How British banks became synonymous with poor customer service
SIR – I am the treasurer of a small group that fundraises for a children’s hospice in North Yorkshire.
In November 2022, Barclays threatened to close our account (Letters, February 6) unless seemingly endless questions were answered. Replies were sent without acknowledgement.
I complained and received replies by post, assuring me that inquiries were taking place. But the requests for information continued. Both the letters regarding complaints and the information requests came from the same place. I wrote again asking if either side knew what it was doing, and the charity finally had £25 credited to its account, and an apology.
In March 2023, however, it started all over again, with identical requests. An email from Barclays in October 2023 told me it was very busy and would address the situation in due course. I wait with bated breath.
Clive Townsend
Scarborough, North Yorkshire
SIR – I visited my bank to try to open an account for a volunteer group.
I was instructed to do this online. I started the process, only to abandon it in frustration. The bank expects everybody to be able to follow reams of instructions, some of them complicated and poorly explained. I thought that I’d cracked it, only to be told to upload my signature using a linked app. At that point, I gave up.
Customer service in banking is at an all-time low. Older customers, in particular, seem to have been completely forgotten. Do banks care? Paul Caruana
Truro, Cornwall
SIR – Like Trelawney ffrench (Letters, January 29), I received a letter from Barclays informing me that the branch at Bluewater Shopping Centre was to close as “we’re changing how we support you with your banking”.
It suggests I go to Bexleyheath or the Post Office at Greenhithe – not easy journeys for a pensioner with mobility issues – but is “keen to hear what you think”. Really?
Nadine Smith
Bean, Kent
SIR – I have always gone to the local branch of my bank. I felt this would help to keep it open.
Recently, however, I explained my reasoning to a cashier, who told me that I was wasting my time. Each visit costs the bank money; closure decisions are not related to footfall.
You can’t win when customer service is secondary to profit.
Peter Lawrie
Romsey, Hampshire
SIR – I had a text from Barclays about a year ago, telling me that staff would be in attendance each week at a hall in the town where it had just closed one of its banks. Apparently I could go there for a chat, but there would be no monetary transactions. What is the point? Diann Pollock Upton, Wirral