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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think the closure of many bank branches has lead to those which are still open being staffed by numpties.

48 replies

confusedabouthormones · 05/09/2024 11:47

There is Only 1 branch open near me. It's 15 miles away and the next one is over 80 miles away.

Recently I had to go into the branch to lodge a special currency check which doesn't happen often So I didn't mind going in. Except when I got there none of the 4 staff knew how to process the check and I was put on the phone
To a customer agent who then
Explained to the girl in branch what to do.

Then yesterday I went in to pay off my mortgage. Wanted to do it in person so I could have some questions answered. When I got there that couldn't answer my questions. They said they don't hold our deeds. Yet we have an email from when we took the mortgage saying the deeds would be sent to them!

Anyway is this an unusual experience or is it deliberate to dissuade us from going to branch.

OP posts:
taxguru · 05/09/2024 11:53

Same happened with MIL. Took her into the Halifax as one of her ISA terms had expired and it needed to be reinvested into a new ISA. Counter staff said it had to be done online or by phone, and couldn't be done in a branch. This was after another visit a few weeks earlier when they said they couldn't do a paper printout of recent current account transactions, again telling us to go online.

Went in the following week, different staff, not only were they able to transfer the ISA balance, but also no problem in printing off recent transactions.

I think some of the staff are either incompetent and don't know how to do things, or they're just being deliberately awkward to try to get more people online (and too thick to realise that if everyone did that, they'd lost their job!).

Petitchat · 05/09/2024 11:57

taxguru · 05/09/2024 11:53

Same happened with MIL. Took her into the Halifax as one of her ISA terms had expired and it needed to be reinvested into a new ISA. Counter staff said it had to be done online or by phone, and couldn't be done in a branch. This was after another visit a few weeks earlier when they said they couldn't do a paper printout of recent current account transactions, again telling us to go online.

Went in the following week, different staff, not only were they able to transfer the ISA balance, but also no problem in printing off recent transactions.

I think some of the staff are either incompetent and don't know how to do things, or they're just being deliberately awkward to try to get more people online (and too thick to realise that if everyone did that, they'd lost their job!).

Sorry, but your last sentence in brackets just made me laugh 😁

And of course, you're right.

SoloSofa24 · 05/09/2024 12:02

I have been paid two lots of £200 compensation so far this year by Lloyds due to the total incompetence of their 'specialist' roving branch-based person I had to deal with to set up an executor account to deal with my late parents' estates. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing and told me completely opposite things every time I saw her or spoke to her on the phone.

I don't know if they just no longer bother training people and expect them to follow computer scripts, or maybe just can't get decent staff.

orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements · 05/09/2024 12:02

Yep. Not one single person knew how to open a child's bank account for my DS. It's been almost two decades since I opened one for myself and it used to be that you had to go into a branch with all your ID and you would sit at a table with someone who would go through the best options for you and open your account with you. I was not prepared for completely disinterested people who just told me to go online. Not even any recognition that I was bringing them new custom. No welcome. Nothing.

Catza · 05/09/2024 12:23

I am all for online banking but I had some cash I needed to deposit and it was a couple of days after I lost my card. The bank staff kept telling me I need to use a machine despite me explaining multiple times that I have no card and do have 2 IDs on me and want to do it over the counter (like you used to be able to do!)
Turned out I can't do it at the branch either. Well, not on that particular day anyway as they didn't have a person who is able to authorise it.
But if you really want to bang your head against the wall, try doing business with a Spanish bank. Our banks are a joy by comparison.

Petitchat · 05/09/2024 12:28

orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements · 05/09/2024 12:02

Yep. Not one single person knew how to open a child's bank account for my DS. It's been almost two decades since I opened one for myself and it used to be that you had to go into a branch with all your ID and you would sit at a table with someone who would go through the best options for you and open your account with you. I was not prepared for completely disinterested people who just told me to go online. Not even any recognition that I was bringing them new custom. No welcome. Nothing.

I seem to get that attitude in a lot of places though, not just banks.

It's quite demoralising at times....

48Hourss · 05/09/2024 13:45

Calling people numpties because you had 2 questions that couldn't be answered immediately? OK.

the80sweregreat · 05/09/2024 13:50

Not read the whole thread ,
Our local branch isn't too bad, but the days of 'going through ' anything in banks are long gone I'm afraid
It's all apps and go online or ring a ' help line '

the80sweregreat · 05/09/2024 13:59

When Dh had the glorious day of finally paying off the mortgage from his redundancy payments , the bank couldn't have been less interested and he was baffled by how they said he could do it too! ( write a cheque to yourself? It was correct , but seemed wrong ) wasn't even done in the office , but at the desk. I suppose I expected better really ? .. no chance lol 😂
Tales of flowers being sent saying congrats after 30 odd years of paying them heaps ( from other banks I've heard of this being a thing ) didn't materialize either 😂
They don't care anymore I think , probably just fed up with working like we all are these days

LaerealSilverhand · 05/09/2024 14:03

It's deliberate. They'll run down the service to the extent that it becomes un-useable, and then shutd own the branch because "no-one uses it". See also rural bus services.

TherealmrsT · 05/09/2024 14:10

Went in with DM just after DF died and whilst they could change their joint account into her name and close her other account they couldn't record his death, I had to do that on line. DM wanted it all done in one go by a person so the ends were tied up. Bank staff agreed it was annoying for customers and said they used to do it.
It wasn't difficult on line, but we had enough admin going on and that just felt like it created work for us.
At least she still has a local branch though....

the80sweregreat · 05/09/2024 14:13

The staff are probably told to direct people to machines in the branch and apps
It's so they can shut them all eventually ( agree with poster below )

neilyoungismyhero · 05/09/2024 14:19

I had a small amount of cash to pay in at the Halifax a few weeks ago which included one pound coins. The manager? advised he would accept the coins this time but next time I would need to go to the post office....the mind boggles

LlynTegid · 05/09/2024 14:19

Would you consider a job working in any bank branch, given the pattern of closures? Given you could have to move to work further afield, and it is no entry level job to a career?

