“It has been my misfortune to be one of two Executors dealing with the estate of a deceased Barclays customer. The deceased had a current account, ISA, investment bond & mortgage. All with Barclays. Things, I thought, began ok. I registered the Will, Probate, my personal details and identification for security and the death certificate at the local branch assisted by what appeared to be a competent adviser.
At the same time I asked for an Executors account to be set up. From this point it was an uphill struggle as everything went increasingly down hill.
1. The adviser had entered the details incorrectly so months went by before the Exec. Account went live & amalgamated the Current & ISA accounts. I only received £50 compensation for a 2 month delay. Obviously mistakes and time are cheap at Barclays.
2. When eventually I wanted to manage the account the branch was uncontactable unless I made a personal visit. I was told that Barclays will not issue cards for Execs Accounts so to arrange at appointment at the branch. I had to phone or go to the branch to do this. Phoning takes you to India & when the person finally got back with an appointment they had without success tried to arrange an appointment in Lewis instead of Lewes. Also despite successfully going through security they would not talk about any transactions or balances on the account.
3. When I began correspondence with the Investment & Mortgage departments further delays became the norm as they claimed non receipt of my personal details and identification. They again confirmed this mistake by letter. However, no compensation followed. As I said mistakes and time are cheap at Barclays.
4. The Mortgage Services in Leics. were incompetent in dealing with the decedent's mortgage. Multiple phone calls became prolonged as so called "mortgage assistants" excused themselves to find someone who could deal with the type of mortgage the deceased had in the distant past signed up to. There were occasions when the "assistant" never came back to the phone. As an aside please be aware that Barclays deal in decimals and not exact fractions. This may seem trivial but recurring decimals can work against you when repaying many thousands of £s. Also if a property valuation is required Barclays will charge you & choose the surveyor but the surveyor is not allowed to share their valuation with you. Only Barclays. So Barclays can tell you any figure that benefits them!
where is the transparency?
5. The final sign of incompetence relates to Executors who live in different locations separated by fifty or more miles. My fellow executor obviously had to prove his identity at the outset. However like me he was called upon to repeat this as we worked with different Barclay's dept. The excuse offered by the manager he met was "we are not use to Executors being so far apart". Have Barclays ever heard of Databases.
My advice is that if you are thinking of providing Barclays with your business, DON"T. Firstly they are not customer friendly. They place little value on your time and/or your business. Secondly to the detriment of their customers they are clearly incompetent in communicating across departments. Thirdly their use of technology slows your progress and those who one day will deal with your estate.”
“The App is rubbish in its design as far as the “Log off” procedure.
Particularly if you have finger recognition set on an iPhone. As you swipe up to close the app it attempts to log you in again.”
“A colleague of mine recommended Barclays cc so I called into Barclays at 12:55 on the 29th of October to book an appointment so i can apply for a credit card. i was passed around from department to department all telling me they are not in charge of the service i required. i finally landed on barclays card new applications and they then sent me back to the appointments team and they sent me away. i then called back and same thing happened until i spoke to someone who was rude to me and told me he doesn't understand anything i'm saying and kept asking me to speak louder, he then proceeded to patronise me and then after waiting all this time i was finally told there was no way i could apply as their is no appointment for at least 2 months. I am annoyed and will now be looking at my options. I will not recommend Barclays to anyone”
“A word of warning to all new business customers: the Barclays Business Customer Service is embarrassingly incompetent.
I opened my business bank account over a month ago. I have received all the necessary passcodes apart from the telephone banking passcode. I needed it to use the token I received from the bank to authorise my accountant to use automatic bank feeds. I kept calling Barclays every week since then. Every time I talked to someone else, there was a different version of what happened and what I need to do to fix it.
About two weeks later they told me they didn't use tokens any more, and there's a new procedure I need to follow. The funny thing was they sent me the token two weeks earlier, even though they changed the procedure a month earlier. Later, another person said the new process doesn't apply in my case, and I need to call them via app and use that token anyway. When I did it, I was told I'd still need a telephone banking passcode. I was in a loop.
Another three long phone calls later, I was told they fixed it, and I should be able to do it via the mobile app without my telephone banking passcode. Same story again. When I did call them, I've been told the token is part of the old procedure, and they can't help me. AGAIN! At that point, I was so frustrated I told them I was going to close my account, and - to my surprise - they agreed to accept the token and activate the bank feeds. Just like that. I couldn't believe it. After a month they accepted it straight away. I was happy it worked finally. But I was also upset they were wasting my time for a month.
Even though I was able to authorise my accountant, to use the bank feeds finally, I was still waiting for my telephone banking passcode to be delivered. I called Barclays today, about 45 days after I opened my account with them, and I asked about the telephone banking passcode. I mentioned I received about 3-4 online banking passcodes instead. This time I've been told they ARE telephone banking passcodes, but due to a typo in their system, they're mislabeled as "online". I have no idea what the truth is, but I've NEVER ever experienced such incompetent customer service from any bank in the past.
Unbelievable.”
“While trying to help someone with memory problems who had lost their cards in their wallet we contacted Barclays to get a replacement card. I was using speakerphone so that I could hear the questions. All were answered except for the naming of a direct debit on the account. The account holder could not remember so I helped by reminding them of one that I knew about. I was told to take the speakerphone off and the person had to answer unprompted. The answer given following my prompt was not allowed. All my attempts to explain why this person needed help were dismissed in a very unsympathetic way. When I tried to complain I was told a complaint could only be lodged by the account holder. I repeated that the account hold was not capable of making such a call and hung up because I was so disgusted. I still do not know how this person can get a replacement card. Appalling service Barclays!”
