Aral Balkan

Yes, I'm still with Abbey National Business. For the backstory on my hassles with them, see Abbey National Business and Vodafone: Two companies that just don’t “get it” and The last straw: Moving away from Abbey National Business Banking. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to move away because of the hassle it involves. Today, they reminded me why I hate them so much yet again, and why I should make the extra effort to change banks.

When I was in San Fran, they disabled the card on the account. (They still don't understand that I travel.) That's fine, I should have called them previously to tell them I was traveling to be 100% sure they wouldn't do this. That's not the worst thing though. Today (Sunday), I call them to have the card re-activated and I get a message telling me they're closed and I should phone back on Monday. Their telephone banking is closed. You cannot call them even to report a missing or stolen card. This is ridiculous.

So I call the main Abbey National number and get the rudest support person ever, courtesy of a cheap call center in India. He just tells me over and over "We do not deal with business accounts." I ask him, what if my card is stolen? How do I report it? He says "We do not deal with business accounts." Finally, he asks me for my sort code so he can transfer me to the business department. I tell him: "But you said that the business department is closed today." He asks me for my sort code again so he can transfer me. "But aren't they closed?" "I will check." I wait on hold. He comes back: "The business department is closed today, you have to call back tomorrow!" "But I cannot use my account because you disabled my card and I have to make a purchase." "We do not deal with business accounts." "But you're the same bank -- this is unacceptable." "We do not deal with business accounts!" "Can I speak to a manager?" "There is no one here to help you, they are all busy." "So I can't speak to a manager?" "We do not deal with business accounts!" "OK, what is your name?" (Hangs up.)

Lovely! Positively lovely.

How are these people still in business? I know, because it's such a hassle to change banks. Hassle or no, once I'm back from Singapore this is the first thing I'm doing. Bastards.

Monday morning update:

I call the "business" department (I wonder if they know what that word means) at 9am (their opening hour). I give all my account information and go through the security checks. The lady on the line finally asks me what she can do for me. I tell her I want to reactivate the card on my account since they disabled it when I was traveling. "Oh", she says, "that's a different department -- you need to call this number..."

I call that number.

I get another lady who asks me the number of the card. "Oh", she says (must be in the company script), "that's a business account -- I'm not dealing with business accounts today. Let me see if my colleague is available." Her colleague is not available. She takes my number and assures me that her colleague will call me back. I wait. Her colleague does call back in a few minutes. I go through and verify each transaction and they enable the card. Well, not immediately -- it apparently takes "a few hours" (what, is there a randomly-generated duration variable involved that they cannot give me an exact time at least?) GREAT! So now I have to wait "a few hours" before making this purchase that I've been trying to make since yesterday.

Abbey National Business, you are clueless.

Comments

• That is horrible! I feel for you bro. Why is it such a hassle to change banks? I would run away from service like that! Does make me wonder how they are in business in the first place. Good luck! John

  by John on 2007-01-21 13:50:11

• Even Indian companies are shifting customer support overseas for quality! Its lame how these American companies still go behind cheap labor! Just because of this crappy call center thing, the rest of India who is into REAL business is getting bad name.

  by phic minister on 2007-01-21 14:59:22

• It's good to know which banks to avoid in case I move to the UK. I'm sure Abbey National will be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. :-)

  by Oz on 2007-01-21 16:53:37

• Classic case of 'computer says no' LOL Unfortunately I have yet to come across a 'good' bank. They are unfortunately all part of the same bad bunch. Anyone with the Coop? At least they seem to pretend to be ethical, if nothing else....

  by Stefan Richter on 2007-01-22 12:51:32

• I'm with Coop for my personal banking. Stay away! Shouldn't ethics begin at home?

  by aral on 2007-01-22 18:20:11

• I feel i must clarify that i was using the name provided me by the abbey business employee. To finish my story it turned out abbey business had not forgotten to transfer my money but instead omitted two zeros on the amount. A simple mistake in banking surely. Whilst they admitted thier mistake, my support person, sandra, said they would only cash cheques and cancel charges for that day. Saying it would take a further 5 working days for them to transfer the correct amount. Also would it be possible for me to go to a cash machine, withdraw cash from my abbey current account, place this in an envelope and put back in the same machine enough times until properly credited. Is this really a bank? I'm afraid i know nothing of any sandra dynasty but feel they too must have made a contribution to history.

  by johneydewunderful on 2007-02-06 20:29:57

• I've been encountering similar issues with Abbey (National) throughout the last week or two with what seems to be fraudulent activity on my account. Trying to update your address on a joint account couldn't be more difficult and its amazing how many different departments there are in one bank. - People on the desks can't reissue cards nor investigate claims of fraud. - People on the standard customer services desk can't investigate claims of fraud, nor update address details. - People at the counter can't do hardly anything. - The fraud line just doesn't pick up. Whatever happened to, what were, the most respective banks in the World?

  by Si Jobling on 2007-01-23 16:59:54

• Well, for what it's worth, things went downhill since they got taken over a couple of years ago by that Spanish outfit, Bank Santander. They've definitely leaned it up asset-wise - so much so that it seems incapable of operating on a day-to-day basis.

  by Jerome Ribot on 2007-01-23 18:42:22

• [...] Tonight over dinner we were discussing the bad service companies offer their customers. It was quite a hotly discussed topic. But it boiled down to the fact that we all three of us thought that in general large companies provide a really pathetic level of service. Check this post as an indication of what happens out there. [...]

  by anja merret » Blog Archive » Faulty products, shoddy service, expect more of the same in future! on 2007-01-23 23:03:36

• We have also had trouble with Abbey National Bank UK. We have been trying to close our account, and have been trying to do so for many months, and we live overseas. They don't reply to emails, and we are still waiting for a reply. I think they have the worst customer service of any company in the world, and that is saying something.

  by Rob on 2007-01-27 23:52:19

• I too know the beast that is abbey business. With all the money they make from charges (mine all come from when funds don't get moved on time) they could get thier website fixed. Then we wouldn't have to deal with some stropy gupta who's probably noting down our details to ransack whats left. BASTARDS!!!

  by johneydewunderful on 2007-01-31 23:24:47

• I just re-read my post and feel I need to clarify: My gripe is with Abbey National using a cheap call center with untrained staff, regardless of where it is located. I've had equally rude customer service from UK-based call centers (like the "support" person at Vodafone Business that mockingly told me: "You shouldn't have bought a Mac, should you?" when I told him that my 3G data card would not work on my Mac and asked if they had an ExpressCard or USB version.) And, I've also experienced very good customer service from call centers in various Asian countries. It's all a matter of how well the call-center staff are trained and how much a specific company invests in the training of said staff. Some just want to wipe their hands of the issue and thus outsource based purely on costs. This is what gives most of these call center operations such a bad name. I hope we can vent our frustrations towards the guilty parties (companies that do not invest in proper support) and not harbor uncalled for resentments or prejudices against any specific group of people. Also, in case anyone is interested, there's a really good article on Wikipedia about the Gupta empire. To quote:

  The Gupta dynasty ruled India north of the Vindhya Range during the 4th and 5th centuries . . . Books on medicine, veterinary science, mathematics, astronomy and astrophysics were written. The famous Aryabhata and Varahamihira belong to this age. Overseas trade and commerce flourished. Hindu and Buddhist mythology, architecture, along with religion took root in Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia and other countries. The Chinese monk Lui Kang who was in India and Sri Lanka between 399 and 414 noticed general prosperity and peace-loving nature of the people. This period is regarded as the golden age of Indian culture. The high points of this cultural creativity are magnificent and creative architecture, sculpture, and painting.

  by aral on 2007-02-01 08:34:39

• greetings, I can understand what you went through, unfortunatly this is the only way that fraud can be prevented, and i sincerely hope that it won t happen to you, money just dissapearing from your account, i bet thats funny aswell, just like trashing the Indian department...

  by Jimmy on 2007-02-08 17:06:57

• Hi Jimmy, I don't understand your comment about this being the only way that fraud can be prevented. Are you talking about johneydewunderful's experience or mine? If you're talking about mine, I don't see how it's possible to prevent fraud by having the fraud notification line closed on nights and weekends. Sounds like the perfect way to encourage fraud to me.

  by aral on 2007-02-10 00:26:10

• I am not an Abbey Business customer but I have to get kicked in the ass anyway with Abbey as I am a retail banking customer. When I opened my Abbey account years ago I wouldn't imagine what the future will bring me as their customer. Their slogan is really ironical: "More ideas for your money...". Why do I want more ideas for my money if I'm not even allowed to spend it? When I read the slogan I have still no clue about what it means. Shouldn't it be about the ideas of how to break your lives every time you go abroad? Probably you have already been suffering the illness of going abroad with an Abbey card. Even though you have money in the bank, they will not support you as a customer just with the excuse that it is to protect the money in the account. Jimmy, in my case I trashed the indians too much bad. I am not with you when you say it is a fraud prevention scheme. If cards are blocked as for withdrawals abroad, if these were fraudulent. Could you tell me what does it prevent if there will be already losses in the account? Now they do say that we should call before going abroad, have I got to spend a fortune in every single 0845 call that I have to make if I am to go abroad? I advised my local branch here but it didn't made any difference, they are as bad as a headache and nothing better than the fraud call centers. In my case I was trapped in India with no funds available as they decided to stop my card without even calling me or sending any letters stating their new fraud procedures regarding card usage abroad. I had to suffer the humilliation of being held during ten hours in the jail of an indian police station because I was not able to pay a restaurant bill with my card as obviously...they decided to block it!! Worse it was when I was allowed one phone call to speak to this fraud people and both departments were closed. I had to stay in jale until they decided it was good time to open. I tried speaking with the telephone banking people but they said that despite the situation...THEY WERE NOT AUTHORISED TO UNBLOCK THE CARD! It was embarrasing, disgusting and horrible, they care so less for their customers that they will not even support you if you are in jail and need urgently your card. The next day I was at last able to speak to the fraud guys. They didn't sound as an Indian call center but it was so much worse. I spent ten minutes trying to made myself understood by a fraud advisor which spoke like a waiter in a Western Texas drinking place! Despite the urgency he tried to explain me what I already knew and despite the embarrasement he was asking me not to shout on the phone. I also would like to change banks but again...it is so difficult and in the end, everyone would be the same. You need your money and they will not support you as a customer except when it is to put charges on your bank account.

