Disgruntled bank customers "bear a grudge"

Fri, 03 Jun 2005

When customers are disappointed by their bank, they don't easily forget about it, a new survey revealed.

Credit reference agency checkmyfile.com found that customers generally stay loyal to the bank they hold a current account with. Once they leave, however, four in ten would not recommend that bank to a friend.

The biggest turnoff for account holders is bad customer service, followed by failure by banks to help customers when they are in difficulty.

Bank customers cited high charges for overdrafts, foreign call centres and marketing techniques that are too "in your face" as some of the other top annoyances.

"For those less than satisfied, bad feelings are deep seated. We are concerned to see that failure to help when in difficulty featured so highly in complaints by bank customers," commented Barry Stamp, joint managing director of checkmyfile.

"The old joke about a banker lending you an umbrella [in sunny weather] and wanting it back again when it rains comes to mind. Some of the examples we read in the survey were certainly no joking matter - it is clear that some banks have a real need for training in looking after customers when their financial fortunes are low," he added.

Overall though, UK bank customers were happy with the service they received from their banks.

Almost half of customers polled have been with the same bank for over 11 years.

"Demonstrating loyalty, significant proportions of those customers use their bank as the first choice for loans (49 per cent), credit cards (41 per cent) and mortgage finance (33 per cent)," Mr Stamp noted.

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