Yorkshire Bank 'Market Research'

[trumpetmaest]

I was contacted by a Market Research company who had been given my details from Yorkshire Bank.

 

I was asked if I was willing to be part of a small discussion group relating to Yorkshire Bank.

 

The lady told me that it would last for 2-3 hours and would include a meal, drinks & £50 as a 'thank you'. After I agreed she added that it would be filmed & recorded 'for training'.

 

I decided to help!

 

Well, I turned up and I was part of a small discussion group (of 9) but there were lots of these small groups. The meeting was run by Pricewaterhouse along with people from both Yorkshire & Clydsdale banks.

A Digital recorder was placed on the table and it started.

First of all we were asked to give our names and introduce ourselves. Then we were asked to rate the bank for ease of use etc. Very general questions. However, after about 30 minutes we were asked about overdrafts and bank charges. We were then constantly been asked if we understood excerpts from the terms and conditions. If we felt they were clear. We then were asked to choose which bank charges we would prefer!!! We were given 2 options:

 

Option 1 was £25

 

Option 2 was £15

 

I pointed out that I did not feel either one of them was 'preffered' and stated my reasons. The person running the meeting kept going back to this and the more it went on I noticed that they seemed to be trying to get us all to be happy with the charges and the way they were explained.

 

I asked if people on the table would indicate if they had been subjected to charges recently and ALL of us had been in the last month. Surprise, Surprise.

 

I do wonder if this 'market research' has anything to do with our claims? or even the bigger picture?

 

All arpund the room the people from the banks were watching & I must say that they did not seem too pleased with our group by the looks they were giving!

 

At the end we were all paid £50 cash.

 

Btw at I spoke to the organisers before it started and they told me that they were holding these meetings all this week in England & Scotland.

[rory32]

Interesting stuff.