I haven't left but life has got very busy all of a sudden - please bear with me
I haven't left but life has got very busy all of a sudden - please bear with me
Member since:22.08.2001
Reviews:31
Members who trust:25
I have banked with most of the mainstream banks during my banking life of about 16 years. I do have a tendency to chop and change because I am a sucker for any freebies they used to offer to set up a variety of accounts (do you remember those pigs that Nat West offered many moons ago?)
I ran into difficulties several years ago with joint accounts I held with my husband and he brought black marks against both of our names, which I didn’t find out about until after we had separated.
The separation caused me to have to try and open a current account in my own name, which proved to be almost impossible, even though I have had my black marks removed. After trying many High Street institutions and being unceremoniously turned away I decided to approach the bank that dealt with our company finances and see if they could offer me anything. To my surprise I had a current account opened within a day and the chequebook and Electron card followed very shortly after. After a few months of keeping a healthy bank accountBarclays invited me to upgrade my Electron card to a Connect card, which is more widely recognised, and they also offered me a Barclaycard. I applied for both, again thinking they would turn me straight down, and low and behold the new cards turned up within a week.
A few months later I decided that I needed (wanted) a new car, so I telephoned my personal banker to enquire about a loan, again waiting for the inevitable ‘Get lost’. Again the response was favourable and the money was in my account within an hour of me signing the paperwork. I now trundle round quite proudly in my Golf GTIConvertible.
Barclays also has very nice and easy to navigate internet site and in these days of easy access to account information I find this a godsend. You have to register and wait for a login number and password but then all information on all of your accounts is accessible at a touch of a button.
Barclays offer many other services for their personal customers including Pensions, Mortgages, Savings Plans, and ISA’s. I am at present considering moving my mortgage to Barclays/Woolwich as their rates are far more impressive than the Building Society that currently provides my mortgage.
I once left my purse in a restaurant and didn’t realise until the following morning whereby I immediately reported my cards lost and had them cancelled. A few days later I received a phone call from Barclays querying a transaction on my Connect Card which was made after the time I said I had lost my purse – It transpired that someone had tried using the card after finding my purse. I explained that I had not made the transaction and they immediately credited my account with the money. Top marks again for customer service.
As a personal customer I would recommend Barclays time and time again. They are the one bank that I found that would actually listen to my plight and consider all the options without dismissing me straight away.
Barclays from a business point of view also gets thumbs up. The company that I work for is looked after a commercial team based in their main office in Cardiff. We have regular contact with the team and the Business Manager takes an interest in how the company is performing and suggests any other services that she thinks may be relevant to us.
On both counts I feel that Barclays does give a damn, which in the past I have not found with many of the other Institutions, and for this reason alone I think I will be sticking with them indefinitely.
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Interesting - seems they might do some good for the Woolwich after all - one is always a bit concerned when there is a takeover, but Woolwich could do with a few lessons in some areas of customer service.
Sue
H4rry 30.10.2001 22:39
Well...... on this op i decided to base it on the authors previous ops instead of solely this one...so to the untrained eye it may appear as though i was too lazy to read it but to a master of bullshi....i mean literature such as myself i evaluated it on a higher plaine than most ever bother to.....
Advantages: Efficient, Good Variety of products, Best offered Cash ISA 2 years running Disadvantages: Try and sell you products that are not always beneficial to you.
BTreyo 18.04.2008 (18.04.2008)
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Review of BarclaysBank Accounts
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Oct 26th, 2001
very helpful by (100%):
