Grumble Thread

[oddoneout]

By choice I use cash as often as I can.
We ought to be very wary of those who want to abolish it.

More people are returning to cash as a way of budgeting in the current cost of living difficulties - going back to the age old system of pots for different purposes. Handing over physical money rather than waving a card or phone makes the spending much more real.

[gradus]

Well, as cheques are no longer an option(!) I'll be using cash again. Being able to shop little and often and only having myself to shop for meant that was what I used to do pre-Covid and the move to contactless. I have been moving back that way to stop impulse/lazy buying choices as, although by no means profligate, I was spending more than was necessary on too many occasions.

Fortunately cheques have not been entirely abandoned when paying for music lessons.

[oddoneout]

Fortunately cheques have not been entirely abandoned when paying for music lessons.

They're still in use in this neck of the woods and I still use them on occasion.
I did contact Lloyds by phone but haven't got any further - in fact so far have gone backwards, except that at least I have a freephone number to use now. Having been told that it would be possible to see where my application had failed and why(in terms of what the software was doing) , I assumed that meant it could be got live again, but no. After an age waiting to speak to someone then another age to in effect go through the application again but over the phone(the chappie was a bit flummoxed when he suggested first of all making an appointment for me to do it in branch and I told him that wouldn't work because the staff member hasn't been replaced) I was told that I would have to wait 30 days and then complete an application yet again - in other words the same result that I had online. So I won't see the card this side of Christmas, unless doing it online on 26th November gives a quicker result. At least I won't have to risk being timed out by reading the small print as I've already done that! Well all bar the last page or so.
Will go into the branch and see if I can speak to someone to make a complaint - the relevant bit of the website suggests that should be possible.
The more I read about the John Lewis/New Day debacle the more glad I am that I didn't try to get the new card - even more hassle and more than likely also a refusal as a common thread in the complaints is those paying off the bill in full each month(as I do) get refused. Although the sums involved have rather more noughts than mine both for credit limits and monthly spend...

[Bryn]

They're still in use in this neck of the woods and I still use them on occasion.
I did contact Lloyds by phone but haven't got any further - in fact so far have gone backwards, except that at least I have a freephone number to use now. Having been told that it would be possible to see where my application had failed and why(in terms of what the software was doing) , I assumed that meant it could be got live again, but no. After an age waiting to speak to someone then another age to in effect go through the application again but over the phone(the chappie was a bit flummoxed when he suggested first of all making an appointment for me to do it in branch and I told him that wouldn't work because the staff member hasn't been replaced) I was told that I would have to wait 30 days and then complete an application yet again - in other words the same result that I had online. So I won't see the card this side of Christmas, unless doing it online on 26th November gives a quicker result. At least I won't have to risk being timed out by reading the small print as I've already done that! Well all bar the last page or so.
Will go into the branch and see if I can speak to someone to make a complaint - the relevant bit of the website suggests that should be possible.
The more I read about the John Lewis/New Day debacle the more glad I am that I didn't try to get the new card - even more hassle and more than likely also a refusal as a common thread in the complaints is those paying off the bill in full each month(as I do) get refused. Although the sums involved have rather more noughts than mine both for credit limits and monthly spend...

Ah. New Day. It's not just John Lewis that NewDay are breaking up with: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Plat.../dp/B01LSOD0ZI

[Serial_Apologist]

They're still in use in this neck of the woods and I still use them on occasion.
I did contact Lloyds by phone but haven't got any further - in fact so far have gone backwards, except that at least I have a freephone number to use now. Having been told that it would be possible to see where my application had failed and why(in terms of what the software was doing) , I assumed that meant it could be got live again, but no. After an age waiting to speak to someone then another age to in effect go through the application again but over the phone(the chappie was a bit flummoxed when he suggested first of all making an appointment for me to do it in branch and I told him that wouldn't work because the staff member hasn't been replaced) I was told that I would have to wait 30 days and then complete an application yet again - in other words the same result that I had online. So I won't see the card this side of Christmas, unless doing it online on 26th November gives a quicker result. At least I won't have to risk being timed out by reading the small print as I've already done that! Well all bar the last page or so.
Will go into the branch and see if I can speak to someone to make a complaint - the relevant bit of the website suggests that should be possible.
The more I read about the John Lewis/New Day debacle the more glad I am that I didn't try to get the new card - even more hassle and more than likely also a refusal as a common thread in the complaints is those paying off the bill in full each month(as I do) get refused. Although the sums involved have rather more noughts than mine both for credit limits and monthly spend...