  by Winston on 2007-02-13 13:41:37

• Hi Winston, That sounds like a most horrible experience -- I can't believe you had to go to jail and Abbey still wouldn't help you out. I have noticed that they seem to have several call centers. Possible in Europe, the US (I did get an American operator at one point) and in the UK. It does appear that banks can get away with anything here in the UK (and perhaps elsewhere also?) Sad, but the customer definitely is not king when it comes to banking.

  by aral on 2007-02-13 17:00:28

• Thought that you might like to know that the Fraud office is located in Spain and is the same department that deal with all Santander Group companies fraud issues. It is open 24hrs a day - as is the lost and stolen line which you can get through to on either the personal banking or business banking number by selecting the correct option. I still agree, however, you had a bad experience. You also might like to know that personal banking staff don't physically have access to business banking accounts at this time (never had). They will once Santander have moved all of Abbey to their system. Already happened for personal customers and will happen for business customers early next year. From this point on all Abbey staff will be able to see all types of products (personal, business, UPL, savings, mortgages etc).

  by Anon on 2007-02-17 19:15:26

• I've had similar bad experiences with Abbey when trying to remove a signatory from a business account. They told me I needed to write to them and it would take three to four weeks, owing to their admin department being that much behind. So, three weeks later I phone up and am told they can't even tell me if they've received the letter yet but if nothing's happened by the following week then it probably means they haven't. So, the next week I phone up and nothing's happened, and no record of a letter. So I'm told I have to go through the same process again, with the same three to four week wait. Wanting to be sure they got it this time, I check the address and also get a fax number to send them a copy of the letter that way. I've now moved to a different bank (which took no time at all) and left the Abbey account open to accept any stray payments. There's still no progress on the signatory and I've given up trying. What if I'd been trying to remove someone who'd been stealing from the account? Generally, the quickest way to get anything done is to move your account elsewhere as banks seem quite responsive to new customers.

  by Karl Bunyan on 2007-02-20 18:21:19

• [...] Abbey National Business: How I hate thee [...]

  by Freelance PHP and AJAX programmer. Bealers.com » Blog Archive » Abbey business banking review on 2007-02-20 19:05:55

• Yeah... Abbey... could they possibly be any worse if they were actually trying? I doubt it. You may find this one hard to believe: I've had an Abbey account all my life; literally, one was opened on the day I was born. So, when I became self employed and needed a business account, there was an obvious choice... I'm not a total idiot, so I had a little scout around other banks to compare services... Abbey's Business Banking is free? Like, really free? Wow... Well, that'll settle it then. Heh heh heh... yeah. So, I call Abbey to enquire about setting up an account. No problem apparently, I'll just need to fill out a form... oh, and photocopy my passport, my NI card, my birth certificate, and several utilities bills... Seems a bit much, especially when I don't have a passport... but fine. So Abbey sends me a form and I get all these things together... As I have a personal account with them, I can choose to setup my business account using funds from my personal account. Nice and easy... So I put my personal account details on the form, and ask them to transfer five grand from that, to my new business account. In goes photocopies of every sort of identifying document imaginable, and off I trundle down to the local Abbey National branch. Now, this is important... I seal the envelope and place my application IN THE HANDS of an Abbey employee at my branch. I don't send anything off; I physically pass this application to a human being, wearing a uniform and an Abbey name-tag. Some time passes. Some more time passes. A little more time passes and Gary grows a little impatient... So I call Abbey to ask about my business account... however, they can't deal with business enquires. Joy. Eventually I get to speak to someone who can look for business account details on their system... He can't find any record of my new business account and tells me that it can sometimes take a while... I should wait another couple of weeks and call back. So, after about 6 weeks of waiting I call back and demand to know why my account hasn't been setup. After a bit of digging, the guy on the phone tells me that they have no record of my ever applying for an account. But I handed my application into a branch... surely they must have a record of it... right? Wrong. This is what happens when you setup a business account in the branch: Abbey stick a second class stamp on your application, and post it to their business centre. Now, let's examine this a little closer - 1) My application contains copies of my passport, my NI card, my birth certificate, several utilities bills, my personal account information, my current address and my signature. From now on, we'll refer to my application as my 'IDENTITY-THEFT-KIT'. 2) My IDENTITY-THEFT-KIT was not sent via internal Abbey company mail, it was not sent via an insured courier service, or via Special Delivery... no... It was sent via standard Royal Fail second class postage. I've been inside a sorting office; second class mail is chucked in a corner and left there for 24 hours. 3) Abbey have no record of ever sending my IDENTITY-THEFT-KIT in the first place. You'd think, that a bank so incredibly incompetent as to effectively advertise my identity to fraudsters, would bend over backwards to apologise and rectify the situation. No. Instead, I am told that my only course of action is to... (get this)... apply for a new account! Well, it turns out that I am an idiot, because I actually do apply for a new account... I complain at my branch, I write letters of complaint, but nothing happens, nothing at all, (It turns out that sending these applications out second class is standard company policy!) and I end up opening another account. Everything runs fine for a while, and I just have to hope that my identity hasn't been stolen... So when five grand suddenly goes missing from my personal account... I'm not entirely surprised... obviously some postal worker has my identity and has used it to steal five grand of my money.... I call Abbey... obviously since they caused this mess, they'll be refunding my money immediately, without question, right? Well, not exactly... after a bit of digging, they discover that the people that stole the five grand from my account were in fact......... Abbey Business. Sorry, what? Well... it turns out that some six months after my original application was sent out... it was received by Abbey Business. Diligently, Abbey setup my business account, taking five grand out of my personal account to do so. So I now have TWO Abbey business accounts, and a massive fine for taking five grand out of a personal account that only had two grand in it. Utter hilarity ensues, as I implore Abbey Business to close the second account, put the money back in my personal account and wipe the fine it generated. Well, at least there isn't a postal worker somewhere living on my money. Since this occurred, Abbey have suspended my online banking abilities, and stopped my card from working, in the name of security. They've also 'misplaced' cheques (telling me that I haven't in fact, paid them in in the first place), refused direct debit mandates from such dubious looking companies as 'PayPal' (apparently they've never heard of them, or something.) and I've been trying to change my address for almost a year.

  by Gary on 2007-02-21 13:03:32

• > What if I’d been trying to remove someone who’d been stealing from the account? What makes you think you are more important than the other person on the account? The bank has to remain impartial and must have the relevant authority to carry out any such requests. Just because you want the other person off the account shouldn't make it so - it's their account just as much as it is yours.

  by Anon on 2007-02-26 18:49:12

• It's amazing how in this world we have to rely on mindless shit brained employees at Abbey who can 'only apologise' for the inept way they deal with replacement debit cards. Today, my wife receives a letter explaining that her debit card is due for renewal, good and positive so far. It explains that as the card has been issued automatically 9 times, gives you an idea that she has been there some years, that the computer says NO because it cannot roll over from 9 to 10, one for the computer geeks me thinks, we have to go to the branch with sufficient identity so they can order a replacement card. Now the card is not lost or stolen but has simply in the eyes of Abbey run its useful life. On making the call as requested to the brainless shit in Milton Keynes the card is now suspended i.e. cannot be used. WONDERFUL!! She has an on-line bill to pay today, guess who's going to have to do that then, and now cannot, nor can she withdraw any cash until she gets to the Branch this coming Saturday which is another 5 days away. Add it all together and it will be the best part of 2 weeks. Why do we patronise these dip shits with our custom? I know that any rantings here are unlikely to change the Abbey's approach but for fucks sake it cannot be too hard to issue replacement cards whether or not it has reached a magic number. Well, a decision to be made now. Close 12 individual accounts and take all to another Bank not an insignificant amount of money probably with another load of grief in moving standing orders, advising of new Bank details to receive payments etc.. Well at least we have complained and received a case number that ends in ****93, christ knows what will happen when it gets to ****99!!!! A - A B - Bunch of B - Brainless E - Employees Y - Yet again FUCK THE LOT OF THEM

  by Ben on 2007-03-05 20:08:21

• Being with a bank is such a hassle, instead of earning interest from your money and being able to support you they just seem to think that their only task is making our lives a permanent nightmare. I mean it, can anyone say here that a UK bank is great? I really don’t understand why is it such a hassle to open and close accounts or to change banks. Years ago I had to go to Spain for job reasons and the day after I arrived I could open an account with my passport and they will offer me a debit card as long as I had the 12€ to pay for the fee. I can’t understand why in here we get across so much problems for everything. It’s just so inconvenient going abroad, opening or closing an account, getting a debit card, even updating your address details takes ages just because of the helm of security. With my account in Spain I could change the address from the one in the hotel to the one where I went for rent just by updating it on the e-banking details, I didn’t had any hassle of going to the branch! Banks in the UK have lost so much on customer support by getting quality lost anywhere in India. But not only India, poor old Winston thought he was talking to a cowboy from a village in the middle of the dessert. Is Abbey a bank really? Speaking to their call centers about fraud or bank accounts it’s like speaking with yourself. Do call centers abroad mean security? I don’t have anything against Indians but…could you trust your bank account details to someone who will probably be paid 200£ or less? For god’s sake!! These people have access to your account details, card details in a way that they will be able to make at least internet purchases against your account…or even transfers. I wouldn’t mind talking about my account details to someone in Italy, France, Spain or Germany…at least they are people like us in some aspects and their banking culture is partly better. As I say, I don’t have anything against people from India, but I will not trust them for my banking, even more when you see in the news that cloned cards are used all over Asia.

