LPA & banks agin

A very nice bank assistant now rings me and tells me that it is not possible to have two cards on a single named account, so if I have a card, then aunty can't have a card. Now that I've put the phone down, I think

"but we've had two cards for a year so why not now?"

Lloyds-TSB does not seem to have co-ordinated systems.

Bumbling banks

It's taken five weeks to get telephone banking on Aunty's account.

1. I first went into the local bank and completed their form in January, after Lloyd's telephone service was so bureaucratically useless.
2. When I received the letter saying to ring to register, it wasn't easy, and I had to complete their form again.
3. Their letter arrived again today. So I rang to complete registration again. They passed me to a local branch, in the wrong county.
4. I rang again. They passed me to the right branch, but branches are not the place to complete a telephone registration.
5. I rang again. Alleluia! I got someone who knew what to do, and passed me to the person who could check their secret word, and set up a password.

Those three calls took only half an hour. If they'd got it right three weeks ago, the whole process should have taken less than ten minutes.

Boo to bureaucratic banks

I've just made two phone calls about paying for aunty's new sheltered housing, one to a county housing office about rent, and one to a bank about paying things.

1. The county officer was helpful. :-) Despite already owing rent, she's going to send me forms, and will let the rent officer know, so they won't hassle aunty.
   
2. The bank phone call was automated. :-( It took two tries to get a human. He said he knew what Legal Power of Attorney was, but then told me to go into aunty's branch with a letter of authorisation from aunty, some id for me and some id of hers. I explained I couldn't go into her branch as I live a long way away. He didn't know where the two towns were. (How can you sound gormless? I always thought it was the way someone looked.) So tomorrow I'll go into the local branch armed with all the documentation and ask for what I want to run her account.
   

So which organisation was efficient and helpful? The public sector one or the private one? People malign the public sector, but it was the public organisation that was efficient, human, friendly and understood my problem, not the bank.

Boo to banks.