Ulster messed up application

Jaysoose

Well i just got off the phone with ulster banks customer service as i had applied for a Ufirst gold account as im switching from AIB for obvious reasons.

All going well i though and i sent in statements etc and the got back to me saying they needed another 2 weeks of statements and i could take a screenshot of my internet banking and this would be fine to make up the lapse in dates. Recieved a letter with my original statements in it and a note to say that the application was going through the final stages of being finished.

3 weeks passed and i rang them today to find out the score, apparently the screengrab i had sent was not accepted and they never thought to contact me and the application had lapsed in the meantime...

I asked him the below

"I want you to explain why your colleague XXXXX assured me that the details she was requesting and the format of them was sufficient. I also want to know why i wasnt contacted about this problem as i could have rectified it."

The answer i got was
"im really sorry but i cant answer why, do you want to start a new application".

I replied

"no i dont wish to start a new application, i want you to return any of my information you currently have plus the copies immediately thanks for your time".

The mind boggles sometimes, he simply couldnt explain how his own colleagues had made a balls up and didnt have the courtesy to contact me but somehow im meant to be happy enough to restart the application!.

cazzak79

Jaysoose wrote: »

Well i just got off the phone with ulster banks customer service as i had applied for a Ufirst gold account as im switching from AIB for obvious reasons.

All going well i though and i sent in statements etc and the got back to me saying they needed another 2 weeks of statements and i could take a screenshot of my internet banking and this would be fine to make up the lapse in dates. Recieved a letter with my original statements in it and a note to say that the application was going through the final stages of being finished.

3 weeks passed and i rang them today to find out the score, apparently the screengrab i had sent was not accepted and they never thought to contact me and the application had lapsed in the meantime...

I asked him the below

"I want you to explain why your colleague XXXXX assured me that the details she was requesting and the format of them was sufficient. I also want to know why i wasnt contacted about this problem as i could have rectified it."

The answer i got was
"im really sorry but i cant answer why, do you want to start a new application".

I replied

"no i dont wish to start a new application, i want you to return any of my information you currently have plus the copies immediately thanks for your time".

The mind boggles sometimes, he simply couldnt explain how his own colleagues had made a balls up and didnt have the courtesy to contact me but somehow im meant to be happy enough to restart the application!.

U do realise u were probably talking to different people in different departments

testicle

Why did you have to send in statements to open a current account? I did it all online from AIB to Ulster about a year ago and it was a breeze...

BuffyBot

To be fair, do you expect the second person to be a mind reader? How on earth would he know what you had, or had not been told previously?

He apologised for the mix up, and offered to help from my reading of it. I am not sure what more you expected him to do?

amcalester

BuffyBot wrote: »

To be fair, do you expect the second person to be a mind reader? How on earth would he know what you had, or had not been told previously?

He apologised for the mix up, and offered to help from my reading of it. I am not sure what more you expected him to do?

I agree with BuffyBot, how can person B explain why person A messed up. They apologised on behalf of the bank and their colleague and asked if you'd like to start again.

Person B was probably happy you didnt want to start a new application as you come across like you could be a difficult customer to deal with.

Jaysoose

cazzak79 wrote: »

U do realise u were probably talking to different people in different departments

Not very likely i called the same number the bank provided me in their correspondence as before which is different from the normal 365 banking contact number.

Jaysoose

BuffyBot wrote: »

To be fair, do you expect the second person to be a mind reader? How on earth would he know what you had, or had not been told previously?

He apologised for the mix up, and offered to help from my reading of it. I am not sure what more you expected him to do?

I dont expect anybody to be a mind reader and im aware its not the guys fault and at no stage did i blame him nor did i expect him to just open the account there and then.

I provided him with his workmates name and the date i spoke to them on the same number i used previously along with the reference number provided to me, using this information he was able to put me on hold and find out what happened so its not much of a jump that he could have been speaking to his colleague or at least there were notes on the system to this effect.

So is it unreasonable for me to expect a better answer for not at the very least contacting me for more information than "i dont know" after following the explicit instructions of the bank and the customer service reps?

The help offered was for me to go through the exact same process again even though i had not made the error.. possibly could have but my confidence in the service was gone at that stage.

Jaysoose

amcalester wrote: »

I agree with BuffyBot, how can person B explain why person A messed up. They apologised on behalf of the bank and their colleague and asked if you'd like to start again.

Person B was probably happy you didnt want to start a new application as you come across like you could be a difficult customer to deal with.

What exactly are you basing this on, i was at no stage difficult and followed the instruction of the banks customer service reps as they asked for them.

