The individual touch
Category Banking
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Quite a few bloggers have posted articles about things that have angered them. Specifically, about service(s) they've received from suppliers. As the "mild mannered", "easy going" type that I normally am, these things don't tend to get me going (until now that is).
Today, I received a letter from my bank (Barclays) regarding a charge that had been made on my business account. Now, at this point I'll give you a little of the background.
Back in February I did some work for an agency (employment) up in London. The lead was passed onto me by an old friend (thanks Seagull). Not a major piece of work but, as Tesco say in their adverts, "Every little helps".
Having done the work and had it "signed off" by the client, I sent off the invoice a couple of days later. Within a further 2 days, a cheque arrived in payment. "Very nice" I thought. I wish all my clients were that prompt in paying.
Now, for one reason or another, the cheque didn't get paid into the bank for a couple of weeks and whilst in Iceland celebrating by brothers 40th birthday, I received a call from a co-director of the clients. Very apologetically, she explained that one of the other directors had "run off" with £125,000 (~$250,000) of business funds and that they were now in liquidation. Because of this, she was probably going to lose her house (as it was used as collateral for the company) but she would try her best to get the cheque paid.
Now, I'm a pretty sympathetic guy (well, in most instances anyhow) so I accepted her explanation of the situation and was resigned to the fact that it was a bad debt and wouldn't get paid.
So, now we come back to this letter from Barclays. They've notified me of a charge on the account of £2 for processing the unpaid cheque. This may be "standard practice" but I think it's outrageous! They charge for international money transfers (both in and out of the account), they charge for every cheque written on the account. And yet, they use the money in the account to invest and make more money. Yes, they're using my (sorry, my company's money) to make themselves more money - and they still want to charge the account for all these individual transactions!
I was on the phone at 9:00am sharp to the Business Banking call centre. Granted, this is in Leicester, but The person I spoke to told me "it was standard practice" and there was nothing he could do, but he would inform my account manager of the disputed charge and get him to call me. "Fair enough" I thought. I'll discuss it with him/her when they phone. I'm probably not going to get anywhere but at least I can have some of my moneys worth in time arguing it with them.
So, an hour goes by. No call.
2 hours pass and still no call.
3 hours. Diddly-squat.
So I'm back onto the call centre. This time, a very helpful lady tells be that the other agent I spoke to should have informed me that "they will try and respond within 48 hours but, they're very busy at the moment so it may take a little long". No shit Sherlock. They'll be busy 'cos everyone's calling them to dispute the charges on their account!
Now, I know this is only about a £2 charge. Tell me if I'm wrong but, as a matter of principal, I think this is ridiculous.
Bookmark :
Quite a few bloggers have posted articles about things that have angered them. Specifically, about service(s) they've received from suppliers. As the "mild mannered", "easy going" type that I normally am, these things don't tend to get me going (until now that is).
Today, I received a letter from my bank (Barclays) regarding a charge that had been made on my business account. Now, at this point I'll give you a little of the background.
Back in February I did some work for an agency (employment) up in London. The lead was passed onto me by an old friend (thanks Seagull). Not a major piece of work but, as Tesco say in their adverts, "Every little helps".
Having done the work and had it "signed off" by the client, I sent off the invoice a couple of days later. Within a further 2 days, a cheque arrived in payment. "Very nice" I thought. I wish all my clients were that prompt in paying.
Now, for one reason or another, the cheque didn't get paid into the bank for a couple of weeks and whilst in Iceland celebrating by brothers 40th birthday, I received a call from a co-director of the clients. Very apologetically, she explained that one of the other directors had "run off" with £125,000 (~$250,000) of business funds and that they were now in liquidation. Because of this, she was probably going to lose her house (as it was used as collateral for the company) but she would try her best to get the cheque paid.
Now, I'm a pretty sympathetic guy (well, in most instances anyhow) so I accepted her explanation of the situation and was resigned to the fact that it was a bad debt and wouldn't get paid.
So, now we come back to this letter from Barclays. They've notified me of a charge on the account of £2 for processing the unpaid cheque. This may be "standard practice" but I think it's outrageous! They charge for international money transfers (both in and out of the account), they charge for every cheque written on the account. And yet, they use the money in the account to invest and make more money. Yes, they're using my (sorry, my company's money) to make themselves more money - and they still want to charge the account for all these individual transactions!
I was on the phone at 9:00am sharp to the Business Banking call centre. Granted, this is in Leicester, but The person I spoke to told me "it was standard practice" and there was nothing he could do, but he would inform my account manager of the disputed charge and get him to call me. "Fair enough" I thought. I'll discuss it with him/her when they phone. I'm probably not going to get anywhere but at least I can have some of my moneys worth in time arguing it with them.
So, an hour goes by. No call.
2 hours pass and still no call.
3 hours. Diddly-squat.
So I'm back onto the call centre. This time, a very helpful lady tells be that the other agent I spoke to should have informed me that "they will try and respond within 48 hours but, they're very busy at the moment so it may take a little long". No shit Sherlock. They'll be busy 'cos everyone's calling them to dispute the charges on their account!
Now, I know this is only about a £2 charge. Tell me if I'm wrong but, as a matter of principal, I think this is ridiculous.