You're lucky if I may say so to even have a bank branch near to you. My nearest Lloyds now is Lewisham, 6 miles away. The last time I had to pay a check into my account I had to go to the only post office dealing with such matters in the district here. The staff weren't at all friendly and almost implied I must be stupid not to realise this was now the way things were done. He took the cheque from me to action, but I was left wondering what on earth to do if I come up with problems specific to Lloyds: I can't imagine that the Post Office are tasked to deal with them. For some unexplained reason my online council tax payment wouldn't go through, the technology telling me it didn't recognise my debit card number - which is ridiculous, given that I have always paid this way since I was told Southwark no longer accepted cheque payments, and I am using ths very card all the time for everyday shopping. The lass at the Council Tax dept I spoke to on the phone said I had to sort this out with the bank, but told me the quickest solution was to pay by direct deduction. This has succeeded - today I noted my first deduction - but they wanted my bank card details - the same ones - for this very purpose. I have to hope they will now pay the £150 rebate we were all supposed to get back in March - the lass said this would now happen, but it hasn't as of today.

Life seldom gets any easier. Were it not for success in getting EDF to sort out my internet connections yesterday, I would probably be wondering how much longer I will be expected to cope with having everyday problems of this kind.

[oddoneout]

You're lucky if I may say so to even have a bank branch near to you. My nearest Lloyds now is Lewisham, 6 miles away. The last time I had to pay a check into my account I had to go to the only post office dealing with such matters in the district here. The staff weren't at all friendly and almost implied I must be stupid not to realise this was now the way things were done. He took the cheque from me to action, but I was left wondering what on earth to do if I come up with problems specific to Lloyds: I can't imagine that the Post Office are tasked to deal with them. For some unexplained reason my online council tax payment wouldn't go through, the technology telling me it didn't recognise my debit card number - which is ridiculous, given that I have always paid this way since I was told Southwark no longer accepted cheque payments, and I am using ths very card all the time for everyday shopping. The lass at the Council Tax dept I spoke to on the phone said I had to sort this out with the bank, but told me the quickest solution was to pay by direct deduction. This has succeeded - today I noted my first deduction - but they wanted my bank card details - the same ones - for this very purpose. I have to hope they will now pay the £150 rebate we were all supposed to get back in March - the lass said this would now happen, but it hasn't as of today.

Life seldom gets any easier. Were it not for success in getting EDF to sort out my internet connections yesterday, I would probably be wondering how much longer I will be expected to cope with having everyday problems of this kind.

We are indeed lucky - 5 banks, 2 building Societies, 2 POs (one able to do everything). There are historical reasons why so many, and logistical reasons why so many remain - the surrounding towns and villages have lost most or all of their finance facilities, and my home town is central to them all geographically. That doesn't equate to access though, since rural areas don't tend to be over-endowed with transport options... The current happy state of affairs won't last obviously, but I make the most of it while I can, not least because speaking to a pleasant familiar person beats battling with keyboard and unfriendly software.

[oddoneout]

Ah. New Day. It's not just John Lewis that NewDay are breaking up with: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Amazon-Plat.../dp/B01LSOD0ZI

Ah that explains a couple of references to Amazon cards among the complaints about the JL debacle. However JL has chosen to engage with New Day, so somewhat different; the breaking up is of the relationship between JL/Waitrose customers as a result of that decision.
I went into Lloyds today and not only do they still deal with complaints in branch, I was able to have a considerable chunk of the manager's time there and then. It won't speed up the end result (getting a credit card) but does ensure that my feedback about being timed out for reading the T&Cs, and the partially blocked documentation due to the livechat feedback box, will be sent separately to the right place. A bonus as I had assumed that if they did deal in branch I would have to make an appointment. So much more effective on the customer relations front than grappling with the online complaints boxes.
An interesting bit of information that came out during the discussion was the significant recruiting difficulties despite flexible working options etc, not just in Lloyds but across the sector. Existing staff are promoted but there aren't new staff coming in behind at the basic level - the general reaction apparently is that the work is "too complex/difficult" and would-be applicants are afraid they won't be able to do it so won't even give it a go.

[Serial_Apologist]

Ah that explains a couple of references to Amazon cards among the complaints about the JL debacle. However JL has chosen to engage with New Day, so somewhat different; the breaking up is of the relationship between JL/Waitrose customers as a result of that decision.
I went into Lloyds today and not only do they still deal with complaints in branch, I was able to have a considerable chunk of the manager's time there and then. It won't speed up the end result (getting a credit card) but does ensure that my feedback about being timed out for reading the T&Cs, and the partially blocked documentation due to the livechat feedback box, will be sent separately to the right place. A bonus as I had assumed that if they did deal in branch I would have to make an appointment. So much more effective on the customer relations front than grappling with the online complaints boxes.
An interesting bit of information that came out during the discussion was the significant recruiting difficulties despite flexible working options etc, not just in Lloyds but across the sector. Existing staff are promoted but there aren't new staff coming in behind at the basic level - the general reaction apparently is that the work is "too complex/difficult" and would-be applicants are afraid they won't be able to do it so won't even give it a go.

