Abbey National

I have just returned from the Tottenham High Road branch of Abbey National and I am disgusted by the service there.

I phoned up on Thursday morning asking if I needed to make an appointment to set up an account. They said "No, just come in and wait. We are open from 9 to 12, come any time between then."

So I did. Arriving at the branch at 10am, I started to wait. There were about 4-5 people before me, so I knew I was in for a long wait. This didnt bother me. 11am passed. 11.30am came and I was to be seen next. At dead on 12, I sat down at the desk to be seen and the woman said to me with a friendly smile "Sorry, we are closing now, you'll have to come back on Monday." I looked at her in amazement. Sure, they had closed the doors stopping people from coming in, but they should still see the 4 people who were waiting to be seen, many of whom had been waiting 1-2 hours. I cannot come back Monday - I WORK.

The woman said "Ok, well, you'll have to come back on Saturday then." And who is to say that I wont come back next saturday only to wait 2 hours and then be told to go home again?! With no guarantee that I'll be seen even if I am there, what is the use of your service? The woman then said that it takes 40 minutes to open an account and if she saw all the people waiting she would be there until 3. ...Is that my problem? These people have been waiting like me and came in good time before closing time. The obvious thing to do (which other banks and businesses do without thought) is SEE THE CUSTOMERS WHO ARE WAITING BUT NOT LET ANYMORE COME IN.

How would you like to wait 2 hours and then sit down to be seen and be told with a smile that you'll have to come back next week, only they cant guarantee they'll see you?

I dont know why I even wanted to open an account with a bank that is too pre-occupied with spending hundreds of thousand of pounds every few years by changing its corporate identity. I cant trust my money with you!!

Mad, I go home. I'll go with another bank.
I go online, to make a complaint. I know it probably wont ever come to anything, but it will make me feel better. So I go on their website only to find... SURPRISE SURPRISE!! Their complaints website seems to be down as whenever I click the submit button I get the usual "This page cannot be displayed..." page.

...Probably crashed through the overflow of people wanting to complain.