To think that banks these days are a disgrace and couldn’t care less about their customers?

[LunaNorth]

This is long, sorry.

I needed to visit a bank today, to pick up some cash I ordered yesterday.

I had to drive 12 miles to my nearest city to do this, as every bank in my market town has closed.

The bank in question has a greeter, some tables for people who have appointments, a bunch of self-service machines, and one cashier.

There was a queue at the cashier, of course, and the man in front of me had a lot of complicated business banking to do, and was taking ages. Not his fault - there was only one cashier.

An elderly woman joined the queue behind me. She must have been at least 80, had a stick, and was leaning against a pillar as there was no seat near the cashier counter.

We exchanged pleasantries and I offered to let her go in front of me so she wouldn’t have to wait much longer. But the wait was still getting too much for her, so I walked the length of the bank to get her a chair to sit on, as she was looking quite tired.

Meanwhile, a woman who clearly had severe mental health issues had joined the queue. When she first arrived, she was managing to keep herself calm, but as the wait went on, she was getting more and more agitated, until a member of staff had to come along and try to calm her down.

When the elderly lady finally reached the counter, I heard her saying to the cashier that her local branch had closed down and she’d had to come all the way into town. The lady replied that the bank visited her area for two hours once a week, but she wouldn’t be able to pay cheques in or withdraw cash.

What good is that then?

It struck me as I was standing there that modern life is utterly shit for the most vulnerable. Some octogenarians might be able to negotiate banking apps, but very many won’t. The woman with mental health issues should have been in some form of supported housing, getting help with life admin - instead, she was in a stressful situation, and being treated like a nuisance as a result.

And how hard is it to provide two cashiers and a fucking chair?

Sorry for the rant. I ended up feeling quite sad standing there today.

TLDR - Barclays Bank - all banks - are bastards. AIBU?

Exactly.

I went into an unfamiliar bank branch earlier today to deposit some cash, expecting there to be an ATM where I could do so since the branches near me have them. There wasn't one, and there was one counter out of three open at 1pm - it took forever because the queue went right back to the door and I was in there for almost twenty minutes.

The man in front of me (whose conversation I could hear clearly without trying) had had his card retained by an ATM elsewhere which had also not given him his cash; he was able to come to the bank and get some while he stopped the old card and ordered a new one because there was a branch. As a PP has said, he would have been really stumped if there hadn't.

Agree with your wider points.

As an aside, I've never, ever, met anyone that banks with Barclays that likes them. And yet no one changes to somewhere better like Nationwide or Coventry etc.

My mother is more than capable of using online banking but she refuses to out of principle. Same with self service check outs.

But my experience in a local branch recently (there with my mother, obvs) was that the staff were all super helpful to the mainly elderly people who were in there.

MIL is mid 90's and lives independently. However, she is registered blind (with very limited vision) and although she manages amazingly with most things on a computer, on line banking is difficult for her. Likewise, contactless payments - which are fine when she just has to tap, but if she needs to put her PIN in, she struggles to see the numbers. She likes to withdraw a certain amount of cash from the bank each month so she can pay some people in cash and avoid on line banking. She has to do this at her local branch though. If they were to close she'd be snookered.
So I agree that modern banking practices, technology and the resulting branch closures have had a major negative effect on our more vulnerable members of society.

I agree that banks are very unwelcoming. I would absolutely hate to do the job of that person who stands near the door offering help.

The high street is too expensive.

We have an aging demographic.

More people are banking online.

I agree you've had a rubbish experience, but banks can't afford to keep lots of branches open.

Exactly, unless of course they introduced fees again.
All very well, the elderly normally have someone to help them.
i could argue at 62, and mid stage Parkinson’s, that folk have life much easier than me, much older, I can’t change that, nor can they

If your nearest town has a banking Hub, it’s open daily for cash services. Your bank may just be there one day a week if you want to see someone face to face but the cash side is open 5 days a week. I went into my closest Banking Hub, it was very quiet despite everyone in the town wanting one.

Utter Bollocks. Like heck they can't afford it. They've just boiled us as frogs getting used to no branches.

