Some large companies like banks seem intent on getting as out of touch with many customers as nationalised concerns do. Just as the railway faces a hail of criticism for wanting to close its ticket offices, so the banks are intensifying their closure of branches.
The railways say they will redeploy the staff to be generally helpful around the station. They can be very helpful in a ticket and information office where they have a chair to sit on, computer access to all the details of timetables, travel options and fares and online knowledge of the state of play on the trains at or coming to their station. A staff member on the move around the platform has less easy access to the information, and may be more difficult to find for a worried traveller.
The banks do not promise to redeploy their staff. They want us all to spend our time wrestling with their on line systems which have to balance difficulty of access to make them secure with feasibility of access so we can move our money around. Security is much less of an issue if you go regularly to your local branch to bank, as they get to know you. Your face is your identity. Faced with the narrow systems of the computer you have to choose answers the computer has been taught rather than being able to describe what you want to do and get help from the bank. For commonplace transactions this usually works, but there are often glitches in the software. My bank’s computer often fails to recognise people I wish to pay from past payments so you have to go through the new payment process each time.7
Government is now requiring banks to ensure we can all have access to cash from nearby machines. This is a minimal response to the retreat of the banks from most personal contact with their customers. Whilst most of us conduct most of our transactions electronically by card and by bank transfer there remain a number of needs for cash. Cash is a reliable resort when machines or the internet goes down. Cash is often quicker and more sensible for smaller transactions. You can always offer cash even if your phone has run out of battery or the internet coverage has gone down or outdoors if the sun is shining so you cannot easily read a phone screen. No-one should be made to use electronic money if they do not want to.
It is a strange modern wish of some large institutions to want to distance themselves from customers, to cut themselves off from the flow of information and social contact which personal service brings. It breeds resentment amongst customers, sometimes causes greater costs and delays and allows some to claim there is a big plot to make us go cashless so the government will be more in charge of our lives.
August 19, 2023
Many people are concerned about safety on the railway. A person safe in a ticket office could report an attack or whatever with ease whereas someone floating aimlessly around the platforms might also be subject to attack.
In this touchy-feely, keep you safe society youâd think safety would override pc? Not a chance!
Trains now pass through frankly dangerous areas. Denied and ignored by those who use private jets and whose policies made those areas dangerous in the first place.
Would it be impossible for new physical banks to be set up? By new companies I mean, since the old do-gooding brands have abandoned us.
August 19, 2023
I think we need Building Societies who borrow only from their customers. Independent of the financial establishment. They could easily occupy unoccupied banks on every high street – they are difficult to let because the building is so specialised and expensive to gut.
Building Societies âownedâ by their depositors and serving the local community could replace the haughty banks and pick up a lot of business.
August 19, 2023
I agree Lynn that is why my family used to be loyal customers of The Britannia, but they stuffed us all when they sold out, we got no payout like the other building societies when they de-mutualised and our interest and savings dropped like stones, so Iâm not sure I could trust that model again.
August 19, 2023
Nationwide aren’t so good these days. Branches closed a couple of a days a week with staff manning phones instead. Meanwhile the CEO rakes in a fortune in salary.
August 19, 2023
+++
Yes.
Iâd very much like that!
August 19, 2023
It’s all a blind. How long will a railway company tolerate having people on the platform with little or nothing to do? They will decide (as they no doubt already have) that it is not economic and take them away, so the public will be left with no assistance of any sort. Service has gone out of companies and public services, more and more we have to do the job for them and pay extra for it.
With regard to the banks, they will not let anyone set up against their cartel. Remember (no name, no pack drill), a Yorkshire businessman who wanted to set up a bank? The authorities would not let him and threw endless obstacles in his path so that their cherished banking cartel could not be challenged.
August 19, 2023
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Absolutely certain you are correct. There wonât be any helpful staff left within a year.
And what with tickets being refused by barriers itâs going to be great fun.
August 19, 2023
My station, which is within London Zone 6, only has a manned ticket office until lunchtime. After that you are on your own. So no staff at all would not now be surprising.
A change from the days when we had a pleasant station master who used to greet you with ‘Good morning Sir/Madam’. We also had waiting rooms and station toilets. Three trains an hour, not two. The joys of a joined -up, national rail service.
Meanwhile SW railway passengers still have months to wait until riding in the first of the new trains Worst Group was due to introduce in 2029.
August 19, 2023
2019 not 2029
August 19, 2023
Good morning.
The main cost to banks and other business is labour and rental space. Much better to offshore or AI the labour aspect of the equation and close down branches to further reduce costs. This obviously saves money for the banks and other business but increases customer dissatisfaction. But customer dissatisfaction is a cost that does not directly impact many business, especially those that operate in a closed environment, such as banks.
Cash can be a pain for some. The administration costs can be quite prohibitive and costly along with the risk of theft. One can see the attraction of contactless payments and internet banking.
Do not get me wrong, I am not against cash, far from it. But I can see the attractions of going cashless for many, both for business and for the consumer. What concerns me is the security of our money. Our phones, cards and internet connections can be hacked. We also have to consider the ‘security of use’. We have seen recently the scandal of banks denying and closing down people accounts. This matter is no small thing. Cash gives power to the individual as it removes organisations and the State from numerous transactions.
With more and more things being done in the name of convenience, and I am no stranger to this as are many, are we inadvertently sleep walking into the realm of ever greater State control and subservience ?
If cash is King, then let us hope it long reigns over us.
August 19, 2023
Having been shown a leaflet from a major bank saying that they are going to limit cash deposits and withdrawals (for our protection of course) but really in an effort to kill cash, I am now going back to cash as I used to do before covid. I intend to do as much of my shopping as possible with cash and any shop not taking it will not get my custom. We have to make a stand against these corporates or we will get digital currency and then control of our spending according to their perceived world view (as with Farage) or that of over mighty government. We are just a hair’s breadth away from socialist control of every aspect of our lives.
August 19, 2023
I totally agree Graham, I have started down that road. I also â awkwardlyâ withdraw more than they try to limit!
I must say, I find it a more accurate way to budget, I have no regrets in turning back the clock!
August 19, 2023
I notice Brazil has now gone CBDC digital. Suddenly, it appears. It’s called Drex and is coming to ‘facilitate’ Brazilians – whatever that means!
