Telephone 'help' lines

Today is a new record. This is the first time I have ever been reduced to actual tears by call centres.

All I want to do is to find out what name I should enter into Paypal in order for Barclays to be able to accept payments from them. (I have a joint account and Paypal say I should check with my bank in order to ensure I use the correct version of my name).

I have now been routed through three Indian call centre operatives, each of which wanted to take all my details (the last one asking for everthing right down to mother's maiden name). The first two couldn't help and the information given by the third was *incorrect* - Paypal rejected RJ + JEL as containing an invalid symbol.

I tried a different number for Barclays and got someone who hung up on me. I tried again and got someone who told me they were too busy to handle any calls right now.

I'm stressed, my throat is raw and I STILL don't know what name to give Paypal.

Is it too much to want a phone number for a human being who has English as their first language who actually works at my local bank?

IF I didn't have a mortgage linked to our current account, I would be changing banks right now.

Nat West

I looked up Nat West in the phone book and rang the number. A friendly English voice replied "Nat West, Broadstone".

I have to go into Broadstone anyway to speak to Barclays in person. While I'm there, I'm also going to look at what it would cost me (it'll be several hundred quid to move the mortgage, but it may be worth it) to move all my banking to Nat West.

Paypal can't read...

Paypal say:

"Enter your name exactly as it appears on your bank account statement. For example, if your name is James Patrick Smith, and your bank account is in the name of 'J. P. Smith', you would need to enter 'J. P.' as your first name."

But if you follow their written example and input your initials as J.E.L. (as it says on my cheque book), then Paypal reject it because it contains a full stop! They won't accept an & either and our joint account name contains one of those too.