services. Went into Barclays to do it after this debacle, and it was easy as anything - walked in, asked the guy at the front, he gave me a form, filled it in, waited for 2 mins for the person who deals with it to be free, and then put it through.........job done :)

bridgerippa · May 15, 2008

yep seems like like they havent evolved into a bank yet from building society. spose i'm lucky i havent been into halifax recently!

"need to see an advisor" lol halifax speak for telling you what to do with your own money i reckon!

redz_UK · May 15, 2008

you can do transfers online..

i have done it a few times but takes three days,, you should have been able to do it over the phone..

eXOBeX · May 15, 2008

When they close the account, make sure they say WHY they're closing the account...

aztecbandit1 · May 15, 2008

The halifax are useless for customer service? i havn't been into my local branch now for over 3years due to the muppets that work there as i'd get more common sense out of a lamp post :o

Parthiban · May 16, 2008

you can do transfers online..
i have done it a few times but takes three days,, you should have been able to do it over the phone..

Yep I always do BACS transfers online, this was a CHAPS (same day) that I needed to do..........and yes you can do it over the phone, which I have done in the past, and the last time it took them 3 days for the payment to go through, so decided I wasn't doing that again!

Although don't get me started on Halifax BACS transfers either (had a go at the manager about that too), as even that is useless! A few weeks ago I had to send a BACS payment that had to be there in 3 days so BACS was fine. Log on to Halifax on a Thursday evening, thinking that the payment would be sent Friday and arrive on Tuesday, but their system would only send the payment on Monday (which again makes no sense). As I couldn't take the risk, I ended up sending the payment from another account..........