to think Lloyd's Bank are an incompetent bunch of bankers?

[ShatnersWig]

As of today I have been without a debit card for two weeks. There have been umpteen phone calls, tweets etc. I finally have a single person from the complaints dept dealing with it. I'm speaking to him again this evening.

To go into the full story would fill this thread, but there has been fault after fault after fault, I've been given wrong information, told they can't do something which would actually solve the problem (ie send a card to my nearest branch or by recorded next day delivery), treated differently to other customers (which I can prove), probably lied to and the inconvenience of not having a card for so long has been incalculable. Nothing to do with Royal Mail, other post from the bank has been received.

I work for a small charity and they don't have a card with their bank account (also with Lloyd's) so I use mine and them claim it back. I've not been able to order stuff for work. I had a week off and wanted to book a last minute holiday - impossible without a card. Even booking things like theatre tickets proved impossible as they want to see the card when you collect them.

When I made an official complaint a week ago (having already made other non-formal phone calls) I was told that I would be contacted "shortly". Having not heard from them in two days I rang back and asked when I would be rung. I was told that the complaints process was such that I would be contacted "within 5 working days". I replied that I don't regard that as shortly and why wasn't I told that in the first place.

The likelihood of my finally getting a card by the end of this week is slim, so we're talking somewhere between 2.5-3 weeks without a card all told. I have never had a credit card (which I shall now obviously have to look into) as I've never ever liked the idea of buying stuff on credit as we were ridiculously poor when I was young and if you wanted something you saved for it and that's never really left me.

I don't have a partner, so can't use their card.

All the staff at my nearest branch and the people I've spoken to on the phones are all embarrassed and even when I ask the complaints guy (who is quite senior) if he thinks this situation is acceptable and his opinion of their customer service he's not even paused but said "no, it isn't acceptable, I'm amazed you're being so calm with me and I agree it's nowhere near good enough; I couldn't cope without my card for 3 days let alone two weeks".

He's looking into things, speaking to me tonight, and has said he will get this all sorted and see it through personally until I get a card and then "we need to talk about how we can make this right" which means compensation. I know if I am unhappy with their offer I can decline it and complain to the Financial Ombudsman and they may make a ruling and up the compensation to a more acceptable level. Or I may get nothing.

Would you tell them to shove their offer unless it was pretty significant and go to the Ombudsman or just accept what is offered (and then switch banks)?

[ShatnersWig]

Christ that was long, sorry

[AnitaPallenbergsKnees]

They messed us about no end when we did our business banking with them, nobody seemed to know how anything worked so we closed our account.

[Ecureuil]

That does sound awful and I'm very surprised as when I lost my Lloyds bank card a couple of months ago I had a new one within a couple of days.
It's completely up to you how to choose to deal with it. I'd probably accept the offer and switch banks but that's because i generally can't be arsed with additional admin.

[ShatnersWig]

Ecu It's astonishing. When I complained on 28/2 that my card (which they had already told me was supposed to have arrived on 25/2 - so only three days before expiry, not the week minimum it is supposed to be anyway), still hadn't arrived, they cancelled that card and said they would send another one to arrive by 4/3. It of course didn't. When I rang them, I asked when it had been sent out. They said 8.57 on 2/3. 36 hours after I rang them on 28/2. Yet on Twitter I see people losing cards on a Thursday night getting their new card on Saturday. Now, delays in post are one thing, but clearly that person had her replacement card issued almost immediately - why was mine not done for 36 hours??? Grrrr.

[Backingvocals]

They are appalling. We closed our business accounts with them and went Metro because our accountant was losing her mind dealing with them.

But you won't get much compensation for this because no actual loss - just a token sum. Ombudsman won't care much either so I wouldn't bother with that.

[Ecureuil]

Yes that's very poor. Mine must have been issued immediately as I'm sure it arrived after 48 hours (I was surprised at the speed).
It's one thing to make a cock up (everyone does sometimes) but to make repeated cock ups and fail to make the situation right is another.

[Flisstizzy]

You can accept the compensation and still go to the Ombudsman if you wish.
The Ombudsman will look if you have been treated fairly, i.e.: as soon as the problem was identified was the card ordered, what caused the delays, what the impact was of not having your card and have you been appropriately compensated for the inconvenience. 5 days is acstandard turn around time for a banking complaint, although some may be resolved quicker at the time or over the phone.

[ShatnersWig]

Backing I had assumed that but the chap I've been speaking to seems to be indicating more than a token sum. I was given £50 on 28/2 for their failure to get my card to me before expiry and for being given some misinformation by staff on the telephone on 24/2 and paid for my telephone calls! I didn't even ask for this, nor had I made a formal complaint. They've admitted this is not just one error but a total catalogue, hands up, you've got us guv. If they can hand over £50 for the first issue, you have to say an additional potential three weeks without a card and proof of multiple cock ups is worth more than another £50.

[Flisstizzy]

Oh yes, forgot to say that's pretty poor from the bank

[Unihorn]

Sounds useless! Depending on their offer, I would go to the Ombudsman as you can possibly bring up the issue of business use and they may be more inclined to raise the amount. However if the initial offer seems quite fair then it may be sensible to accept.

