Nationwide Building Society

Consistently incorrect advice given to me by staff over the phone. In purchasing a new car, I was told there would be no problem in using my card. WHen I went in the next day to use it, it was declined. I traveled to the branch to withdraw the cash, only to find that 48 hours notice was required for a withdrawal of over £500. Despite the fact their staff had given me wrong information. So I wasted an afternoon and incurred expenses including insuring both my new and old car for an additional two days.

I then arranged a CHAPS transfer, and again incorrect information was given about how long it would take for that to clear. It was late in being transferred.

I complained. Not surprisingly, Nationwide has been totally unresponsive.

Branch staff are sometimes very helpful, sometimes quite off-track. One staff member went through my records to satisfy his own curiosity about something, and when I objected that I simply wanted to complete the transaction at hand, he incorrectly stated that he was 'Just answering your query'. In fact he was satisfying his own curiosity.

The customer is not valued consistently. A few staff are great. Others aren't. You take pot luck when you work with Nationwide. Their training for customers is clearly lacking.