Not upheld: poor customer service in branch complaint against Metro Bank Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P complained about poor service during a branch visit to close his account, claiming he spent an hour in branch and had to repeat his request for statements three times. Metro Bank's electronic records showed the actual service time was approximately 15-23 minutes, with a reasonable wait beforehand due to other customers in the queue. Although recollections differed about the staff interaction, both parties agreed that Mr P's requests were fulfilled. The ombudsman found the time taken was reasonable and that Metro Bank had not done anything wrong, declining to uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman accepted Metro Bank's explanation that both electronic and paper queue systems could coexist. The timings provided by Metro Bank (approximately 15-23 minutes of actual service time, plus a reasonable wait) were not considered unreasonable, particularly given that other customers were ahead of Mr P in the queue. Although recollections differed about the conversation with staff, both parties agreed the requests were fulfilled. The ombudsman found no evidence of wrongdoing and declined to order CCTV review as it would only confirm timings already deemed reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website