If you switch to Halifax or Santander they normally give you £100+ so, every cloud!

I have several credit and debit cards, partly for this reason. It's a shitty way to discover it, but obviously this will avoid the problem in the future!

[ShatnersWig]

What really boiled my piss is that when I said on 28/2 I wasn't fussed about £50 compensation (but thank you all the same) but getting my card, I said "why isn't it possible for you to send one out next day guaranteed recorded delivery in these circumstances?" It would need to be signed for, so better security than just chucking it in the normal "3-5 working days", or sending it overnight to a nearby branch. They said that can't be done. Yet that would be SO much cheaper than giving me £50 and provide customer satisfaction.

[wapphighwood]

They are terrible, caused my parents lots of distress. They wanted to move their isa from Lloyds who told them they didn't have an isa with lloyds even though they had the paper work to prove it! It even got to the point where lloyds sent them a letter telling them to stop wasting their staff's time! They did get it eventually but after a lot of stress that they had lost that money

[Tempranillo]

Depends if you think it's worth the hassle of going to FOS.

You don't need a credit card if you don't want one, but you should definitely look into a second current account as a back up.

[Sparklingbrook]

That's rubbish. Where are they sending the cards? Is someone intercepting your post?

DH needed a new debit card and he went into Barclays. They went and made him one there and then.

[ShatnersWig]

Sparkling First one that is supposed to arrive at least one week before expiry (ie, 21/2) was supposedly sent out on 22/2 to be with me by 25/2. When it hadn't arrived by 28/2, they cancelled it to send a new one. That card of course arrived on 2/3 but as it had been cancelled couldn't be used! No postmark of course. I suspect when I rang on 24/2 it hadn't been sent out at all, they realised "oops" and a button pressed and it got sent out on 27/2 which would make sense with when it did arrive. The one supposedly sent on 2/3 has never arrived. However, in that time I have had one letter from Lloyds confirming the official complaint and two other pieces of post from Lloyds. Royal Mail doesn't seem to be the problem.

[Sparklingbrook]

Ah ok. Just a thought. I would imagine there are people who know what a card being sent feels like in the envelope but I am sure your postie is honest and trustworthy.

[bandbsmummy]

I have had a nightmare with them too recently. Have banked with them for 15+ years and opened a business account 2 years ago which they have properly messed me around with. Haven't heard anything from them so far either about my complaint.

[Sunnysky2016]

That's really poor service. I lost mine a few weeks ago- reported it in branch on the Tuesday and had a new one Friday.

[MaverickSnoopy]

It sounds to me like the initial card not turning up has muddied the waters and the complaint has complicated things - not that it should have.

I once had dealings with a utility supplier where the bill that we received was wrong. As soon as I looked into it the system in place could not cope with it. It all got more and more complicated until our entire account was deleted and then all our history was lost. It's as if some companies have such bad processes that anything outside of the system sends them into panic mode. However, you weren't exactly asking for a miracle. You were asking for a bank card.

At this stage I would be asking for a dedicated person to correspond with over email only. I would be sending them the entire history and making a paper trail. It sounds like this has the likelihood to go on for some time. I wouldn't be accepting phones calls I would be wanting them to demonstrate in writing what they are dong to fix this.

[LurkingHusband]

I would waste any time with the ombudsman.

A couple of years ago, I was messed around right royally by Nationwide. I spent quite a while detailing things to the ombudsman, and collating documentation. Ombudsman spent a couple of months, and then got back to me noting that every single point I had made about Nationwide was correct. However they can only arrange compensation where you have actually lost money (which I hadn't). They can't compensate for wasted time.

Next time FCA.

[Astoria7974]

Switch to Metro bank. They'll print out your card there and then

[Applebite]

the collective noun for bankers is a "wunch".

YANBU to think they are incompetent.

YANBU to think it's just Lloyds though. I've never seen such incompetent shit in my life as Barclays managed to shovel out to me when I banked with them!

[clarabellb]

FOS will take AGES to deal with your complaint...email the CEO and you'll get a response from his PA almost immediately and a new card delivered by courier the following day.

[Naty1]

Why cant they send it to a branch?
Though i suspect this is because it is automated.
Especially if you suspect someone is intercepting the post?
I see you did receive the cancelled card so its not an address issue.
I believe some addresses the post office dont deliver to daily. And it may accumulate until they say have a first class letter.

I would consider having more than one current account. As eg what if you put the wrong pin in the ATM and it ate the card. Or if someone cloned your card and stole all the money. Some things can take a while to sort out.

[Sunnymeg]

You mention that you purchase things on behalf of a charity and are then reimbursed. I wonder if the issue with the late card has caused a situation whereby your account has been flagged up and is now being investigated, possibly because it might look as if you are running a business through a personal account. When we have a situation like this (I work in a bank, not Lloyds) we basically try and placate the customer without giving anything away until a decision has been made about how to proceed. I'm not saying that this is happening in your case, but it is a possibility especially if the charity is reimbursing you by cheque, which you are then paying into your account. To be honest, I can completely understand why you are using your debit card to buy things for the charity, but the charity should be making its own arrangements and not relying on an employee's debit card to enable their transactions.