Westpac a Joke When It Comes to Customer Service

So though I'd share my horror story about Westpac since it shows why you don't want to be dealing with them if you need customer service.

TLDR : Westpac stuffed around for 3 months on new CC, never contacted me once and then cancelled credit card and told me to reapply due to their mistake while lying when asked multiple times on what was happening.

So back in the beginning of December I applied for a credit card and was approved, they sent me a notice that while my Credit card was shipping and I could activate my virtual card to start using the account, now I'm not activating an account until i have the physical card to ensure no chance of fraud.

Come January I still have not received the card (i had waited as it was the Christmas period so though maybe extra delay) so i call and get a response oh it due to a fraud hold you need to go into a bank and show your 100 points of ID , now if i had not called i would not have known as there was no email or phone call or even a letter.
I go in next day and show them ID and it is all processed.
First week of February still no card i call up again, again i am met with oh it because of fraud i asked to be put through to the fraud department, who then say no there is no fraud hold but since you have not got your card, we will close that one and issue a new card to be safe it will be there in 3-4 days.

3 days later i get a card via courier BUT it is the old card that was sent out sent out that day after it was already cancelled (letter is dated same day),I can't activate it as it is old card so i ring up again and they assure me "no no a new card will be there in less than 3 days" so to be good I wait 5 days.

5 days later no card still so i use the chat feature to which the rep ends up telling me it has shipped and i should follow up with Australia post I then say give me a reference number then and I will, they then admit, oh we don't have one you need to call customer service after 30 minutes avoiding the issue.

I Ring up again and get told oh that card was cancelled due to no activity, and I will need to reapply, I say no the card was only issued last week so how can it be an inactive flagged and ask to speak to fraud department who then tell me that was weird, and they will look into it. after a 10-minute hold they admit the NEW card was cancelled due to 45 days of inactivity even though it had only been a week and that i would need to reapply, to which i said nope I'm using a different bank to which this CS rep admitted was understandable.

Now during this whole ideal I was polite and nice but did tell the last person I interacted with that while i know it was not their i fault but that please not on the complaint ticket that i was extremely pissed at this situation.

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Comments

  • +9

    This doesn't follow the traditional joke paradigm.

  • +4

    Did the same thing with Westpac. I got frustrated and cancelled it and went to Bankwest. Applied, Approved, card 2 days later. It can be done.

    • 2 days from application to card in hand that is amazing.

      • Agree! That's blazingly fast.

        Too bad I don't like Bankwest personally but that's a feat.

  • now I'm not activating an account until i have the physical card to ensure no chance of fraud.

    That is your mistake. Most people before the card ( don't care about this ) use the app immediately . I can imagine all of those SB/Wespac deals you have missed out on due to not doing this . Not counting to some the precious time messing around with them .

    • No mistake at all. NOWHERE did it state there was a time limit or that it was in my best interest to active a virtual card. literality the email said
      "Want to use your card instantly?"
      No please activate now etc so not a mistake from me a screw up from the bank. Plus with all teh calls and tickets i opend they should have been able to see this and pause/reset the inactivity clock.

      As for missing deals with them i will gladly miss any crap deal from them as if they cant even organize a credit card why would I redo my other products with them, funny thing was i was looking at refinacing my home loan and was going to give them a go but not now.

  • +1

    How would activating the virtual card open you up to fraud? Your physical card still would not be activated, so even if someone got hold of it they wouldn't be able to use it.

    Sounds like with the ID check, some miscommunication and a (probable) Auspost failure along the line, you managed to hit 45 days without making a transaction and got auto-closed. Sucks that their customer service is so bad. Seems like they could have avoided losing you as a customer if they were able to communicate a bit better.

    • I like to err on the side of caution as i have not used their virtual card facilities, and while it may not be linked to the new card it could have meant the account was open to transactions and then the physical card could have been compromised.

      Now i will say there could have been an Australia post screw up but since the old card was not sent out (i know this as they put the old card in a courier bag and sent same day AFTER it was cancelled ) but they had my Phone number and email and had SMSed me and emailed me to tell me the credit card was approved. so lets say that a letter was lost on the ID request part, it would not have been hard for them to email/SMS telling me there was a follow up, hell i even logged into the online banking and there were not notifications there.

      Then for them to LIE about it was ridiculous.

  • +2

    My parents have had accounts and cards across a number of different banks, and none of them have been anywhere near as problematic as Westpac.
    It's the only one that consistently has issues, and it's such a hassle to solve them. I'd never get an account with them myself.

  • +1

    Perhaps your heading should read ALL BANKS are a joke when it comes to customer service.

    It is not in their DNA. Doesn't exist in their thinking whatsoever. Customer service is a cost in time and money. Being nice to people raises expectations, and that's the last thing they want. There is a process that is designed to work for the bank, not the customer. End of story.

  • +2

    Westpac makes you use a 6 character password for your online account. If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is. My experience dealing with them has been similar.

  • What were you expecting? They are a bank after all

  • Create a formal complaint and ask them to compensate your time chasing up . Also have you checked if this impacted your credit score ?

    • I did do a complaint but it just gets you a complaint number and the promise of " we will try and do better"
      I have not checked my score since but knew not to reapply as that has an impact.

  • +1

    My IP mortgage is with Westpac and this reminds me why I need to refinance. They are appalling. They slugged me an annual fee twice last year and are refusing to concede. This is just one of a litany of failures they've heaped on me.

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