Nationwide BS - management quality?

On 19 April 2006 there was an article in The Times about the floatation of Standard Life. The author, Robert Cole, expressed the opinion that mutual ownership had outlived its usefulness for larger institutions. He stated ".... the bigger the business the greater the risk that mutuality encourages slack management."

Recent experience of an attempt to open a current account with the Nationwide Building Society leads me to fear that he may be right. I gave account opening details by phone two months ago, but still have not received an agreement form. This is notwithstanding three reminders, followed by a letter addressed to the Chief Executive. That letter was passed to a manager, but the response was perfunctory, and seemed to be the product of someone who was struggling. Strangely, the author did not have the wit to send the missing agreement form.

The signs are not encouraging.

Reply to
Alan Law
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I am afraid that Nationwide are worse than useless. Having been with them from the Co-Op days I only stayed because my mortgage was with them and the hope that they would demutualise. Every time that I think that they can't actually get any worse they go and prove me wrong and do precisely that. They have very few branches compared to other banks and bs's and those that they do have have few tellers and always have very long queues. I went to the Victoria branch before Christmas to do an overseas transfer and there was nobody on reception so queued for 20 minutes to get to a teller only to be told that only the receptionsit would do the transfer. The wait to see the receptionist was another 45 minutes. I went ballistic and gave them the option to do the transfer, close the account or give me a cheque for £4000. In the end I had to take the cheque, walk across the road to Nat West, pay the cheque in there, wait for clearnce then get them to do the transfer. A complaint to the Chairman did at least generate two bottles of wine as an appology.

Kevin

Reply to
Kev

Alan Law wrote

Try a Nationwide Branch, the staff at mine are very friendly and some faces have been there for as long as I've had an account, at least 15 years.

Reply to
Gordon

"Kev" wrote

Wouldn't it have been quicker just to wait the 45 minutes for the NW receptionist?

Reply to
Tim

Kev wrote

ISTR you telling us about that before....

Reply to
Gordon

quicker in elapsed time but not personal time.

Reply to
Tumbleweed

Alan Law writed in news:4448b78d$0$9234$ed2619ec@ptn- nntp-reader01.plus.net:

My only recent experience with them was as an executor of an estate where the process of closing two accounts and getting the money into the executor account. Nationwide was by far the most efficient and quickest of all the other organisations that I had to deal with.

Reply to
Mike the Unshavable

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