On Thursday 9th, after weeks of low-level frustration at having to press “close” on every login, I sent a complaint to Barclays asking them to stop asking me on every single login to switch to paperless statements with a dialog box that has only two options:
This morning they replied:
Please be advised that it is currently not possible for us to remove the switch to paperless statements advert.
So, uh, I suppose if you’re a web developer who thinks that it’s acceptable to ask a question on every login and not supply any means for the user to say, “stop asking me this question”, there is still a job for you in the banking industry. No one there will at any point tell you that this is awful user experience. They will probably just tell you, “good job”, from their jacuzzi full of cash that they got from charging people £5.80 a month to have a bank account, of which £0.30 is for posting a bank statement.
Meanwhile, on another part of their site, I attempt to tell them to send me letters by email not post, but the web site does not allow me to because it thinks I do not have an email address set. Even though the same screen shows my set email address which has been set for years.
After light mocking on Twitter they asked me to try using a different browser, before completely misunderstanding what I was talking about, at which point I gave up.
I can generally nuke those sorts of things with Adblock Plus with the additional element hiding extension and selecting the appropriate idiotic dialog box and adding as a blocked item.
So after that customer service, when will you Move Your Money?
This probably isn’t enough to make me move because this is a business account and with the number of customers paying by standing order etc it will be a nightmare.
Last time I changed business bank account (more than 5 years ago) I had customers paying into the wrong account for over a year.
Also not convinced that any other bank will be any better, they will suck just as bad but in different ways.
If you’re classed as a small business, you now get unexpected payments or debits redirected for 13 months. More at http://moveyourmoney.org.uk/how-do-i-move/
I know what you mean about fearing “suck just as bad but in different ways” because there aren’t many good comparison reviews about which consider things like internet banking accessibility in detail and they’re probably more important to the likes of you and me than most.
I would opt for the post option! Then it costs them to post that crap to you! Soon thins out the stuff they offer you… 🙂
Unfortunately they charge for posted statements.