A City A.M. analysis of company reports shows Britain's Big Four banks – Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays and Natwest – together posted around £44.2bn in pretax profit last year, up 41 per cent from £31.4bn in 2022.

www.cityam.com/big-banks-see-record-44bn-profit-from-interest-rate-hikes/#:~:text=A%20City%20A.M.%20analysis%20of,%C2%A331.4bn%20in%202022.

I should say -

i find bank staff and customer service staff anywhere to be very good in general

I especially admire them given the increased levels of rudeness they are dealing with now

I was someone who always switched banks when there's an incentive - you know when they give £100 to switch- so have dealt with most of them

they're really nice, as staff usually are. Barclays are fine too.

i just thought that saying that to mum, about getting me to bank online for her, was wrong. I bet it was an instruction from head office.

I'm guessing the bank staff would have wanted to keep their jobs too.

You can pay cash in and withdraw cash at the post office too. Might help some of you.
If you have paying in slips/envelopes you can pay cheques in at the post office too.

You can, but I bank with Nationwide which is a building society so the Post Office can't take cash deposits for Nationwide accounts (which is another thing I learned today).

Totally agree. My parents have a nightmare with banks and also with doctors' appointments. They get told to go online or 'get your children to help'. My brothers and I do what we can, but we are not always around. My parents are made to feel stupid for not understanding how to use apps. And no point me showing them how - they forget immediately.

The modern world is a pretty hellish place for over 80s.

I agree, I can see why banks don't find branches as viable with the rise of Internet banking, but plenty of people would still use them. We're fortunate here that we have a branch still, the manager said its probably just because they know people will more likely join this bank if there's one local and it's a fairly affluent area! Post offices do a bit more now I suppose at least, you can pay money in and I'm pretty sure take money out etc; just obviously not the account stuff etc.

I thought with barclays you could pay cheques in and cash and draw money out at the post office?

I changed from Barclays

Banks can't afford it?! LOL - those poor banks on their uppers and struggling to make ends meet!!

Fully agree. Cognitive decline to some degree is a fact of aging, even for those without dementia. How many of us have spent hours on the phone trying to explain how to work the tv remote. The thought of trying to cope in the modern world when I too get old frankly terrifies me.

A big problem is how the banks manipulate the statistics.

They tell us that 95% of all transactions are now done online and leave us to interpret that as everybody banks online, but just do a small percentage of their banking in branches through laziness or out of habit.

Of course, the truth is that pretty much 95% of people do ALL of their banking online, meaning that the remaining 5% is ALL of the banking of a great many elderly, disabled and vulnerable customers. The banks know this very well; they just really don't care.

I'm a big fan of technology, but I realise its limitations. The other day, HSBC's banking app was down for an extended period, meaning that I had to leave my shopping in Morrisons and go home empty-handed. I had the money to pay for it, but the bank wouldn't allow me to access it. If I'd had enough old-fashioned, outdated, obsolete cash on me, I'd have been able to go home with my shopping with no drama or worry at all.

Where I live the local convenience store , bakery and pub prefer cash and the 2 shops have a minimum charge on card, so if I'm buying a pint of milk or a loaf of bread I need to pay cash. We keep a tin of cash in the kitchen for this reason and to pay tips to takeaway delivery drivers. After a while the tin is full of silver and coppers and I bag it up to take to the bank. Twice now I've waited in a queue only to get to the front and they say they havent got pound coins! I think it's a bit ironic that a bank doesn't have cash! And I'm not asking for 1000 pound coins just £20 or £40.

My daughter sold her car. The DVLA sent her a cheque for her tax. The nearest bank is 17 miles away and she doesn't have a paying in slip in the back of her (unused) chequebook like in the olden days to put one in the post. Similarly, I closed a credit card account and Nat west sent me a cheque, presumably written by someone with no fingers, in spite of the fact that I have three accounts that they could have paid it in to. I have a full time job, it takes 50 minutes to reach and park within walking distance of my nearest branch.
Basically the larger organisations ( incl those who send out share dividends) are relying on the fact that we cannot cash the cheques. Total Bastards

The company I work for banks with Barclays, I needed to collect some currency (for work). I work in Bristol. There is currently NO BRANCH open in Bristol (TBF this is temporary as they refurbish the only branch). But seriously, the WHOLE of Bristol has no branch open at the moment. I had to go to Bath.

YANBU @LunaNorth

YANBU @LunaNorth