  by Yardley, D.F on 2007-03-12 14:08:25

• Yes, the old 'I'm not racist but here are some racist remarks' chestnut - it's not appropriate even if you do excuse yourself in that manner. Racism is racism.

  by Anon on 2007-03-12 17:37:55

• Anon phrases: "The bank has to remain impartial and must have the relevant authority to carry out any such requests..." / "Thought that you might like to know that the Fraud office is located in Spain...". If you think my remarks are racist good for you. But your remarks sound to me as if you are an Abbey employee, you seem to have excellent knowledge about that bank full of brainless employees. But before speaking and calling the people racist. Why not trust your own personal banking to overseas call centers? Will you feel confortable? Will you think that is great customer service? Maybe you guys in the Abbey bank which employ people abroad for a poor salary will be the ones who are racist. Your bank ar not the ones to be ethical. Racism could also be to leave your customers on jails abraod.

  by Yardley, D.F on 2007-03-14 09:51:57

• * note I tried to say abroad instead of abraod, just before anyone remarks me again!

  by Yardley, D.F on 2007-03-14 09:54:32

• u poor bstards. ive had a bank with abbey for years and have never had a single gripe to make, im not saying shit dont happen to people and there banks but shit never happened to me. Maybe im one of the lucky ones but i do know that in this world there are fukin idiots and no matter how much training they recieve they will always be stupid kukin idiots!!! Just a shame for you guys they all seem to work at your branches and call centres. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH POOR FOOKERS!!!!!

  by hahaha fuckin classic on 2007-03-25 23:20:56

• Oh my, is my blog turning into YouTube? :(

  by aral on 2007-03-25 23:38:59

• "I’m with Coop for my personal banking. Stay away! Shouldn’t ethics begin at home?" So am I, and I find their service to be ok, although their internet banking has some features missing (Like when do my standing orders go out, print confirmation of transactions), but at least it's available 24-7. They are much better at helping you out with problems. Are you warning us away from Co-op as a business bank because they're ethical? Ethics beginning at home implies that it doesn't just stay there, but moves out into the rest of your life. otherwise what use is that? I didn't go with them because the deal didn't seem to be as good as Abbey's. Now it like you get what you pay for. I've just had a transaction refused by Abbey Business. Maybe it was above my card limit. Not sure what that is at the moment, because I gave up after having been on hold for 30 minutes, having used the callback service, which just put me in the same damn queue, and the email page is not working right now. At least I wasn't in an indian gaol, and I could use another card, but I'm now thinking about looking for another bank. Anyone have a bank they can recommend for business?

  by Harry on 2007-04-23 10:50:53

• Hi Harry, No, I'm definitely not warning anyone away from "ethical" businesses. I'm just questioning how a business can call itself ethical if it is failing its own customers and making their lives worse. That's what I meant by "ethics begins at home." Perhaps what we need is an ethical certification like we have for organic foods. There's really nothing to stop any business from calling itself ethical at the moment: no watchdogs, standards, etc. That being the case, how much weight does that label carry?

  by aral on 2007-04-23 12:03:24

• So you're saying you've had bad experiences with the Co-op, too? With most people of the opinion that all banks are as bad as each other, an excellent one, if it existed, would have to stand out. I do like the idea of ethical certification. But I wonder if any form of certification is only ever going to be "just the minimum", to say they have the certification..

  by Harry on 2007-04-23 13:18:16

• Please don't hate me but I am an employee of Abbey Business! I'm most shocked by all of your stories, especially as I log all complaints that come in to us! Our call centre and support office is based in Glasgow and I think we do a damn good job!

  by Anon on 2007-04-30 20:11:38

• I have been with Abbey for 5 years I fully agree there business banking is so bad its a joke I have now changed to A&L and wow what a difference they know how it should be done I beg you all leave Abbey they will never change if you don't!!

  by tom french on 2007-05-02 09:21:36

• Anon, if you guys do a good job why does everyone want to leave the Abbey then? I mean and seriously, if you do a good job I'll shave my head. Aral, have you been able to swap banks at last?

  by Yardley, D.F on 2007-05-04 14:48:51

• Hi, Just like to say thank god I'm not alone in thinking Abbey are shit! I've just Google'd 'Abbey are Shit' thinking I'd draw a blank but no there's 1000's of us. Been trying all morning to transfer some money over the telephone but apparently their systems are down (again). I don't know whats happened to this bank but since they were bought by Santander their service has become apalling. Thereonline bankin service is crap. It's down more than it's ever up I'm leaving this bank - as of yesterday I've signed up (on line) to switch to Alliance & Leicester - quite quick and painless and a great interest rate too. They match your overdraught (if you've got one) and switch all your direct debits over for you! Don't delay switch today! Abbey don't care about their customers! So take your custom elsewhere!

  by Raoul Strachan on 2007-05-29 09:21:05

• Abbey are useless.One of my drivers left our company so i cancelled his standing order in september 2006.Abbey have continued to pay his wages of £300 until last week!They are now trying to retrieve the funds back from the drivers bank.I am owed over £9000,Abbey have admitted they are at fault but will not reinburse the funds themselves and then get it back.I wonder if they are going to pay me the interest i have also lost on this money?TIME TO CHANGE BANKS.

  by jjk on 2007-05-17 05:08:13

• Abbey is just the perfect example of poor management. Cost cutting is a real blast for good customer servicing. It will get worse though! I think it is far best to run away with the poor old texan barman which spoke with glorious old Winston. I think texan barmans will be even more well-off mentally than Abbey management, specially in what fraud "prevention" takes. Let's not blame employees like good old and honest Anon. If you can't report a lost/stolen card to Abbey B.Banking, If they leave you stuck whilst you are abroad. It's not the employees fault, it is because someone basically thinks the best way to fight financial crime. Obviously their tactic of getting overseas staff for a misery and which receive shit training doesn't make it any better. Abbey's fraud prevention measures and contact databases are completely stuck in the past. If I was set in jail because they decided it was fun to block my card, I would seriously burn all their branches away.

  by Jynx the cat on 2007-05-23 15:19:20

• Abbey employees would be best at growing potatoes...please stay away from Abbey!!!!

  by Yardley, D.F on 2007-05-25 10:48:41

• Having logged into Abbey, right at this moment, there is a message (first time they actually thought to tell anybody anything?) which says: "We are currently experiencing an intermittent issue retrieving the balance for some accounts. Please be assured that this is a systems issue and not a problem with your account. For up-to-date account information, please check your online statement. We apologise for any inconvenience or concern caused." Is this their first admission and apology ever? But right along side it another message says: "This service is currently unavailable, we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. Please try again later." So round and round we go, until I get my money OUT of Abbey's so called "Business" Account before they drive me out of business. This current round of problems, now you see your money, now you don't, has been going on since May 19th. Can any bank, or alleged bank, beat that?

  by Hey-ho on 2007-06-06 09:34:58

• Beat this!!! SORRY FOR SPELLING IT A RANT!!! AFTER MOVING FROM SCOTLAND BACK 2 LONDON AND CHANGING ALL MY DETAILS TO THIS ADDRESS WITH ABBEY I MOVE OFF TO DO SOME BUSSINESS IN THAILAND. SO I CALL UP 2 ORDER A "NEW CARD" AS THE ONE I WAS ISSUED WITH ONLY LASTED 5 MONTHS........ GET A INDEAN GUY HANG UP CALL AGAIN TRYING TO GET SOME1 IN UK GIVE UP AFTER 12 TRYS SO IM TALKING TO SOME INDEAN GUY AND EXPLAIN I NEDD A NEW CARD SENT OUT, I CONFIRM MY LONDON ADRESS WITH HIM BY READING MY POSTCODE OUT BOTH IN ENGLISH AND USING THE PHONETIC ALPHABET! HE CONFIRM AND SAYS 5-10 WORKING DAY. 2 WEEKS GO BY NOTHING I CALL UP (STILL IN THAILAND) CAN YOU CONFIRM WHERE IT WAS SENT I ASK THE UK BASED STAFF MEMBER. OH YOUR EDINBURGH BRANCH. BUT I CHANGED ALL MY DETAILS 2 THE LONDON ADDRESS CORRECT I ASK.... YES YOU DID SIR , SO WHY IS IT IN SCOTLAND???? NO ANSWER. I ORDER A NEW CARD GETS TO LONDON THEN DHL TO THAILAND BUT DURING THIS TIME I HAVE OVERSTAYED MY VISA FOR THAILAND AND 2 CUT A LONG STORY SHORT THIS PRICKS MISTAKE COST ME 300 POUND IN FINES AND A NIGHT IN A THAI JAIL!!!!! AFTER 2 MONTHS OF SENDING EMAILS AN LETTERS ABBEY STILL HAVE NOT FINISH THERE "RESERCH" DONT BANK WITH THEM EVER IS MY TIP I HAVE BEEN WITH THEM SINCE I WAS12 YRS OLD (28 YRS) GONE DOWN HILL OVER THE LAST 10!!! WHEN I GO BACK 2 UK ILL BE CHANGING BANKS AND RELEAVING MYSELF ON A SAT NIGHT OVER A ABBEY CASH MACHINE!! Time 2 start keeping my money in a locked box behind the fire place like my grandad did!! wise man! GOOD LUCK AND GOOD RIDENCE! THE PISSED OF ENGLISH MAN

  by Keith Pissed off hewitt!!! on 2007-06-07 09:09:52

• :) :)

  by aYo on 2007-06-07 10:15:57

• just doing some research into opening a business banking account... well, now there is one less company on the list, Abbey National (my accountant gave me all the forms and everything, Abbey seems to use them as a channel to signing up more accounts). Not this time...

  by Richard Tucker on 2007-06-07 16:38:16

• Oh my goodness. It was only yesterday that I made an appointment at Abbey to see someone next week to open a business account. Now after reading this blog I'm apprehensive about doing so. VERY APPREHENSIVE. But are any of the others REALLY any better?

