Credit rating

A telephone response

Here we go after yet another exasperating series of telephone calls to RBS, on the penultimate call I was cut off and was unable to get back in contact with the representative (this surprised me as they asked me all the security stuff at the start of the call, name, age, inside leg measurement etc). One would have thought they could have found my number and called me back! Oh well another black mark for their record which is becoming a collage of the sky at night on a particularly cloudy starless night!

I tried calling again but was greeted with a nonplused "I have no idea who you were talking to (I gave her the name) and she could not put me through because she did not have a number!

Well, at 4pm today I received a very polite, intelligent and enjoyable call from a lady called Corinne who works on Paul Geddes' executive team. I think I managed to get across the very kernel of why was pursuing this issue. If it's broken then fix it, if you don't know how then investigate (don't just pay lip service to the complainant).

Although my chronic pain and post accident cognitive issues deny me the opportunity to work I am happy to lend my assistance to RBS et al for the greater good!

The mission remains the same though, customer apathy in the art of complaining is rife and I intend to help stamp it out, "together" the customer is king.

I was promised a direct response from Mr Geddes, I wait with baited breath. I shall expect a response from my local MP even with his addendum role to representing me in Parliament. My my, you know your getting old when the Chancellor of the Exchequer is 4 years your junior, he doesn't even look like a copper!

Before getting the "good" contact with the exec office at RBS I did have a run in with a telephone operative of theirs who could do nothing but interrupt me. I even told her she was rude and to let me finish my sentence. She took no notice. She shall be known as Jilly in ORTT and I send my sincere sympathy her partner, she's in the wrong job, no aptitude for customer contact.

Key Targets

Not that I am being in anyway vindictive! The companies below just require more help at the moment!

I am very interested in hearing from people with current complaints regarding service and sales with the following companies.

Royal Bank of Scotland

Norwich Union Direct

BSkyB

PayPal

Ebay

I am prepared to assist and support valid complaints if you don't have the time!

Complain help

http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/after_you_buy/making-complaint/

Making a complaint

Use the guidelines in this section if you need to make a complaint about poor service or faulty goods, or threaten court action if nothing has been done about your original complaint. Our template letters will help you to include all the important details if you are making a written complaint.

http://www.complain.com/

Have a valid complaint against a company or product?

File a complaint now and get some answers!

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Diol1/DoItOnline/DG_4018045

How to use this service

The Consumer Direct website offers a wide range of advice and information for consumers, from product warranties and counterfeit goods to false advertising.

You can also find out what to look out for to avoid unfair trading along with details of which organisation to complain to.

The site also offers a telephone helpline if you want further guidance.

Great Britain and Northern Ireland only.

Sky Blog.. Business Expert Warns Of 'Sequel' To Crisis

The devil is in the detail. The customer is being treated like a corporation. Success will favor organisations who value the customer and the product they choose to sell. Commodity mentality devalues not just the product but the marketplace infrastructure. The biggest change to world economics is in the hands of the consumers and the choice is ours. A customer revolution is going to drive a recovered economy. Enjoy the revolution.

SkyNews

Business Expert Warns Of 'Sequel' To Crisishttp://bit.ly/cFkiMj

RBS RBS RBS :-(

I am sure I'm not the only “banking customer” out there who is becoming increasingly aware of the generalised no personal contact we receive from our high street banks.

Banking, whilst trying to masquerade as people centric, fails and fails and fails. Less hype more help (listening, caring, blah blah blah, they should spend more time and money delivering real service and less on marketing slogans)

We can live without the gag inducing smarmy adverts. Overseas call centres aside (it's so entertaining trying to understand their highly cost effective yet often unintelligible telephone operatives, it's a bit like an interactive audio word puzzle) even the UK call centre operatives are shackled by the inflexible choices they are able to offer to customers. Some companies declare “We have UK call centres!” they're just as bad but at least you can understand the equally unhelpful information they read off the screens in front of them.

If you use intelligent minds to play at being call centre drones, pressing the keys on a computer and offering the dumb advice an IT project has produced, you're wasting money, people and time.

My most recent disappointment is with THE ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND. (70% state owned a sure reflection of gross mismanagement beyond their competitors during the recent world financial recession).

I took out home insurance with my high street bank because I thought I could trust them and would be rewarded by my loyalty. I purchased and online policy that provided a very high level of cover. This “Elite” cover was far too much for my needs after moving to a new property and I decided to call RBS and downgrade to a more suitable policy.

To perform this, I took out my schedule documents, and called the number indicated. To cut a long story short I was passed from pillar to post (5 or 6 separate conversations) only to find out because I had made claims on my policy (one of the incidents a fire in which I was injured whilst reducing the overall damage) then the reduced policy would in fact cost me more. £5 more a month for half the cover and a hefty increase in excess.

I despaired at the telephone operative and informed them that a company in their group (Churchill) could provide the cover I wanted for half the monthly cost. The disparity is ridiculous. It highlights one of biggest failings of the organisation (customer retention) and sadly displays to me the “bigger picture” the bank can't or won't see.

This one example highlights a worrying trend that impacts us all. If the banks are getting it so wrong, and they are central to our (personal and national) financial well being, then they are costing us more in our everyday lives than they should. What's more worrying is that we accept it and bear the burden of their fat cat failures.

It is my intention to create a revolution of sorts. I implore all of you out there to support a very simple initiative. Adopt a “complaint culture”. These organisations are all playing a “numbers game”. In many respects they recognise that problems exist but have “accounted” that the cost to fix them is greater than the cost of managing the small proportion of people who bother to speak up. Apathy is their friend and they, not us, profit from it.

Make them earn money the right way not the easy way, the customer is always right!

Make a call today! If its your bank ask them if the account you hold is the best one for you. Suggest you have seen the advertisements of television offering a £100 golden hello and a easy switch serviced to join their bank, ask them what they will offer you to not switch. If you don't get a good enough response ask to speak to a supervisor or manager. If its your insurance provider, ask about loyalty deals and no claims bonus. With a high enough influx of calls the industry will have to change for the better.