So anyone who would be good will look elsewhere.

bostonchamps · 05/09/2024 14:25

orangesandlemonssaythebellsofstclements · 05/09/2024 12:02

Yep. Not one single person knew how to open a child's bank account for my DS. It's been almost two decades since I opened one for myself and it used to be that you had to go into a branch with all your ID and you would sit at a table with someone who would go through the best options for you and open your account with you. I was not prepared for completely disinterested people who just told me to go online. Not even any recognition that I was bringing them new custom. No welcome. Nothing.

Did you really not think anything would have changed in the last twenty years though? We've had a huge technological revolution, I don't understand people who don't just google these things before they leave the house.

Either move with the times or get left behind...

CraftyNavySeal · 05/09/2024 14:32

It’s the customer service paradox.

People who are sharp and good at solving problems are great at customer service but can easily get better paying jobs where they don’t have to deal with annoying customers all day. That means you get stuck with a lot of incompetent people who can’t get a job anywhere else.

beguilingeyes · 05/09/2024 14:34

I started work in a branch in a bank in Bath in the early 80s. We had 70 staff. All those jobs lost.

Recently i wanted to open a joint account with DH. DH works for said bank (30 years plus). I _used to work for them and have several accounts there. We couldn't open a joint account without going to a branch in person with our passports.

INeedAnotherName · 05/09/2024 14:36

I needed to put some money into an unused savings account so went to a local branch but they couldn't do it because computer said no. They had no idea why and suggested I went to the main branch in the city. They had the same problem and suggested I made an appointment to see a higher up. Which I did. They couldn't get my account to accept the cash either and suggested I made an appointment to see another person at a higher level.

Turns out the account was fallow after not being used for two years but at least ten different bank staff of various seniority didn't realise or know how to get it out of fallow status. Turns out all I needed to do was sign a standard form and every single staff should have known what to do🙄

You are being very polite by calling them numpties imo.

GhibliCat · 05/09/2024 14:37

I went to HSBC recently to try and sort somethings out.

They had nobody in tills or anything to help. It was a room with various cash machines, self help machines and a few phones to call the same number that's on the back of your card.

I wanted to ask the women there what was the bloody point??

Drive 25 mins to get there as was only one in area.

I couldn't withdraw £2000 as they only had cash machines and limit is 1k

That's why I went to bloody bank!!

KrisAkabusi · 05/09/2024 14:40

I'm not surprised they didn't know what to do with your cheque. They are very rare now, never mind one in a foreign currency!

EndorsingPRActice · 05/09/2024 14:48

To add to the tales of woe, some elderly relatives give cash to the DCs on their birthdays/Christmas. Last several times we've visited the branch (special trip required as we are rural) to pay the cash into the kids accounts none of the machines were working and we were unable to deposit the cash as there were no tellers on duty. So we had to visit again the next week. It's so annoying and no, the relatives will not write cheques/ go digital, I have gently suggested this but they are old and just don't get it, plus they are so generous and I don't want to upset them.

TonTonMacoute · 05/09/2024 14:52

I think it's unfair to brand branch staff as numpties, but I agree that banking is now in a totally dire state, customer service is non-existent. You can manage day to day banking quite nicely online, but anything out of the ordinary and you are completely stuffed.

Working for a bank used to be really good career when I was young, it provided a good training and all sorts of opportunities, now you are just a drone in a call centre reading a script off a computer screen.

Progress is great but thousands of rewarding jobs are being lost because of it and they are not being replaced. I'm glad I'm not young now.

theminions · 05/09/2024 14:55

Wow, am so glad I don't work in a branch anymore. These type of comments from customers were enough to send me to breaking point.

Do you really think the staff don't want to help or could it be due to staff shortages, continuous job reorganisations and lack of any ongoing training, combined with absolutely awful pay..... am so glad I am now in a job that doesn't deal directly with the general public!

Badbadbunny · 05/09/2024 15:05

@TonTonMacoute

Working for a bank used to be really good career when I was young, it provided a good training and all sorts of opportunities

Indeed it was. Now that's yet another "lost opportunity" for young people to get decent jobs without having to uplift and move a couple of hundred miles to the nearest big city.

Those were the days when youngsters could get decent jobs in every town - whether it was the council, post office, tax office, BT, insurance firms, utility firms, professional offices, banks etc.

Now you can't get any of those jobs in towns and smaller cities due to the obsession with centralisation of business and the public sector. London and a handful of other big cities has sucked the lifeblood out of the rest of the country.

Badbadbunny · 05/09/2024 15:07

theminions · 05/09/2024 14:55

Wow, am so glad I don't work in a branch anymore. These type of comments from customers were enough to send me to breaking point.

Do you really think the staff don't want to help or could it be due to staff shortages, continuous job reorganisations and lack of any ongoing training, combined with absolutely awful pay..... am so glad I am now in a job that doesn't deal directly with the general public!

Don't you think that some of the customer complaints are because the staff they face can't do the simplest of things. Back to my post about Halifax staff unable to transfer an ISA or print a statement on one visit, but on a later visit, different staff had no problem with that. It's that kind of thing that infuriates customers.