In the case of a good friend who was actually a branch manager, she left for ethical reasons after being expected to foist ancillary products on customers she thought unsuitable for them regardless. This was some years ago, and unlike back then I never hear from Lloyds, my bank, these days, but I wonder if banks still do this.

[oddoneout]

In the case of a good friend who was actually a branch manager, she left for ethical reasons after being expected to foist ancillary products on customers she thought unsuitable for them regardless. This was some years ago, and unlike back then I never hear from Lloyds, my bank, these days, but I wonder if banks still do this.

A lot of banking businesses did this, but I have a feeling that rules have been greatly tightened and, more to the point the financial penalties hurt or at least were an embarrassment. I know years ago Nationwide started down that track and I got fed up of having to listen to the spiel before I could get on with whatever it was I was there to do, and was made uncomfortable about the pressure for the the staff to do it, even though they knew for their regular customers what the answer was, and that it wasn't likely to change. One member of staff left saying quite openly that was the reason, another left for whom the official reason was something else but we all knew the real reason as she'd become increasingly unhappy and uncomfortable in her job.
There is still a certain amount of irritation from occasional attempts by the bank and the 2 Building Societies I use to sell insurance or other services, but they know not to persist if I say No thanks - an advantage of being a regular customer - and as long as they can tick the box to say they've asked that keeps the performance bods happy.

[oddoneout]

As some of you will be aware I'm not happy doing admin type things online, and having them go wrong does nothing to help. As if the credit card debacle wasn't enough I have now got stuck with trying to get a railcard. First of all it didn't like the password for my account (which I'd had to reset the last time I'd applied as it didn't like the one I'd used previously...) and then took forever to email the necessary for a reset. While waiting I'd gone through to complete the application as far as I could. When the reset finally was completed, got to the last bit of the application which needs the account login and got an error message to say they were having problems, so went away for a while and came back and tried again - same result. Completed a contact form to say I couldn't complete the application and after a long wait got an auto reply to say it could be 10 working days before I get a reply. Not a lot of use when I was hoping to use it before too long and more to the point put it on my JL credit card before that is terminated tomorrow. I knew there have been and presumably still are problems with the digital version of Railcard, but I don't want(can't use) one of those and assumed the old-fashioned version would be straightforward.
At this rate I'll have to apply at the station(and hope they have the forms as I don't have a printer) and take the hit from having a one year (£30) instead of the 3 year(£70) I actually want and which is only available online. At least I won't have the bus fare on top as I can use my pass now - but it's a 45 minute journey there so not exactly a quick process.
Update. Have just done some googling and found that the problems have existed for both physical and digital card applications for at least two years. The Trustpilot site shows 426 reviews with 88% at 1*, all saying much the same thing. I have found a telephone number and a suggested way to complete the form though, which I might be able to try later when I've had dinner and while my weekend call tariff is still applicable - having to pay call charges would cut into the saving on a 3 year card.

[Petrushka]

As some of you will be aware I'm not happy doing admin type things online, and having them go wrong does nothing to help. As if the credit card debacle wasn't enough I have now got stuck with trying to get a railcard. First of all it didn't like the password for my account (which I'd had to reset the last time I'd applied as it didn't like the one I'd used previously...) and then took forever to email the necessary for a reset. While waiting I'd gone through to complete the application as far as I could. When the reset finally was completed, got to the last bit of the application which needs the account login and got an error message to say they were having problems, so went away for a while and came back and tried again - same result. Completed a contact form to say I couldn't complete the application and after a long wait got an auto reply to say it could be 10 working days before I get a reply. Not a lot of use when I was hoping to use it before too long and more to the point put it on my JL credit card before that is terminated tomorrow. I knew there have been and presumably still are problems with the digital version of Railcard, but I don't want(can't use) one of those and assumed the old-fashioned version would be straightforward.
At this rate I'll have to apply at the station(and hope they have the forms as I don't have a printer) and take the hit from having a one year (£30) instead of the 3 year(£70) I actually want and which is only available online. At least I won't have the bus fare on top as I can use my pass now - but it's a 45 minute journey there so not exactly a quick process.
Update. Have just done some googling and found that the problems have existed for both physical and digital card applications for at least two years. The Trustpilot site shows 426 reviews with 88% at 1*, all saying much the same thing. I have found a telephone number and a suggested way to complete the form though, which I might be able to try later when I've had dinner and while my weekend call tariff is still applicable - having to pay call charges would cut into the saving on a 3 year card.

