Ok, this is from my personal experience and I know loads of you like Halifax. Personally I have had a very bad experience with them.
About 14 months ago I had some money stolen from my account. It was quite a bit and a very stressful experience for me as I need all the money I can get! First point of contact was a Halifax helpline, who, in all honesty, were not helpful at all. Basically told me that I would have to speak to my bank on the monday morning (this was Saturday) and they will deal with it. End of. I was worried over the weekend that I would lose even more money, luckilly I didn't. On the Monday I spoke to my bank manager who assured me that the matter would be sorted out within a few weeks, and sorted out my account so no transactions could be made and a new account was set up. However I didn't have access to this new account for another few weeks as some mistake had been made and I was send out another card for my old account and not one for my new one.
So much being promised the matter would be sorted out within weeks. Many phone calls and letters of complaint later, it seemed like I was making some progress. Apparently the claim letter had been lost (very sloppy on their part) and a new one was to be filled in. I happily obliged to this and watched as it was faxed to fraud and watched as my bank manager recieved an email saying they recieved it. A few weeks after that I recieved a call asking me to phone fraud and resolve the matter. The person at the other end of the phone then asked me for details of my old account and said someone would get back to me. They didn't. A few weeks after that I did recieve two letters, one saying the claim wasn't received (remember I saw the email saying it was) and another from a lady saying she was going to keep an eye on the case. I refused to fill another claim form as they already had it. Then I got a call saying my claim "would be dealed with in due course and it would take up to eight weeks" This was oh, about 3/4 months ago now!! I have not heard anything since, my letters have been ignored and basically I feel like they are taking me for a ride. I will be sending my complaint to the financial ombusman (sorry about the spelling) and closing all my accounts with Halifax. My custom would be appreciated elsewhere in a bank that treats their customers with respect and where customer service is important.
This however was not my only problem with Halifax. I do not recieve regular statements now for some of my accounts, whereas I did before the merger with Bank of Scotland. I'm lucky if I get served within 30 mins when I make a visit to the bank as their cashiers seem to take their time. There are no end of complaints about the company regarding waiting time and service. The staff are generally unhelpful and unfriendly and do not meet the customers needs.
I feel thats meeting the customers needs is a must, especially when it comes to their money. In my personal experience, Halifax DO NOT treat their customers with respect and their serivce is somewhat a joke.
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Oooh poor you! I bank with the halifax, but I do all mine on-line like janemain! I dont have much to do with the branch itself. I hope you get it all sorted and soon! Claire xx
(good review though!!!)
Smiler18 21.04.2005 21:14
I'm afriad all faith has been lost in Halifax! It's not just the branch, it's customer services etc who you really expect to be helpful. But it's like every company, you get some people who like them and some who hate them, I'm sure there are plenty of people who have never had a problem, I unfortunatelly have.
Britishninja 21.04.2005 04:53
OK, good review. But must say that I am with th Halifax, the staff at my branch are alway helpful and friendly. Never had any problems with them at all. Why not try another branch.
Advantages: Plenty of articles, has some messageboards, excellant quotes facilities Disadvantages: They've just ditched their Shares portfolio service, which was light years better than any similar service on the 'net
Apr 20th, 2005
very helpful by (80%):
helpful by (20%):
