Barclays Premier Account Review

Overall Rating

Simple and effective online banking (but I pay £10 per month for Premier on the heading).

Quick and effective telephone banking - at outset you actually got to talk to someone helpful with English as their first language. Recently it appears they've gone for the overseas callcentre approach and saved money but lost quality. When I first joined I could phone my local branch - not any more though; everything goes to the call centre. At least when I last used the service the scream-inducing "Press 1 for x" only had one layer before I was able to talk to a person (unfortunately foreign and not too familiar with Barclays credit card offerings).

An awful service culture but maybe that's typical of all banks; one key good point - during the banking crisis, when others were seeing their Icelandic cash melt, I wondered whether to shift some £500k elsewhere but felt that Barclays would not default. And that turned out to be true - at least they're sound financially.

How long have you got?

Cock ups in setting up the accounts . Not a good start. They offer(ed) a variety of credit cards so I asked for info; it never came. Eventually my wife's persistence got some info and we opted for their Infinity card, partly because I travel and it gives VIP lounge access as a perk. Cock up again though, because they issued the card in my wife's name with me as an additional holder; VIP access is only for main cardholder. Useless. An attempt to get this changed foundered on the lack of response. A formal complaint (big mistake) invoked the heavyweight leviathon that is the Barclays Complaints Procedure! (Do not complain to Barclays whatever you do). Their focus is totally on the procedure, not on sorting out a problem - lengthy excuse letters from strangers with invitations to respond if not satisfied but absolutely no interest or action in resolving problems. In this instance simply changing me to be the main cardholder (and thus possessor of perks) would have solved the problem (and been what was required at outset). But the complaints monitor felt this was quite impossible to achieve; sorry and all that but at least they'll be investigating what happened very carefully to try and ensure it doesn't happen again. Wow.

And this beast is unleashed on you no matter what; I wrote outlining various other problems with some comment on how the problems could have been avoided and stated specifically that this was not a complaint, merely helpful comment. I still got the full wasteful treatment of the Barclays Complaint Procedure. I assume part of this is a desperate need to fulfil FSA compliance, part an aim to bludgeon you into not complaining again. That worked with me!

If you can afford this sort of service then the cost issues are merely an annoyance and the lack of good service is infuriating; if the fees are stretching your finances and you're mainly wanting to impress people well it's an expensive and frustrating way to do it but you'll at least be able to flash a black card. It just may not be in your name.

Pretty hopeless bunch although telephone banking usually works well.

You get a personal manager but mine was useless - didn't deliver any of the help he promised and they cocked up the account opening and the debit then credit card issue. I got the feeling that his interest was in selling services (on which one imagines he gets commission) not on providing a useful service.

I moved to Barclays Premier a few years ago because NatWest continued to annoy me - after more than 30 years as a customer I was still just a number and they were faceless clerks and Coutts failed to follow up my initial enquiry. I've stuck itwith Barclays for a few years but now I'm off to try HSBC instead.

If you want online banking and a nice black card, go for it. If you want personal service and an easy financial life, avoid them like the plague. To me this is just like a normal bank account with higher charges and the same hopeless service levels.