My little brother and his wife emigrated to Australia about five years ago. My niece was only 2 at the time and they felt that the quality of life and standard of living would be better over there. They assured us that it’s a fantastic place to bring up kids and, having visited, I can totally see what they meant. They raved about the weather, the fact that they could get a much bigger house, that they’d be close to the beach, lots of surfing, BBQs etc. And five years on, they still love it.
Of course, as the days get colder and the nights draw in here, the exact opposite is happening in Perth so when I spoke to my brother at the weekend I expected to come off the phone green with envy at his laid back, sun filled lifestyle. But no, because apparently he'd spent the day pricing up mulch for the garden!
Friday, 24 October 2008
Tuesday, 21 October 2008
The bank that likes to say I don't really know!
Having already suffered an identity fraud recently, we thought we were done with our share of financial woes. But we hadn’t reckoned on the unique brand of customer service on offer from NatWest (correct at the time of writing but by now they may be part of a larger, more sinister organisation.)
We’ve been undertaking a variety of home improvements and, to be fair, the initial problem resulted from mis-timing on our part – a couple of builders’ bills came in slightly earlier than we’d expected and one was higher than we’d been led to believe. Essentially, in mid July we found ourselves needing to pay out several £k that we wouldn’t have until the husband’s bonus was paid in September.
The husband immediately phoned our Personal Banker (sounds good but we pay about £200 a year for the privilege!) who was extremely sympathetic (well we have been customers for over 50 years between us). He took her through the details – slightly complicated by the fact that we were on holiday in Mexico and trying to manage a 6 hour time difference! Now we’ve both worked in a bank and didn’t think that a request to increase an overdraft facility for eight weeks was a particularly difficult conundrum. And to be fair, there never seemed to be an issue with actually agreeing to lend the money.
The first stumbling block was that our bank (where we'd both also worked for many years) now apparently needed to confirm our identity! Basically, the process could not move forward until our Personal Manager had seen our passports, which were with us, in Mexico! We expressed our frustration and, once again, she was sympathetic (£200 a year buys quite a lot of sympathy we’ve discovered!) but it was ‘out of her hands’. We debated whether to continue with the process or whether to source the money elsewhere (otherwise known as grovelling to one or other set of parents!!) We phoned the builder from Mexico to explain and he was very relaxed so we decided to stick with the increase in overdraft plan.
Back in England, we dutifully presented our passports, only to be informed that NatWest also needed confirmation of our new address. Where we’d been living for over six months and where they’d been sending our bank statements! I took in a heap of utility bills and let the bank employee decide what to photocopy. Which was a mistake, because when the photocopies eventually reached our Personal Banker (which took over a week!), there was a further problem because none of the utilities are in joint names and she didn’t feel, therefore, that she had proper confirmation that we BOTH lived at the new address. Jesus Christ. So then she suggests that we make another trip to the branch, this time with a NatWest joint account statement! Yes, that’s right, one of the statements that they sent us in the first place. Apparently this would be sufficient confirmation. Hey, £200 a year might buy sympathy but it doesn’t get you an appreciation of irony! Anyway, it was now a month since we’d first asked for the money so we did as we were told. But I did ask her if this would be the final hurdle - I like to be prepared if I’m going to need to jump through a burning hoop at short notice! Yes, she assured me, it’s all agreed (her exact words) we just need this last bit of identification for the paperwork. So, the husband took the statement in the next day and the day after that I issued the cheque to the builder. Phew! It had taken far longer than it should have but we’d got there.
Or so we thought. But no. A week or so later, my card was refused in a shop. I phoned the bank and was told it was because we’d issued a big cheque that had taken us over our overdraft limit. I tried not to lose patience – honest! I explained about the new overdraft limit. No, that wasn’t ‘on the system’. I phoned the Personal Banker and was told that the limit had yet to be applied to our account. Apparently our paperwork had now been posted to Edinburgh to be processed. I explained that without the limit going on the computer we couldn't take cash out of our account oor use our debit cards. More sympathetic noises. But 'Edinburgh' couldn't be hurried. To cut a very long story slightly shorter we carried on in this position for over two weeks. They paid all our standing orders and direct debits but, apart from that, we couldn’t use the account. We reminded our Personal Banker that she had effectively told us the overdraft had been agreed and this time we got sympathy and an apology. And told that ‘I thought you’d know the process since you both used to work for NatWest’ - Yes, back in the day when a customer requested an overdraft, a Personal Banker reviewed their account, told them yes or no and then made the money available within a couple of days at the most!
We pointed out that in addition to having to find an alternative way to fund our living expenses; we were also now incurring interest at an unauthorised borrowing rate, which, in all the circumstances, seemed unfair. Our Personal Banker assured us that she would take care of this. And then she went on maternity leave.
Is anyone surprised to learn that the bank subsequently applied interest at an unauthorised borrowing rate? And also a maintenance charge for having to ‘manage’ our account while it was operated outside the overdraft limit? Obviously we complained. And the replacement Personal Banker went on holiday and left it to her Assistant. And then last week we received a letter from the replacement Personal Banker telling us that the bank has decided not to refund our charges. But that if we’re not happy with this decision we should phone her!!!!!!!
We’ve been undertaking a variety of home improvements and, to be fair, the initial problem resulted from mis-timing on our part – a couple of builders’ bills came in slightly earlier than we’d expected and one was higher than we’d been led to believe. Essentially, in mid July we found ourselves needing to pay out several £k that we wouldn’t have until the husband’s bonus was paid in September.