I too am using cash as much as possible.
August 20, 2023
Well done. I’ve been doing this for two years now, since the first lock-down when the contactless limit was raised from ÂŁ30 to ÂŁ50. It was obvious that one “benefit” the Globalists intended to gain from the Covid Authoritarianism was a forced move to Central Bank Digital Currencies, the end of cash, and a social credit-style system.
Use cash, or you’ll lose it.
August 19, 2023
There is about ÂŁ95 billion sterling notes and coins in circulation at the moment (US$ 2,300 billion in circulation). The treasury knows it’s out there in the private sector, but it doesn’t know how often it is being used for transactions that are avoiding VAT and Excise Duties.
Removing cash notes, particularly large denomination âŹ500 and, no longer issued but still legal tender, $1,000 + notes; seriously disrupts the amount bandits can stuff in a suitcase for money laundering through dodgy Banks and Charities.
August 20, 2023
Is that really a reason to penalise the whole honest population? I don’t know any ‘bandits’ with suitcases of cash and I seriously doubt you do either. It is not our job to stop them, it is the job of law enforcement. The real money laundering is done by big money, not a few people with suitcases.
August 19, 2023
All firms want to distance themselves from their PAYING customers because they wish to do away with jobs.
AI is the aim and since we have been all but stripped of crafts, skills and basic survival knowledge we are sitting ducks because we can no longer produce the things we need on a local basis.
And how come all local businesses that survived the plandemic cull now also subscribe to A.I. Who twisted their arms post plandemic? Who made them buy expensive apps etc?
Anyway none of it works and some hairdressers etc have gone back to appointment cards and people now just turn up at the dentist who does not answer the phone ( and they donât like that!).
AND my WiFi man, I am most relieved to relate âŠdid not wear a mask. So the stupid e mail must have been out of date!
August 19, 2023
Probably a stupid question but where have all the customers gone?
Vetâs used to be standing room only. Now virtually empty and only one vet on duty.
Ditto dentist who now seems to want to cure oneâs wrinkles rather than oneâs teeth.
Ditto a once bustling beauty/nail place.
Not sure about doctorsâŠdo they still exist? I only ask because I think I made a lot of contributions for something?? Or was that an enforced charity demand?
Is it all down to rising prices and population decline?
August 19, 2023
In my area vets are in short supply. Graduate trainees hired in to bolster a practice are soon lured away elsewhere. The car park is full, and appointments run well behind schedule as urgent cases get shoehorned in. Prices have been rising sharply, and other vets are so busy they turn down those considering switching from a different practice. The explosion in pet ownership during the pandemic is at the root of it. Still, they get to afford nice and frequent foreign holidays.
August 19, 2023
++
It used to be like that hereâŠexcept that there were always plenty of vets to see. Always people in the waiting room and overcrowded at morning surgery. It used to be run by one vet who had bought the practice from his former boss. Now since the plandemic it has been bought out by a multinational. And oh myâŠyou should see the prices!
August 19, 2023
Well a lot of senior police officers made a career out of shutting local police stations, encouraged by the political class and various reports they wrote. So this kind of thing has been fashionable for a while. Fake accounting which does not count many important things drives it.
August 19, 2023
I suspect many smaller town centres, Wokingham being a great example, have an ex-bank location boarded up with no renter. Gradually all the banks close up forcing a very basic service to W.H.Smith – if they have one.
In our case HSBC remain open, but the service counter was closed a while ago. It is a prime location and has space for machines to represent several banks, but it doesn’t have a cash-counting one, and the cheque paying-in has a poor working history. It has one or two staff, who when not busy, are very willing to assist.
Why don’t leading banks liaise and share a hub in these opportunities to meet customers wishes?
It seems customers must get on-line banking using a computer or smart mobile. They follow the stupid Government policy of trying to bring a cashless society ever nearer.
August 19, 2023
It seems remarkable to me that Waitrose not only provide an ATM at the far end of the tills, but also provide a large car-park which allows free parking within 90 minutes, using camera monitoring. Witness a business stepping in to meet requirements that should be provided by banks and local authorities. Marks & Spencer, however, choosing to abandon Wokingham over being neglected in the Peach Place redesign.
August 19, 2023
90 Minutes parking? Not much chance to do shopping and have a bite to eat and a drink. That’s going backwards. My local supermarkets all have a 3 hour limit and one still does cashback, although you do have to ask – it is not offered as it was some years ago.
August 19, 2023
Graham the stores who only offer 90 mins want you just to do your shopping with them, theyâre not interested if you have to pop to the local barbers in town, or pick up a prescription, they want control. Supermarkets are the shops killing off our local town centres, where there used to be one, there are now five and all the other shops are closing, canât compete with them.
August 20, 2023
My point being that they could go back to attendant kiosk checking where no 90 mins free was available. I never suggested they were providing sufficient time for the things you wish to do in one visit. Some people are never satisfied Graham.
August 19, 2023
I’ve never taken part in any direct action but as a small act of…something (defiance?) yesterday, as I needed to get a few small items in town from local shops, I went to the Bank first and withdrew some cash. I then went shopping and paid cash for all my transactions. One of the shop assistants was visibly put out by this, which added to my determination to do it again. đ
With regards to travelling by train, on a recent ‘Day-Out’ our return train from Cornwall was severely delayed and we arrived back at the (new) Reading Station after midnight. I’d already called ahead and delayed out Taxi but we found ourselves in a deserted underground car park ‘Pick-Up’ poin’ feeling distinctly nervous waiting for it’s arrival. I looked hard for evidence of CCTV but couldn’t see any. Nor did I see any staff as we crossed the station concourse from our platform. A few years ago I may not have worried but these days I’m not as agile or fit and my wife walks slowly with canes. I wouldn’t knowingly use Reading Station late at night again, as we felt very vulnerable. So much for pubIic transport, I’ll stick with my car in future!
August 19, 2023
I suspect younger shop assistants today are scared that they might get the calculation of change wrong. They would know that you are unlikely to make a mistake so they risk handing out too much and being blamed for till shortage.
August 20, 2023
With the state of education today, you may be right. When I had my shop I had youngsters who had no idea of mental arithmetic and depended on the till – they would give change for a 20 pound note instead of a tenner if they pressed the wrong button. Totally useless an did not last longer than a day.
