'New High Street branch sees customers as a necessary inconvenience'

I write to commend the newly renovated NatWest office in the High Street as a good place to avoid.
BankingBanking
Banking

This morning I walked in and found about 50 people inside.

There are no counters, instead staff standing in front of the two computers.

As I walked in I noticed a glass counter with several mobile phones inside it and a staff member using one on the counter while people were talking to him.

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I waited for more than 10 minutes in a queue to see one of the staff on a computer, as I had come to pay a credit card bill.

After a while another staff member approached me and in the noise I heard her mention the counter at the door and an iPad.

I told her I did not want to buy an iPad.

She corrected me and despite the noise I managed to understand that I was supposed to register my presence with the man at the glass counter before I could be dealt with.

I then asked her which genius had designed the situation where staff had to stand all day in front of a computer, but she tactfully did not reply.

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I went back to the glass counter but as there was a queue there too decided to try my luck at a branch on the way home.

Fortunately, the branch at Hunters Bar is still customer-centred and I was dealt with quickly and without confused directions.

I can only assume that whoever designed the new High Street branch sees customers as a necessary inconvenience.

Brian Cranwell

West View Close, Sheffield S17