High street banks below average for customer satisfaction
A survey by the consumer charity Which? finds that all major high street banks score below average for customer satisfaction despite dominating the retail banking market.
Which? says Santander and Halifax came bottom of its customer satisfaction ratings of 30 financial brands, with Santander scoring 46 per cent and Halifax 48 per cent.
In response, Santander told Channel 4 News: “Santander takes the quality of service it provides to its customers extremely seriously. We have seen a number of external surveys recently that don’t support Which?’s results, not least the recent complaints data from the financial ombudsman, where Santander was the only major bank that saw complaints fall.
“We do know we have more to do, and we will continue focusing on improving our service.”
Online and telephone bank First Direct (a division of HSBC,) came top with an overall score of 86 per cent with less familiar financial players such as supermarket chains Marks and Spencer and Tesco scoring higher than some more established banks.
Savings account customers are the most unhappy with many frustrated that loyalty does not appear to translate to a better deal. Respondents to the survey complained they have to check up on interest rates and switch accounts to get the best deals.
The biggest names in high street banking, NatWest, Barclays, Lloyds TSB and HSBC all scored below average overall. Which? surveyed several thousands of its members for the scores between December 2011 and June 2012.
Richard Lloyd, Which? executive director said: “Consumers are constantly being let down when it comes to customer service. This is not good enough, we want to see fundamental changes in the culture of banking and a return to banking for customers, not bankers.
“Our survey shows that those banks that go the extra mile to keep their customers happy are rated far higher than banks who may offer slightly better products or interest rates. All banks need to start putting customers first.”
