Trapped customers: loveMONEY’s consumer champion takes on TSB and wins

The beleaguered bank continually ignored customer Mike Hart’s request to leave, until he got help from consumer champion Christine Toner

Mike Hart wrote to us with an all-too-familiar problem.

Back in early May he has visited his local TSB branch and began the process to switch his account.

TSB, as you might recall, was in complete chaos at the time, with customers left without money or even having their funds transferred to strangers. No wonder Mr Hart wanted to leave.

However, days passed after Mr Hart’s visit and he heard nothing from the bank. Over a week later he called TSB to find out what was happening.

After being on hold for over half an hour he gave up. The following week he tried again but the same thing happened.

Frustrated he filed a complaint via TSB’s website. He received no acknowledgement of this, so he tried again. This time he received an automatic reply.

Since the middle of May, Mr Hart says he’s received two apology letters from TSB about the delay in switching his account, but the switch has yet to take place.

Want to leave your bank? Using the Current Account Switch Service, you should be able to switch within 14 working days of getting a new bank account. Any charges due to delays should be covered under the CASS' guarantee. Find a better current account here.

Though issues with TSB are well documented, being part of a large group of disgruntled customers was of no comfort to Mr Hart who simply wanted to move his account.

And so loveMONEY stepped in.

We contacted TSB directly and outlined the problems Mr Hart was having and were pleased to find the press team were more than willing to help.

The team asked for Mr Hart’s details and contacted him directly to try and resolve the matter.

Two weeks later and Mr Hart has received a written and verbal apology for any distress caused, £85 by way of compensation and, most importantly, his account switch has finally taken place.

“If it were not for your intervention, I wouldn't have had any reasonable contact from TSB and I'm certain I'd not have received the same level of service as quickly,” he told us.

“Because of your help, I didn't need to waste time and energy going through the Financial Ombudsman to get the compensation which TSB has now offered me.”

A TSB spokesperson said: “We’re really sorry for the experience Mr Hart has had and the distress and inconvenience this has caused him. We have spoken to him to put things right”.

If you need help with a bank, suspect bill or other finance problem, contact us today on uknews@lovemoney.com and our consumer champion Christine Toner will do her best to put things right.