Ulster bank have cancelled my card - what can I do ?

[phantom60]

Terrible customer service from UB again, after all their advertising about their "customer commitments" [broken link removed].

I went to lodge money to our joint (current) account three and a half weeks ago at an Ulster Branch branch (not my own branch). The cashier told me that the cards on the account were cancelled on the 2nd March, but he could not see why !
He assured me he'd look into it personally, arrange new cards for me, and contact me personally in a few days....I didn't get any contact from him.
I contacted my own branch a week later and they couldn't help, so was transferred to another person (not sure where) and he also couldn't tell me why the cards were cancelled and assured me he'd get back to me....again, I haven't heard from him since.
Since then I've contacted the branch and asked for the guy who originally informed me that the cards were cancelled. He had no further information for me and was "going on holidays for a week" but he told me that a girl called Karen wouldget back to me in a few days....surprise surprise, haven't heard anything from Karen either !!

It's four weeks since my cards were cancelled without reason, and I have yet to hear why this has happened and I have yet to receive new cards.

I can't believe this level of service and am absolutely raging.
What can I do about this ?
Any advice appreciated.

 

[kickstart]

Write a letter of complaint to the bank's customer service department outlining the problem, and the interaction you've had with them. Phone calls are fine if you make progress, but you have no formal record of their responses, which have been useless. If the same trail of incompetence was visible in a written conversation, you'd have them very embarrassed by now, or shortly about to be. Some sort of compensation would not be unreasonable too, but without the written evidence, you won't have this opportunity.

If they fail to deal with the written complaint, you can take the issue up with Visa or Mastercard. They hate getting drawn into this kind of thing, but if they feel the bank is failing the end customer, they'll kick them into action.

 

[so-crates]

You are assuming that Mastercard or Visa have something to do with it. That is not clear in the original post. I would agree though, write to the bank asking for your new cards, for good measure hand deliver the letter (retain a copy) and ask for a signature from the person who accepts it at the bank. In addition to asking for your cards, request a copy of their complaints procedure, an explanation for the delay and an apology for the delay. If you still have no joy out of them, and you have exhausted their procedure. Complain to the ombudsman.

 

[phantom60]

Thanks Brian - would email count as a written complaint ?
It would mean I can get the complaint in quicker and reply to them quicker...presuming that they bother to reply to me!!

 

[kickstart]

Thanks Brian - would email count as a written complaint ?!

Well, it might - it depends on the complaints procedure. I know you would like this fixed urgently, but writing a letter and delivering by hand might be the most expeditious channel in the end. No harm in sending your complaint in by email as well. Given their communications failure so far, it's not unreasonable to ask them to send replies to your email account and home address in both versions.

You are assuming that Mastercard or Visa have something to do with it.

You're right - I assumed a credit card was involved. For a straightforward deposit account, there's nobody but the Ombudsman to talk to. If it is a credit card, then he's still good, but you have a parallel option of asking Mastercard to take a look. In both cases, they won't be interested until you've exhausted the banks complaints procedure with no closure.