Oh for the love of...

Okay so bear with me I've just had enough with Natwest.

on or around the 1st of October my online banking was disabled due to suspected fraudulent activity on my account after numerous calls and finally visiting my branch I made a complaint because nobody could tell me what was happening and why there were no notes on the account nothing! I was annoyed by this and of course because my card was not stopped if they suspected someone was accessing my account why would they not stop my card?

and now roughly two weeks on my online banking again has been disabled and also this time (ironically) they have also cancelled my card I am completely at my wits end yet again nobody could tell me what on earth was going on even the lady at the branch told me to ring customer service who told me that I needed to go into branch as they wanted me to show ID and prove who I was etc.

I now have another card on order and also once this arrives I will have to re-register for online banking.

what I want now is to make a complaint regarding the absolutely useless customer service I have received from Natwest. I also wish to ask for compensation for emotional distress and time wasted phoning these pratts, do you think this is a waste of my time? I suppose this is more of a rant than anything but I want more than some apology uttered over the phone by someone who obviously couldn't give two hoots

 

Surely there is an ombudsman that can handle some of it for you.

I would switch banks too.

 

When Santander told me they couldn't close my Daughters account, (every time I paid off the overdraft they added more charges) I asked for a complaint form, the cashier went away and asked the manager and suddenly found that she could sort it out there and then

 

Yes I have decided to switch to using my Barclays account, it's a shame because I like the staff at my local branch and it just happens that my employer also uses Natwest and so my wages actually tend to clear ealier over the weekend if they are due to be paid on a Monday.

 

NatWest, Barclays, the difference is?

If you're going to switch, you might want to think about switching to a building society instead of another bank. A bank and a building society are entirely different legal entities. The former is legally required to act in the best interests of its share holders, the latter is legally required to act in the best interests of its members, who are the account holders.

But in this case, in defence of NatWest (and savour this, as its rare for me to defend a financial organisation as I see them all as greedy thieves), if their software has flagged up potentially suspicious activity, they can not tell you what's going on. Its in the FSA rules in the fraud detection bit that they tell you nothing until they complete their investigation. Look at it from their point of view, you might be the one trying to defraud them. I'm sure you're not, but to them you are a record in a database, some 1s and 0s running through some algorithms. You're not a person, you are just data to them. All the more reason to switch to a building society really, where you generally get treat a little bit more like a person.