Banking...

Yes, I said Banking with a ‘B’ for anyone who got excited about the contents of this post…

It may come as a huge surprise to many that banks do not care about their customers at all, including a ‘Wheelchair Boy’. Basically, as I was now 18, I wanted to change my Young Person’s account into an Adult version and also needed to set-up a new account. Simple enough. However, a few members of Barclays (got to name and shame) didn’t make it easy for me. I already was stressed about my A Level exams and forthcoming operation, but these clueless bankers were causing another headache.

The problem was that because I can’t get abroad, I just let my passport expire. Mum went into the St. Albans branch to explain and was assured that all I needed to take in to the Marshalswick branch was a copy of a few letters and they’d sort it. But they didn’t. We went in and were told that the letter was not from the correct tax year. It only missed by a month and we weren’t told to bring a specific date so this was frustrating.

The next day, I returned and was told the contents of the letter was wrong but I argued that surely the address alone matters. I point blank refused to return again and took out my ID card which is incidentally good enough for bars or in betting shops but again this did not suffice. They even got me up on the electoral roll but for some reason did not use that as proof.

Before people start defending Barclays and the strenuous regulations I was told about, HSBC was given the exact same letters, ID and used the electoral roll to deal with my requests within half hour.

I should be getting commission because I now tell people to steer clear of Barclays and join the world’s local bank.

Bye for now!