Andy Munro and a tale of banking frustration.
I do online banking with Halifax, and a few weeks ago I received an e mail saying that unless I notified them by 15th May, the Ultimate Reward Account, which I had held for many years, would arbitrarily revert to a standard current account on 1st June.
I’ll hold my hands up, I missed the deadline but in the fortnight since then I have continually been trying to contact them to say I want to keep my Ultimate Reward Account. Simple, you might say, but you would be wrong. For starters, the dedicated phone line for this account issue is now number unobtainable. Their other phone numbers allow callers to waste ten minutes 
While I get virtual confetti-loads of ‘no reply’ messages to my online account, is there something normal and logical like an e mail address to reply to? Not a chance! So the only option left is a personal visit to join the end of a thirty-plus queue snaking down Kings Heath High St, seamlessly joining all the other banking queues. However, I circumvented this by using the old-fashioned method of handing the security chap on the door an envelope marked ‘Manager,’ explaining my dilemma and asking them to kindly sort it out, please.
What a waste of time that was. I eventually get a call basically saying that they are not allowed to contact their HQ on my behalf and anyway it’s my own fault for missing the deadline. This is despite the fact that all I wanted to do was keep the status quo. To rub it in, the ‘helpful’ lady reminded me that while I could change back after the 1st June, I would need to re-register all the information they already have for my phone, travel insurance and roadside assistance.
Halifax. Not exactly one of the ‘helpful’ banks.