After banking with Barclays for 30 years, I have just experienced the worst possible scenario which has me thinking of seriously changing my bank. On the first day of my holiday in Florence Italy I had my wallet stolen by a pickpocket (there was no safe in my hotel room for me to leave my wallet there!) All my credit cards, bank card and 300 Euros gone. I was left with 4 euros cash! After reporting the loss to the police, I cancelled the Credit Cards. Halifax – excellent, Person with slight Scottish accent who I could understand completely and cancelled my card. Barclaycard – 30 minute wait to get through and then to a call center. Spoke to person with Asian accent whom I had difficulty understanding. He cancelled my card, but I could not understand from him if money had been taken from my card or not. I told him I needed to cancel my Debit card also, so he transferred me. For my Debit Card it was also a call centre and a person with a very strong Asian accent. I had great difficulty understanding him and he spoke very quickly on the phone. I told him I had a hearing difficulty and could he speak slower, which he did for a while. After going through security with him he cancelled my card. I asked if any money had been taken and he said he was not allowed to tell me. This I could not believe and argued with him for some time on the phone. He said he’d seek advice, and came back to me about 5 minutes later to say that no money had been taken from my card. I asked if money could be transferred to a bank here in Florence which I could collect using my passport and answering any security questions, and he said no. After a lengthy discussion, which I felt he was anything but sympathetic to my situation, I asked for his name, and to speak to his Supervisor. After a 15 minute wait he came back on the phone and told me I could phone a number, and a Visa card would be delivered to me in three or four hours. I checked the number would get me the Visa here in Florence Italy, and he said I was in France! He had not listened to me earlier! He gave me another number for Italy. I hung up and tried this number several times, using international codes as well. The number was unobtainable! It was now 1am in the morning and I was getting pretty stressed. I phoned Barclays again, and this time, quite quickly got through to a lady with no accent, whom I could understand. I explained to her my recent experience with the last call and she was sympathetic. She told me there was no way I could get a visa in 3 or 4 hours, that it would take 3 or4 days! I had been given the wrong information. I asked if money could be transferred for me to a Bank in Florence, and she said no. I could go to a bank here and phone a Barclays global processing number and they could arrange a transfer, but it would take a while. She advised getting someone in the UK to transfer money to me using Western Express. This I did and got cash the following day. I have complained in my local Barclays Bank about my experience and they were suitably horrified. I do not blame the person in the Call Center for the problem I experienced with him but I blame Barclays. He was not sufficiently trained to help me. Call centre staff in my experience are in Asia, have strong accents making them difficult to understand on the phone, and work to a prepared script they are given. Also, Barclays need to consider the needs of their customers in difficulties such as I experienced, and be in a position to help rather than give advice to use a different company, Western Union.