Hahahhahahahahahhahahahahahah. First interaction with Starling and their response is: use a different bank account.
Unfortunately, the relevant team isn’t able to get in touch with the merchant to have their bank sort code information updated.
In this case, it’s the merchants responsibility to ensure the details they hold regarding account numbers and sort codes are up to date, and as we can confirm that this is not an issue which was caused by Starling, we’re unable to resolve it.
You would need to attempt to have the merchant resolve this, or to use a different bank account to set this up unfortunately.
It’s a disappointing response, though I’ve always found Starling’s support to be average most of the time and rarely willing to go beyond what is required, so not overly surprising. In my mind, it’s the type of response a legacy bank may give in a similar situation, though Starling do tend to be faster.
That said, if the merchant isn’t going to update the data to fix it, the recommendation of using a different bank account is the only valid thing they can recommend in this case. It might seem odd from a customer perspective, but to be fair they’re just being upfront.
Might be worth raising a complaint with the council and or finding out who their Direct Debit provider is (probably Capita in some form) and chasing them. It is difficult when a new sort code range is added (not that either bank are new anymore), though the processors really should be updating their data more regularly.
To be honest, from my perspective in this case the fault really does lie solely with the council. It’s their systems that aren’t up to scratch, and so the responsibility lies with them to rectify the issue. As such I would describe Starling’s response as perfectly reasonable, but Monzo’s response as exceptional in that they’re going well above and beyond their remit to proactively help out. This is the kind of CS I dreamed of when Monzo laid out their vision for banking back in early years.
Not really. It’s self interest. If you want to be a functioning bank and merchants aren’t accepting your card or your Direct Debits, there’s not much point in existing.
If you’re not happy with the service or products you receive from your chosen bank, there’s no point in stoically sticking it out just because you chose it. If you’ve any sense you find a different bank with better service and/or products.
