Lloyds swamped by customer complaints

This article leaves two questions unanswered in my opinion:

How does this performance compare to previous periods?

How does this performance compare to other banks?

Does 0.3% represent "swamped" ?

I must agree - a typical 'abuse of statistics', or ignorance (or bloody-mindedness) on the part of the media.

I realise there are good & bad examples with all banks, but I now bank with Lloyds and have found the service very good (real people as managers based 'in-branch', for example).

I left NatWets (freudian mis-typing!) after 3 changes of manager in 2 years, none of which were advised to me, ending up with a local "manager" 40 miles away (and I don't live on the moon). Their service was a disgrace, and their communication non-existant. But some still bank with them, so they cannot be ALL bad!

This is a poor article for the reasons cited by Steve P and Ian Philips.

How does this performance compare to previous periods? Answer - probably a little worse.

How does this performance compare to other banks? Answer - probably similar.

Does 0.3% represent "swamped”? Answer - probably not.

Perhaps Chris Marshall would like to try re-writing this article.

Having recently had excellent service, how is this reflected?

Lloyds' on-line banking seems to me to be best-in-class, (though not as good as it was before its recent "improvement" - why can't people leave well alone ?). They're fine if you stay in the black.

But Lloyds also has a dark side. My poor sister-in-law who admittedly doesn't help her own cause (OAP with drink prob) has been rooked by them for £ thousands in entirely bogus credit card payment protection cover / late payment charges / overlimit charges over a ten-year period. I've complained on her behalf in branch, on phone, in writing, but nothing I've tried so far can stop them filching from her current account every month. Next stop the FOS ...

I am a Lloyds customer and have been with them since 1970 and to date I have never had cause to complain about their 'in branch' services. They have always listened to me and have been helpful in every respect.

Admittedly some of their charges (money transfers abroad especially exchange rates for example) are too high but there is always a way round this. The Vantage option on their Classic account is especially good value and long may it last!

No surprise to see Mr Phillips defending the banks again.The point that might be missed is that not everyone who is treated badly registers a complaint. Kenpen 2 makes a good point - it probably is the case that his OAP sister-in- law simply takes it on the chin and, but for his intervention, the world would be in ignorance of the unequal relationship subsisting between her and the bank, which the latter exploits for its financial advantage. Thus the level of complaints extant is, conceivably, merely the visible tip of an iceberg.

My complaint was with HBOS plc, now, of course, part of Lloyds. The conduct of business by HBOS (and its predecessor Halifax Building society) in mortgage transactions, in the period 1980 until its undignified end in 2008, was a disgrace. Commission based sales of poor and inappropriate mortgage products characterised this period - all driven by a ruthless drive to maximise profits. Consider this. Halifax branches sold Standard Life mortgage endowments for all they were worth in 1988, just before Halifax entered a formal tie with S L in 1989 (at what is believed to be double the usual commission rates) The trouble was that the supposed management charges used in the sales projections/illustrations were less than the actual management charges exacted by Standard Life, so a shortfall in the endowment maturity was guaranteed from the outset. Add to this the fact that Halifax branches were quite capable of churning policies (recommending the surrender of a perfectly valid policy simply for the commission earned on the new policy) and you have something which, in my opinion, is fraud.

All that is necessary for this to recur is for good men and women to do nothing.

My advice would be; don't complain, just take your custom elsewhere. Then their complaint levels will decline, because they will take customer satisfaction seriously, again.

I recently tried to transfer monies from a 12 month term account earning interest which went from c 3.5% to 0.1% on the anniversary of opening, to a new interest paying account with the same bank...........to be told; you can't do that because it needs to be 'new money'. On requesting the account be closed and transferred to another provider, to be told they are sorry to be losing me & why was I leaving. Actions speak louder than words, when companies lose sight of their purpose.

I agree the article was poorly written and didn't make the numbers clear, but remember arithmetic is not the financial sector's strongest point.

The article says the wider Lloyd's group drew in 288,000 complaints in six months. That sounds like some 576,000 complaints per annum to me, from some 30 million customers. So approaching 2% of customers complained each year - although a few may have complained more than once! The 0.3% relates to the number of products, of which a customer may have several.

I asked Lloyds TSB to provide a breakdown of the interest charged on moth my business and personal credit card accounts. The bank refused. When asked why they were being secretive I was told it was not information that customers were entitled to receive! Such arrogance. This from a bank that is still in business because it was bailed out by the taxpayer.

Hmm, a few days ago it was Santander that was getting all the stick - most of them have a lot to be desired in my book , but I guess that's life?