Barclays??

• Anyone know if Barclays is a good bank to use??

  22 Jun 2005, 05:12 Anonymous

Replies

• yes and no

  The bank has a lot of branches throughout the UK (although mainly in England) which is useful. They also have good links abroad, meaning you can use your cash card when travelling and not spend so much on commission fees. However, their rates are not great, and their service (in my experience) can be quite incompetent. I'm sure though, that the same applies for most of the other high street banks. Personally, I'm a big fan of internet banking, and now mainly use IF.

  Anonymous 23 Jun 2005, 02:33 - Report

• Barclays are shit

  Used to have an account with Barclays, but they messed me around so much that I ended up closing it. Customer service used to be a lot better, but really got worse over the last few years. I opened an account with Smile (www.smile.co.uk) and they have only made one mistake in two years and when I pointed it out (they might be an Internet bank, but you can always get someone on the phone quickly) it was fixed in under 20 mins. Excellent stuff!

  Anonymous 23 Jun 2005, 04:30 - Report

• BARCLAYS SUCK

  Their customer service centers are packed with illiterate fools who twice now have referred me to my branch and when I get there I found they should have done it over the phone.
  
  BOYCOTT BARCLAYS.

  Anonymous 26 Sep 2005, 11:09 - Report

• Totally useless money grabbing b**stards :-)

  Nationwide are much better... if you can get a german bank account...
  I used to bank with barclays untill they overcharged my business accounts by 3k (supposed to be free banking for the first year) had to get the banking ombudsman onto em to get my money back... as for my current account I didnt have an agreed overdraft and had a direct debit for 5 quid go out.... it would have made my accout 2 quid overdrawn, they bounced the payment, charged me 25 quid and then 10 quid for sending me the letter!... nice eh??
  Similar scenario with nationwide, they phoned me up and asked me if i would like an averdraft to cover it!... hmmm... Barclays also like to lend 18 yearolds lots of money the bank knows they cant afford to pay back ,then when they get into trouble offer them consolidation loans and bomb them with ridiculous interest rates. i work in the armed services and see it all the time with some of the younger members lads... abey national are just as bad (same group of companies)
  best bank in my experience for business;
  HSBC or Deutche Bank
  Personal banking:
  Nationwide building society - Really good interest rates too and the members own it not a blue chip.
  investment for stocks shares etc:
  Lloyds TSB

  Anonymous 01 Jan 2006, 07:39 - Report

• shitty bank

  avoid them. im sure most banks are crap (altho my friends have accounts with the co-op and seem to like them).
  
  they gave me bad advice on filling in a form for an international transfer (£35) which then dint work because the staff said 'yeah thats good' when there were mandatory fields left empty.
  
  should it be refunded? barclays gave me the advice, barclays should pay for the cockup. seems reasonable
  
  when i returned to make the transfer again the manager passed the buck numerous times, claiming that 'barclays international' were responsible for taking the charge so he couldnt refund it, then claiming he would waive charges for a 2nd attempt, then saying it was out of his hands, then saying waiving the charges was at his discretion so wasnt he a nice man, then saying (when i revealed that i had ticked a box that required any charges to be taken off at the receiving bank's end) that he no longer had any say in the issue and it was out of his hands.
  
  so what - now you just get to keep the money from the first transfer even though it was your cockup. i mean, you were going to (try) to waive charges for the 2nd transfer altho it was not your call (or was it?) so i should just forget about it? oh no no... the ombudsman's getting a letter about this
  
  sorry for that rant - its fresh in my mind!

  Anonymous 10 Jan 2006, 10:43 - Report

• Barclays is still going downhill.

  Do not go near Barclays. They are thieves! I tell them I do not want an overdraft but they say Im entitiled to it for free. Then when I go £5 overdrawn they charge me £30! They'll then continue to charge £30 per day for a max of 3 days until the overdraft is cleared. So now my account is £95 ovedrawn when I only spent a fiver! I've rang them up plenty of times, but 9 times out of 10 you'll end up speaking with some indian who barely speaks english and is impossible to understand. Their customer service is the worst of its kind. They have branches everywhere which you'd think is a good thing, but requesting anything more complex than withdrawing money or paying in money, they will tell you that this can only be done at your branch. And dont even try to ring your branch, they dont exist - you'll get put through their useless call centre based in bangladesh! Im moving to Natwest and they have been brilliant so far. Really helpfull and really freindly - thats not much to ask.

  Anonymous 07 Jul 2006, 10:31 - Report

• How can I close a british Bank account from outside??

  I want to close a bank account I have in Barclays because i no longer live in London.... how can I do it from Spain??

  Anonymous 21 Jul 2006, 12:16 - Report

• unknown

  I am so fed up with their service!They are incompetent and very slow in serving the customers.Don't ever make the mistake to open an account in Barclays!HSBC are much better.I recomand them.

