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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

NatWest cancelling the wrong card.

15 replies

BigcatLittlecat · 19/08/2017 18:04

Yesterday DH lost his bank card. So he called NatWest to cancel it and order a new one. All good.
We were at the time 500 miles away from home and just about to get petrol for journey home! That's not a problem I had my card!
Luckily we popped into supermarket to buy a couple of things for journey as when I went to use my card it was declined! Called them back and they had cancelled my card which is a different account altogether! The woman on phone was very apologetic and sorted us out to get emergency cash but we had to drive miles to find a cash point we could use. All the while worrying about how much petrol we had left! When we got home we had 60 miles available. Hate going under 100 miles!
AIBU to complain that they cancelled the wrong card? How did they get into my account?

OP posts:

AlexanderHamilton · 19/08/2017 18:05

They did this on us although it was slightly mire understandable as it was a joint account.

They are hopeless.

Mumteedum · 19/08/2017 18:08

I'd guess that natwest has software that shows a link because of same address. Yes that's horrendous but many many years ago I worked at a bank (phone banking) and did similar once. It's simple human error and I'd imagine the employee felt terrible. You could certainly complain and perhaps be compensated for inconvenience /petrol but I think it's just a really unfortunate mistake.

cabanacabana · 19/08/2017 18:08

Complain but it's likely to have been a genuine error.

Say it was distress and inconvenience but I wouldn't get too wound up over it, annoying as it may have been.

P.s I've worked in telephone banking. It's full on call after call. They wouldn't have meant to make a mistake

MrTrebus · 19/08/2017 18:10

Everyone should have a credit card or at least another debit card with some money in for emergencies. Time you got this sorted. Mistakes happen.

Hallomiaddicted · 19/08/2017 18:11

Why don't you have a credit card ! It is poor but rediculous only having one card each

Glumglowworm · 19/08/2017 18:18

Yanbu to complain, since they made a mistake. But please remember that that's all it was, a mistake. They happen in all jobs.

FunkyBarnYardBroom · 19/08/2017 18:39

I don't have a credit card it's not obligatory!!

10greenapples · 19/08/2017 18:46

Complain! I got £50 when this happened to me as I had to walk all the way home heavily pregnant.

TheHiphopopotamus · 19/08/2017 18:46

Everyone should have a credit card or at least another debit card with some money in for emergencies

How many accounts is the OP supposed to have? She's already said that the card they cancelled was for a different account altogether than the one that was cancelled.

MrTrebus · 19/08/2017 19:10

Yeah so they only have 1 bank card each. Everyone should have at least 1 debit card and 1 credit card. Or 2 debit cards if you can't get a credit card. It's about thinking ahead.

IrnBruTortie · 19/08/2017 19:18

NatWest would never be my bank of choice; when I was a student (ok, this is many, many moons ago), they closed my account, realised their mistake, and re-opened it a few days later. In the mean time I'd written one a cheque on that account, and had gone home for Christmas. When I returned to my student city I found they'd cashed the cheque, I'd gone overdrawn, they'd charged me for it, and then put the money I had had when the account was closed back in so I had a balance for them to take the fee out of.
I'd had to walk miles to the closest branch to try and sort it out, and sit there for 2 hours whilst they tried to sort it out for me (they stuck me in a consultation / interview room, and kept popping back to say thing she like "we can't see a record of you asking for the account to be closed. But did you?") whilst getting more and more perplexed as what had happened shouldn't have been possible..!
Anyway OP, glad you've got it sorted now.

Fastnotfurious · 20/08/2017 13:25

Personally, if the bank holds up their hands and admits it was a mistake, most people although peeved will accept this. It's how the problem is dealt with that makes a difference. I remember applying for a four figure car loan which a soft search confirmed was highly likely. It was then declined, affecting my credit rating and leaving me without a car.
I was completely bemused as there seemed no plausible explanation why this would be the case considering I have a good credit rating and had recently taken out a mortgage with the same bank. The bank manager involved seemed baffled but spent a long time trying to explore various over the top scenarios that could have led to this scenario. When I asked him to check over the application for mistakes as he had inputted the data onto the computer, he said once an application had been submitted, it could not be accessed by anyone and the system did not allow for mistakes.
Turns out that neither of these statements are true. When a more senior bank employee looked into it, he found that an extra zero had been inputted on to the system. It turned a small loan application with a 15k limit into a mortgage sized loan application and the system had not picked this up. The original bank manager had noticed his mistake and tried to cover it up at the expense of my credit rating!
All sorted now but it did make me wonder how often these mistakes happen, are not picked up and have serious implications for customers. Trust your instincts and don't accept the line that computers don't allow these mistakes to happen.

MaidOfStars · 20/08/2017 13:36

I recently cancelled a NatWest debit card on a joint account and the customer service person took great care in ensuring which of the cards was being cancelled, where my husband's card was, and so on.

I guess it's a bit pot luck?

Auldspinster · 20/08/2017 13:44

Complain, this shouldn't have happened. I work in another part of the group and know how to cancel cards and whomever did it clearly wasn't paying attention. Call up the number on the back of your card and they can direct you to the complaints dept.

LateToTheParty · 20/08/2017 14:16

NatWest don't seem to use any common sense when it comes to account management. When we moved house, I went into the branch to do the change of address on our joint account. All confirmed as fine. A few weeks later, thanks to the Royal Mail redirection I'd paid for, a letter arrived which was addressed to DH at our old house, containing the first half of details to setup online banking which he hadn't requested! The second half were on their way in a separate letter, which would have given whoever now lived at our old house & opened them both enough info to access our bank account!

Phoned to complain and they said it was because only my address had been updated, not his (even though it's always been a joint account which either of us can administer). They couldn't explain why he'd been sent online banking setup details without warning either. They took my mobile number to investigate & call back. Heard nothing then they wrote a week later saying the phone number provided didn't work, but they'd missed a digit off. Gave up at that point!

Subsequent visit to the branch re something else confirmed they had three phone numbers for us (including the one they couldn't write down properly when I called); landline and a mobile number each, but had managed to transpose our mobile numbers. They said they couldn't correct either mobile number without us both being present

Keep meaning to close the account and open one elsewhere, just not got round to it!

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