Quick, helpful and personal
Which of the banks responded within 15 minutes, answered my query satisfactorily and added a personal touch?
HSBC – 3 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi Christopher. It can depend on the amount and type of transfer. If sent by Faster Payments it would usually be 2-4 hours. ^BE
— HSBC UK Help (@HSBC_UK_Help) September 26, 2014
TSB – 4 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi I’m MM. If you request a Faster Payment it will normally credit the beneficiary account within 2 hours.
— TSB (@TSB) September 26, 2014
Nationwide – 5 minutes
Really quick response, although if I’m being really picky it’s not as personable as the other examples here.
@Popdinuk Faster payment is sent almost immediately, but up to 2 hours Amie
— Nationwide UK (@AskNationwide) September 26, 2014
M&S Bank – 5 minutes
M&S answered me promptly and asked me what type of account I was referring to, as I had forgotten the information in the original tweet.
@Popdinuk Hello Christopher, are you transferring from a Natwest bank account to an M&S Credit Card account? ^MB
— M&S Bank Help (@mandsbankhelp) September 26, 2014
@Popdinuk Funds should clear within two hours by Faster Payments. Though you may need to check with Natwest on their timescales. ^MB
— M&S Bank Help (@mandsbankhelp) September 26, 2014
Virgin Money – 9 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi Christopher, with faster payments it normally only takes 2 hours, but it can be up to close of business next working day. ^KB
— Ask Virgin Money (@AskVirginMoney) September 26, 2014
First Direct – 12 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi Christopher, it it’s sent to us via faster payments the funds would normally be in your account within 2 hours ^DR
— first direct help (@firstdirecthelp) September 26, 2014
NatWest – 12 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi, you should find that the payment would credit almost immediately and always the same day. AC
— NatWest Help (@NatWest_Help) September 26, 2014
Co-operative Bank – 16 minutes
I’m including Co-operative here because it was only one minute over my own benchmark and it was helpful and friendly enough.
@popdinuk Hi, usually 2 hours as a faster payment but could take up to the end of the next working day at the maximum. Thanks – Lee
— Co-operative Bank (@CoopBankUK_help) September 26, 2014
Under an hour and spookily similar
These all came in under an hour, which is about the maximum time that I would consider good customer service on Twitter. Do you notice something familiar between these tweets?
Halifax – 41 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi, I’m GW. As you’ll be making the payment from Natwest to ourselves, you’d be best to check with them for timescales.
— Halifax (@AskHalifaxBank) September 26, 2014
Lloyds – 44 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi, I’m LB. Usually the money will credit within 2 hours, but you should allow up to the close of business the next working day.
— Lloyds Bank (@AskLloydsBank) September 26, 2014
Bank of Scotland – 44 minutes
@Popdinuk Hi, I’m LB. The payment can credit within 2 hours, but you should allow up to the close of business the next working day.
— Bank of Scotland (@AskBankOfScot) September 26, 2014
All roughly sent the same time. All written in the same format. Two of them written by ‘LB’. Is it possible Halifax, Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland are using the same customer service team?
Bottom of the league
Here’s a round-up of the banks that could do better.
Barclays – 1 hour and 2 minutes
Just slipped over the one hour window, but full marks for personalisation and helpfulness nonetheless.
@Popdinuk Hi Christopher, it can depend on the method of payment you’ve chosen. It should be the same working day via faster payments. ^KS
— Barclays UK (@BarclaysOnline) September 26, 2014
Citi – 1 hour 24 minutes
I love the enthusiasm here, but unfortunately it looks like Citi doesn’t operate a Twitter customer help channel for UK customers and therefore I have to call a helpline.
@Popdinuk Great question! Are you sending the wire from a US Citibank account? ^AH
— Citi (@AskCiti) September 26, 2014
@Popdinuk Please call 0800 00 56 00 if you have an existing Citibank UK account to check their wire transfer schedules. ^AH
— Citi (@AskCiti) September 26, 2014
Santander – 5 minutes
One of the quickest here, but with other banks being able to offer me this information this tweet seemed fairly unhelpful. Perhaps if Santander had thought to @mention NatWest itself then this would’ve been better?
@Popdinuk (1/2) Hi Christopher, we would be unable to advise on the timescales of a payment coming into a Santander account..
— Santander UK Help (@santanderukhelp) September 26, 2014
@Popdinuk (2/2) We would recommend you contact Co-operative to query this. Thanks ^SW
— Santander UK Help (@santanderukhelp) September 26, 2014
Tesco Bank – 36 minutes (and then some)
Tesco did great in telling me that it has acknowledged my tweet and is looking into it. Without realising it, I had used a specific Tesco Bank ‘news’ Twitter handle. I was told that somebody from the main account would come to my aid, however as I write this four hours later I have still to hear back.
Thanks for getting in touch @Popdinuk – our colleagues @Tesco will get back to you
— Tesco Bank (@TescoBankNews) September 26, 2014
Sainsbury’s Bank
Sainsbury’s Bank seems to be the only UK retail bank that doesn’t operate a customer service channel on Twitter. There is an account for Sainsbury’s Bank but it acts purely for providing press releases and news for journalists.
Any customer enquiry is met with this response…
@luciebcx Hi, sorry to hear that! Please email team@sainsburysbank.co.uk and we will try to help.
— Sainsbury’s Bank PR (@Sainsburys_Bank) September 26, 2014
Statistics
Which banks operate a separate customer service channel from the main Twitter account?
86% (14 out of 16) banks operate a specific customer service channel. Sainsbury’s doesn’t and all of Tesco’s enquiries are done through the main Tesco Twitter account. Although I’ve yet to see a result from this.
Which of these banks publish their opening hours in their profiles?
75% (12 out of 16) publish their opening hours. M%S Bank, Virgin Money and Tesco could all do with making this small change to their profile descriptions.
Which of these banks state that you may be required to use a more secure channel to complete an enquiry?
19% (3 out of 16) state that users may need to adopt a different channel, congratulations to HSBC, M&S Bank and First Direct for being in the minority. Many of the banks however do state that you should never tweet your bank details to them.
What have we learnt?
The most encouraging stat to come out of this entire exercise is that 100% of all the banks I contacted responded within 90 minutes and half of those were under 15 minutes.
The retail banking industry seems to be leading the way with social customer service. Only a handful need to make small changes to their profiles and perhaps one or two could have a touch more personality.
However for the most part it’s incredibly encouraging to see such great commitment to customer service from one of the more serious sectors on one of the newest platforms.
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