  Anonymous 13 Nov 2006, 08:36 - Report

• Barclays Are By Far The Worst Employer

  Anon

  Anon 23 Jun 2007, 12:34 - Report

• Don't expect a good service

  As a customer of over thirty years standing I am in the process of changing banks as the standard of their customer service is appalling.

  anon 27 Dec 2007, 03:27 - Report

• barclays suck

  I have a business acc which turned over £250,000 in the 1st 6 months. One week just after making a large purchase and paying my tax (today) I needed a 2k overdraft for 1 week. They wouldnt give it because I had not had my account for 1 year, nor would they discuss any options. I googled barclays suck tonight and got this site. I'll be closing my account the next time a large payment comes in.
  I went to Natwest and they said if I show my statements and close my Barclays account they would give me a 10k overdraft on the spot. Hell yes they suck.

  A Samwells 23 Jan 2008, 02:11 - Report

• Barclays is a fine Bank institution

  Choosing Barclays is maybe the best choice, but I have a friend that used the services of those guys here opening offshore bank accounts in the UK, and they have on-site other nice Banks in which you can open a bank account as a non-resident in the UK. Here: <a href=http://traveltowork.co.uk>TravelToWork</a>

  Ivo Rusev 07 Feb 2008, 04:35 - Report

• Address correction

  Sorry, expected to post HTML address. The correct one is http://traveltowork.co.uk

  Ivo Rusev 07 Feb 2008, 04:36 - Report

• Barclays Sucks

  Barclays is the only shitty bank i ever seen in my life, they are closing some ones account without any notification even if you got handsome amount in your account.
  
  In Many cases not even barclays head office have the answer against your queries, they got some some shitty banking system in place and to hide drawbacks of their system they are always saying that case team will contact you to investigate your query but they will never contact you (Barclays Utter Bull Shit)
  
  Really Suckssss........

  Habs 10 Mar 2008, 11:14 - Report

• Barclays - Bloody Arrogant, Ridiculously Callous, Loyal... Are You Serious

  Bloody
  Arrogant
  Ridiculously
  Callous
  Loyal...
  Are
  You
  Serious
  
  Other than that.... I've been with barclays for 15 years as have my family. We have put through over £3.5 mil through barclays in that time. I opened a personal account with them and they refuse to give me ANY overdraft as THAT account had only been opened recently.
  
  I was astonished, theres no hidden info i haven't reveiled, its as simple as that. I cannot see how they operate in the least!
  
  I am moving to RBS on the advice of varying associates, I used to work for them and know the system, heres hoping as a customer though they treat me better than Barclays.

  Obviously a sucker for joining barclayas in the first place 15 Jul 2008, 04:09 - Report

• OMG - Useless

  These guys are a bunch of monkeys. I bank with four other institutes and never have I had as much problems as these beauties have given me. Run away, far away.

  Anonymous 07 Oct 2008, 06:49 - Report

• Barclays... Complete muppets

  Rudest customer services ever. Always seem to be freezing your account for no apparent reason. Have written change of address letters for over a year now and they still haven`t changed my address. Funny thing is they changed my joint account to my new address but not my current account! Duh! Let me dink that we are sending to 2 addresses perhaps one of them is wrong!!! DOH! Biggest donuts ever!

  Bilbo Baggins 08 Dec 2008, 06:06 - Report

• barclays

  we have got 3 accounts with barclays including a business account and they are complete pants....our business manager(laughable)never contacted us at all in 15 months.....useless...
  crap service, money grabbing ar@@@@@

  swiss 09 Jan 2009, 03:38 - Report

• Barclays: Good Service

  I just opened an account with Barclays and the offering is good. I was able to open an account in India sitting here and also transfer funds between the account using their Online Money Transfer service at www.barclays.in.
  
  The exchange rate and transfer time was fantastic, there was no fee to add to it.
  
  Good experience overall

  Kirti Patel 16 Jan 2009, 11:02 - Report

• barclays service is shit

  after i got kicked out of college i worked for them and they compelled me to open an account stating it was company policy to pay employees via barclays current account. i filled in the form gave my previous acount details and they paid my wage into my hsbc account? before workin as a cashier i was waiting to start for over a month. the job advertised was for 12k probation pay + bonus and commission. the contract was for 11250 without notifying me of the change. they dissmissed me after a month because my previous employer didnt respond because it closed down, prior to me tellin them this this in my interview, cv and external referencing check.
  i have been banking with them nearly 2years since because as i needed a visa account. their serivice is shit, not giving me an overdraft when i have 3 d/d's a month and get paid 700+ a month into it as a college student for 10months straight.
  i went to upgrade it for a student accoutn before starting uni in aug 08 and they said my application got reffered! just f***ing upgrade it internally, no need for external credit checks u fool; look at my behaviour score. they didnt even tell me the responce i went in a month later and they told me. i went to see someone else about my accoutn as i was in dier need of a student overdraft. she gave a good service undersood my problem and didnt understand why i got declined. she said your behaviour score is good and there are no notes on here decling you from a student account. she did it there and then and gave me an overdraft.
  barclays are suppose to give students 10 free cinema tickets when they open an account; never got it; its been 3 months.
  they upgraded my online banking to pin entry never told me or sent my out a device. i access online banking all the time, know my pasword and banking code and that wont allow me to transfer money. telephone banking just require me to give a tele banking password to transfer money, no pin entry. cust service even blcoked my accoutn for one day because i told them them i dont have a tele bankin password just take me through security questions.
  they are f***ing shit. service is shit, employment is shit. bank is f***ed. i hope they go bust and shareprice falls to the floor making historical losses.
  do not bank with them; service is inconvieient and frustrating by many staff and internal systamatic proceedures are futile in many cases. barclays are a waste of space.

