F*****ing Natwest T****er Bank

[Monium]

Well I have phoned three different banks in the last day and these were their various responses:

1 - Nationwide (current account): "that's no problem, thanks for letting us know, but you didn't really need to bother as we're nice like that, there'd only be a problem if the spending was way beyond your normal profile. Oh, and you know there are no charges at all, don't you?"

Dead easy, and very good customer service.

2 - HSBC (current account): "thanks for letting us know, we'll put a flag on the fraud department bit so they'll see if it anything is referred through to them. We can't guarantee that your card won't be stopped, but there's not too much chance of it being. Oh, and we'll charge you lots for using it there, so please spend lots and often"

Again, dead easy, though not such a great response. Although the call centre chap did ask how my weekend had been. Aww.

3 - Barclaycard (credit card): "thanks for letting us know, there shouldn't be any problems whilst you're out there, but the number's on the back of the card if there are. Oh, and we'll charge you lots too"

Dead easy again.

All of those calls in total took me about 15 minutes. Sounds like Natwest are lagging behind rather in the customer service stakes...

Why a bank would make it quite so difficult for you to spend money with them abroad, when they're going to be raking in charges, I'm not sure.

Amy.

[Scuby]

Just as one thing worth mentioning...

Don't just look at the charges for using cards abroad - that really isn't the whole picture. Just like commission doesn't reflect the cost of exchanging money at various places in the UK.

If you're going to make comparisons, compare the entire cost of taking out eg £100 in foreign currency - including fees, commission, service charges, and the exchange rate! If you do that you'll find that using many banks' cards in cash machines abroad is no more expensive than any other who offer "free" cash abroad with "no fees" and "no commission", or even getting it in advance in the UK.

David

[JasonP]

J
If you're going to make comparisons, compare the entire cost of taking out eg £100 in foreign currency - including fees, commission, service charges, and the exchange rate! If you do that you'll find that using many banks' cards in cash machines abroad is no more expensive than any other who offer "free" cash abroad with "no fees" and "no commission", or even getting it in advance in the UK.

Nationwide don't charge any commission or fees. All card providers use the same commercial rate, but apart from Nationwide and the Post Office, they all load it by at least 2.75%.

Jason

[Gav]

I have occassion to deal with all the major banks in the course of work. NatWest are, without doubt, the most incompetent "wunch of bankers" going! I'm sure they have a Customer Dis-service policy!

[gobfish1]

cards abroad never had a problem .. but im a cash man . cards are just for back up and room service,

ps
get a big fat wedge of dollers and you will have no worrys on your hols

banks are all twats only use them when you have to ,, there not for helping you , your there so they can make money out of you , end off .
f@@k all is free,

[BJ]

There must be more to this than meets the eye because I use my Nat West cards all over the world including PNG, Aus, Thailand, Egypt, Japan, Europe, USA, the Bahamas, Peru, etc etc. I even have a special number to call if I have a problem and don't want to speak to a recording. However, when a waiter at a restaurant in Las Vegas tried to charge 1500dollars on my card it was flagged up as unusual spending and stopped - thank goodness!

[David P]

Yeah, so nobody's said there's just a chance it's Digger who's being singled out rather than just NatWest customers as a whole

[mjgreen]

Right then. So on Saturday Mr Digger is off for a nice holiday in Florida.

He thinks "I know, we should probably tell the bank that he's going away, so they don't do anything silly like stop his card."

How wrong could he be.

So he rings Natwest, and they tell him if he uses his card abroad it will be stopped. Even if he tells them almost to the nearest shop where he's going to be spending his money, and the exact dates when it will be happening.

Sorry, I forgot the first call where I spoke to a lovely person in Enfield, who can't tell me the extension to get back to speak to them, or their surname for security reasons. I'm told if I ring back that I probably won't even get through to Enfield.

So, I then ask why if I have told them in advance why my card would be stopped? They tell me there's a computer which stops things like that from happening, and they can't tell it not to stop my card. OK, so how about it stops my card and flags up to the fraud team, which is what happens anyway, and we leave a little message on their desks to say that it's ok, Digger's on holiday and that spending money in shops is quite normal. Part of the problem is that we only get to find out that it's stopped when I get to the checkout with a trolley full of products.

I'm also a little concerned about making an international call to tell them I'm on holiday, when I'm supposed to be relaxing. The cost if nothing else offends me.

What about if I am in the middle of nowhere in a dodgy area and I've had to pull over for petrol in the dark, and I can't leave until I've paid. I can't pay until Natwest calls me or I call them. How long does this take? 10 minutes apparently. Bollocks. Nothing with Natwest takes 10 minutes.

They tell me there's nothing they can do. They can't control their computer. They can't keep a customer happy.

Apparently no-one in all of Natwest can prevent my card getting stopped.

I do have to disagree, but in fairness that's only cos I have the benefit of natwest private banking

Call my account manager, no waiting in queue or automated system, she sorts everything out (got a sexy voice too) either on the phone, or calls me back to confirm it's all sorted

I like Natwest, but only for that reason - the service for me is superb, but ya sucks when you only get the muppet in a call centre who doesn't know their arse from their elbow.

My gf has had her credit card stopped in Egypt - MBNA I think - happened to be the one that we were about to lump 2 weeks worth of tech diving on. Supposed to be 48 hours to fix, but was more like a week.

[MartinJ]

Best I have seen was with HSBC. Was in Malta with some mates diving and we went to get some beer tokens. He had his card declined by the bank and his mobile rang whilst he was still at the cashpoint asking him if he had just used his card so they unblocked it for him!!!

[wilbo]

I use Nationwide as my bank. The FlexAccount is good from the point of view that you don't get charged for cash withdrawals from ATMs either here or abroad - and saves the hassle of having to go to the bureau de change. I use one for that reason..