I presume you are trying to get a Senior Railcard via the official site? If so, there have been problems for some users (but not others) with this site for quite some time.

The way round it is to apply for your card via one of the rail companies websites (in my case it was East Midlands Railways) and ignore the official site. You can apply in exactly the same way and you will receive your Senior Railcard in a day or two by post. I purchased my three year card this way and it was very straightforward.

I got this info from the moneysavingexpert.com site.

[oddoneout]

I presume you are trying to get a Senior Railcard via the official site? If so, there have been problems for some users (but not others) with this site for quite some time.

The way round it is to apply for your card via one of the rail companies websites (in my case it was East Midlands Railways) and ignore the official site. You can apply in exactly the same way and you will receive your Senior Railcard in a day or two by post. I purchased my three year card this way and it was very straightforward.

I got this info from the moneysavingexpert.com site.

Yes, I noticed reference to buying that way and had it in mind as a fall back if the telephone route didn't succeed. I have now in theory got a Railcard in the pipeline which should turn up sometime in the next few days. During the call the operator said there was no record of my account or any of my details, so a new one had to be set up before proceeding. There appears to be some sort of parallel set-up with senior-railcard.co.uk and railcard.co.uk which makes it even more odd that a) my account on the latter(which I've used several times over the years) doesn't show up on the former and b) the person I spoke to who processed my application with the former said that there were no technical problems, although when I had tried that site myself the webpages were identical and I got the identical error message. The various email messages(account login recovery, complaint, confirmation of order) originate from the same address for both "companies". I am now in limbo as the account set up via telephone to complete the transaction I have no access to(no login), the original doesn't work, and payment is being handled by a third party. Oh well, all I can do is wait and hope.

[Pulcinella]

I hope I have better success!
I've already booked a journey on 30 December (assuming the discount) but don't intend renewing my card (i.e., getting a new one) until closer to the time.

I was annoyed that, unlike many other schemes, no extension or refund was offered for lack of use during the pandemic (I guess they would say that trains were running, unlike cinemas not being open!), especially as I had a 3-year pass and had used it very little.

At least I can use my Tesco Clubcard points to get a new 1-year one.

[oddoneout]

I hope I have better success!
I've already booked a journey on 30 December (assuming the discount) but don't intend renewing my card (i.e., getting a new one) until closer to the time.

I was annoyed that, unlike many other schemes, no extension or refund was offered for lack of use during the pandemic (I guess they would say that trains were running, unlike cinemas not being open!), especially as I had a 3-year pass and had used it very little.

At least I can use my Tesco Clubcard points to get a new 1-year one.

That was the core of their special pleading to government - that there were trains running so, shock horror, someone who claimed a refund might have actually benefited from discounted tickets. I had no benefit from my renewed card during that period but on the plus side(sort of) it was paid for using the last of my Tesco rewards and was "only" a 1 year card.
During my trawl through the reviews I did notice one thing, which is the disappearing time tactic that's used for renewals, with folk who've used the renewals button in particular finding that the renewal doesn't run from the expiry of the existing card but from the date of the renewal being processed - so weeks can be lost by those who want to plan ahead and be sure of their travel arrangements/costs... At least the passport equivalent has some justification in international law, although the interpretation seems dubious in some respects and is a problem given that currently it can take a significant chunk of time (months) to get or renew one.

[Pulcinella]

That was the core of their special pleading to government - that there were trains running so, shock horror, someone who claimed a refund might have actually benefited from discounted tickets. I had no benefit from my renewed card during that period but on the plus side(sort of) it was paid for using the last of my Tesco rewards and was "only" a 1 year card.
During my trawl through the reviews I did notice one thing, which is the disappearing time tactic that's used for renewals, with folk who've used the renewals button in particular finding that the renewal doesn't run from the expiry of the existing card but from the date of the renewal being processed - so weeks can be lost by those who want to plan ahead and be sure of their travel arrangements/costs... At least the passport equivalent has some justification in international law, although the interpretation seems dubious in some respects and is a problem given that currently it can take a significant chunk of time (months) to get or renew one.

My partner complained about the lost period when he renewed his, and got some sort of compensation (an extension to the proper date I think, rather than a refund), so it's worth complaining, especially if it's not made clear that that will happen.