“got my fathers birthday wrong after having account since 1995.
so cant access his account to get debit card or on line banking.
he is 99 years old immobile and deaf.
cant get a home visit to rectify their mistake.
their accessibility policy is a joke....have complained to fac...etc
this bank is a joke...dont use this bank.
if we get through this we will withdraw all our monies.
beware.”
“You've changed
What happened to you Barclays? Once upon a time Rowan Atkinson assured me of the beauty of banking with Barclays - money whenever you needed it, all over the world. An idea ahead of it's time. Something terrible must have happened since then.
Stranded in Indonesia, unable to access my money, unable to respond Y/N... Frantically pushing Y... Y... Y... Y... It's me! I'm travelling! Like Rowan was! Nothing but a red exclamation mark in response and an infuriated taxi driver. So I used Halifax... The text arrived, I pushed Yes and my money was..... Mine (and then the drivers). So I call you up - not on the premium number, because Vodaphone charge me an extortionate rate, via Skype. But after breaking through the digital barrier of automated tests in search of a human, you can't hear me (twice). So I contact Vodaphone who suggest putting more money on my Pay as You Go and text you back "Y" again. Nothing.
Eventually I use live chat, they understand my frustration. The same thing happened to me last year, that's why this year I had to pack my card reader - just incase you wanted to identify me again. But you didn't need to identify me in that way anymore. You had other ways.... New ways. Eventually Grant spoke to me....At my insistence that Barclays actually make a phonecall to speak to their lifetime client of 43 years. "Yes, that's not our fault. It's a service issue. Speak to Vodaphone" . But the Halifax number worked? "Yes, it's still not our fault". It's very similar to buying a used car with no warranty then? A sort of 'buyer beware setup'? Only I'm not buying anything... Because I have no money (if it wasn't for Halifax). Grant said I could make a complaint, so I did. Not about anyone in particular - I just want access to my money. He said he would send a letter to my house, but I reminded him that I am travelling and there are people in my house, I don't want a letter to go there. He quickly reassures me, but it sounded too quick to have made a note? Or am I being too suspicious?
Eventually I got put through to the cards team, where the lady shares my frustration. She was on holibobs last year and couldn't get any money, same issue. I explained I was travelling indefinitely, maybe forever... and at this point I hadn't looked up from phone for 4 hours, it felt like I was a long way into 'forever'. I hadn't even seen the town I had arrived in... Just the sterile fonts and digital voices of Barclays Forensics. She was happily sympathetic and said she learnt to live with it. That's my point. I can't? It doesn't concern me to place blame, it's not important. But I can't live without access to my money?
So that's it. It feels like losing an old friend and I'm quite sad to say goodbye. It's quite a big pain too. But I'm going to start the process. You were great in the early years .... It's not me, its you...I meant.... No... that is what I meant. It IS you. You've changed.”
“My god! the add they're running tells people when they get there own place means you are given freedom to make loads of noise and play loud music!
If that's not irresponsible and dis respectable to the people who will be next door to the people they are going to give a mortgage to! which there add is telling them this is ok! is horrible to me!
Yeah lets encourage anti socialism!
Sort of neighbour I'd want..............!”
“Awful services. No one knows exact information. I met 3 staffs and was received 3 different information which wasted me lots of time to come over again. Avoid this bank at all cost!!!”
“The worst bank last year i openned my bank account in barclays i bought the new iphone xs max in octomber i said lets do a phone insurance just in case in december a homless stole my phone in pret a manjer at south kensington i went to police to report it and nothing i asked from the insurance company the lifestyle group to check the cctv and nothing i was in danger and none cared about me they told me from december until today that they gonna contact me tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow and they never did im still paying the insurance every mònth until today is ridiculous they told that im lier and im not everyone not same after one month in january 2019 i found my wats app number in indian groups and foreign people keep calling me until now i changed the sim card i went to police to report it and nothing everyday i call them and they tell me from december they are busy i had so many problems because of them and until now today they dont give me an answer this is" barclays bank " to telling u u are a lier when u are not without know you”
“As a former staff they are the epitome of evil...they only used me..when I changed the re bad customer service and flaws in security..they closed all my accounts and banned me from all products..
Yet they poison the earth..look at Greenpeace..they ruined my life!!!”
“Decided to go to Nottingham City Centre Barclays today. They had closed my local branch down. Got there just before it was opening, which was a very late 10am. This late opening time is ridiculous. At 10am there was a queue of 24 people outside. I chose to go in 10 minutes later.. Guess what?
At 10.10am there was a 45 minute wait for counter service. I waited 40 minutes a few months ago. This time I went straight home. Utterly diabolical and unacceptable.”
“I know security is important but their recent attempts at improving security is OTT. Why, when a simple 'yes' or 'no' answer without any need to access bank account details are they refusing to reply without me having to go through their tiresome pinsentry procedure. Now on line purchases require the same pinsentry verification process - whats so different with shop purchases?”
“Wrost bank all the time ,wrost customer service by phone,even staff dont know any thing,i am the customer of barclays for 12 years know,apply for credit card limit increase,but says no u r not eligble,my salary and dd is from this acc,so why thay not increase o dont understand and the staff is like to kill me if i hear him more then 5 min,i need to change the bank know netwest and halifax is better”
“Just generally atrocious service and dreadful online banking interface.
Only ever 1 till open in branches (other people aimlessly wandering about tho) so when you get the customer with the 45 minute query it all comes to a stop. Open another till when busy ? What ?
The online banking and sharedealing used to be quite good. SInce the revamp a couple of years ago it is on the verge of unusable - frustrating, slow, klunky and illogical. I haven't done a share deal with Barclays since.
Some quite pleasant people work there but don't expect any kind of helpful or efficient service from the Barclays service
"system" itself.
Been with them 43 years but no longer my main bank, obviously !”