  by I Used To Be A Teeny Bopper on 2007-06-09 09:23:47

• @The last poster: I've heard good things about HSBC and Barclays from different friends. And yet, I've also heard bad things about HSBC. Also heard some good things about Alliance & Leicester. But I can't really recommend one or the other. Can you believe I still haven't switched away from Abbey! I must switch. I must switch. Oh the hassle!..

  by aral on 2007-06-09 09:36:46

• Well, looks like I'm not the only one p*ssed with Abbey. I had my account fraudulently used recently byt some lovely piece of s*it buying diamonds. I had my card with me on the day they went shopping. In fact the ironic part is that I was sat in my bank discussing business accounts with my adviser 300 or so miles away from where 'my' diamonds were being purchased....5 weeks on can I get my money back.Like f*ck can I. They've so far managed to lose every form I've sent in (except the most recent..ha, it went by recorded delivery so try telling me you've lost that one), I've probably spoken to every person who's worked for abbey national and most of their cousins too (bless the call centres), and the fraud line....well what a joke. The anon who says it's open 24hrs...bollox is it. It's open 9am to 5pm UK time (I see, so you're ok if your account is fraudulently used in working hours... but stuff you the rest of the time). And just how long does it take to get through when they are open? Well the record for me being on hold so far is 2 hours. I've lost money on my new business, I've spent hours on the phone, and now...well I can trot out my security info before they've even asked me the questions. My kids say I'm shouting my name, account number, date of birth and latest transactions in my sleep. Think I'll get a new mattress to keep my money under.....when I have my money returned and can afford to buy one that is.

  by This isn't a bank, it's hell with morons running it on 2007-06-12 17:21:31

• ONCE AGAIN ABBEY SUCK!!! STAY WELL AWAY!!!! I WOULD RATHER BE CIRCUMCISED WITH A RUSTY SPOON THAN DEAL WITH THEM AGAIN BUT THEN AGAIN THERE ALL THE FUCKING SAME!!! SCUM SCUM SCUM, AND I THINK TO MYSELF WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD!!.......... HAD A GR8 LEAK IN A ABBEY LETTER LAST WEEK ARGHHHH A LITTLE CHILDISH AND STUPID BUT THEN AGAIN SO IS DEALING WITH ANY1 AT ABBEY!!!!

  by Keith Pissed off hewitt!!! on 2007-06-18 05:44:47

• Have never read this web site before, but confirmed to me what Abbey Customers have been thinking for years. I worked for Abbey for over 30 years in Branches and we went from being excellent with Customers - even making decisions locally - to being 'hard sell merchants' You have no idea how many Staff told Senior Management how wrong things were, but to no avail. The Santander take over was good for many of us as the Abbey needed to be made 'leaner and fitter' so many of us were made redundant. Sadly, most of those who went were those with years of experience, so the spiral continued downwards. I now bank with the Nationwide, a Building Society run for the benefit of their Members! just like Abbey was.

  by Steve John on 2007-06-21 11:24:31

• Easy, Havent read all these, a few is enough, already have boiling blood! To add to the fury. Over the end of may bank holiday, Abbey decided to remove all the money from my account, leaving me with £1.69, I only found this out when at a petrol station in the middle of nowhere unable to pay.. Go to a branch I was told. Not possible I say, the walk is way out of the question, have angry station attendant on my case for payment in this country its sunday. What are you doing about it I ask?. Oh, call back in an hour, our systems are updating. (A familier quote). I eventually get my money back halfway through the next week, but it wasnt all there.. mystery transactions have appeared. The problem is that their "systems" havent been able to even provide me with enough information to work out whether they are taking money from me or not. Every time I go to a cashpoint it's a lottery, with my balance fluctuating on a daily basis. Despite the chaos however Abbey have been able to provide a neat little service, a discretionary additional £100 overdraft. What they do if they have taken the money out of my account one day is authorise any debit card transactions then charge me £30 for each one that sends me over my overdraft. But its your fault I say.. call back in an hour, ourt systems are updating! No matter what I do, I cant get them to stop this! Anyway.. enough self indulgence. The point of this is to offer an alternative. The Co-Op. Forget nationwide, HSBC and all the rest, they are all the same! Some might have better customer service, but its still aimed at ripping you off. All sign up for an ethical bank, with ethical core values. No I dont work for them.. not even got an acount yet, but its on the way.. then its laters to Grabby National!

  by Rob on 2007-06-22 12:19:03

• i could not believe how many of us there was till i see this blog. every month i pay out about £100 in charges. it may not sound a lot but when your strugling to support a young familiy it makes life a lot fucking harder

  by me too on 2007-06-25 16:25:11

• I've been an Abbey "customer" for 18 years, every day of it in credit, with no legal troubles. When I took a year out from Britain they froze the savings account I relied on to transfer funds to my current acccount. Stranded overseas, I've now been made homeless in the UK and the personal possessions left there are lost. My mother's been confined to a nursing home and I've no way of seeing here, and the family house is being sold aong with what's left of my belongings, which I haven't the funds to move even if I could get there (there's quite enough in the account, it's just been taken by these crooks). I've been told I have to turn up in person at the branch, but without a functioning account I've no way of getting there and nowhere to live, and as a now homeless person there's very little likelihood of my ever getting access to my savings. Every penny's been effectively stolen from me, and the "bank"'s refused even to contact me. They've ruined my life, taken everything I had and lied to me throughout (until they just started ignoring me). This is the Abbey, crooks & swindlers. Don't do business with them.

  by David Parker on 2007-06-28 09:49:11

• Hi David, Surely you can take some legal action against them, can't you? I mean, based on your story, what they've allegedly done would be considered unconscionable. What reason did they give for freezing your account? Isn't there a financial ombudsman of some sort that you can take your case to? At the very least, you should contact the media and write what you've written here to various newspapers, etc. I sure hope that things get resolved. It sounds like you're having a horrible experience.

  by aral on 2007-06-28 09:54:00

• Hi aral, The reason they gave me was my non-use of the account for five months (during which time I'd been spending the cash I'd previously converted to local currency - my wants really are that frugal). I've emailed the UK Financial Ombudsman but they apparently deal only with postal enquiries, and being homeless makes postal exchange rather difficult. I know (as a former journalist) that newspapers wouldn't touch the story for fear of a lawsuit - least of all when I'm not domiciled there to enjoy the day in court that I'd eagerly welcome. I'm really stuck - my bank's stolen my savings, the law won't help me and I wouldn't even ask former colleagues in the media to help me knowing how the dice are loaded against them. It's just straightforward robbery, and in this instance the culprit gets clean away because human beings don't count against corporations. Thanks for bringing the scale of this wrongdoing to light - it really helps to know that I'm not alone, Best wishes, David

  by David Parker on 2007-06-28 10:10:49

• ... and the cherry on the icing is of course that as a now non-UK resident with a tax-free UK savings account stolen by the Abbey and to which I'm denied all access, I'M probably now the criminal for allegedly claiming a tax-free interest entitlement, while the Abbey gets to pocket every penny of a tax-free allowance that it won't allow me to terminate. It doesn't get much better than that, does it?

  by David Parker on 2007-06-28 10:37:26

• I had a sum of money stolen fraudulently from my current account on the 17th April this year. Since then I must have made over 500 calls to the Abbey Fraud dept (does it exist?) but no one ever picks up. I have tried to fax them but the fax never gets through either. The branches are useless as they cannot contact their own fraud dept either. I have had to give up. They must be the worst bank in the world except for charging you if you go slightly overdrawn because their website is down yet again and you cannot transfer money. I hate them. I really must make the effort to move banks now.

  by John Taylor on 2007-07-02 08:43:31

• Abbey business...Forget about it. Been with them 6 months and they are an absolute nightmare. Cant get through on the telephone banking, website is always down, fax service can not be relied upon. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!!!

  by John Richardson on 2007-07-03 07:56:40

• Abbey Business (what was that again?) Website says: Internal Server Error The server encountered an internal error or misconfiguration and was unable to complete your request. Please contact the server administrator, admins@banesto.es and inform them of the time the error occurred, and anything you might have done that may have caused the error. More information about this error may be available in the server error log. ....which were I to query (dare to annoy them with a complaint) would, after a few weeks waiting for nothing useful at all (as in, have you tried to get a Paying In Book out of them this YEAR - forget it), give me further incentive to apply to them for a job to sort it out, i.e. they need somebody to say, Yes we have given our customers and staff terrible problems, let's either empower the staff to sort it all out to everyone's satisfaction, or close for good.

  by Hey-ho on 2007-07-05 11:30:05

• Well i've knonabbey are shit for some time now, but i put i to down to the fact that having a basic account with not much money going in and continually getting charged for unpaid direct debits and the like beng the reason i was treated like scum. Wrong. I now have a well paid job and can at last afford to pay my bills on time but as 'punishment' for all those bank charges i paid (quite frankly i should have recieved praise and possibly some kind of reward for giving them so much fucking money when i so obviously didnt have any-hence the non payment of all my fucking bills!) i was unable to upgrade my account to a current account. The reason? 'you have an abuse indicator on your account, cant do much till thats been lifted'. oh, ok so when will that be lifted? 'er.... dont know ......few months.....maybe.' well i waited a few months and now i no longer have that poxy abuse indicator on my account but they still wouldnt upgrade me. the card i have is the same kind my ten year old daughter has on her savings account. No chip so i cant purchase anything online or in store. they were constantly telling me to try again next month but last month i went absolutely mental in my local branch and told them that i was going to have to change my bank as this was fucking ridiculous my father in law who was just made bankrupt last year has a better account than i do! so i am told that i can indeed try another bank but i will recieve exactly the same kind of account form whichever bank i choose. what big hairy bollocks. went straight into natwest and was given a current account, overdraft cheque book and facilities there and then. took great pleasure in walking straight back into t abbey and telling them to stick their account up their arses. Now all that is left for me to do is retrieve those bank charges.....

