Change of address - why is it SO complicated?
When was the last time you seriously considered switching banks? I got to thinking about this again recently when I moved house.
Before the big day itself, I prepared a great long list of those organizations I needed to inform of the change of address. Plenty of people change their address regularly enough, right? So, you’d think it would be one of those processes an organization such as a bank would sort out first. Not so, obviously.
I called my bank to inform them, and yes, they made the process seem really easy and the call was finished within a couple of minutes. Cut to a couple of weeks later and I realized the change of address obviously hadn’t gotten through first time because my former flatmate informed me there was mail from my bank at the old address. Cue a second call to the bank… Following the authentication process, I was informed that indeed, yes, they could see the record of my previous call and the fact I’d rung to change my details, but that in fact, the bank has three different name and address databases you see… And, well, the change doesn’t always get replicated across all the systems properly.
Now, I can live with that, working in IT, I understand just how complex that can be. But then again, as a customer, I don’t really care – it ought to be “once and done.” So, when the nice person on the phone suggested, “in future, perhaps you could ask the person you speak with to make sure that they check the change replicates across the three databases?” I was a little taken aback – particularly because I am one of their preferred customers!
I am pretty certain all the other British High Street banks are as bad… But should they be? I mean, they really are playing on our inertia I think. They take a gamble that switching banks will be in the “too hard” basket for most people, and perhaps they’re right – especially if you work full-time, the switching in of itself is a slightly daunting prospect… After all, you don’t want things going wrong with your money, do you?
What are your thoughts?
April 16th, 2007 at 04:03 pm
Don’t talk to me about banks and getting information right! Having recently got married, I’m in the process of changing my surname on everything I can think of. On a positive note it’s worth mentioning what a joy Halifax and NatWest were to deal with. It all went smoothly and they couldn’t have made the process easier. Shame a certain bank with a four letter name weren’t so good! Having been into the branch to change my name (and being assured that all was on order), I was a little perturbed when all my bank books and cards turned up with the wrong name! I’m afraid they got themselves in more of a mess when I rang their call centre (not a great experience either) to tell them of the error. Having had years of bad service and this being the final straw, I’m off to shut my account…it’s not too much trouble to switch banks when you lose confidence in the service you’re being provided with.