Quote: Rambling Red "a voice from the enemy (i work for a bank)
Rightly or Wrongly, banks will only give out compensation when they acknowledge that they are at fault.
ATM shutdowns like this are necessary and although banks try to keep quiet about them, occasions where the ATM for an entire bank will shut down. This normally happens in the early hours of the morning.
As this is unavoidable, the bank will not see it as their error and a standard response will involved a written letter of apology (normally standardised) and no compensation.
Complaints are expensive for banks and the cost of handling a complaint can get costly as they are investigated, actioned, and checked. For the sake of £12 in most instances the complaint would be cutting its losses in giving the compensation and avoiding a more costly investigation.
That said i would normally always complain to the bank in person, or on the telephone as opposed to written forms. In these forms a person is there with you and will be able to sort it out there and then. The problem with writing letters is that the person who looks at the complaints in this way, just picks a template letter and sends it back in the post. 5 mins work in a service centre somewhere and at not much cost to the bank.
On a related note, i dealt with a customer who had similar complaint to this. Within 5 mins i told him his £20 compensation (the sum he had asked for) would be in his account in the next hour. Whilst actioning this the customer had decided that £1000 would be more appropriate. The complaint then had to be escalated and he ended up getting nothing.'"
Well you musn't work for Nationwide, think it's pretty appauling that you can't get at your own money when you want. Feel very poorly treated to just get a generic letter sent out and will be closing my account and taking it further as the banks charge through the nose if you err slightly from the party line and yet they blatently prevent you getting your money and see fit to do nothing to appease customers. Still not excepting that Saturdat night Sunday morning is the right night to do this as the ATM transactions must be massive with people being out and about on the town.
