Barclays

[whipthebanksintoshape]

Hello, might as well use this to greet you all as well - im getting my claims against halifax ready thanks to this awesome site ! Will keep you all updated !

 

I worked in a barclays call centre until recently and have a bit of info on their refund procedures as they were when i was employed. I refunded customers charges on many occasions over the telephone.. i could only do it once as a "courtesy" if they had no charges in 12 months.. anymore required me to write an essay to the support team.

 

Heres the kicker... in 2004 we had an anti-refund meeting , and we were told by a team leader that ANY refunds given by us would come out of OUR bonus pots. So if you call a barclays telephone banking rep about charges- please consider the strain they will be under, the management play the poor front line advisors off against the customers. At that time Barclays simply offset the loss of charges by penalising its employees.

 

I hope the policy has changed.. it might have now since they have offshored some capacity to India.. no bonus pots there for sure.

 

Anyway, its the Halifax in my sights..

 

see ya !

[Joan Blanch]

Bonus Pots !!!!!! How many people get bonus pots - it's taking money from those who don't have it - don't be sucked in by that.

 

Bonus should be for hard work - not for taking money from the vulnerable to line the pockets of the rich !

 

J

[boyfalldown]

Joan,

 

Sorry but not a very fair reply. At the end of the day you've been told the pressure that some bank staff are placed under from above and have choosen instead to have a go at the front line staff. I'd say this is indicative of the pressure the banks put their own staff under rather than anything else.

 

Hugh

[redsue]

it seems they would rather take the 'refunded' cash from their own staff than the shareholders - disgraceful...

[meagain]

I'm not trying to be funny, but get on to your former colleagues and tell them to speak to their union rep, and quickly. The bank is keeping its unlawful charge money and instead paying out from YOUR bonus. They are asking the staff to choose between your pay and obeying the law. Remember that since the banks insist on lying about the nature of their charges, this is fraud, and the staff will be seen as complicit. Seriously: get them onto the union before some disgruntled customer gets onto them.

[GraemeC]

Humm, I reckon this is exactly the kind of thing the FSA would be interested in as part of their 'Treating customers fairly' initiative as, quite clearly, Barclays policy in this area is unlikely to result in customers being treated as they should....

 

Personally, I would send an annonomyous letter to the FSA outlining the policy...

[adamski]

I only hope the shareholders of these companys do not sleep at night their greed repluses me!

adamski

[Bookworm]

Are you kidding? The only thing that will disturb their peaceful slumber is the thought of the great unwashed trying in their droves to regain what's lawfully theirs!

[meagain]

Would it be illegal to write en masse to bank shareholders pointing out where their dividends are coming from?

[Guest NATTIE]

I wasn't going to respond on this one as it was about Barclays per se but as we are generalising on all banks now I will. I have NEVER been told to refuse a refund or not to refund a charge because it may affect my bonus. It is true that guidelines in relation to it have been tightened because refunds were being given out as though they were sweats. It would be ridiculous to suggest it to staff without someone going to the press and it appearing in the Daily Mail for all to see. Obviously, Barclays call centre staff may not read the Daily Mail!

[Bookworm]

It is true that guidelines in relation to it have been tightened because refunds were being given out as though they were sweets.

 

And that was bad because????

[Guest NATTIE]

Bookworm, because what a call centre gives out as compensation, so technically still a refund, would then be expected under the same circumstances from the branch. For example, a change of address that was not actioned correctly, for us at branch it was complaint on system and making sure it was done, for telephony it was £30 compensation and post the form back. So if anything further happens customer in branch asking for compensation because the auto trigger on their chequebook has not produced a cheque book. It was ridiculous and that was why I made the comment

[Guest Battleaxe]

This reminds me of when I was temping at a certain BT Call Centre. I was part of the Reject Team. Our job was to check the mis-selling of mobile phones and then have to get the customer to sign to a properly sold package. I didn't minsd the paper work, but I hated having to ring the customer and literally badger them into signing again. I hated it and they knew it, so I was moved over to the main inquiry team. I used to go out of my to help the callers. Even to the extent of sending a man the data he requested. I got hauled over the coals for that one. The other ploy was a TV monitor, telling us how many calls were in the queue and how long it took to handle a complaint, the motto get them off the line like a shot. The the names would go up of the members of the sales team and how much product in bonuses they sold for that hour. Needless to say I was out of there like a shot. I didn't last more than four months. I used to long for the fire alarms to go off, just to get away from the phones and the snooping on the staff.

So having been on the other side of BT, I do know the tricks of the trade.

[Bookworm]

Bookworm, because what a call centre gives out as compensation, so technically still a refund, would then be expected under the same circumstances from the branch. For example, a change of address that was not actioned correctly, for us at branch it was complaint on system and making sure it was done, for telephony it was £30 compensation and post the form back. So if anything further happens customer in branch asking for compensation because the auto trigger on their chequebook has not produced a cheque book. It was ridiculous and that was why I made the comment

 

Gotcha, I think.

 

So what you're saying is that compensation refunds are lumped in the same boat as penalty charges? So when the guidelines for legitimate refunds were tightened, they also tightened on the penalty ones? Because I can tell you that trying NWB to spit out any cash back was always like trying to pull teeth in my days!

 

(Sorry, OP, hijacking Barclays thread here!)

[meagain]

Bookworm, because what a call centre gives out as compensation, so technically still a refund, would then be expected under the same circumstances from the branch.

 

Bzzzt, compensation != refund. The two are very different beasts, and should be treated as such. Compensation is paid for your errors, the refunds are paid for funds you shouldn't have anyway.

[Guest NATTIE]

My point re refunds was that we have NEVER been told that it came out of any bonuses EVER

[whipthebanksintoshape]

NatWest must be a fair bank then.. you're lucky. However in Barclays we were briefed .. &quote "refunds will come out of YOUR bonus pot".

 

Joan .. please dont snap at me - this section of the forum is for info on the workings of banks from employees and past employees - I simply gave a fact.

 

If you or anyone else doubts the pressure front line staff are under at barclays.. call 08457 555 555 and ask them what an "off track stepchange" is. Then ask them what an "IVR deficit" is. And then.. as you take them over their average handling time target, ask if they are "on track" with the number of home insurance/car insurance referrals they HAVE to give.

 

THEN.. say the name MUMBAI.

 

All i am saying is there is pressure when it comes to refunds.. so write , dont call