August 19, 2023
And the refurbishment of Reading Station cost an absolutely astonishing and unbelievable ÂŁ875 million.
August 19, 2023
the car parking at reading station was far better before the refurb, far better for vulnerable people to park right there, and not have to walk around the city in the chaos of drunken friday crowds etc. the current mess is all part of the anti car agenda I feel, and leave the most vulnerable with the most problems.
August 19, 2023
In a way I do regret the closing of local police stations.
However, our local one had gone totally woke several years before the end.
Was wokery passed down from on high to facilitate closures? Or maybe they were always wokeâŠlike the banks?
When I look back the things that were said and done were truly shocking.
( Told an old lady who had been attacked that she should not have been in such an isolated place. Told others who complained about being âmoonedâ at to âgrow upâ and on and onâŠ.)
Definitely not Dixon of Dock Green..
August 19, 2023
A friend of mine who lives in Bournemouth lost his phone, not valuable but he wondered if someone might have handed it in
He went to the police station which was only a quarter of a mile away, there was an external phone, he was connected to the Winfrith station which is miles away and they were far from helpful!
August 19, 2023
+++
Dreadful.
And typical.
Nothing works any more and no one in authority cares one single hoot.
August 19, 2023
Requiring banks to make cash available you describe as a âminimal responseâ. Sounds like you want more Government intervention, rather than advocate that people change their bank – a market response to poor service.
August 19, 2023
One of the big four banks refused to take a cash deposit for rent from a tenant of mine recently who had a correct paying in book. What on earth are the banks planning at? Just taking the P*** I assume. Also often circa 1% paid on deposits but all personal overdrafts are at circa 39.9% a nice mark up of 3,990 % for them.
August 19, 2023
It was government intervention (project CBDC) that got us into this trouble in the first place
August 20, 2023
So few banking licences so all the banks are very similar little or now real competition nears all charge rip off 40% personal overdraft rates. A similar position in energy not much real or fair competition. Rip off (poll tax) standing charges even for no energy!
August 19, 2023
” It is a strange modern wish of some large institutions to want to distance themselves from customers”….
Especially when that large institution is a political party which requires the votes of its “customers” to remain in Government. But that’s precisely what the Not-a-Conservative-Party has done.
The Banks have only done what the Government has permitted them to do: close branches; move online; restrict the use of cash; force customer compliance with “their values” or risk having your account closed.
The tiny steps the Government now appears to be making to support cash and (possibly) address the de-banking scandal have been forced on them by Farage and GB News – admittedly with the support of SOME high profile Tories. But if it was left to its own devices the Not-a-Conservative-Government would not be doing it.
Hunt, the Chancellor, was de-banked before Farage – and he SAID and DID nothing about it!
Farage repeatedly demonstrates that if some fundamental change is needed to benefit the British people, the Not-a-Conservative-Party will do nothing until it is absolutely forced to act by the conservative Awkward Squad (of which I am proud to be a member).
August 19, 2023
The values of the banks and businesses come directly as a consequence of the new ESG ( Environment, Social and Governance) guidance from the FCA and in turn from the Government. I’m not sure as I write the legislation that this originates from but it certainly will have farcical non-equality laws, Climate Change legislation and a huge amount of diversity legislation and guidance somewhere. All of us are paying the price as a result of this Governments left wing agenda to force wokery on us. All of our health, public services, emergency services, quangos and civil serpents are of poor quality led by left wing wokes. Their focus isn’t the delivery of quality services of whatever that may be, but covering their asses to ensure compliance with the left wing wokery, minority, pc priority, agenda. No one answers the phone or provides any service but complain when people turn up in person or they moan that the service is available to them on line. The on-line and phone options are wait ages or push buttons or follow numerous links to be cut off or not certain that your request has been made, followed by numerous and pointless diversity questions, are you white, black or green etc. A shambles. Hey, but the one eyed dwarf from Londinistan with hearing and dyslexia issues has a promotion and the Diversity/Equality officer has ticked the box showing how they have complied with the latest guidance but haven’t delivered the service to the public required by their organisation.
But who cares, the Government are busy finding more accommodation for illegals and food, pocket money, health and dentistry provision whilst leaving our veterans homeless on our streets! I wonder who I’ll be voting for next time?
August 19, 2023
Last time I was in my bank branch sorting out a query, the lady dealing with me said the bank wanted me to go online instead of my old fashioned way of doing things. I asked her if it was safe and she said ‘yes of course’. I then asked, if it was so safe would the bank indemnify me if I was subject to online fraud and immediately refund any losses. ‘No’ she said, they wouldn’t. I told her I was not going to do it then and walked out, having thanked her for her help and got some cash from the machine on my way.
August 19, 2023
My bank tells me that my transaction can be done online ….on every visit
August 19, 2023
Cash is simplest and best in many situations.
August 19, 2023
I am certain you and every other MP will have written to the Banks when branches in your constituencies are going to be closed âto be seen to be doing somethingâ
Equally you will be told footfall numbers and despite all this claiming to want personal attention, few people do especially the younger generation. I havenât visited a bank branch for at least ten years and none of my extended family certainly from lockdown and probably earlier.
The 24/7 service I get from my I pad is far better, quicker, easier than the so called personal service you espouse and I should know, I was Manager at the Branch that still nominally holds my accounts.
This faux outrage makes me laugh because there is an easy solution. First Direct ( and possibly others) has been offering a 24/7/365 telephone service for at least 20 years and regularly scores very highly in service levels.
We have recently two appalling incidents of alleged malfeasance in the public sector re an innocent man and the NHS and the imprisonment of Post Office owners is still running its course.
I suggest you address the poison of appalling dereliction of Management performance and make people pay, some hope, than this, at best a distraction maybe deliberate.
August 19, 2023
Nigl
Your reaction will be interesting when perhaps you or family or friends are told by the bank, how much they can spend, what they can spend it on and where they can spend it!
August 19, 2023
‘and allows some to claim there is a big plot to make us go cashless so the government will be more in charge of our lives.’
Are you saying, Sir John that government is not trying to be more in charge of our lives? That this is just another conspiracy theory?