  by leighleigh123 on 2007-08-20 13:05:31

• Abbey National are the biggest joke in the banking high street - Let me tell you a story ! My debit card was due to expire at the end of July, . I usually recieve a replacement between seven and ten days before the death of the current card. I had not received my card and was getting worried about the hassle - if you look into one of their branches you will know what I mean !!!!! Anyway, whilst watchig the BBC programme 'Working Lunch' I saw that the bank''s storage depot hasd been flooded, hence the reason for me not benig able to get MY BLOODY CASH OUT !!! So I go to the local branch to get cash out over the counter, only to be told that I need additional proof of ID - name and address confirmation, passport, etc. Mo problem, except that when I explained that IT WAS THE BANK'S BLOODY FAULT !! No one had told the poor sods behind the counter of the flood !!!!!!!! I was told, tough luck son, come back with your ID otherwise no cash for you !!!! What a joke and when I did return, I had the pleasure of a massive queue which took me 15 minutes to get through. Despite five e-mails and a ltter to the Chairman, I STILL HAVE NOT GOT A REPLY !!!!

  by Stumpy Bear on 2007-08-24 14:24:39

• My brother, Richard Chang a senior risk analyst died at Abbey National 13 July 2004, after an interrogation arranged by the directors of Abbey National Treasury Service (ANTS). He thought he was walking into a project meeting but ended up being interrogated by two Kroll agents hired by ANTS to force him to admit to writing an anonymous document relating to fraud. We have asked for all disclosure relating to evidence showing why he was the selected . The bank say the police have it and the police say they cant release it because of commercial confidentiality. (yes thats right commercial confidentiality) I dont believe Richard wrote the anonymous document. The circumstances of his untimely and violent death are highly suspicious. Its one thing when the Abbey are providing a bad service to customers but it is deeply disturbing that one of their employees ends up dead in the course of his employment. The directors stories do not add up. The truth about my brother's death has been covered up. Their needs to be a public inquiry. check our website www.justice4richard.co.uk

  by Jacqueline Stretton-Chang on 2007-08-31 21:06:01

• BTW, I hope you did find out Vodafone Business has a USB 3G modem :) It's pretty good and works on OS X Intel and PPC. I've had troubles with Abbey too. We have our mortgage with them. They're really anal on their requirements though. People in my family were having their house bought by people who were using the Abbey.. and the Abbey were the only mortgage company to demand a certificate showing concrete disease was treated.. which was over 30 years ago. They've paid the buyers to use a different company :) Last but not least.. Natwest is where it is. I won't bank with anyone else. They're not cheap but they're always on the phone, I can call my branch direct whenever I want, and their online banking is really good. The snob's bank! :)

  by Peter Cooper on 2007-09-04 11:10:03

• Hi Peter, Vodafone did come out with a USB modem many months after I originally wrote the blog post. Fortunately, by then, I'd switched to T-Mobile and I've been happy with them (using my phone as a 3G modem or using their wireless hotspots) ever since :)

  by Aral on 2007-09-05 15:28:56

• This is an extract of a complaint letter I have sent to Abbey (with my card numbers removed). I have been told, by Royal Mail, that banks can use different companies to sort their mail. A customer care advisor said that it is confidential who they use; this means that if they are stealing my stuff they can keep doing so in private. Every time I spoke to the fraud team they used to ask if I had withdrawn the money. I think it was in the hope that I would break down and confess. I love the way that when you are transferred between people, AND YOU WILL BE, you have to repeat your account details and explain the whole problem over again. I also love the way Abbey are earning a premium on their 0845 number (you can get around this by calling 01908237963).....back to my letter: I did not received my replacement card for; this expired 01/07/2007. I requested a new card which was issued 16/07/2007, this card and the associated P.I.N was never received by me. I called on the 21/07/2007 to inform you that I had still not received a card or P.I.N. I was told that my original card had been cancelled but no new card had been ordered on the 16/07/2007; I was informed that another card would be issued immediately. On the 23/07/2007 and 24/07/2007 a number of fraudulent attempts were made to draw money from my account; one of these was successful. These transactions were made with the card issued on the 16/07/2007; a card that I had been told was never sent. Therefore I would like to know why I was told that this card had never been ordered, and why it had not been cancelled when a new card was requested on 21/07/2007. I hold Abbey accountable for this breach of my account. I want to know why you authorised fraudulent transactions made with a card that should have been cancelled? During the investigation into this fraud I was told that no card had been issued on the 21/07/2007 and I requested another card and P.I.N. I requested this card to be sent to my local branch; however it was not possible to have my new P.I.N sent to anywhere but my registered address. A card and P.I.N was delivered to my address on 06/07/2007. This card has been confirmed by a number of your staff, including Michael Fraser: Customer Relationship Team, Glasgow 905, as being the card issued on the 21/07/2007. Why was I told that this card had never been issued by the team investigating the fraudulent withdrawals? On the 09/07/2007 I picked up my new card from my local branch. The P.I.N, that I had received on the 06/07/2007 was not valid for this card. I still do not have a P.I.N for this card or internet banking details, even though I have made numerous requests. I was informed on the 31/08/2007 that your computer system had my address entered incorrectly as a shared letter box; therefore my mail could be going to my local branch. On 01/09/2007 I waited in a queue for over 30 minutes at my local Abbey to be told that P.I.N numbers are never sent to a branch. I phoned telephone banking and was informed that my local branch can, at its discretion, have P.I.N details sent directly to it. However I would have to arrange this with the branch manager. I was given the phone number 055 114 0200 to contact the East Ham Branch manager. I asked if this number was valid as it is not a standard number for the area, I was assured that it was; The phone number was invalid. I also requested to begin complain proceedings and I was told that CRT staff were too busy to talk to me. As I have now been informed that it is possible to get my P.I.N sent to my branch, with the managers consent, why have I not been given this option before? I would also like to know why your CRT staff were unable to talk to a customer who has voiced concerns about his account security? I am still waiting... I wish you all better luck

  by Danny on 2007-09-05 20:39:11

• Same again-i have now been waiting for over two weeks for a reply to fraud on my card due to Abbey sending a card and pin number to my OLD ADDRESS! copy of letter below and as yet NOT one contact from anyone at Abbey. Going to the branch is useless, am currently £1,600 out of pocket due to their error and have not had a card access to my account since the beginning of August! Dear Mr Horta-Osório, Re : Account Number On 2/8/2007 I requested a new bank card and PIN. I did not receive either. I then became aware that my account had been emptied, and indeed forced into overdraft, through a series of unauthorised transactions. I contacted my branch about this. It transpired that despite the Abbey National having been aware of my new address for two years, and indeed having sent all recent correspondence to this address, the card and PIN had been sent to my previous address. This has allowed an unknown third party to have access to my bank account and commit a number of fraudulent transactions. I attended the local branch of Abbey National and completed the disputed transaction forms. I now need to close my existing account and open a new one as I am concerned that this account is no longer secure. I am writing to express my disappointment. I have been a customer of the Abbey for fifteen years and have come to expect a higher level of service than this. As a result of the Abbey's negligence I am now without funds and am not even able to pay my children's school fees for this term. I am also very concerned that my personal details have now been put into the public domain and I am now at great risk of identity theft. Your staff, whilst being perfectly polite, seem unable to inform me what the Abbey are doing to rectify the situation. I would be grateful if you could clarify matters as to whether this situation is in hand or whether I need to refer the case to the relevant authorities.

  by smc on 2007-09-06 11:00:57

• While I was away someone hacked into my Abbey eSaver account & nicked rather a lot of money. Over the course of 10 days they accessed my account 5 times. Strangely the Abbey did not seem to do anything to prevent or discourage them. There is much more to the story but I think it unwise to go into too many details as Abbey are dealing with it. However it seems their Fraud department currently has rather a lot of work. Does this suggest that there is quite a bit of Internet fraud going on at the the moment?

  by Mackem on 2007-09-25 18:54:53

• Sounds like really horrible experiences guys. I *really* *really* *really* need to move away from them. Stop procrastinating, Aral! :)

  by Aral on 2007-09-26 21:36:55

• sorry gibraltAr

  by turpin on 2008-02-18 18:57:32

• correct. manage your finances and you'll be fine. abbey has a charges policy that as you could probably understand why they dont shout out about it, they will automatically reverse/refund £60 of charges regardless of the situation. its called thier customer care scheme. that would in essance stop spiraling out of control. you can claim these £60 once in a period of 12 months. abbey also offer to automatically reverse/refund up to £500 should any unexpected circumstances pop up ie death of immidiate family, termination of employment, personal injury/sickness that prevents you from working. this is also available once per circumstance in a period of 12 months. you can also claim back £100 as an unproven abbey error, which again, is instantly applied to the account. in these circumstances the advisor you deal with will listen to your reasons the charges are on there and use thier own judgment as to whether it comes under that catogary. lastly there is the proven abbey error which is an unlmited amount reversed/refunded. proven abbey errors include sending a standing order twice, you requesting a mandate is cancelled but it isnt by error, or anything that warrents they are to blame for the charge. thats the guideline for abbey charge policys they train thier charge specailists to go by when reversing charges. but what they are also taught is reversing charges is down to the advisors discretion. my advice for if you wish to have your charges refunded is to not lose your temper, patronise, blame, or anything that will make the advisor dislike you. if you shout at the advisor he/she will ensure no other advisor will refund the charges on future phone calls. best advice, be polite. phone abbey between 8pm-11pm as they are very quiet at that time and you wont have to wait any more than 20 seconds to get through to somone. remember, be polite, and if at first you dont suceed, persist. because eventually you will get through to somone prepared to refund you. as a charge specialist at abbey, i hope you find this enlightening an relise that this is the correct way to claim charges back without the hassle of the courts. as you will recieve immidiate action.

  by jobsworthy on 2008-02-09 00:06:58

• Its people like you i dream of killing. If you bought a car from a dealership and the doors fell off, the engine blew up and you were scarred for life would you buy another vehicle from them? I mean really fuck off to another bank and get a grip on your pathetic life, I'm with RBS and they're completely shit, I've had charges randomly applied to my account and the reason they give me is "due to a system error". Everyone has problems fucking get on with it and yes ... yes it is obvious you feel that because you own your own business that you should have a higher status than the other customers. Well I must disrespectively disagree you cunt, I work hard to earn my own money so its effectively the same thing I just dont feel that "StarMan Inc" is worth chasing a business account for as its effectively ran like a damn personal account. So just to close on my final thought... fuck you and your Abbey business friends too! and i hope you catch herpes!