I never raised my voice or blamed the customer service rep i asked for a reason why i was not contacted in the 3 weeks and when there was no reson forthcoming i asked him to return my documents and didnt want to reapply.

Can you explain to me how you deduce that i would be a difficult customer from this?

BuffyBot

The tone of your post/follow up ones?

cazzak79

BuffyBot wrote: »

The tone of your post/follow up ones?

I work in a bank department not ulster bank but people Can say different things u could talked to people in different areas or the person could be of we
Generally statements from Internet banking etc aren't accepted as u wouldn't have your name and address on it anybody could have printed it off
Ones u can get posted or in the branch are better as they would have the bank emblem and your name and address erc

dublin daz

Be careful doing multiple applications as each one triggers a credit bureau search - as part of the online / telebanking process.

Multiple searches can have a negative impact on your credit rating. They are purged after six months.

Jaysoose

cazzak79 wrote: »

I work in a bank department not ulster bank but people Can say different things u could talked to people in different areas or the person could be of we
Generally statements from Internet banking etc aren't accepted as u wouldn't have your name and address on it anybody could have printed it off
Ones u can get posted or in the branch are better as they would have the bank emblem and your name and address erc

Yeah i can see now how that would be the case with the internet banking as it could just be printed up by anybody, its a bit strange that the first customer rep was certain that it was sufficient and mentioned that i could drop it in to my local branch or post it out. Anyway these things happen and im not in dire need of an ulster bank account im basically looking for alternatives to my current AIB current account and the ease of application was what first attracted me to ulster.

dublin daz wrote: »

Be careful doing multiple applications as each one triggers a credit bureau search - as part of the online / telebanking process.

Multiple searches can have a negative impact on your credit rating. They are purged after six months.

Thats good to know would this still be applicable in this case were the application went in and "lapsed" as it didnt get completed?

BuffyBot wrote: »

The tone of your post/follow up ones?

Your entitled to your opinion.

testicle

dublin daz wrote: »

Be careful doing multiple applications as each one triggers a credit bureau search - as part of the online / telebanking process.

Multiple searches can have a negative impact on your credit rating. They are purged after six months.

I got an ICB report the other day, and a MBNA search is still on it from January - why I don't know, I didn't apply for anything from them then.

Jaysoose wrote: »

Your entitled to your opinion.

For what it's worth, I agree with his interpretation.

Jaysoose

testicle wrote: »

I got an ICB report the other day, and a MBNA search is still on it from January - why I don't know, I didn't apply for anything from them then.



For what it's worth, I agree with his interpretation.

I saw you thanks to his post, if thats what people perceive from my posts then thats their look out and as i said its all an opinion.

Personally i find it bizarre that people can make a jump from my post to that im some sort of difficult customer wihout any notion of my past relationship with my current bank.

If it came off as difficult to ask a straightforward question from a customer rep after their department made the mistake and not be happy with the reply then so be it but i know different.

dublin daz

testicle wrote: »

I got an ICB report the other day, and a MBNA search is still on it from January - why I don't know, I didn't apply for anything from them then.

The ICB are very difficult to deal with. No phone number or contact other than requesting scores. Not ideal given their "power". They ought to have correct information recored - per DPA etc, I have seen cases where errors / matching issues caused the wrong accounts to be retrieved and the DPC found against them. They were old cases 2004 I think but that is still unacceptable.

Unless your card was renewal 01/12 maybe the renew procedure is a periodic search? I know my Ulster Bank overdraft is on my ICB every year when its renewed.

Jaysoose wrote: »

Yeah i can see now how that would be the case with the internet banking as it could just be printed up by anybody, its a bit strange that the first customer rep was certain that it was sufficient and mentioned that i could drop it in to my local branch or post it out. Anyway these things happen and im not in dire need of an ulster bank account im basically looking for alternatives to my current AIB current account and the ease of application was what first attracted me to ulster.



Thats good to know would this still be applicable in this case were the application went in and "lapsed" as it didnt get completed?




Your entitled to your opinion.

Yes. I applied for a uFirst upgrade - the site froze and I went and applied again - when I got the ICB report two showed up.

Ulster Bank sent a comfort letter to explain to future lenders as I was angry, given the score was reducing per their searches. Say 1st was 607 2nd 588 etc.

In saying that I am still with Ulster Bank as I find them good, even after the saga but I wasn't happy with my credit report being mucked up.

Also - you can not be refused credit without human oversight. If the online system declines you etc you can appeal to a human who must have a final say on any credit matters.