Does this not closely tie in closely with digital ID’s, fifteen minute cities, the drive for ev’s, the roll out of smart meters, the clampdown on free speech, the introduction of ‘thought crime’ as a crime.
In my humble opinion, we have a non Conservative party making war on the people and compounding the draconian legislation introduced to fight a virus that they themselves described as ‘low consequence’ just as they are ‘fighting’ CO2 and without any scientific basis, blame us for climate change.
August 19, 2023
It also should give opportunities for new entrants who meet customers’ wishes. Your concern as a Tory party used to be to ensure that competition was possible. Now it’s top down regulate and control.
As for railways, ask a Swiss rail worker and they’ll know every time, train arrival and platform at their station. Nothing changes day to day. Here the organisation is such a mess with changes and cancellations that only a real time system will relay correct information.
August 19, 2023
Not surprised GBNews gets no mention of their campaign to protect cash. They handed in to No.11 a petition they organised.
Would yoor pretend understanders of people’s party and government have done anything had this not happened. So far they have only issued a press release.
And it is your government that wanted the rail ticket offices shut. And it is your party and leadership that encourages techology that breaks business from oeople making iur lives more difficult.
August 19, 2023
Our local ticket office staff at a reasonably busy station, sometimes one person other times two on duty, are always on the ball, pleasant and very helpful & any info immediately to hand. But when the axe falls perhaps they will benefit from those thousands of green jobs we keep hearing about.
GB News’ petition stood at 306.680 ‘signatures’ earlier this a.m. – and counting….. I don’t want to use my card every time I want to simply call in somewhere & buy a packet of polo mints either !
August 19, 2023
It’s becoming more and more problematic with banks. If there’s only an online/phone service, they’ve got you cornered. Can’t use the app? Tough luck. Don’t want to wait half an hour for a foreign phone agent? Too bad.
August 19, 2023
This is not just a problem here. Australia also has a cashless, Post Office, problem. It is a worldwide attack by institutions on our freedoms to use forms of payment and choice. I would say it is a manifesto issue for the next election and I shall be watching carefully for those that include it in their plans. Once someone has control of your finances, they have control of you. ATMs are also often out of use so this needs to be on the radar and banks that do not provide alternative payment systems if they are no longer functioning in city centres need fining.
August 19, 2023
Not world wide, just confined to the collective west.
August 19, 2023
In general the government should avoid interfering in the running of private companies in competitive marketplaces like the banks. If there really is a demand for in-person banking and cash transactions then some of the challenger banks or building societies will fill the gap.
August 19, 2023
My bank is Santander and their team has decided to score ESG (Ever So Good) points by refusing to send paper monthly statements. I depend on these to add up my income and expenses for the tax return. It is impossible to do this online as the screen is time limited and I can’t mark the items. So instead of 2 sheets of paper, I will now have to use a printer which needs 4 sheets per month, plus all the ink and time logging on.
We went to a restaurant in France yesterday. The customers in frmt took 15 minutes to pay by card. I paid by cash in30 seconds and the owner was pleased.
August 19, 2023
One of my bank accounts is with Santander. I’ve been logging in using my ID and a password quite happily for at least 10 years. Recently I was “invited” to switch to voice identity login …. supposedly to save me the bother of having to remember my login number and password. Nothing whatsoever to do with them wanting to increase their AI system and surveillance possibilities … oh dearie me no.
I declined their kind offer. I’m wondering how long it will be before they try to make voice identity login compulsory.
August 19, 2023
Does our esteemed host oppose CBDC?
August 19, 2023
A cashless society is a stated aim of this government âŠjust another step to the left
August 19, 2023
I certainly do as we already have electronic money and I would rather control MY OWN MONEY. I think that JR has intimated that he does not overtly support it.
Zorro
August 19, 2023
Make no mistake, our government is the lead for a cashless society, donât blame the banks, donât blame financial institutions, don’t blame retailers
This Tory government have been pushing the BoE to develop & implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC) i.e the digital pound, read about it on the governments website
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/the-digital-pound-a-new-form-of-money-for-households-and-businesses
Nobody asked for CBDC, it wasnât in their last manifesto ? Surprisingly a lots of what this government is doing wasn’t in their manifesto !
August 19, 2023
Rishy does like his CBDCs!
Zorro
August 19, 2023
If cash was ever abolished it would herald a new dawn in free enterprise as new local cash currencies would spring up all over the place â probably minted using precious metals – so that local businesses and people could trade with each other.
This would then require cash banks and so on.
An alternative economy would spring up and would soon make the âestablishmentâ banks and large corporations redundant, unless they started to accept the new cash.
Getting rid of cash of would be another nail in the coffin of the socialists/Marxists.
August 19, 2023
Local currencies were quashed when they âsprang upâ in the early â90s. The Government demanded that the âchitsâ were counted as income and deducted assumed amounts from benefits etc.
You canât mint coinage in the U.K. that is correctly a government preserve.
August 19, 2023
Together Declaration have already started up a parallel society… It’s growing slowly, but it’ll get there.
August 19, 2023
Many people will be appalled at the case of the NHS nurse Lucy Letby, who has been convicted by a jury of the murder of seven babies after a long trial.
Once again, the management of an NHS hospital were more concerned about reputational damage and preserving their own positions, than wishing to prevent further baby deaths.
NHS hospitals have a long history of mistakes and cock-ups causing disastrous sequelae to unfortunate patients. Errors such as patients receiving the wrong blood, overdoses of insulin and botched hysterectomies, surgeons operating on the wrong body parts, leaving surgical tools such as gloves and drill bits inside patients are all too common. Despite many reports and recommendations, the management of NHS Trusts have a long history of cover-ups
Ten years on from the Mid Staffordshire NHS trust scandal and despite the enquiry recomendations made by Sir Robert Francis QC regarding whisteblowers, the NHS is still killing and maiming patients. The government should show resolve in finally dealing with this issue by ensuring that senior heads should roll.
August 19, 2023
You can see what happens here.
NHS managers over-ruling consultants who are closer to the problem, more skilled scientifically, medically and in every other way except in political BS. But the BS over-rides all that expertise. NHS managers can retire, move on and up or out, lay on the beach with golden pensions etc. but the medics are left with all the emotional upheaval of these dreadful events.