  by StarMan on 2008-11-20 15:47:55

• Hi there, SecretSquirrel is correct. Actually, at his time, Socrates was remarked for his irony. So in regards to my post back on November the 22nd. All I have to say now is: IRONY STATUS: OFF :)

  by Socrates on 2007-12-12 16:38:06

• Just a few points about the main post first When the Santander card company (Geoban) took over the administration of card fraud prevention from Abbey Business, it transformed the £100k monthly fraud write off to less than £10k in the space of just one month. This is why you might get your card disabled if you are making unusual purchases abroad. The card fraud team and lost and stolen phoneline are available 24/7. The direct number for this team is given in the documentation when you open your account and on request from the customer support team (based in Glasgow, nowhere else) The general business banking department opens at 7:30 am, not 9:00 am. The only phoneline which opens at 9:00 is the relationship management team who deal with high value customers. If you fit into this category, your relationship manager (you will have their direct mobile number) will have told you all about this when you opened your account. You cannot be given an exact timescale on when your card will be reactivated is because it takes different times to update depending on what type of machine you use (if you are using a machine in panama, obviously it will take a bit longer to update than the ATM down the road from your house) Moving on to some of the comments: SMC - Is it a business account you have? if so, i'll bet you sent a letter saying something along the lines of "dear mr abbey, i've changed my business address. can you update on your systems" Obviously, most companies who hold a business bank account have their own business premises and have a very different personal address. it's all in your terms and conditions SecretSquirel - I'll bet you're branch staff! Branch staff are the bane of my life as they promise the earth and then blame someone else when the shit hits the fan. I've actually heard branch staff tell a customer that they would never get charged for direct debits/cheques being returned just so they could make a sale and get the points out of it. If you dont like abbey, fuck off to HSBC or somewhere else. you're not wanted here. Socrates - you have some pretty valid points. Yes, it is very unacceptable to wait 30 minutes on the phone being answered, but you can access your account through the ATM, the internet or by fax if need be the business banking section holds over 300,000 accounts. The vast majority of these have absolutely no problems whatsoever. For a free banking service, it's second to none. If you want the phone answered within three rings 24/7, go elsewhere and pay for it.

  by TheGaffer on 2007-12-15 17:41:10

• We recently had money paid IN to our account from an unknown source (has that ever happened to anyone?) The fraud department froze our account immediately while they investigated it. All our direct debits have been messed up - the person who froze our account said that our d debits would be fine. We've since found out that was the wrong information. I called into our branch to have the freeze lifted while i drew £40.00 out. I was in there for nearly an hour and left with NO money, as every time the staff rang a number to get it lifted, they were told they needed a different department - then it got to 5.00 + the fraud department was not answering atall because they close at 5.00! It seems that these people do not care atall + they will say anything to you just to get rid of you off the phone. We get told something different every time we ring. I am still fuming from not being able to draw money from MY OWN bank account

  by Mik on 2008-01-31 20:11:09

• Believe me Socrates can't work for Abbey. If he did then like me and my co-workers who unfortunately do work for Abbey, he would know that as employee's we recieve the worst customer service of all. As an Abbey employee(I'm embarassed to be one)I can confirm that the best thing to happen to Abbey is the Santander take over. Santander have a real customer focus but unfortunately there's alot of Abbey dead wood. Please don't blame your local branch staff, they really can't do alot of the things discussed here and they are just as pissed off as you are that they can't help. Yes, Abbey takes your custom for granted and yes you'll be wasting your time(and money) trying to get help or advice on the telephone so what will you do about it? 1. Wait for Santander to take full control 2. Switch to another UK bank, they're all going to end up shit in the end but as most UK bank staff are clinging on to the jobs based on sales targets, they'll treat you like a king to get your business. Good luck

  by SecretSquirel on 2007-12-03 21:19:46

• abbey are shit im sure they were on bbc watchdog a while back,, i have a business account with them thank god its not my main business ac which is held else where,, anyways straight to the problem ive been waiting for a new debit card for 5 weeks now, first time i called for a new one i was told it had been orderd second i was told it hadnt been orderd but will be now ,, third time same story how Fringgin annoying, and plus they dont even have telephone touch tone service so u can get a balance equiry u have to wait to talk to someone PATHItic like seriosly they need to wise up!! ahhhh hopefully i get a card asap so i can access sum my ££

  by leo singh on 2008-07-31 21:58:14

• Hi, Everybody, I have been an Abbey account holder for about twenty years, I just love the way they charge #32.oo every time you go over the overdraft limit and arbitrarily decide to reduce your overdraft limit with 14 days notice. They are really my favourite bank, why are all you whingers not enjoying the ride? I think the really clever thing was when they had queues running out the door and halfway up the High street, so how did they deal with this, why it was brilliant!!, they reduced the teller windows from four to two, wow, really smart, now the queues are running right round the block. really clever advertising eh! Yes, the Abbey is really the place to be. I have however decided to move most of my business to HSBC, I can't really stand too much excitement any more, my blood pressure can't take it

  by Mike H on 2007-11-19 19:44:31

• I have just had three lots of money transferred out of my Abbey current account, all taken on Xmas Eve, totalling £3000... The bank are being absolutely useless and I have currently been left high and dry, seeing as how the low life scumbag decided to clear my account totally, including the overdraft... incidentally, the kind hacker also managed to increase my overdraft!!! Apparently the fraud department are dealing with it, but they havent bothered to keep me informed about how their investigation is going and I am having to phone them daily.. only to be told that I should hear something within 14 days! Has anyone else experienced hacking into their bank account, and if so, what was done about it? I have reported the incident to the police but they arent interested either!

  by Ruth McLaren on 2008-01-04 12:55:57

• thieving fish rustlers shouldn't be buying uk mortgage debt.Fuck Spain and keep Gibralter just to remind them who's boss, spineless santander spics run out of iraq, islam dictates who they vote for in a secret!!! ballot no wonder they have never won a war against the Anglos

  by turpin on 2008-02-18 17:02:25

• Turpin! Do not be an ignorant eejit. Banks deal only with their money benefit, if they work abroad is just because is costing less to them, nothing to do with locals. To prove it, your bank´s excellent customer attention service is moving from Spain to Portugal so, you guys are going to notice different accents from now on...

  by Lee Gordon on 2008-03-04 17:16:48

• blimey...I've got an interview with santander/abbey on tues morning and doing abit of research into company :-(

  by siano on 2008-05-03 19:15:03

• I've been having problems with Abbey too. They don't seem to have any checks in place that could stop people from withdrawing £2,200(!!!!!!!) from my account using cloned cards in the Ukraine over a weekend. More ideas for your money? That's certainly an idea that I hadn't had before! As for the call centre workers who don't speak much English, don't even get me started. I'm planning to move my account to Nationwide.

  by Liz on 2007-11-21 17:42:13

• Hello there, Really, I don’t know what you guys have got up with the Abbey. I have been banking with them for the last 15 years and I have not got a single complaint. Their services is so much better now they were taken over by the Santander Group. More ideas for my money, exactly. It’s a pleasure to have my funds invested with them. About all the things which I have read…I don’t understand what it’s on about. I would rather that they leave me in jail for two days abroad due to security restrictions in my card rather than they wiped off my account. That means that they are actually working and that they care about fraud. Abbey it’s a bank which takes first customers into account rather than profits. About their call centres I’m astonished by what I have read. Their operators in India are ever so friendly, careful and helpful. It’s not that bad to wait for 30 minutes on the phone when you receive such good customer service. I have to say they have never failed to sort out my problems or dealings. And it’s such a pleasure to go to the branch in the high street without it’s queues. Aral…you’re not getting it right. Stay away from other banks. I am going to switch my business account to the Abbey, it’s the best decision for life. They’re Britain’s no.1 bank in quality and yet again I do say: outstanding customer service. It might not be top in customer numbers but surely: it’s UK’s no.1 bank. Abbey National: making things in life easier.

  by Socrates on 2007-11-22 15:00:10

• Guess who Socrates works for!

  by Liz on 2007-11-22 16:09:52

• ABBEY are SH*T they are the worst mortgage dealer I have ever dealt with. I nearly lost the house I was trying to buy because they made numerous mistakes. The customer service is non existant!! Lets get more anti Abbey web sites and forums going!!

  by Mark Gallagher on 2008-06-11 19:54:18

• Hello all. Im an ex employee from the Abbey Fraud Dept in Madrid Spain, and im currently in Sydney Australia and i have just got on to this web page to remenise about my old job and to have a bit of a laugh(no offence). Saludos to my old mate "the texas waiter",jimmy, jinx the cat and whoever else i have forgotten. VIVA el ABBEY

  by Roger De Niro on 2008-06-04 15:46:36

• Just noticed i left her age out she,s 95 this year Steve

  by Steve on 2008-04-09 18:17:36

• I'm worried and would value advice from Jobsworthy or anyone else with banking experience. My father died in August last year, my mother changed the account from a joint one to one in just her name. So far so good. But then she received no bank statements, despite reporting this every week for about 4 months, and asking if she could get a print out, at least, from the branch. Apparently not, as the system was never working! Eventually a manager took pity on her and she got a print out for four months. Obviously this was crucial information for her to have at a time when both her incomings and outgoings were in a state of change and she needed to know what was going on. As a result of this incompetence, and the fact that my daughter who also banks with Abbey had massive problems, my Mum decided to transfer her account to Lloyds. Twice Lloyds were told by Abbey that the wrong account information had been given, so they could not action it - despite the Abbey cheque book being given to the Lloyds clerk, who then read the account number to Abbey and got them to read it back. Then they said that they could not action it as it was a joint account and they needed my father's signature -very distressing for my mother -and in spite of the fact that her cheque book is now in her name only. Finally Lloyds were told that it would be actioned this week. It was supposed to be a straight transfer from one bank to another, with all the direct debits and payments in remaining the same. But today Mum got a letter from the pension people to say that they could no longer pay her pension as the account had been closed. It appears Abbey have done nothing except to close her account leaving her with no pension and no bills being paid. They say they have sent her a cheque for the money that was in her account, but she has not received it. Lloyds, bless them, went over to the Abbey branch with my Mum to try and get things sorted - but we have no way of knowing if they have been. I'm concerned about the money that has gone walkabout from my mother's account. Can anyone tell me what to do if it doesn't turn up - as Abbey seem incapable of getting anything right?

