Halifax customer service, is it as good as Irish banks

learnerplates

I've recently had some transactions with Halifax bank over credit cards. But I have found it both difficult to get an answer on their 1890 number and also I get transferred to a English customer service desk. They do not appear to be very helpful either! Has anyone else found this? i have not completed my application for the Credit Card and am now slightly dubious about doing so as the first impressions do not look good.
Anyone have experience with Halifax vs Irish owned banks, is there anything for me to worry about before accepting the CC?

BuffyBot

Well it depends: Define "helpful". You'll get good and bad agents in any company's call centres.

Is there anything in particular you're having problems with? It's hard for people to make a comparison with so little info.

formatman

would be very wary of them also

Their call centre in in Dundalk/Drogheda , probably held together by some IDA dodgy deal, their branches don't have direct numbers

know somene that works for a credit card clearance centre and their cards decline or refer for no reason all the time

Their is something very unprofessional about the whole setup , haven't quite figured it out

one other theing is that , the wonderful helpful ! ESB shop staff that were kept on by bank of scotland are now qualified Bankking officials ! all of a sudden

stepbar

Take a look round their branches, look at the size of them. Trust me, the Halifax are not too worried about the likes of you and me. There's no profit in us. I love the way they just target companies with a turnover of over 500k. I love the way when you are in a branch even after enquiring about one product they try to blatently sell you another. If I wanted a Credit Card god dammit, I'd ask when I was making the first enquiry. Dont talk to me about their mortgages, picking and choosing once again. In fact Halifax are no more better value than any of the rest of the banks TBH.

learnerplates

Hmm,
So I be a bit more detailed, it's actually a CC declinement that I'm talking about.
I have no idea why it was declined, my credit is good..anyway I rang the 1890 number and got some english guy, he wouldn't give me any information whatsoever, he recommended I write to the bank..I asked if I could talk to someone in a Halifax branch instead and he said no..
First impressions do last, this didn't seem to be a good way to entice new customers, the deal is good for a credit transfer but it got me thinking, what if something went wrong with my CC, who would I contact? how long would it take to get information if someone blagged money from my cc!!
My dealings with my present CC provider have always been good even though they are ripping me off but that's mostly my own fault, at least I can talk to them directly and they do seem to want my business.

Any one else have experiences with these scots?
When it comes down to it the question is, is it worth low customer grade service for a couple of hundred euros a year?

sofireland

Firstly i used to work for Halifax, and afaik they can't be specific as to why they declined you, its to do with credit policy and data protection.

Heck they even declined staff applications for the credit cards! So that gives an idea, they soon solved that though. Its all done by credit scoring, you can ask for an a re assessment.

They normally where people transfer balances would match the limit on previous card after seeing statements, that could be worth a shot.

learnerplates

I've wrote off to them, I reckon I'll be waiting for the explanation.
2 friends of mine also told me at the weekend that they were also turned down without reason! I suppose when your making multi millions you just don't need the business.
:rolleyes:

Nephew

I had mixed dealings with them, I went into the dun laoghaire branch last year just after they (bank of scotland) opened and it was clear the guy wasn't interested in helping because I was a student, told me to come back in two weeks.

I went into the Bray branch on the way home and the staff were quite friendly and opened the account for me that day.

My main gripe with them is I opened a monthly saver account with them, and I haven't received any statements from them since I opened the account other than a piece of paper with my account details on it 10 months ago, it'd be nice to get a statement every three months or so.