Please Excuse Me Now While I Go Scream

If you ever get a chance to deal with Barclay's Bank (in the U.K.), don't. Not that you need this warning; the Bank itself will prevent your being able to do business with it.

All we want is a checking account. That's it. A checking account, so we can pay bills in England, in sterling. Nothing complicated, right?

Well, we've been trying since July to accomplish it. We called Barclay's twice a day for weeks, or according to them, multiple times a day. (Not the branch where our old account was or is, because they do not appear to have a telephone number; or if they do, it's a big secret.) After months of this, we gave up and went over there in October, to oversee it all in person. We filled out a mountain of paperwork, provided two picture IDs each, signed all sorts of things. Back in the States after that, we've called them a dozen more times. None of this has gotten the job done. Every time we think we've finally resolved every issue, it turns out we haven't. Not only do new issues arise, but it turns out the old ones are still unsettled as well. The nightmare just won't stop.

So our current status is, we have a brand new account, but only I have access to it because they say Demetrios' paperwork is incomplete. And despite our explicit, written instructions, the funds from our old account (the one we have no access to from this side of the pond) haven't been transferred into the new. So, because we didn't know that, the new account is overdrawn. We still don't have checkbooks, nor have we yet received the paperwork for Demetrios to fill out AGAIN. The overdraft notice? THAT has arrived.

The only reason we haven't dumped Barclay's is that our solicitors strongly advised us not to, saying it would be even more difficult at a new bank, where they don't know us. Well, they know us VERY, very well at Barclay's! And I'm sure they'd be as pleased to be rid of us as we would to be rid of them. We WILL figure out how to accomplish that! Eventually.