RBS inundated with 1,600 complaints a day
The Royal Bank of Scotland may have been bailed out by the taxpayer but its customer service will do nothing to reassure consumers.
In fact official figures have revealed today that the bank receives more than 1,600 complaints every day from customers angry over problems with current accounts, credit cards and loan policies.
Together with high street subsidiary Natwest, RBS answered more than 300,000 complaints within just six months last year.
Marc Gander, from the Consumer Action Group, told the Daily Mail: "We've always found that RBS and specifically Natwest have had a very stubborn and dismissive approach to their customers.
"It's not acceptable that so many people should have so many problems with their bank. Of course, the real tester will be when we see the data from the other banks and we get a full picture of precisely how bad the problems are."
Much of the customer fury is aimed at the expensive and unnecessary payment protection insurance which was flagged up by the FSA earlier in the year as banks forced customers into buying expensive products in a bid to boost profits.
It is understood that the regulator is already investigating a number of firms for doing just that.
But from August this year the Financial Services Authority is set to demand information about customer complaints from all British banks.
There is good news, however, if you're a customer of RBS.
A massive eight out of ten RBS customers who took their banking problems to the Financial Ombudsman won their case.
Natwest alone received 222,159 complaints of which 84,316 were won by the consumer.
Helen Page, managing director of UK retail at RBS, said: "While this is a respectable track record we want to do better and are currently working on ways to improve our complaints approach."
Have you had a problem with your bank and how do you think their services can be improved?