  by Gill on 2008-02-23 00:36:44

• also if anyone on her does require advice on the best course of action with anything regarding abbey i am more than happy to provide as much information as i can to people advising the TRUTH about how to best deal with abbey. in return i must stress i am not here to praise nor critisise abbey. i am simply here because i am a human being who has had my fair share of crap from my bank and am in a posistion to tell you the ins and outs. i would also like to stress that regardless of what you think of abbey staff on a profesional level, no one has the right to insult them on a personal level. its unfortunate that people dont take the time to relise these people are doing what they are taught to be the correct way, working in blssfull ignorance that what they are doing is in actual fact the incorrect way. this warrents as a training issue for the higher authoritys and should not be taken out on the person you speak to on the phone. so as said before, any questions and i am prepared to answer as truthful to my knowlege.

  by jobsworthy on 2008-02-09 00:31:14

• HI, I was just looking at Abbey,s Web site and noticed yours, Gives me comfort to know there's more than me! My wife asked them to close one a/c and open a new one with them, big mistake, it took about 6 months to get it right, two appointments with branch manager, who did not Even turn up. I was looking through my Granny's papers and noticed an abbey instant saver a/c, we went to get it updated, the Abbey staff in Surbiton informed us it was not worth it , when i phoned Abbey, they informed us it paid only .75% and it was my Granny's fault it was in an old a/c . I suppose it was her fault, she goes into that branch twice a month, and is very deaf and has poor sight. I thought just maybe some person at the branch counter could have told her,Too much to ask. Steve

  by Steve on 2008-04-09 18:15:34

• July 2008 --I just wrote a book about this kind of banking. It's called HANDLE TIME. Here is the description of the book; Just who ARE those people you call every day -- who give you troubleshooting tips, sales slogans, prepaid phone minutes driving directions and bank balances? Have you ever wondered where THEY go once you hang up the phone? HANDLE TiME (ISBN-13: 9780615215181) -- the third novel by coveted, cult-pen, LiNCOLN PARK -- is the saucy and searing story which unmasks the inner workings, deep dishes and policy wonkings of a nationwide call center. PARENTAL ADVISORY Available at amazon.com and bn.com See the Video on YOU TUBE

  by LiNCOLN PARK on 2008-07-29 00:37:28

• ANOTHER LONG RANT ABOUT ABBEY INCOMPETENCE I have just about had it with Abbey. Last year they failed to deliver a routine annual renewal of my Debit card on time which meant I was severely inconvenienced on a foreign trip, reliant on others to get me cash all the time. And then in February their computer system randomaly reassigned my adress to a different one without my knowledge. I only discovered this when I attempted a major transaction and was told that a block had been put on my account because mail was being returned "not known at this address". They insisted that I must have moved and not told them - I haven't and gave them no instruction to change my address. Finally they admitted that there were a few "glitches" in the computer system that might have got it wrong, but they assured me that it was all corrected. Well it seemed a little strange and disturbing, but at least the error was put right... NOT A BIT OF IT. Nearly four months and many fraught communications later I had received no statements (making it impossible to check if anything untoward was happeing with my account or card) and every time I ask I am still being told that my address is different and unconfirmed and that mail is being returned from somenwehere else. And every time I have tostart the whole story again about their own incopetence and go through the same disbelief and daft questios ("when you moved your must have fialed to ell us" "I did't move, your computer changed it without my authority" etc etc) What makes it even more difficult is that the address on the branch comnputers is corrected each time I confront the problem (every Saturday for weeks and weeks), but that does not clear the probel, It has been imposible to get throught to staff that they should not believe what is on the screen in front of them but they need to dig deeper and find where in their system the error was being generated. "Oh no Sir there is only one computer system across teh whole company so I can auure ou it is correct now" B****CKS. Clearlt they don't even know what is happening ing their own company. One operative even tried to tell me that there were no "IT" issues at the Abbey, just a few "computer" glitches here and there. I pointed out that "computers" are "IT" and they looked at me blankly... If it wasn't serious it would be hilarious. Ringing customer services, complaints departmets etc was usless, they either did not undertand or told me that the right deperatment was closed at that time etc etc. Only after getting really angry with someone in the brach and telling them I would not leave the premises til the problem was sorted did they ring some internal admin office. I was promised faithfully that it was finally sorted and the "uncofirmed address" flag field on the master system had now been removed. I was told that I would receive back-dated statements in three working days. JOKE. Two weeks later - nothing. Nothing at all. No change. No communication. One of my main concern has been that my statements were possibly being delivered to unknown people who could potentially misuse the confidential information they randonly received. Another local operative was then the target for my ire -I assured them that it wasn't personal, but it did irritate me when they said there was nothing they could do, and no one they could get hold and they would take my phone number and get back to me (again). This operative then amitted that there were "issues" with the sending out of statements, so they didn't know if or when I would receive any communication, which is efectively my only way of knowing that the address "glitch" has actually been sorted. On and on and on it goes. Complete incompetence, which is now becoming seriously negligent. I will withdraw my money as soon as I have made other arrangements. Banco Santander couldn't care less about customer care as far as I'm concerned. I never had any problems with Abbey National for over twenty years until they took over. If there is a problem with the core IT system they should sack the people who implement, reinstate the old syetm, reinstate the staff they have made redundant - admin staff are far ore important than crappy IT system which NEVER work in my experience and just reduce everything to anonymous, atomised pieces of data with no one able to do joined up thinking about individual customers and cases. Abbey - Shabbey? "Scabby" more like. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

  by endofmytether on 2008-05-17 23:39:06

• Oh shit. I found this site because I searched for 'abbey fraud team'. I've found a withdrawal of a round £500 I didn't make, and I'm currently working abroad, so can't handle having my account suspended in any way. I think tomorrow morning I'm in for a world of pain. :'(

  by Chris on 2008-04-01 21:41:50

• I'm also sick of Abbey Business and haven't switched yet because of the hassle involved. I've been charged a PAID/RTD ITEM FEE of £30 3 times in the last couple of days + £15 for being overdrawn. I know it's my fault for not keeping enough money in for the two paypal payments, one of them paypal tried twice and Abbey charged me twice for it, but we're only talking £9 and £6 here at the end of the month. That's £15 all together that I didn't have the money for for three days (I got a big chunk of money in today from a client) and I've been charged a whopping £105 for it! There has to be something wrong there, how can a bounced payment of £15 possibly cost Abbey £105? It's ridiculous! I phoned them and they say they can't give me any money back because they already helped me out by waiving £30 from the last £60 they charged me fore the same thing 6 months ago, but that charge was ridiculous too - something like 8 quid bounced for a charge of £60. I opened a normal savings account in HSBC a few months ago to see what they're like to deal with, so far they've been okay but I'm still nervous about ditching Abbey in case HSBC turn out to be just as bad. I might be wrong, but I think i read somewhere that HSBC has a buffer of £50 where they wont charge you for little bounced payments so long as your account is normally in order. I may go to town today and talk it out with them, see if this is true and see just how much hassle it will be to switch business accounts.

  by Jonathan Malory on 2008-04-29 11:28:25

• NO WAY>>>>>> I'm in LA with a blocked Abbey card and I just called them long distance to be told the exact same thing. This is the 8th time they've blocked my card, I've been left stranded in an airport, a hotel foyer, in a flower shop, in a supermarket and at a gas station thanks to Abbey blocking my card, why is it that you tell them you're abroad they still block your card? Even though I make regular weekly payments. I've just been told that the fraudulent dept isn't ope until Monday so I'm F****D all Sunday now. This is how I live, I rely on my Visa as its the only currency I have. I tremble after doing a weeks shopping and have to use my visa as I never know if it's going to work or not. I just tried to buy a flight online and it was declined, 2 DAYS AFTER I JUST HAD THE CARD RE-ACTIVATED. I was searching for their number on google when i found this site. SIR, I SALUTE YOU!!!

  by scott on 2008-06-29 08:56:29

• hi i have had cash withdrawn at a cashpoint three times, with my bussiness debit card ,it was not me, but its wierd because three weeks before i received two other debit cards, so abbey takeing no responceibilty for this saying my oin and card used impossible, so next thing i cancel card and get a new one 2 months latter i get two transactions on new card for 800 pound again not me this visa payments , ge capital, and mbna europe has any one else had this mthanks

  by dave on 2008-01-15 20:48:14

• Abbey is pretty shite even by usual uk banking I couldn't give toss about the customer standards. Now you have lying wogs in india and cocky spics on the end of the phone to contend with.Give your business to companies with uk call centres only. Also boycott companies that employ slow serving yard apes and thieving pakis. White mans money and ethnics don't go together.

  by turpin on 2008-02-18 16:55:30

• Well, spoke to the fraud team. The guy initially told me they were going to suspend my account, but when I explained that I was working abroad he said he would look into it before suspending the account. Two hours later I get a phone call telling me he has spoken to the branch the phantom counter withdrawal was made and that they will look into it and call me back. Three more hours later I get another call: it was an 'error', account has been credited, everything back to normal. I think I've been very, very lucky given your experiences. But there's obviously at least one guy there who knows what he's doing. This is a personal account though: not business. My business account is elsewhere (I wouldn't have a business a/c at the same bank as my personal a/c). No I'm not a shill for Abbey: in the past they have sent my new card to my old address too! C.

