Very poor knowledge of banking from Ulster Bank staff.

O

Odea

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I have had a number of issues with my current account in the Ulster bank over the past year. Every time I call to my local branch and have a query, I am constantly getting different answers to my questions and queries from different staff members.
It has got to the stage where I don't believe anything that they are saying anymore.
Many of these staff have many years service.
Are they no longer being trained or what is going on?
 
Are you sure they have many years service? From what I see of UB there is hardly anyone left with experience, I have a complicated query re an old product and can't bring myself to contact them as I know no one will have a clue what I am talking about!
 
It's not just UB. It's not just banks. I find that asking a question pretty much anywhere, and getting a reasonable answer, is lucky dip.
 
I am approaching my 66th birthday and I asked a staff member in the Ulster Bank if that was the age "free" banking commenced. No, I was told it starts at age 68.

The same official had been complaining about the poor quality counter staff that she had to work with......They know nothing she said.


"The waivers explained
It's simple. You qualify for maintenance fee-free banking if:

  • You maintain a minimum cleared balance of €3,000 in your current account for each charging cycle
  • You are aged 66 or over "
 
Hmmm, that would make me wonder if UB are intending changing the free banking age to 68 to match what the pension age is changing to, maybe they had forward training :)
 
Odea said:
I have had a number of issues with my current account in the Ulster bank over the past year. Every time I call to my local branch and have a query, I am constantly getting different answers to my questions and queries from different staff members.
It has got to the stage where I don't believe anything that they are saying anymore.
Many of these staff have many years service.
Are they no longer being trained or what is going on?
Click to expand...

Every time UB make a mistake, I make a complaint. Every time I receive compensation, I am well over €1,000 in compensation to date.

Its €50 for every error, plus €50 to €100 per claim.

I love their incompetence. Making a claim is easy, just email customerrelations@ulsterbank.ie with an outline of your issue. You dont need proof or supporting documentation. You get a holding response, then they do not reply within the promised time frame. That is the subject of the next complaint. And on it goes. Not as entertaining a way to spend an idle hour as AAM but more lucrative.
 
+1, that is so funny, full disclosure now I'm ex UB having taken VS in 2009, I like to think I left whilst I still had a reputation, old school,

UB cleared out their staff on VS, the good ones ( yes, I was a good one, senior rank and considered as such and on a super salary ) took the package.

Those that joined on attractive packages from other Banks were stuck, they still are, not enough cash payoff to disappear and those staff that replaced the experienced staff are as described above...hopelessly undertrained and disinterested, UB strategy was so lacking and here we are, the basics prove a struggle to many of the newer officials.

Would I want my children to follow me into Dads career .... Would I ....Nope.

Cremeegg is right. Spot the failures and complain.
 
The "Yellow Packs" are everywhere. Know nothing, care even less. Untrained, undereducated, defensive, uncaring and uninterested. "I'm ending this call now as I cannot escalate your issue and you are alleging I don't know my job".
 
I lodged a Sterling cheque in to my account in UB. Three weeks later I got my bank statement only to discover that it had been reversed out. I called to the bank and pointed out their error to them. The so called manager reluctantly agreed to meet me on the day I called. (He never leaves his office).

When they realised what had happened they refunded me my money and gave me €50 compensation.

I wanted to know how they hadn't spotted the error when they were balancing at the end of the day. The cheque was for an odd amount and would have stood out. I also asked why it was left to the customer to point out their error to them.

His answer was he didn't know but didn't we give you "€50 compensation".

Since then there have been two further incidents with the same branch. Thankfully I always reconcile my bank statements because I doubt if the Sterling cheque error would have been discovered.

I agree with the above. The counter staff are really bad and I have heard them tell people the most outlandish rubbish.

It's scary.
 
I'm ex B of I staff- old school like yourself Palerider. The rot started in B of I in about 1989 when the bank in their wisdom decided to recruit anyone and everyone to staff the branches. The training was patchy for the most part. Most have no idea how to look for a cash difference and many hardly know a debit from a credit. There is no sense of customer service at all. They'll put up with the complaints as long as staff costs are kept to a minimum. For the most part those making the decisions have never seen a customer, never mind spoken to one. I
 
mathepac said:
The "Yellow Packs" are everywhere. Know nothing, care even less. Untrained, undereducated, defensive, uncaring and uninterested. "I'm ending this call now as I cannot escalate your issue and you are alleging I don't know my job".
Click to expand...
I have came across well Educated people who are defensive uncaring and uninterested who use there Education/Qualifications to do as little as possible they get paid for there Qualifications not how the do there job. replacing less Educated people and the service provided going down hill,
 
Hello,

I find it interesting how much emphasis there has been on getting bank staff qualified as QFA's (so they can tick a box with the Central Bank and sell various services), but there appears to be no focus or obligation on all bank staff having to pass certain exams and kept education up to date, regarding basic legislative, banking or accounting requirements, which are all equally important for bank staff.

Older bank staff may recall the former Banking Certificate from the Institute of Bankers (now the Institute of Banking), which was based on the content of four little green and white books, full of excellent information. A couple of decades later, there are lots and lots of courses, but I struggle to find any course offering similar content to what was provided back then, covering such simple but most important things as the rules and legislation regarding cheques etc.

