Can't bank on getting assistance

Sounding off: Ripped off? Stunned by good value? Write, text or blog your experience to us.

A reader from Dublin is having "terrible trouble" dealing with the Bank of Scotland over the issuing of an insurance cheque. She switched her mortgage to the bank last August but, the first time she needed any assistance, she ran into severe difficulty.

She had work done on her chimney recently which was covered by her home insurance policy, and the assessors issued the €5,000 cheque jointly to her and the Bank of Scotland "as is the apparently regular practice when settling claims".

The problem is that she can't lodge this cheque into her own account, as the AIB, where she banks, says it's in two names. She was told she needed to send this cheque to the Bank of Scotland who would lodge it to her mortgage account and issue a new cheque in her own name, which she could lodge and, ultimately, pay the building company who did the repairs.

"Well, talk about going around the houses," she writes. "They are now a major player in the Irish market, yet, would you believe they don't have a customer services department here. The one in Edinburgh does not take calls from customers, nor will they accept e-mails or faxes; nor will they return calls to customers - they'll only reply in writing."

She made her first phone call to the mortgages section of the bank on January 29th but on March 3rd she was still waiting for her query to be dealt with. She was told that the bank was waiting on the assessors report, something she sent along with the original cheque on February 20th "when, in absolute frustration, I decided I should send it in with a long letter and all the paperwork I had from builder/assessor. I know the Bank of Scotland didn't create the original problem with the names on the cheque but I need your help; what do I need to do? I am now left waiting for a phone call from the duty manager which I strongly suspect will never come." She also said that when she did receive correspondence from the bank, it included a pre-paid envelope so she could return some forms. The only problem was the envelope only works in the UK. "My poor builder is waiting on his money and I'm ready to fly over to Edinburgh and give someone a good shake. What are Bank of Scotland doing here if they can't look after a very straightforward customer request?"

We contacted the bank to find out. A spokesman accepted that there had been "a breakdown in communication" between two customer service departments in Scotland, one of which is dedicated to looking after the bank's Irish customers. The spokesman said that there was a freephone number which served as the "customer contact point" for Ireland, and a "full aftercare service" was provided through it.

"We can only apologise for the delay in this case," the spokesman said. He added that the bank had now been in touch directly with the insurance company who were going to issue a cheque in our reader's name this week.

With regard to the pre-paid envelope which was not valid in the Republic, the spokesman said that this had been sent to her due to human error and the bank did have such envelopes which could be used in this State.

Best foot forward

"You have been highlighting customer service recently and I just thought that an instance of good customer service should be reported," writes Alison McDonald. She bought a pair of Ecco hiking boots in an Ecco shop in Dún Laoghaire in January.

"I was in Dublin last week when I noticed a rip on the side of one of the boots. I went into an Ecco shop on Wicklow Street to see would I be entitled to a repair even though I didn't have a receipt and was in a different branch to the one where they were bought. A very helpful girl took one look at them and I was immediately issued with a new pair, the old ones were taken from me and I was back on the street in about two minutes. If that's not good service, I don't know what is," she says.

Short shrift for long stay charges

A reader from Dundalk sent us a mail last week bringing our attention to the "outrageous" long-stay car parking charges at Belfast International airport. He parked there at 4pm on Saturday February 16th and left his car there until the following Tuesday evening at 11pm, a total of three nights.

"For this privilege I was charged £44 [€57] - £7 [€9] less than the return flight to Amsterdam I was travelling on! Despite living in Dundalk I will never use this airport again."