  by Chris on 2008-04-02 13:54:02

• Suspicious suicide of Abbey employee at Abbey headquarters, London. Bullied in a planned interrogation organised by Nathan Bostock, the head of treasury. It is important the story gets out. It could quite easily happen to someone else www.justice4richard.co.uk

  by Jacqueline Stretton-Chang on 2008-07-20 22:27:28

• bloody hell this thread has grown a bit... Down with Abbey, HSBC FTW!

  by Stefan Richter on 2008-09-02 13:16:50

• I completely agree at how shit they are!I'm a 20 year old student with a student account and without telling me abbey "withdrew my overdraft" yesterday- i was left in Sainsbury's with a declined card and no food to live off! As it was a Sunday- I had no way of getting through to them because there telephone banking is only open monday-saturday! So this morning (monday) I have been on and off the phone with them 7 TIMES! Being put through to different people- being put on hold with that endless Abbey tune they blast down your ear. And NOTHING has been sorted. I was made to feel stupid for not reading the small print of having an overdraft- apparently they are allowed to withdraw your overdraft at ANY time! And being a student I don't have any money! Oh life is so great when you bank with Abbey National. AND to top it off because I was overdrawn but in credit- now I am over the limit because they have reduced it and having to pay the fees (£32 then however much for everyday you stay over the limit)- which will be fantastic because my student loan doesn't come for another month and 5 days- which will incur MASSIVE charges. So thanks for screwing me over YET again Abbey National....!

  by laura on 2008-09-01 11:16:30

• I've been charged the £32 'Paid/rtd Item Fee Billpayment' charge twice now. The first time this happened I called up to ask what it was for and they could only tell me it was a fee that came up from using the Bill Payment service (which you use to transfer money out to other accounts). This was at a UK call centre. I'm pretty careful to move the correct amount of money so that I don't go overdrawn, so I couldn't work out what had triggered the fee. It seemed Abbey had no record either and couldn't explain it any further. Eventually I was told it would be refunded as a goodwill gesture but that this would only happen once. What I think happened was that I transferred £x out one day, then the next day I was checking to see if it had left and the balance was still the same. I tried the transfer again, leading to the £32 fee plus a £15 overdraft fee caused by the £32. I already knew their website is seriously basic and out of date (News on login is from 2 years ago) but the fact that it lets you go ahead with a transfer request when you don't have the money seems mad. Why is there no message saying "You have insufficient funds"? Every ATM machine already does this. A similar thing happened the other day. Again it's not clear what triggered the fee, but it looks like I tried to transfer money out (from my displayed Current Balance) but a card payment had already taken some money out behind the scenes, reducing my Available Balance. Why do they show "Current Balance" if it's not actually correct? Since I've been told they'll not be offering any more good will, it looks like Abbey's "free business account" actually costs £32 at unknown intervals. Time to look for an alternative I think.

  by Ali on 2008-11-17 10:40:07

• After setting up online banking I was greeted with a pop-up with styling issues, where styles don't even work on the top navigation on some of the pages. If they can't even be arsed to get CSS right, what is the code behind the site like? *ALARM BELLS ARE RINGING* So besides this, mostly things have been okay, until today. Where I sign in and the transaction I set up the other night hasn't been registered. I have the print off, but it's as though it never happened. Plus my bill payments are now missing. Hmmm. Not good. Going to ring up tomorrow and if no-one gives me an answer to why this has happened, then I'm moving banks.

  by Adrian on 2008-08-31 18:32:15

• Hey, I know how you feel because a friend of mine went through something similar. A real pain. All the best!

  by john on 2008-11-18 14:02:35

• Evil Abbey, I too travel and am in Spain at present, but get paid from a UK firm. On moving to Spain I asked at my branch how I could go about opening a Santander bank account and transferring my money accross to a branch in Barcelona. I was told that this was impossible by the Leeds city centre branch Manager. I spoke to Santander in London who advised they just needed some details from my bank. I asked for these details and was actually asked to leave the bank -"we have told you before we do not give out this information!" I made a formal complaint but received no letters of apology nothing, despite admitting they were wrong (though the female bank manager in question was not around that day and left me with a mortgage adviser, who gave me the details needed to open an account overseas - I recommend Deuctche bank to everyone they are brilliant!) Now in Barcelona my overdraft was stopped and reduced by 100 GBP each month, because I told them I was in Spain when transferring money - even though I told them this was happening in advance and despite my salary going into the Abbey account each month. Fine I think as soon I can rid myself of these usless idiots. But alas my nightmare continues as every month I call to transfer money (a regular bill payment) but because my Visa card was stopped and I was issued with a rubbish standard card I often fail security. Today the Indian call centre shouted at me "shut up Miss G and listen to me!", when I tried to explain the new card situation and said they had blocked my account and I had to walk to a branch to unblock it - walk accross water I can not! The next Indian call centre man was even ruder and after taking my card details agreed that I had passed the security but hung up on me. I had asked to speak with the Manager, to which I was told - "dont waste my time, I will not bother my manager as he will say the same as me" arrhhhh!!! Finally got through to English call centre - think its in Scotland - great no worries transferred cash in 2 minutes! Oh and the guy was lying, my account was not blocked at all. Call this number to get through to the Scottish office call centre who are much better 0845 7654321!

  by Siobhan on 2008-11-03 16:23:34

• Listen everyone.Lets cut the red tape.Abbey is a low life scum bank who havent a clue.Abbey are worse than useless and lower than a snakes belly. CLOSE YOUR ACCOUNT.If you decide to keep it open ,then tell everyone you know how bad it is so they dont open a bank.In England there is a rush to close Abbey bank accounts.Abbey are lowlife scumbags.

  by Paul on 2009-05-13 20:20:38

• It's usually such of a bore having to wait queing in most banks, but in an Abbey Branch there's usually plenty going on. Always someone having a go at the poor counter staff about some problem or other, and getting nowhere. These nice people that used to work for Abbey National, just don't seem to have the necessary discretion/authority/ability any more to sort anything out, nor access to anyone who has. You can see and feel their frustration, at not being able to offer any more than platitudes, which wind their customer up yet further. To get anything sorted out usually has to be done by telephone, 'though you can never speak to the person 'dealing' with your complaint until they call you (or rather write to you telling you how you weren't available when they called ) and that nevertheless they hope you feel that they have done all they can to deal with your enquiry effectively, having still Done Nothing to actually resolve the problem. Very good at talking to customers, while not able to Do anything to actually solve the problem(s). ... And now the last remnant of that once proud & ever so efficient institution, the name itself, is set to dissappear.... Which is probably just as well, so that we no longer hold on to that illusion, of still having what they once were.

  by Joe on 2009-06-02 21:46:21

• Agree with your review. Abbey Business are a shambolic banking service. Have a horrible call menu system whenever you ring them and customer 'service' staff are your typical call centre workers who can't do a thing and just pass you from person to person. Online banking is regularly down. Letters and faxes not responded to MOST of the time.

  by Andy on 2009-01-13 14:01:06

• Well done Fella a god blog! I have been with Abbey for over 20 years. They were always relatively progressive for a small bank. You could pay money in or take money out without paper way before any other bank. Good statements and reasonable e banking. Now what is going on. Computer says manyna! I had to cancel my debit card. So Santander sent the card but not the new pin. 7 days for the card plus another 7 for the pin. I cant speak to them on the phone until I get my tel banking number which they forgot to reissue and have only just got that ordered. Now wheres my ebanking details. Sorry you have to wait 15 day for that. WHAT!!!! Does the Santander ebanking facility have a siesta?? The irony of sponsoring F1…..Lewis what happened last year….bit slower….could it have been the sponsorship slowing you down. Soon Santander it will be “Adios amigos”. Loving my new HSBC business account and personal account manager. Looks like Barclays or Natwest will get my current account.

  by Jools on 2010-02-04 11:29:51

• Stunned by your story, I'm producing a documentary for Universityl of Hertfordshire based on Abbey fruads and their poor costumer service if you interested or know anyone else who has had a bad experience with Abbey please get in contact josh_skyers@hotmail.com

  by Josh Skyers on 2010-02-16 16:15:31

• Completely agree, steer well clear of the incompetent bunch at Abbey, DO NOT GO NEAR them, unless you like rudeness, stress and headaches.

  by Rob on 2010-03-01 17:13:03

• I should have called them previously to tell them I was traveling to be 100% sure they wouldn't do this.

  Nope that won't work either. Clearleft is with Abbey too, and we're forever having problems with cards being declined. Just this week, my card was declined 3 times for the same transaction - a flight purchase from American Airlines. My fourth phone call to Abbey finally reached a person who seem to know vaguely what he was were doing. It turns out that Abbey thought I was still in the US (at SxSW), which meant I wasn't able to make a transaction in the UK, despite phoning up three times, going through the security measures and supposedly unblocking the card. This fourth phone call did successfully remove the block and I finally managed to buy the tickets. But it took over an hour in total (and that doesn't including phoning AA three times). At the end of the fourth phone call, I pointed out to the guy that I travel a lot, and I asked whether I could phone up in advance with the country and dates of my travel plans, to prevent my card being blocked in the US and then again in the UK. Basically he said it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference and my card would continue to be blocked every time I travelled and returned home, regardless of whether the bank knew of my travel plans or not. Idiots. Frankly all the false positives we get - my card is blocked at least once a month due to travel or online transactions - makes me wonder whether they are actually capable of catching of the genuinely fraudulent transactions.

  by Richard Rutter on 2010-04-01 09:57:16

• I have an Abbey Business account, and cannot take my money out from my local bank. Further annoyances include being sent telephone and ebanking for my 3 accounts (all with abbey) but not being told which accounts the numbers were for !. I am fed up with talking to indian call centers, and not being able to carry out simple transactions from my high street. As for the co-op their rollon charges and invisible local banks were the reason I left.

  by Lucia on 2010-04-13 19:14:57