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Accounting the days
Alliance and Leicester are playing a game with me. Every so often they cock up something to do with one of the three accounts I have with them, usually something non-critical but sufficiently annoying that I have to sort it out. And every time, I ring up, and (sometimes after a fair amount of phone-shuffling and buck-passing) some pleasant young person sorts everything out efficiently and cheerfully, and goes the extra mile in a way that makes me think "Yeah! These people are all right!"
It was only just now (during a phone call so tortuous that I had to twitter about it to keep myself sane, in which I had to ascertain why they thought my current account had closed; if they didn't, why they'd disabled the linked savings account; why they'd sent me two COA letters changing my address from this one to, er, this one; and whether I could have a new card please because I've worn this one out) that I started to wonder whether they are cocking things up deliberately so that they can impress me by fixing them...
Then they offered me a free Financial Advice session, "to see if the accounts I've got are right for my needs". Since this is something I've been trying to research myself and never quite getting round to changing anything, this offer actually comes at exactly the right time. Hurrah! Alliance and Leicester are great. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt again, and forget about all the cockups (and the hold music, which is the worst kind of noodly liftmusic except for one tiny glitch where the track skips) until next time.
Now all I need is the time to take them up on their offer. Three days left in the current job. That's less than 24 working hours. Expect me to be even more busy and stressed than I have been recently anyway...
It was only just now (during a phone call so tortuous that I had to twitter about it to keep myself sane, in which I had to ascertain why they thought my current account had closed; if they didn't, why they'd disabled the linked savings account; why they'd sent me two COA letters changing my address from this one to, er, this one; and whether I could have a new card please because I've worn this one out) that I started to wonder whether they are cocking things up deliberately so that they can impress me by fixing them...
Then they offered me a free Financial Advice session, "to see if the accounts I've got are right for my needs". Since this is something I've been trying to research myself and never quite getting round to changing anything, this offer actually comes at exactly the right time. Hurrah! Alliance and Leicester are great. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt again, and forget about all the cockups (and the hold music, which is the worst kind of noodly liftmusic except for one tiny glitch where the track skips) until next time.
Now all I need is the time to take them up on their offer. Three days left in the current job. That's less than 24 working hours. Expect me to be even more busy and stressed than I have been recently anyway...
no subject
"Are you aware you have an old-style account Sir?"
"Yes, that's the kind where you pay me rather than the other way round isn't it?"
"Er, yes, but, umm..."
me too
But I am less polite than you: I spell out that I don't want to buy services from a bank when other providers (like getting insurance from an insurance company) do it better and cheaper; and pay for the privilege as well.
My current game with Lloyds is to use their pre-paid envelopes to refuse their regular offers of credit cards and loans: I stuff the pre-paids full of the lot, including their original envelope, and mail it straight back to 'em. So I don't even have to burden my recycling box.
In fairness to Natwest...
Re: In fairness to Natwest...