The husband immediately phoned our Personal Banker (sounds good but we pay about £200 a year for the privilege!) who was extremely sympathetic (well we have been customers for over 50 years between us). He took her through the details – slightly complicated by the fact that we were on holiday in Mexico and trying to manage a 6 hour time difference! Now we’ve both worked in a bank and didn’t think that a request to increase an overdraft facility for eight weeks was a particularly difficult conundrum. And to be fair, there never seemed to be an issue with actually agreeing to lend the money.
The first stumbling block was that our bank (where we'd both also worked for many years) now apparently needed to confirm our identity! Basically, the process could not move forward until our Personal Manager had seen our passports, which were with us, in Mexico! We expressed our frustration and, once again, she was sympathetic (£200 a year buys quite a lot of sympathy we’ve discovered!) but it was ‘out of her hands’. We debated whether to continue with the process or whether to source the money elsewhere (otherwise known as grovelling to one or other set of parents!!) We phoned the builder from Mexico to explain and he was very relaxed so we decided to stick with the increase in overdraft plan.
Back in England, we dutifully presented our passports, only to be informed that NatWest also needed confirmation of our new address. Where we’d been living for over six months and where they’d been sending our bank statements! I took in a heap of utility bills and let the bank employee decide what to photocopy. Which was a mistake, because when the photocopies eventually reached our Personal Banker (which took over a week!), there was a further problem because none of the utilities are in joint names and she didn’t feel, therefore, that she had proper confirmation that we BOTH lived at the new address. Jesus Christ. So then she suggests that we make another trip to the branch, this time with a NatWest joint account statement! Yes, that’s right, one of the statements that they sent us in the first place. Apparently this would be sufficient confirmation. Hey, £200 a year might buy sympathy but it doesn’t get you an appreciation of irony! Anyway, it was now a month since we’d first asked for the money so we did as we were told. But I did ask her if this would be the final hurdle - I like to be prepared if I’m going to need to jump through a burning hoop at short notice! Yes, she assured me, it’s all agreed (her exact words) we just need this last bit of identification for the paperwork. So, the husband took the statement in the next day and the day after that I issued the cheque to the builder. Phew! It had taken far longer than it should have but we’d got there.
Or so we thought. But no. A week or so later, my card was refused in a shop. I phoned the bank and was told it was because we’d issued a big cheque that had taken us over our overdraft limit. I tried not to lose patience – honest! I explained about the new overdraft limit. No, that wasn’t ‘on the system’. I phoned the Personal Banker and was told that the limit had yet to be applied to our account. Apparently our paperwork had now been posted to Edinburgh to be processed. I explained that without the limit going on the computer we couldn't take cash out of our account oor use our debit cards. More sympathetic noises. But 'Edinburgh' couldn't be hurried. To cut a very long story slightly shorter we carried on in this position for over two weeks. They paid all our standing orders and direct debits but, apart from that, we couldn’t use the account. We reminded our Personal Banker that she had effectively told us the overdraft had been agreed and this time we got sympathy and an apology. And told that ‘I thought you’d know the process since you both used to work for NatWest’ - Yes, back in the day when a customer requested an overdraft, a Personal Banker reviewed their account, told them yes or no and then made the money available within a couple of days at the most!
We pointed out that in addition to having to find an alternative way to fund our living expenses; we were also now incurring interest at an unauthorised borrowing rate, which, in all the circumstances, seemed unfair. Our Personal Banker assured us that she would take care of this. And then she went on maternity leave.
Is anyone surprised to learn that the bank subsequently applied interest at an unauthorised borrowing rate? And also a maintenance charge for having to ‘manage’ our account while it was operated outside the overdraft limit? Obviously we complained. And the replacement Personal Banker went on holiday and left it to her Assistant. And then last week we received a letter from the replacement Personal Banker telling us that the bank has decided not to refund our charges. But that if we’re not happy with this decision we should phone her!!!!!!!
Friday, 10 October 2008
Forgive me, it's been months since my last blog!
But now my husband has started a blog of his own (http://www.worldshutyourmouth.com/) and put mine as a link. So, I better get back to it! The issue of the day for me is…Cheerleading. Not quite up there with the World Economic Collapse I know, but still.
My daughter has just started at Secondary School and has joined ‘Cheerleading Club’. Last week they were put into ‘squads’ and she was delighted to be in ‘Yellow’. Excellent. But when we asked what sort of sports they would be cheerleading at she told us that apparently it isn’t ‘that sort of cheerleading’. They don’t stand at the side when the school team is playing a game and shout and jump about as encouragement to the team and to rouse the other supporters (or lead the cheer as one might say). Oh no. Apparently, they dream up complicated routines and then compete against other schools.
Is it just me, or is this a faintly ridiculous idea? Making cheerleading the 'main event' is on a par (forgive the pun) with the golf world introducing competitive caddying! Mind you, maybe I should reserve judgement until I’ve been along to one of these events. It would be an amusing irony to find the school hockey team standing on the sidelines brandishing their sticks and chanting the cheerleaders to victory through their gumshields!
My daughter has just started at Secondary School and has joined ‘Cheerleading Club’. Last week they were put into ‘squads’ and she was delighted to be in ‘Yellow’. Excellent. But when we asked what sort of sports they would be cheerleading at she told us that apparently it isn’t ‘that sort of cheerleading’. They don’t stand at the side when the school team is playing a game and shout and jump about as encouragement to the team and to rouse the other supporters (or lead the cheer as one might say). Oh no. Apparently, they dream up complicated routines and then compete against other schools.
Is it just me, or is this a faintly ridiculous idea? Making cheerleading the 'main event' is on a par (forgive the pun) with the golf world introducing competitive caddying! Mind you, maybe I should reserve judgement until I’ve been along to one of these events. It would be an amusing irony to find the school hockey team standing on the sidelines brandishing their sticks and chanting the cheerleaders to victory through their gumshields!
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