Monday, May 14

New house, new address

This is a list of the institutions I have notified of my address change, for future reference:

  1. Abbey National (Cash ISA): filled-in paper form in person, confirmed a few days later and address was successfully changed.
  2. Amazon: Added new address to my account and set it as the default one. It was that simple.
  3. Barclays (Personal Banking): Filled-in paper form in person, returned a week later to find old address still on the system. Account manager 'apologised' and changed address on the spot (on the system, no forms needed).
  4. Barclaycard (Credit Card): Filled-in form on the back of statement and sent it on pre-paid envelope. Several weeks later, statement for the following month was still sent to old address. Had to call to confirm address change.
  5. BCP (Personal Banking+Credit Card): Sent letter with copy of tenancy agreement to HQ. No confirmation and old address is still on the system.
  6. BUPA (Private Health Care):
  7. Council: Posted Westminster council tax form. A week later received letter addressed to my name, plus 3 times the same form I had sent before.
  8. DVLA: Posted driver license and paper counterpart to DVLA. Received updated license a week later.
  9. The Economist: Emailed new address and received confirmation. Also used online form @ http://www.economistsubs.com. Address change was only effective in 10 days time -it is a weekly newspaper(!), which says something about their logistics infrastructure.
  10. Electoral Roll: As per instructions on the Electoral Commision, obtained form online and posted to address given. No confirmation yet.
  11. Fidelity (Savings Funds): Setup online account and requested address change online. It was done in less than a week with a pre-paid envelope sent for the account holder's signature.
  12. Invesco Perpetual (Stocks ISA): Called and was sent change-of-address form to new address (account holder's signature is required). Sent form back on pre-paid envelope and address was changed on the system accordingly. Whole process was painless and took about a week.
  13. Inland Revenue: Called and was told that I needed to write a letter. Did so, sent letter, and received no confirmation. Called again and address was changed over the phone.
  14. O2: Updated online form. Unsure if successful since I receive electronic invoices.
  15. PayPal: Added new address to system but it is clumsy and unintuitive to remove old (verified) address.
  16. Scottish Widows (Pension): Changed address online @ http://www.scottishwidows.co.uk/global/log_in_or_register.html. Changes take effect within 3 working days but that is not too bad for a pension fund.
  17. Southampton University:
  18. University College London: Emailed student records and was pointed towards alumni form @ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/alumni/keep-in-touch/update-details. No confirmation yet.
  19. Virgin Media (Ex-Telewest, for TV+broadband): Called to transfer account and change address and a few days later received statement to new address. However, a week later called to proceed with account transfer and old address was still on the system.
  20. Solomon Smith Barney (Stock Options): Faxed address change form. Received no acknowledgment and more than a week later old address still shows on my online account. Called customer services a week later and was informed that new address is already on file and the online system will not be updated. Needless to say, they thought it was pretty normal that I should get no notification nor acknowledgment. Those who can't abandon ship due to some corporate deal already know what Smith Barney is all about -the angry comments from like minded unfortunate users like myself on their own web survey were quite clear. To those undecided, a word of warning: run! Don't come anywhere near this sinking ship.
  21. Work: filled-in online form and emailed HR. System was updated immediately.

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