BANKING giant RBS has been ridiculed by furious customers after posting what was supposed to be a light-hearted Halloween video.
The Edinburgh-based firm, which had to be bailed out by taxpayers to avoid collapse in 2008, made a hammy film about its supposedly haunted branch in Fort William in the Highlands.
But the bid to join in the Halloween high jinks turned into a horror show after Facebook users lined up to tell the bank to concentrate on keeping branches open.
The minute-long video, posted a few days ago, is called Tales From the Vault. Amid fake black and white footage and horror-style captions, the film tells how staff in Fort William hear disembodied voices and suffer jammed doors flying open and intercoms ringing when no-one else is in.
The video infuriated rural customers bitter that RBS promised no closures in 2010 but axed 44 branches last year, replacing them with weekly mobile van visits.
Debbie Moir wrote: “This is not voices from the past but a warning of the future.
“Look out Fort William they will be closing your branch shortly just like they closed the one in Dufftown.”
Paul Fraser said: “Yeah, the Stromness branch in Orkney just closed too – thanks very much. So you know where the ‘ghostly whispers’ are coming from.”
Harry Dunkley wrote: “If it’s the same whispers as the staff in Invergordon branch heard I’d be worried as they closed our bank and left us with the start of a ghost town.”
And Billy Watson commented: “It was the great Gordon Brown letting the auditors turn the blind eye on the people at the top messing up with investments that were bundled up with negative equity mortgages in the USA.
“The phone thing is the same people you can’t hear who want to spend 167 billion on trident when we are still in debt and have care and education issues.
“This failed bailed out bank should stop wasting our money on this advert and spend more on corporate responsibility.”
Facebook users also commented on the fact that the bank shouldn’t be spending time and money putting the video together in the first place.
Bruce Omond wrote: “Going into the film business then? With our money.”
And John Deverson said: “Yeah,it’s the manager whispering in your ear asking for more of your money.”
While Sandra Sinclair added: “The royal Bank of Scotland should hang their head in shame.”
The video was also made available on the RBS YouTube video where the bank disable the comments section to all of their videos.
After a few hours of abuse from customers, the Facebook post seemed to disappear only to reappear following press enquiries.
In 2010 RBS promised not to close any of their last standing branches in towns.
Of the 44 they shut last year, however, 14 were classed as the last bank in town.
After RBS almost collapsed in 2008, the government announced a £20bn bail-out hoping to secure the banks future.
A further £17b was put in my HBOS and Lloyds TSB totaling up to a massive £37bn.
