MortgagesAug 15 2022

Barclays’ ‘broken’ mortgage live chat service feeds misinformation

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Barclays’ ‘broken’ mortgage live chat service feeds misinformation
REUTERS/Peter Nicholls

Barclays' live chat mortgage service has come under fire after one adviser spent 70 minutes on it only to end up with misinformation.

Transcripts shown to FTAdviser by at least three brokers over the past year have shown the bank's live chat operators ask the same questions twice, such as the name of the client or the case reference number, after at least a 30-minute wait time.

The latest broker to share his live chat experience was Mortgage Pod founder Steve Humphrey, who took to LinkedIn last week (August 11) to ask the high street bank for help after he spent more than an hour speaking to an online agent.

In Humphrey’s case, his client had first and second charge mortgages on their property and wanted to take out a new mortgage with Barclays to pay them both off.

“Legally, both have to be paid off at the same time. But I was wondering if we could stagger completion of the two charges. Live chat said it could definitively be done.”

But Humphrey later found out that the exact opposite was the case.

“We get this live chat service, spend 70 minutes on it, and get the wrong answer,” he told FTAdviser.

Barclays said brokers without assigned BDMs could contact its trained staff in multiple ways, including by phone or on live chat.

Humphrey said if he operated with the customer services levels the bank considered acceptable it would not be long before he would have to change industries. 

Not all small brokers get a BDM

FTAdviser understands a BDM was assigned to Humphrey in July, though he did not realise this when he used the live chat function.

A day after Humphrey’s LinkedIn post last week, Barclays’ head of BDM support called him and introduced him to his BDM.

“Many small brokers still don't have BDMs with Barclays and are not getting the support because they’re not happy to speak up,” he said.

A Barclays spokesperson said the bank worked hard to ensure intermediaries of all sizes were able to process applications smoothly and effectively.

"Brokers without assigned BDMs can get in touch via telephony or live chat, and the colleagues who staff these channels are trained to handle a wide variety of enquiries," it explained.

"For more complex issues that can’t be resolved immediately, these can be escalated via the broker chat lines, or by the telephony BDM support team.”

But Humphrey argued a model where not every broker has a BDM and had to rely on live chat was a "broken" one.

“The lack of a BDM is killing some smaller brokers at the moment, with all the [product and rate] changes," he explained.

“If you don't do enough business or part of a big enough firm you don't get any access to a BDM. Their only resource is to discuss new or ongoing cases is with live chat.”

In contrast, Humphrey said Coventry Building Society recently told him his telephone BDM had left. “They immediately assigned two different BDM contacts as standard,” he said.

Broker banned 

This is not the first time a broker has taken to LinkedIn. In May, founder of Highclere Financial Alan Lakey criticised Barclays after it took him five weeks to secure a mortgage loan increase on behalf of his clients.

He cited the support he got online, saying the uncertainty around mortgage affordability held up the completion of his client's property purchase for over a month.

It is understood that Lakey's original application had an inaccuracy in it, which meant the team at Barclays had to take longer to look into the application.

Barclays said more complex issues can be escalated through the telephony BDM support team.

But one broker found himself eventually banned from placing new business with the bank in August 2021 following a complaint he made to a senior Barclays colleague.

Email correspondence seen by FTAdviser showed Silverstone Mortgages founder Phil Bennett sharing live chat transcripts with the colleague.

I complained about the service and they banned me.Phil Bennett, Silverstone Mortgages

In one, Bennett told a live chat operator in the 45th minute “don't apologise just hurry up and focus” after the operator had asked for the name of the client twice.

In another, Bennett told the colleague: “You guys utterly suck and the level of service is so bad that it is almost pointless.”

In a separate email, the colleague responded saying he would be concerned “culturally” if anyone else in Bennett’s firm had “the same attitude in terms of their treatment of Barclays colleagues”.

He also said further up in the email chain: “To say all of my colleagues suck is both unfair and unhelpful and I will pick up with Openwork on how they would like to proceed.”

In another message, the colleague said the bank had deregistered Bennett’s firm, meaning he could no longer submit cases to Barclays.

This ban, which is understood to have been in place as a result of the manner in which Bennet spoke to the colleague, is still in place.

“I complained about the service and they banned me. They didn’t like the feedback,” he told FTAdviser.

“Service levels generally are atrocious. It astounds me. It’s a massive organisation but its IT processes utterly suck. It’s just awful. It’s been awful for a while. 

“I defy you to find anyone who would defend their systems. It not only lets brokers down; it lets clients down.

“I’m surprised the FCA doesn’t make processes and systems around client outcomes a focus.”

He added that on the retail side of the bank, you could be stuck in a chat for an hour and it is ineffective. “You question the level of knowledge they have,” he said.

A Barclays spokesperson said: “While we are disappointed that Mr Bennett felt he had cause to complain, we did not deregister his firm due to the subject matter of his complaint. The decision to prevent an intermediary from doing business with Barclays is never one taken lightly, and only following a careful internal review.”

Last month, the FCA announced the new consumer duty rules for all new and existing products and services that are currently on sale. 

The duty is made up of an overarching principle and rules that firms will have to follow.

One of the requirements is for firms to provide helpful and accessible customer support, not making people wait so long for an answer that they give up.

It will include requirements for firms to:

  • make it as easy to switch or cancel products as it was to take them out in the first place;
  • provide helpful and accessible customer support, not making people wait so long for an answer that they give up;
  • provide timely and clear information that people can understand about products and services so consumers can make good financial decisions, rather than burying key information in lengthy terms and conditions that few have the time to read; and
  • focus on the real and diverse needs of their customers, including those in vulnerable circumstances, at every stage and in each interaction.

ruby.hinchliffe@ft.com

Note: This story was updated on Tuesday August 16 as a gesture of goodwill to remove the name of the customer service operative and to reflect information submitted by Barclays post-publication relating to the reason for banning the broker and the reason for the delay to Lakey's client's case.