Finally

I was left in a bit of a fix when my business partner suddenly died and left no access to the business bank account. It took me over a month of many phone calls and form filling to eventually get access, although I only found out by accident when I happened to log into my personal account with NatWest and found a business tab there. No one had bothered to inform me of this. At least that meant I could start paying some urgent bills, and also some of the newer staff who were not being paid by standing order. My personal account was run dry by that point.

From the very outset I’ve been trying to talk to our business relationship manager. Every single attempt, of which there have been very many now, have failed. After sometimes as long as an hour of waiting, I get through to someone in a call centre who only has access to a number of fixed scripts. As my problem doesn’t fit any of the scripts, I end up in a black hole. Occasionally I talk to someone sensible who seems to understand my frustration. They say they will leave a message for someone with authority to call me back. No one does.

I thought I’d got somewhere when someone told me I had to fill in an Admin Exceptions Request. This required a Customer ID, which I don’t have. I filled out the rest of the form, going to great lengths to explain why I couldn’t provide the ID. I attached my partner’s death certificate and every other bit of documentation I had to prove my legitimacy as sole director of the business. The request was made on Sept 25th.

NatWest reply received on Sept 26th 

We can confirm that the Bankline Administration Team have now received your email and are looking into your request

Further reply received on Sept 28th

Good Afternoon Bob  ,

Thanks for your Admin Exceptions Request Email.

Regrettably we are unable to proceed with your request at present as section 1 – Bankline customer ID is incorrect .

Could you please amend section 1 with Business customer ID (numeric) exactly as it appears on Bankline and resend the request back to us (All 3 pages included).

For further assistance kindly contact our Bankline helpdesk or your Relationship Manager

My reply on Sept 29th

Thank you for the response. In my covering email I explained why I do not have the Bankline Customer ID and also that I’ve been trying to talk to my Relationship Manager for a month with absolutely no success. I even have a name. No one will put me through because I don’t have the Customer ID. Several times I've left messages to be contacted on email or by phone. I've heard nothing back from anyone.

Natwest reply received on Oct 6th

We have sent your request to your Relationship Team for further checks. Once we receive a reply from your Relationship Team regarding your request , we will be able to prioritise it as soon as possible.

And then nothing for almost three weeks

I noted that they weren't promising to actually do anything as soon as possible, just prioritise it. They were clearly unable to prioritise it right away. That didn't sound particularly encouraging.

My patience ran out on Oct 25th

Hello there.

I'm afraid I feel like all my communication disappears into the deep black hole which is NatWest. Do I even have a customer relationship?

This last reply promised some progress after a month of trying in vain to talk to a human being about my business account. All I want is a brief conversation or a chance to ask some questions via email. It is now over two months since my business partner and manager of the business suddenly died. It is now over two weeks since this last communication.

Can someone please, please help me.

Still nothing

I tried again on Oct 28th

Hello, hello ... is anyone out there?
 
Is it possible that after banking with you for almost 20 years, millions of pounds of revenue passing through the account, someone might be vaguely interested in talking to me, or simply responding in some small way.
 
I've just read that your bank has announced a profit of £1.1 billion. Surely that could pay for more than the 3 people who seem to run your entire customer service operation. 
 
I would be eternally grateful for some acknowledgement that I do actually exist as a client of yours.
 
Yours, in deep frustration,
 
There was no reply to that message but it did at least prompt a phone call today. Was it helpful? Of course not. It was only another minion and after waiting twenty minutes or so to be put through to someone who could actually help me, the line went dead. No one rang me back. This is the third time I’ve been put on hold with a promise to be put through to someone on the customer relationship team. And the third time, after a long wait, the phone has gone dead. It feels like NatWest’s regular banking customers are of no interest. There’s probably no profit in a business account that stays in the black. The bank is far too busy making obscene amounts of money in much easier ways
 
The thing is now that every time I try to chase this up I know I’m going to be hanging on the phone for likely over an hour, with little chance of getting anywhere. I suppose this is how customer service works everywhere now.

What do I do? I’ve jokingly threatened to go into a branch and sit down on the floor, refusing to move until I get to speak to someone. I might just need to actually do that now. Any other ideas?