Lloyd's Bank have done it again

I have banked with Lloyd's Bank for nearly 4 decades. I have had Business, Private, Personal and International accounts with them. Having moved to Australia I have not been using my international account for a few years.  I received an email from them to inform me that because the account has not been used for over 2 years the account was dormant. To reactivate the account I would need to present myself & wife (since this was a joint account) to any branch of the bank with proper identification. One would have thought that this was simple enough a procedure. I had not realised that I would be spending a significant part of my holiday visiting then the St Helens branch of Lloyd's Bank.

During my first visit to the branch they could not find the account number of my International account.  Having provided them with the details of my account on my second visit I spend over two hours while the girl tried to find out what the procedure was and what forms was necessary.  She sought help from her superior at the branch, then called the local and international help of the branch. Finally the from was filled and proper identification presented.  I was then informed that they require an invoice confirming my current address. Finally after the third visit the forms were finally sent.

I then get an email from the international branch informing me that they cannot process the application because a declaration was required and must be signed by both account holder. Back to the branch for the fourth visit and showed them the email.  They could not print the declaration since they do not have the form and cannot print it from a private email.  The town of St Helens does not have an internet cafe. The local library was closed. I went to a library further away the catch was that I needed to be a member and they were closing for the day.

Finally managed to get the form printed and signed and presented it to the bank on the eleventh of October. Two weeks later the account is still dormant. I emailed the International Branch only to be told that the they are still awaiting the declaration.

The service I received from the bank was extremely poor. I wonder why I still bank with them.

End of the night mare in sight

I had recently written about my nightmare experience with my bank the Lloyds TSB. The nightmare seem to be coming to an end. The money was finally transferred after 6 weeks. The bank has agreed to pay for the loss in interest and also to compensate me for the inconvenience they caused. I have for the time being not transferred my accounts to another bank. I was delighted at the Chancellor's statement yesterday when he promised that it would be easier to change current accounts in the near future.
The question in my mind is Why do Banker get paid bonus for incompetence and not sued? 

Nightmare Journey with Lloyds TSB

Lloyds banking group often advertise " For the Journey" if my recent journey with them is anything to go by I would advice to stay away from it.
 I was visiting my holiday villa in Campoamor, Spain in October 2011. During the course of this visit I visited my Spanish Bank. While I was at the bank I noticed that they were offering a much higher interest on Sterling term deposits than the English bank. I thought that I would invest part of my pension fund with the Spanish bank. I started a sterling account with the Spanish bank. In the UK I bank with Lloyds TSB and have banked with them for the last 30 years. I was advised by them because of the sums involved that if I was to transfer the money via the internet I would have to make two transfers on two separate days. Of course they would charge their fee twice.
I made the first transfer on October 25 2011 and the second transfer the following day via an internet transfer. The banks internet site allows you to select the currency of transfer. In this case either in Sterling or the Euro equivalent of Sterling. I selected Sterling thinking that the money transferred would reach my Sterling account in the Spanish bank in 4 to 5 working days. How wrong could I have been! Six weeks later the money has not been transferred in full and my nightmare of a journey still continues.
I was contacted on the October 28 by my Spanish Bank informing me that a sum of money had reached their Madrid head quarters but the money was in Euros and could not be deposited into the my Sterling account. I contacted Lloyds TSB  on October 31 after the weekend, they advised me that the error was made by an intermediary bank that they had used. They (Lloyds) would request the intermediary to recall the money and pay the amount in Sterling. Nothing happened for several day and it required several phone calls to Spain and Lloyds before the money was finally deposited on the November 10. However there was a shortfall of £ 75.00. Nobody has given an explanation as to why there was this shortfall, I am sure one of the three Banks involved dipped their hands into my money.
Lloyds were unable to tell where the second transfer was. About 10 days later I found the money had been paid in Euros to my Euro account. i.e the money had been paid in the wrong currency into the wrong account. This posed a problem since the Spanish bank could not return the money without my written authorisation. This required several letter, email and phone calls. The money was finally paid into the correct account on on the 24 November. Once again there was a shortfall of £45.00. Where did this money go? Nobody knows.
Finally the money was paid on 2 December almost 6 weeks after it was sent but alas the investment opportunity which prompted the transfer was not longer available.
Although they have apologised they have offer a pittance in compensation. Has anybody experienced a similar problem with the banks?