  khes 24 Jan 2009, 03:35 - Report

• Barclays... possibly the worst bank in the world?! no definately!!

  barclays are crap. i wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire. i have had nothing but problems with them for the last 8 months of being with them
  constantly locking me out of online banking, forcing me to change my password constantly and go through security each time... stupid thing is when it makes u create a new password, it doesn't ask you to then use pin sentry to access your account for that attempt which is not secure at all! anyone could get hold of my card, access my details from that and change my details online then access my account. the pin sentry device/system is the biggest load of bollocks to have beeb invented since, erm, well, the cap- cleaner (never heard of it? well check it out and have a laugh at this pointless invention! www.cap-cleaner.com)
  they take money out without authorisation, charge u when they have no reason to, agree over the phone/telephone banking (in india ffs) to action something on your account as 'an error has been made/goodwill gesture as a way of apology' yet 3 days later nothing has happened, only to speak to the uk call centre who say that they will not actiopn anything and they take no liability for errors (even though they are liable and their indian callcentre has just accepted liability on the phone, which they record apparently... when you ask them to check the call and they do, they say its an error and they still don't pay you back your money!)
  why the hell does anyone bank with them? my own mother advised me against using them as she used them for several years until 2 years ago, when she closed her account because of all the crap she had with them, , 'useless w****rs as she so delicately put it... they say your mothers always right but do we listen? i went with barclays because they seemed to have good offers on their account they offered, but i am being charged £3 a month for this account/use of it... charged for using this shitty account where they take my money illegally then refuse to give it back even though they have already admitted they are in the wrong? what a load of pants!
  i have banked with natwest for many years and have kept that account and will be sticking with them. they may not offer me fantastic overdrafts or huge rewards for being a customer, but i'd rather know where i stand with them from an honest perspective than be with a bank that think i am there for them to just take the piss out of.
  ta taaa, Barclays wank! sorry i meant bank

  s-j 07 Mar 2009, 01:42 - Report

• please advise me

  i today had some funds deposited in to my account over £14,000 i called barclays up and they comfirmed it was cleared in my account i ordered the funds in my local branch for a cash withdrawall which again they agreed and cleard told me i could go ad pick the funds up, i went in to the branch to be told that they had the funds availible but was unable to give me the funds as head office had told them they couldnt that there was a problem. after 2hrs of telephone coversations i have just been told barclays have taken my funs out my account for refferal the whole account baclance and have not given me a reason i am so pissed any surgestions why this has happened and can they do this.

  k 16 Mar 2009, 08:02 - Report

• Barclaycard Business

  Yesterday I spent 2 hours on the phone to a lady called Jenny at Barclaycard Business in Stockton where we have held accounts for 9 years with A1 credit history. She logged in to someone elses's account then told me that I didnt pass security. She had been asking me security questions on a different account that had been closed for four years. Escalating the call and speaking to Natasha, Nicola then Robert they refuse to raise a complaint and have not accepted any responsibility. And they call themselves "responsible lenders".

  CCE 10 Apr 2009, 12:05 - Report

• My money

  I live in France and I am unable to get my money transferred here : excuses " signature not clear... although all the questions have been answered on the phone I cannot get MY MONEY
  
  What shall I do ???

  Philip Curran 21 Apr 2009, 03:46 - Report

• Barclays worst bank known to man

  i have been banking with barclays for 10 years and never had a problem till the past few months, i have been experiencing my money going missing and barclays are not phoning to ask if it is me completeing the transactions, its the worst customer experience i have experienced in my life, they are absolutely unreliable and will never recommand them, i am changing bank to natwest where my partner is because they treat their customers better
  
  BARCLAYS ARE THE WORST BANK EVER KNOWN !!!!!
  DONT TRUST OR BANK WITH THEM !!!!!

  barclays is crap 26 May 2009, 12:12 - Report

• transfer from uk to france

  You can contact transfermate.com, they bank with barclays and can send your money out next day.

  james 29 Jun 2009, 12:41 - Report

• Do not bother...

  Barclays sucks. Big name, poor services.Especially recently when some arab capital got inside. I'm moving elswhere, few more months and I will be Barclays free )

  Andy 29 Jul 2009, 01:15 - Report