This dreadful organisation needs closing down or selling off.
August 19, 2023
I totally agree and that’s a first SG. The Police should have been notified very much earlier and little lives would have been saved. Selection processes for the leading roles in the NHS would have been in place since Blair’s junta took charge (1997) and the characters hitting the top will be useless woksters who know nothing, whilst the candidates with merit, left on the shelf. Everyone but the Uni Party knows it. The Tory’s have done nothing but add further “Inequality and Diversity legislation” to ensure the woksters succeeed. We’re all paying the price including these little children. Grooming gangs anyone?.
August 19, 2023
Importing doctors and promoted nurses well beyond their levels of competence. The CEO was a male nurse which I suppose makes a change from an Arts graduate, one of whom, by spending 3 years learning nothing of importance is put in charge of the whole shebang.
August 20, 2023
She’s been found guilty but I have seen evidence construed by the many rather than the one and the trust placed in a profession above all others is dangerous.Any profession is not right because of certain letters after their name.
August 19, 2023
Nationwide is alive to this. That is why we bank there. When I was heavily in debt way back in the 1990s, I went to my bank and asked for help, they told me to pay up! I had been there for about 20 years at the time, a model customer.
So I went round the corner to Nationwide and was met with a smile, a decent plan that worked and a new bank account. We have been there ever since.
Last week we had a computer glitch and we went round to Nationwide and were greeted with another smile and a man who sorted it out as if it were nothing.
Praise where it is due.
August 19, 2023
I second that. Iâve been with Nationwide for decades. They are excellent.
August 19, 2023
There are numerous reasons why people and businesses still need to use cash. Without cash, the cost would be huge for the banks to cater effectively for all these circumstances. So keeping the existing cash network going is much cheaper than getting everyone to go electronic.
August 19, 2023
Sorry for the length of this JR.
Afraid “Customer Service and common Courtesy” is dying in all walks of life and business, the small screen is king, even if you cannot read it properly in sunlight, if the connection is lousy or non existent, or if the website or App is not simple and user friendly.
Many have no listed telephone number If you have a problem which you cannot seem to resolve on line.
also some have no proper address should you wish to make a written complaint.
The web is king even if if your e mails get lost in cyber space so never get answered.
Years ago I started to only use Companies who offered genuine customer service, by withdrawing my custom from those who did not. the problem I now have is that so many are failing, in even basic common courtesy I am running out of options.
Booked a place on Le shuttle 8 months ago on line, printed off tickets/Boarding Pass (yes I still print them off) which clearly states “Your Booking is now Complete” get an e mail yesterday, you need to complete API (Advanced Passenger Information) even though it was completed and I have a printed copy.
Try to sort out on line using the APP but CAPCHA will not work, try the phone help line, not in use out of working hours (although the trains run 24 hours a day) Tried to return the notification by the email they sent me, but it is a no reply address.
What a bloody Fiasco, guess I will wait until Monday morning to try and ring them again.
Similar situation with my Power supplier, rang Customer service 3 times holding on for 30mins twice, and 40mins once, all without an answer, eventually got through on the emergency line, explained my situation, was promised a call beck, after 24 hours chased up again only to hear they have 28 days to get back to you, now 40 days still no answer, this Company has an Institute of Customer Service logo proudly displayed on its website !
It also has a guide as to how to best use its website, It’s 88 pages long for gods sake !!!!!
August 19, 2023
Have you noticed how easy it is to pay money to these large organisations but how difficult it is to establish contact thereafter. Once they have your Direct Debit they retreat to the dark side of the moon.
Can I suggest that you and five wise colleagues sit as an informal committee and draft a Bill. Statuary Rights of Access be they corporations or government bodies. It should insist on Free Telephone Numbers that are manned by real live people, resident in the UK, competent at speaking clear understandable English, and there should be enough of them to answer after 3 rings. A ban on press this or that while being forced to listen to manufactured repetitive ersatz music. They should all have clearly published Email addresses and be mandated to answer the questions asked within 3 days or to telephone the customer if the original question cannot be understood. I would consider ending the freedom of offending organisations to send out conversation closing Emails that cannot be replied to, except in absolutely none contentious circumstances such as advertising.
I would ask this committee to look at competition. An independent Rail Ticket Office for instance. Located at the station, mandated to receive accurate information from the rail companies, and financed from commission on tickets sold. There are possibilities across other fields beside rail. A contact and clearing house, Trust bounded, for all medical problems. Designed to eliminate the difficulty in getting GP appointments. Add to it a clearing house to speed up ongoing treatment.
Everything I have suggested should be facilitated to oil and speed the communication between any service and its customers. The problems arise from the shear arrogance of organisations that believe they are so big and monopolistic that they can assuage customer satisfaction. In fact to them they have irritants not customers .
August 19, 2023
There is one more thing I would add to the above. We must legislate on payment delays to such that no business or government department can delay payment beyond 30 days.
August 19, 2023
Agricola
A simple solution which may help a bit is to mandate all websites to display clearly, on the Opening/Home page, their operating/trading address, their Registered office address, their Company Registration number, their VAT Registered number, a telephone number, and e mail address.
It used to be the case in the past that Company headed paper used to need such information
August 19, 2023
The trouble with online systems is that the only person that thinks they know it works is the designer. Then the results are predicated on the user being of the same mind set as the creator. Then someone always comes on the scene and uses the system in away not thought of, that then forces a re-jig of the system and all those that thought they knew their way around it have to re-learn.
What is missed is not everyone is on each individual online system, all the time every hour, its more random it can be longer than a year between each interaction. If you do your tax online, keep notes, snapshots and the reports to smooth the path next time. The problem is next year it will be totally different with a different approach, and HMRC is one of the better ones.
August 19, 2023
A lot of the online banking security issues are as a result of the Government being to preoccupied with their own access to all individuals, and not the security of the whole Nation. Meaning they(the Government) have created to many open back doors that then require others to create additional hoops to stop malicious intent. The problems created is for the most part with Government
August 19, 2023
Sir John you always seem to promote the political view – nationalised undertakings bad, private undertakings good. Are the banks nationalised? is the railway complelety privatised ? Likewise the Electricity Supply industry, is that completely privatised ?
