Disgraceful customer service from LloydsTSB Commercial Bank

I asked LloydsTSB Commercial Bank to do something very simple for me that has now escalated into a 8 month battle to try and remove me accounts from their clutches.

The original issue was related to their repeated failure to send internet banking credentials to Amsterdam from the UK. The reason was that they consistently mixed up business and correspondence addresses. They also seemed to forget my written instructions to change the latter. The result is that I never received my internet banking credentials and since then have been unable to conduct business banking online.

Here’s a list of some of the terrible pitfalls in their customer service experience that I have encountered over the months.
• No accountability.
Every time you call up you talk to a different relationship manager, even if you request a certain individual. Each new person inevitably has difficulty understanding the back-story, the notes written by several other individuals and ultimately why you are so frustrated. Each manager seems to deal with the call on a once-off basis, not caring to what happens to the issue or the customer afterwards.

• Lack of proactivity.
In my experience Lloyds TSB will not commit to calling you back on a subject, even when requested to do so on an important subject. It seems that following making outgoing telephone calls and following up in a proactive manner is verboten.

• Inconsistent knowledge.
One relationship manager thinks that the process or procedure is X where as the next one you talk to will tell you it is Y. It is very difficult to get to the true view of how the system works.

• One rule for Lloyds TBS, another for everyone else
It seems that Lloyds TSB is a Bermuda Triangle for Royal Mail and TNT. It does not receive or action non-registered post, even when it is not a requirement for the instruction you are trying to give them. I once sent five copies of the same letter to the same address only for them to deny receiving any of them, and don’t worry I had the correct address ☺

• Defensive rhetoric
Lloyds TSB relationship managers are experts are giving generic and deflective answers. One manager refused to put me through to their manager and did not allow me to wait on hold until I could speak to that manager.

All of this is very stressful, inconvenient and expensive to deal with especially when you live abroad. Please avoid Lloyds TSB commercial banking.