NatWest Reward Account. NatWest are blaming BT for a failure of emails

[Dippu]

@Andy_N @Paul608085  the thing is I don't know who to go to in case I have problems with free emails these companies are vast.

At least with BT I know whom I'm dealing with.

The Natwest Advisor told me to set up a gmail because he believed the problem to be with BT. I didn't buy that argument because when I exchanged my Rewards I got the £50 but not £25. Also in the past the egift Rewards took minutes, not days. I'm still waiting for my £25 and it's been nearly 2 weeks, although I have now asked them to recredit my account.

Judging by what @Daffodil says the alternative email did not work either.

[Paul608085]

@Dippu 

"the thing is I don't know who to go to in case I have problems with free emails these companies are vast."

With many of these services, the best support is usually via online Customer-to-Customer Forums - just like these BT Community forums!

There are a lot of very clever people out there who are willing to help - and they are often more knowledgeable than the staff on telephone support etc.  😉

[normalblaster]

@Dippu   I have raised a formal complaint to NatWest as well. I would expect them to see a trend and act on it but I'm not holding my breath.

I also went on a chat with BT to try and establish if BT know about the issue. Sadly the BT person on the other end was so focused on checking my spam box and any blocking rules that they appeared to keep misunderstand that I was asking a more  general question about NatWest to the btinternet domain. In the end the chat dropped and I was left in limbo - no change there then.

At the moment I still have not got the £25 voucher.

I notice that people on this thread have asked for their money back: it was made very clear to me when I phoned NotWest (sic) that this is impossible.

Getting very bored now.

FP

[Dippu]

@normalblaster Yes the Natwest guy did the same to me and nothing happened so I made a formal complaint using this form : Complaint form | NatWest

I still waiting for the outcome but I have asked for the missing £25 to be credited back into my Rewards Account.

Good luck.

[Dippu]

I have received an update from Natwest Complaints Department. They are aware of the problem where some emails are not going through to BT email addresses and are working closely with BT to resolve the problem. They have kindly reimbursed my account but have advised that to check with the Rewards Team before exchanging future rewards in case the problem has not been fixed.

Hope this helps to all affected by the problem.

[Daffodil]

After a further call to the Rewards team on 4 Dec I  confirmed an alternative (equally secure) email and 3 days later I had my e-code.  The alternative email is just for receipt of the redeemed Rewards and is separate from the email used for other NatWest business.  Good luck to others on this thread!

[normalblaster]

An update.  Since raising a formal complaint with NatWest on 1st Dec 2023 I have heard nothing from anyone other than a robot. This morning I phoned to try and get my voucher [now over a month and a half since I tried to create it] and an update.  I also wanted to know what happened to my complaint.

NatWest were a joke this morning. I was transferred to the wrong people and one time connected to a Fax  machine by the sound of it.  I was also told that my formal complaint had not even been assigned to anyone yet.

Eventually I got though to someone who actually listened and was honest. They admitted that they knew about the btinternet issue because they answered calls from numerous people with the same problem. In the end I have given the reward people a gmail account but I have to wait until Friday before I'll get my voucher.

One word of warning: be very careful creating the gmail account. When I first tried this on my computer something spotted I already had a google account [I have to - I have an android phone] and tried to replace my registered email at google with the new gmail address I was creating. God knows what this would have done to my phone. I got round this by logging out of google *and deleting all cookies*!

FP

[rbz5416]

So you solved your problem by finally doing what you were advised to do six weeks ago?

I've created numerous Gmail addresses & never once has Google tried to replace anything or required any cookie dance.

[normalblaster]

@rbz5416 

No, problem not solved. I still haven't got my voucher. At the best it could be problem got round.  Still not a good solution in my view. I would rather not trust my banking emails to google.

When I first tried to create a gmail account I got a warning: because my main google account was not a gmail address the new address I was creating would overwrite my current main google email  and this would _affect_ all devices I was currently logged into - i.e. my phone. So I did not do it.  I then logged out of google - same message. I then deleted all cookies and then could create an independent gmail address without any warnings.  This is useful info if anyone here has a similar setup.

FP

[gg30340]

Log out of google account on your browser then set up as many gmail email addresses as you want. They will have absolutely nothing to do with your "main" email address and will overwrite nothing! 

Create a Gmail account - Gmail Help (google.com)