The Central Bank should be all over this issue to help protect consumers, while I can't help but wonder if Banks might secure more long term custom, if they up-skilled their staff properly with some basic, but essential knowledge and skills.
 
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MrEarl said:
Hello,

I find it interesting how much emphasis there has been on getting bank staff qualified as QFA's (so they can tick a box with the Central Bank and sell various services), but there appears to be no focus or obligation on all bank staff having to pass certain exams and kept education up to date, regarding basic legislative, banking or accounting requirements, which are all equally important for bank staff.

Older bank staff may recall the former Banking Certificate from the Institute of Bankers (now the Institute of Banking), which was based on the content of four little green and white books, full of excellent information. A couple of decades later, there are lots and lots of courses, but I struggle to find any course offering similar content to what was provided back then, covering such simple but most important things as the rules and legislation regarding cheques etc.

The Central Bank should be all over this issue to help protect consumers, while I can't help but wonder if Banks might secure more long term custom, if they up-skilled their staff properly with some basic, but essential knowledge and skills.
Click to expand...

I remember that well. Stage A was Banking Law, Economics, Statistics, and Accounting. It was really quite good. I did three parts of Stage A in about 1987/1988 and could have repeated the one I didn't get, but got distracted with marriage and kids!
 
I've opened accounts in the past where it got hung up on me not supplying my PPS number. I explain that while they are obliged to ask for it (box ticked) it's not a show-stopper if I won't supply it. A huddle and a phone call later everything lurches forward.
 
While I'm happy with Ulster Banks products and their service I've had similar experiences.
When I first got my mortgage I noticed the interest I was being charged didn't equal what I thought I should be charged. I rang their mortgage helpline and asked for the formula for calculating interest. I was told their systems handle the calculations. Full stop, end of conversation.
I understand they might not have it to hand but it's also not rocket science (my formula is a basic primary school compound interest formula). The reason for my discrepancy was that I was calculating monthly and they do daily. I found that out by coming to sites like this. The mortgage helpline couldn't provide that info.
 
I joined the Bank of Ireland in 1970. I remember being trained on deposits, batch, cash. I had someone sit with me while training was taking place and showing me how to find errors etc.
When we balanced at the end of the day and had a difference, paper or cash, we would reconstruct the day's work. We wouldn't leave the office until the error was found.
Tintagel above talks about a Sterling cheque being reversed out of his account.....This should have been spotted at the time of balancing because there would have been a surplus cheque over at the end of the day or an amount equal to the amount of the cheque. The simplest of things to find. To think that 3 weeks later this still hadn't been found is inexcusable.
Evie1962 talks about the staff not knowing the difference between a debit and a credit. I couldn't agree more. Also when looking for a difference of say €120, always check half or double that amount in case a debit was entered as a credit or vice versa.

I have an account with the Ulster Bank there was a large error made in my account. Nobody spotted it except me. It seems that this bank is happy to "write off" errors rather than look for them. They couldn't care less. It seems if the customers spots one of their errors and complains then throw €50 at them to keep them quiet.

It seems that it is easier to do this than look for the error. That's all very well but in my case I would have been down several hundred only for I spotted the error.
 
Grizzly said:
I joined the Bank of Ireland in 1970. I remember being trained on deposits, batch, cash. I had someone sit with me while training was taking place and showing me how to find errors etc.
Click to expand...

Ah, the batch, now that takes me back a couple of decades ... for the life of me, I couldn't tell you now how to spot a digit reversal having been input to cause the balance to be out, but I could back then (because I had the benefit of someone who knew what they were doing and gave a fiddlers, to train me in properly) :)
 
I actually loved the batch, that was my job as the junior :) To this day I can use a calculator at high speed without looking at the keys. The first few weeks of training someone new was terrible, you'd be there until all hours every evening trying to find what error they made.

Not that long before I left we had the usual sales talk on house insurance, one of my colleagues came to me afterwards with the info that they did not know the difference between detatched/semi detached/terraced. I had to do a little childish drawing of a house on it's own, two stuck together and a row of them. He used to keep that in his folder to refer to when asked for quotes :)
 
Monbretia said:
I actually loved the batch, that was my job as the junior :) To this day I can use a calculator at high speed without looking at the keys. The first few weeks of training someone new was terrible, you'd be there until all hours every evening trying to find what error they made.

Not that long before I left we had the usual sales talk on house insurance, one of my colleagues came to me afterwards with the info that they did not know the difference between detatched/semi detached/terraced. I had to do a little childish drawing of a house on it's own, two stuck together and a row of them. He used to keep that in his folder to refer to when asked for quotes :)
Click to expand...

That takes me back! I wasn't terribly talented at Maths concepts in school but I was always a whizz at arithmetic- a €90 cash difference was €10 for €100 or €540 for €450 or whatever. I see the cashiers in my local branch counting cash 20,40, 60 etc which is not correct. You should count 1, 2,3 and then multiply by €20 or €50 and so on. When they're writing down how much cash they've been given they write €200 in €10s rather than the proper way of recording it as €10 x 20.

I could go on!
 
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