What happens is the bits were private capital can’t make a profit the tax payer picks up the running costs but with no return/ profit.
Who owns the ticket offices and paying for their upkeep ? Do we get enough money from the train operating companies to support the Office. Who owns the stations and track ? Do we get enough money from the operating companies to make a profit for the tax payer ?
Maybe some things are to important to be in private hands for profit.
You can run a nationlised undertaking on capitalist principles where capital comes from the tax payer or from shares that can’t be traded only sold back to the state. These would still go up in down in value and attract interest.
Clearly nothing is being done these days by public or private organistions with the taxpayer/ customers interests at heart.
Reply The stations and Network Rail are nationalised, the banks private sector . both are heavily regulated. I criticise as necessary.
August 19, 2023
Has I point out the parts of the Railway undertaking that don’t make a profit and don’t attract private capital the tax payer funds.
So closing the ticket offices is down to the Government as they are nationalised.
August 19, 2023
Home Office data 18th August
Illegal Economic Criminal Immigrants â 144
Illegal Boats â 3
August 19, 2023
The other interloper in all this is the so-called online apps, think parking fees, theatre/cinema booking, etc. They are virtual free to those that facilitate them but at big cost in security and safety to the uses personal data. Therefore at big cost to the Nations security. When you pay for parking at a local council site, you are giving them money, so all good, warm & cuddly â you would think. In reality you are giving outsiders your cash who give the Councils a kickback, the condition was they the app provider collects and collates personal data usually outside UK legal jurisdiction so that the can sell it on as they see fit.
In isolation some canât see the harm this creates, it exposes and creates vulnerabilities to all and everyone in the Country.
August 19, 2023
I don’t use any app that relates to a shop preferring to use the shop’s loyalty card, and I don’t use my phone for financial transactions. This might cost me more but at least I’m (hopefully) a bit less vulnerable!
August 19, 2023
Cash is a guarantor of our freedoms, as such and we would be foolish idiots to allow it to be done away with just because it is convenient to flash a bit of plastic. It is not as if we have haven’t been warned about the consequences of losing cash as was shown to us by that nasty piece of work Trudeau , or PayPal , or by the de-banking scandal. Cash is a clean transaction beyond the influence of the Marxist ESG
As with most things we find the malign hand of government is behind it. Sunak is a big advocate of a digital currency, Shapps was arm twisting to have ULEZ expanded, and I am pretty sure I read that it was Government who were pushing rail companies to do away with ticket offices.
August 19, 2023
ââŠ..and allows some to claim there is a big plot to make us go cashless so the government will be more in charge of our lives.â
Correct, this is the true purpose. You cannot reason with or persuade a computer when it says âNoâ.
We are re-entering the dark ages where the twin false gods of climate alarmism and DEI are employed to control us through impoverishment and banishment. Climate alarmism is designed to take us back to pre-industrial levels of poverty and DEI is designed to replace meritocracy with diversity.
August 19, 2023
The biggest problem with UK Banks is Government direct intervention. The Government of the day started the ball rolling by bailing out their good friend “Fred the Shred”
Look at todayâs Banking mess, RBS, NatWest, Coutts, they are still the root of todayâs problems â and it is all down to the same man and the same core problem.
For the most part all the above it is now owned by the Taxpayer as the largest shareholder, and their(the taxpayers) interest is controlled and managed by the State at those institutions â this Conservative Government.
If normal commercial interest had been applied they would have gone bust, a lot of us would have got seriously hurt. But that is nothing compared to the long term damage and costs we are all still paying.
August 19, 2023
Ian B
Yes. Bailing out the banks was unbelievably stupid. But wait, silly me, Gordon Brown saved the world.
August 19, 2023
We have now beyond the point where the bankâs drive for profitability is causing real damage to the customers.
Beyond cash machines, closure of branches is a huge problem even for the urban population because the use of cars is prohibitively expensive, (driving through a ULEZ to get to cash machine) and time consuming.
The main issue is that ALL the banks seem to have agreed this policy which eliminated the free market competition, people canât simply switch banks – there are none in many villages and towns.
Seems like a back room bank managements agreed monopoly.
Government needs to enact antitrust laws regarding branch closures.
August 19, 2023
Elli
Yes in the old days they called such a mutual trading agreement between businesses a Cartel, which was illegal.
In some way or form it has usually gone on, but is now rather more obvious and blatant, and the old word has been forgotten.
August 19, 2023
Don’t be silly. Lessons will be learnt (except they won’t).
August 19, 2023
I understand the costs involved for these Business, and the potential to develop an online presence must be huge, with the savings involved!
But, if you don’t want to adapt with the times, then the other way to go, is to reduce the Cost (Rents, Rates, Taxes, Labour), and to deregulate the High Street environment, or/and Banking environment!
Remember the Benefits of Brexit?
Having said all that; I am not in-favour of CBDC, a cashless consumer market (Along with the EU Customs Union regulations, Business are already Cashless)! Currently, It’s exposed to abuse from Politicians and Establishment figures from HoL!
None of these systems can be allowed to be centralised, and controlled by a Government, because it would give them Power and Control over everything in the country!
The whole point of the Internet, and Crypto technology on it, is that it is distributive, down to the individual, meaning it’s Democratic! Not Centralised, Power not in the hands of a government, and where Governments have taken control (already), their People are not free! Lose it at your peril
BR
RDM
August 19, 2023
Sir John,
Please keep pestering the Government on this matter of Cartel-like decisions of large organizations to distance themselves from their customers..
August 19, 2023
Sir John, I agree with your points, cash is essential for so many people. That said, I suspect the push to go cashless has been driven, in part, by the Inland Revenue and the Treasuryâs endeavour to control or suppress the black economy?
August 19, 2023
Both the UN IMF and the UN WEF have CBDC policies, promoting and prompting countries to adopt CBDC procedures & policies âŠits all part of a brave new world âŠdonât mention or even think conspiracies of a world currency
August 19, 2023
A couple of personal observations. Some years ago a bank made a huge mess of what should have been a straightforward transaction. The call centre could not grasp the problem, so I wrote a letter which was not understood either and they added a new error. The only solution was to take all the paperwork into a branch and talk to someone face to face.
