Do our banks like customers?

[smithy266]

I think they don't give a hoot....yesterday, I called in to HSBC in the Market Square, to find only 1 cashier  window open....and after 27th August, there will be NO customer service desks....banking will be all by machine.....
Some of us still need cashiers. Fair enough, there are those staff milling around helping you press the machine buttons, but it just ain't the same....

[Sorastro]

I know what you mean, I've been banking with Yorkshire Bank for over 50 years and in all those years I think the thousands of times I've walked into the bank and been served quickly and gone I could count on the fingers of one hand.
I remember once many moons ago {when they were on New Square} I walked in to be met with well over a dozen people before me and just 3 windows of 6 open. One of the girls on one window after serving a customer put the "closed" sign up locked her till and went off into the back and never re appeared leaving 2, by this time another 6 customers had walked in behind me, that left just 2 windows. The customer being served at the first window made some sort of query on her account or something and the girl serving her said she would check and she went into the back which left one till open. This meant one customer being served about every 4 or 5 minutes and the mutterings started, at least 4 customers left the queue and walked out. The 1st girl came back after about ten minutes and after another ten minutes finally got rid of that customer and started serving others.
When I got served I had been in that bank for approximately 50 minutes {with well over twenty people behind me waiting} and when I'd finished she said " Is there anything else I can do for you today"? and I said "Yes lets start opening more windows and get your customers served faster for next time I come in".

Even now at their Vicar lane branch it's just the same, when it first opened it had 4 cashier stations then it went down to 3 then to 2 and now only one of those 2 is open at any one time,it's pathetic.
I know people don't bank as much as most do it on line but they make you feel as if your imposing when you walk through the doors, like it's too much trouble and unfortunately blaming Covid has now become the excuse for bad service, not just in banks but most retail outlets too.       

[Old Cruser]

I don't bank on line and certainly have no desire to do this.

I am needing a bank which still provides a cheque book - is this a possibility ?

[Tarzan]

I don't bank on line and certainly have no desire to do this.

I am needing a bank which still provides a cheque book - is this a possibility ?

Most banks no longer provide cheque books automatically when you open a new account, but they will usually let you have a cheque book if you ask them for one . 

[Sorastro]

I don't bank on line and certainly have no desire to do this.

I am needing a bank which still provides a cheque book - is this a possibility ?

I too have a cheque book, obviously it's not used as often but every time my cheques reach a certain number they send me a new one.

[smithy266]

I work for a charity, we use cheques, which need to be signed by two signatories, the wife also looks after a club account which pays out cheques....occasionally, she gets a call "What do I do with this cheque?"

[Old Cruser]

We have been trying to open a cheque community account, it is so hard!
We were in the Nat West for a long time the other day, after explaining to the assistant the issues we were having with the online set up of this she kindly sat us down and spoke to an online assistant herself - to cut a long story short she became very frustrated and i suspect a little annoyed with the person on the other end of the line.
Needless to say we left without an account being set up.
All we want is to put a little money away what we have made fundraising and to be able to add to this money for equipment and food for the poorly Hedgehogs we are looking after.
It is so hard!

[Tarzan]

We have been trying to open a cheque community account, it is so hard!
We were in the Nat West for a long time the other day, after explaining to the assistant the issues we were having with the online set up of this she kindly sat us down and spoke to an online assistant herself - to cut a long story short she became very frustrated and i suspect a little annoyed with the person on the other end of the line.
Needless to say we left without an account being set up.
All we want is to put a little money away what we have made fundraising and to be able to add to this money for equipment and food for the poorly Hedgehogs we are looking after.
It is so hard!

I don't know if this is any use to you, but there is some info here about community/ charity bank account.https://www.iwoca.co.uk/finance-explained/charity-bank-accounts/

[Old Cruser]

I don't know if this is any use to you, but there is some info here about community/ charity bank account.https://www.iwoca.co.uk/finance-explained/charity-bank-accounts/

Thanks tarzan - we thought we had cracked it but nope!
On Friday I had another email requesting my signature and a photograph - this will be 3 times I have submitted these!
So annoying!

[Sorastro]

Bad news through the post this morning....
A letter from my bank {Yorkshire bank now Virgin money} telling me that as of the end of January 2022 the Vicar lane branch will close.

"Sorry for the inconvenience" it says,  Oh! so long as it's only me the customer that's inconvenienced that's all right then!!

The letter goes on to say:-
"More and more people choose to manage their money online or over the phone". Well whoopti bl**dy doo that doesn't help me does it?, and I suspect many others that DON'T WANT to bank online, so now your nearest V.M. bank will be at Chesterfield rd. Woodseats.

Am I miffed? you bet I am, but was I a regular customer visiting the bank? no I wasn't and neither were the thousands of other customers, but all those customers visiting at different times of the working week meant the banks stayed open.
Do I blame online banking? you bet I do, Is it the thousands {for whatever reason} that now bank on lines fault? you bet it is. 

Thirty odd years ago how many people, who used banks to do business, how many do you think lost their life savings through scams.
If someone had come up to me in a pub and said "I've a sure fire money making scheme, give me ten grand now and I'll meet you back here in two weeks time and give you twelve grand in return"...... O.K hang on let me get me cheque book!!!
Yet people will gladly hand over their life savings to a nonentity over the tinterweb.
That old saying "You don't know what you've got till it's gone" is apt.

Looks like after banking with them for well over 50 years I now have to find another bank, because online I WILL NOT DO.

[Sorastro]

Just spent a bit of time checking up on some of the High st. banks on Trustpilot.

According to the score bars reflecting the reviews there isn't a good one amongst them some are bordering on diabolical, but having said that it would appear that the vast majority of the "complaints" are from customers that bank on line which I must admit I'm secretly smug about.
Unfortunately I fear banks are now too far down the road to reverse their decision to close branches as by and large their customers DO bank on line so neanderthals like me are in a minority.
But minority or no minority there is no way {especially after reading those Trustpilot reviews} no way I will bank online. My bank will soon be closed so it looks like I'll stick with them a while longer.
 Unless of course there's someone out there who banks like I do and is satisfied with their bank!

[Sorastro]

Well I gone and done it........I've switched banks {fully completed by end of next week}

Went into new bank to change and the girl on the door, when she asked why I was there, said " Ahh Virgin money" I said "How did you know?" she replied Virgin customers have been coming in steadily since receiving their letters for the same reason, so multiply that with the other banks in town and it seems Yorkshire bank will lose quite a bit of money over this and moreover credibility!
 There was a letter in last weeks D.T. on this very subject as the composer was a Yorkshire bank customer and they too were going elsewhere.

I've got a sneaky suspicion they've shot themselves in the foot over this, big time, and I believe it's too late for them to reverse the decision even if they wanted too as the damage has already been done, besides I wouldn't go back. No doubt the vast majority of their online customers will stay with them as this pitfall will be no different to them and no inconvenience.

On line or no, sooner or later even those people have to visit their bank at some time so now everyone loses out.

[Old Cruser]

We are still struggling the the Nat West to open the community account!
The left doesn't know what the right is doing so to speak!
My colleague phones them to be told everything was set up and we should recieved all paper work during the next 3 or 4 days. meanwhile I had yet another email advising there had been a problem with the PDF signing of my colleagues signature and requested yet another signature done in a different way!
I heard on the news that Nat west have had a slap on the wrist for not spotting money laundering - I am now thinking they are scared to set up community accounts - just in case another rogue slips through the net!
It has been ridiculous what we have gone through  just to bank a few measly pounds!

[Umpire]

The bank on   Stephensons  place is closing.I think its Royal Bank of Scotland.