On cashless payments – I am involved with a fundraising event each year in a coastal area, and we rely on people being able to pay cash. We have a handheld card reader machine, but some days it just can’t get a signal. Without physical cash, these sort of charitable events in rural and coastal areas would not be possible. Decision makers in London please need to remember that not all of the country has the infrastructure to become cashless.
I’m using cash as much as possible these days because I don’t want us to lose the option to use cash.
August 19, 2023
Sir John,
Although I always carry cash when I go out, in the last few years I have found it necessary to carry my bank debit card as well. Often when I go to the supermarket there may be a long queue for the checkout that accepts cash, while card only machines are always available. Also there seems to a ratio of three to one (card to cash) machines.The automatic cash checkouts are often out of service, or card only, just to add to the inconvenience.
August 19, 2023
As I see it, cash is linked to sovereignty, and sovereignty, in turn, to values and the freedom that flows from them.
Surely, this is what Brexit was all about, too. However, the convenience of digital is obvious (if systems are all functional – which they may not be if there’s a cyber-attack), but they are impersonal, and reduce the world’s populations to numbers – a panacea for globalist control. This is no conspiracy theory, Sir John – its proponents are now in the open about it, and there’s a strong impression that democracy as we knew it is under their heel: not the world I grew up in, or the country I knew and loved, despite all its faults. Bottom line is a matter of faith in Christ, but I am so grateful for the good things of the past, and those who laboured and died in their cause.
August 19, 2023
Most organisations stroking their own personal self esteem develop their own internal language and jargon that doesnât naturally get translated with their full nuances in plain English. Or even the variances on meaning from one end of the Country to another
So an attendant at railway booking office is able to communicate better than a machine â because they get what the Customer wants and needs – its called service. The same at Banks etc. No Customer Service equals lack of Customer satisfaction â who do the bosses at these Empires think they are serving themselves or their Customers?
In the twisted little brain out there now, there is a school of thought that says its profits, its the shareholders. That has never been correct â it is always been the Customer. No Customers equal no profits, no shareholders.
August 19, 2023
Is there any profit in seeing customers? But there is profit in transactions. There is even bigger profit in lending. Most customers visit a branch only when they have a problem that will require the staff to spend time on at some cost, or when they want borrow. You can be sure banks are well aware of the cost of dealing with customers visiting a branch.
August 20, 2023
@Peter Gardner
The real situation is that Banks have no profit, shareholders have no dividend without âcustomersâ. I get the efficiency that seemingly comes with automated processâs and for a lot of mundane situations they might seem good. But what they loose is a chance to interact(meaning sell) with a Customer.
I donât know about Banks but elsewhere, new sales cost close on 85% in sales costs were as repeats are just 5%. Then you get the realisation that every new sale has a potential to be a repeat. A bean counter will say just worry about the repeats, forgetting that natural fall off needs replenishing. There is no such thing as keeping the status quo â thatâs just decline
August 20, 2023
@Peter Gardner
I understand your viewpoint. âThere is even bigger profit in lendingâ do you take a loan from those you cant interact with, or do you having been forced to trawl the internet take what appears to be a good deal. All sources use the same Credit approval services.
August 19, 2023
Interesting to read the Google reviews on Wokingham Post Office since it was moved to W H Smiths and the original was closed, although original premises still owned by the Post Office, so no savings on office space.
We were told it would be an improvement from the old office which usually was manned by 4 people for years.
Unfortunately not, and the Post offices are supposed to be the fail safe options for the Bank Closures.
Welcome to the years of Progress and customer service.
August 19, 2023
I find it hard to get worked up about unstaffed ticket offices, the train stations near me havenât had personnel for years and have managed.
I was in London recently and I was amazed with the number of station staff just standing around talking to each other, sometimes in quite large groups, giving off donât bother us vibes. I think passengers in London have just stopped noticing how bad they are. Iâve never seen them help anyone with suitcases. Or even show people where lifts are. They also donât stop people doing what theyâre not supposed to ie. Getting on at stations without beeping on, the dlr runs perfectly well without onboard drivers and when they put âconductorsâ on they donât check anyoneâs tickets they just play with the doors avoiding making eye contact especially with people who look furtive. We got off one night and thirty people got off only ten tapped out.
Iâd rather London concentrate on better signage especially at Euston and Bank and better signs saying people can use their debit/credit cards to pay on tfl without requiring a ticket. Or make it easier to buy an Oyster card for a week, it was very easy in Berlin without a ticket office.
August 19, 2023
âCash is a reliable resort when machines or the internet goes down.â
Absolutely correct.
If the ludicrous Net Zero continues with power based upon insecure, expensive, unreliable, weather dependent renewables then power outages, planned and unplanned, are inevitable.
With the planned electrification, and interconnection of everything via the internet, evs, heat pumps and all electrical appliances will be failing to work during outages.
A black start of the grid takes hours if not days.
August 19, 2023
Sorry, off todayâs topic, but on yesterdayâs.
The battery in my Toyota hybrid is guaranteed for 15 years if I have the car serviced by Toyota.
August 20, 2023
This monopoly servicing is going to be a problem Mike. When your vehicle has a warranty and it has a big problem during the warranty period they say they canât fit you in for a couple of months, what are you supposed to do if that vehicle is specially adapted to your needs (tough), if you get it fixed quickly at a small family run garage at your own expensive there goes your warranty cover in the future.
The big monopoly vehicle providers in the UK now, that are snuffing out their small, nimble competition on servicing canât then fit in your vehicle and offer a poor service I have over 100 examples of this. There should be government protection from this restrictive practice in the UK. If these big dealerships canât offer a good enough service without threats they shouldnât get your business.
August 19, 2023
I believe in a free market capitalist economy.Businesses, including banks cannot be expected to trade at a continuing loss. It costs a great deal of money to keep even a small branch of a bank open. I am sure banks are very well aware that closing branches is very unpopular with customers. However they must remain solvent and not carry substantial loss makers in changing times. In the market especially nowadays there are always changes to adapt to.
I would also point out there is much competition in banking and if competitors saw any advantage in reopening a closed branch from a rival they would but they generally don’t. Furthermore the state still runs a post office network which is generally within the banking industry.
So my view is even though local M.P.s are entitled to lobby, government should keep out of the issue of bank closures and for the greater good permit Capitalism to run its natural course.
August 20, 2023
Iâd have thought Geoffrey there is a way to make retail banking worthwhile, shared premises, manned desks offering advice on everything from savings and longer term investments, pensions, home purchasing, re-mortgaging, credit cards, the better the advisor the more clients that person would gain for their employer. However, it suits the big banks better for people without financial experience and poor quality financial education in our school system to struggle on alone getting into a mess, just leaving their money on deposit earning low to no interest.
Where is this leading though? Are we to have just one big UK central bank. Why do you need competitor banks when they all just do the same? People I know banked with their nearest branch to either their home or work whatever was the most convenient. Is this just step 1 in digital currency, reduce the retail banking and charge people for advice. The clearing systems are virtually gone, most payments are now done electronically.
August 19, 2023
I am more concerned about the incompetence banks show in a) guarding customers’ data b) understanding that their regulator forbids them from assuming & insisting that all the customers of their online banks must own smartphones and install their apps, and c) knowing their customers well enough not to allow obvious fraud.
Example: I never use my debit card at restaurants. Ever. And I rarely use it for more than ÂŁ50 per monthly period. Yet the bank allowed a fraudster who had evidently cloned my debit card details to use them to pay for a meal costing ÂŁ2,000 at a restaurant in a different country 2,500 miles away from where it *knew* I had physically withdrawn a small sum of cash one hour earlier, from my usual local ATM within yards of my home.
The bank knew it had erred, yet left me to discover and complain of the mistake – presumably in the hope I would not notice. And there was neither an apology nor any explanation, which led me to believe the cloning had been perpetrated within the bank.
August 20, 2023
How fast did you get your money back?
Did you change your bank?
August 19, 2023
2 large organisations have a vested interest in a reduction in cash transactions – the banks and law enforcement.
If ÂŁ200 is withdrawn from an ATM it may be some time before a retailer pays it back into the bank for a small charge but with card transactions the bank gets a cut of every deal, rather like the 19th century banker who said he was quite happy shovelling other people’s gold so long as he kept what stuck to the shovel.
Your local friendly drug dealer would probably blanch at the thought of traceable card payments and would have to seek other methods such as foreign currency with its own problems so a reduction in cash is almost inevitable.
August 19, 2023
Itâs all a bit pointless but, before I deal with a company, I try to establish whether they actually answer their phone.
I am happy with PlusNet. And Nationwide. Canât think of any others.
August 20, 2023
Many years ago I was having a lot of trouble with my bank and eventually I wrote instead of spending another 40 minutes in the telephone queue. They didn’t answer my letter so I called in. I was told, ‘We don’t answer letters. That’s why we have a call centre. It’s cheaper.
The fact is that seeing customers in person or via a personal telephone service today is a very expensive side of retail banking. Automation and therefore digitisation increase profits in a business that operates on thin margins and high volume.
August 20, 2023
It’s a business expense and should be part of their plans. I dare say supermarkets have a large cost in providing shopping trolleys, but don’t insist on you bringing your own. The banks make billions in very short order and don’t forget most of them only exist now because the public bailed them out. To expect a bit of service is not unreasonable.
August 20, 2023
Yet you can go into any Nationwide branch and be dealt with in person.
August 19, 2023
Dear Sir John ,
Please correct me if I am wrong but the the war against cash appears to result in a big annual transfer from the Crown (ie taxpayers) to banks. We earn seignorage on any extra cash cash put into circulation, the excess of value over cost. If we pay by card, however, banks and card providers take a cut, often hefty for small firms. Does the Treasury care or is it more concerned to curb tax evasion by use of cash, regardless of the downside for ordinary folk?
You suggest that some irrationally imagine a plot. But no conspiracy is required. We have ample experience over the past 20 years of how measures introduced for one purpose are abused for more sinister control purposes.
The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act has been abused to spy on citizens.
The Prevention of Terrorism Act has been abused to arrest hecklers and press photographers.
Emergency Covid measures have somehow become permanent – anything from withdrawal of GP appointments to prior notice and personal information before using waste sites.
Smart meters were proposed back in the 1980s to save consumers money through variable tariffs. Decades later they were pushed to save suppliers reading meters. Now they are seen officially as instruments for rationing power.
More recently, regulations to stop money laundering are being abused to stop small firms using cash and ESG measures are being used to debank people whose views are disliked or whose businesses are sniffed at by “civil society”, that being the “society” whose legitimacy Mrs Thatcher cackhandedly denied.
So no plot is needed. We simply know that controls and data required for one purpose will soon be used by those who wish to control: first to target evildoers, then the merely naughty and finally everyone.
August 19, 2023
Yes – I agree Banks , ticket offices and then the NHS where managers can just shut down any unwelcone complaint they like with no regard for doctors advice or for the vulnersble patients themselves especially little children – and all of this because our legislaters havn’t got the corrrct laws in place to protect the whistle-blowers.
August 19, 2023
I would think Sir John knows the inside operations of banks better than I do but I would think there are two very simple reasons bank’s may want to go digital. One is that a commission can be charged on every digital transaction. The other is that cash is relatively expensive to handle. It has to counted. ATMs have to be filled and emptI’d. Cash has to be moved around physically which is expensive. Cash requires physical security on the move and in storage. Cash has to be physically checked and replaced after wear or damage. Cash has to be checked for forgery.
In short, cash is expensive and generally a pain in the backside and banks earn nothing from handling it.
Customers? Yes, well a customer is a customer and most profitable when compliant and operating digitally and remotely.
So it is entirely rational from a profitability perspective that banks want to go digital.
They once tried charging for use of atms. But there was an outcry so they stopped.
As far as I know retail banking works on very thin margins and every penny makes a difference. They lend excessively if not wantonly and the result is defaults.
If they are to be categorised as a necessary social service perhaps there is a case for their regulation in and funding in a similar way to other utilities. For example power companies are mandated to repair supply failures within a target time and must compensate customers for failure. They cannot refuse a connection or supply except under specific circumstances defined in legislation.
August 20, 2023
The banks’ job is money. If they don’t want to handle it they should stop being a bank.
August 20, 2023
Cash is our bulwark against being hacked by foreign govts or terrorists.
August 20, 2023
…and by our own government