Smile Bank Customers - Email Campaign to improve website?

Options
2

Comments

  • meester
    meester Posts: 1,879 Forumite
    Options
    Tirian wrote: »
    Um, this seems a bit OTT to me. A free overdraft facility is not a exactly a fundamental human right - and good luck finding somewhere else that will automatically give you a free £500 overdraft.

    Lloyds will match any bank's overdraft, or they did when I opened my account. They also put it up to £3250 last week when my account accidentally went overdrawn by that much - permanently, and with no charge.
    And I'm sorry to inform you that there is nothing 'unlawful' about a £20 admin charge. You are confusing this with the case over penalty charges, which is an entirely different thing. Penalty charges are not supposed to be significantly greater than the cost to the bank of the activity that they penalise. If they want to set an administration charge for setting up an overdraft that is an entirely different thing, and they are within their legal rights to set it at whatever they like.

    It has already been set up. The overdraft I had with them dated back to 2000. They sent me a message saying they will take £20 from my account to pay for this unless I informed them otherwise, which is charging by inertia, and is wrong. I almost closed my account in protest.

    They have whacked numerous other charges up, including credit card interest rates, overdraft rates, have started charging payments to online casinos as cash advance, even though these establishments pay the highest fees and are highly profitable, etc.

    Their interest rates are pathetic and they are basically living on their marketing done 7-8 years ago.
    Seems they are pretty desperate to make some money somewhere

    Perhaps they should stop giving so much money to the Labour party then.
  • realaledrinker
    realaledrinker Posts: 1,661 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary I've been Money Tipped!
    Options
    meester wrote: »
    Perhaps they should stop giving so much money to the Labour party then.

    Neither smile nor the Co-operative Bank make any political donations.
    Ethical moneysaver
  • bubblesbonbon
    bubblesbonbon Posts: 800 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker I've been Money Tipped!
    Options
    I am also a long standing smile customer and I agree that their rates are no longer competitive but I have found that their customer service is still very good. They are polite, efficient and grammatically understandable.

    Although the freepost envelopes are now a thing of the past, they still supply Post Office Cheque post envelopes so that cheque deposits can still be made at P.O's (if you still have one!)

    It may be coincidence but these rates seem to have suffered since the introduction of the Cooperative Membership Scheme whereby you get a "divi" depending on how much you save or lend from them.
    My advice is to join the scheme if only for the banking benefits.
    Details are at the bottom of the smile home page but if you want to go directly then go here

    http://www.smile.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Smile/NCView&c=Page&cid=1157094906092
    "It's nice to be important but more important to be nice"

    John Templeton 1912-2008
  • CopperPlate_2
    CopperPlate_2 Posts: 1,508 Forumite
    Options
    Of course, what they giveth with one hand, they taketh away with the other...
  • CopperPlate_2
    CopperPlate_2 Posts: 1,508 Forumite
    Options
    realaledrinker wrote: »
    Neither smile nor the Co-operative Bank make any political donations.

    From the Co-operative Group Annual Report 2006, page 43 - available from, http://www.co-operative.co.uk/en/corporate/reportsandpublications/:

    In 2006, the Group made a contribution of £464,900
    (2005: £501,000) to the Co-operative Party in respect of the
    annual subscription to the Party and support for Party Councils.
    Miscellaneous political expenditure in support of the Labour
    Party was also incurred through regional activity, amounting
    to £4,523. In addition, the sum of £64,000 was incurred to
    fund the Group’s corporate presence at Party conferences
    held by the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the
    Liberal Democrat Party, the majority of which was incurred
    at the Labour Party Conference held in Manchester. Details of
    charitable donations are given in the Sustainable development
    section on page 30.

    The Co-Operative Party has VERY close affiliations with the Labour Party. Check it out.
  • Bernie
    Bernie Posts: 412 Forumite
    Options
    ...has been excellent again!

    They have resolved the DD issue completely including refunding the interest charged.

    Still first-class service.

    :T
    “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.

    But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

    Mark Twain
  • realaledrinker
    realaledrinker Posts: 1,661 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary I've been Money Tipped!
    Options
    Like I said, neither smile nor the Co-operative Bank make any political donations.... their ultimate parent might do, I grant you!
    Ethical moneysaver
  • realaledrinker
    realaledrinker Posts: 1,661 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post First Anniversary I've been Money Tipped!
    Options
    bubblesbonbon wrote: »
    It may be coincidence but these rates seem to have suffered since the introduction of the Cooperative Membership Scheme

    In my view rates went downhill when the small, efficent and profitable Co-operative Bank was forced into an 'arranged marriage' with the bloated, inefficent dinosaur that is CIS.
    Ethical moneysaver
  • oldagetraveller
    oldagetraveller Posts: 3,653 Forumite
    Options
    realaledrinker wrote: »
    Like I said, neither smile nor the Co-operative Bank make any political donations.... their ultimate parent might do, I grant you!

    This of course refers to the £3m + "loan" from the Co-Op Bank to the Labour Party which still has to be paid back??;)
  • Tirian
    Tirian Posts: 960 Forumite
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Options
    realaledrinker wrote: »
    In my view rates went downhill when the small, efficent and profitable Co-operative Bank was forced into an 'arranged marriage' with the bloated, inefficent dinosaur that is CIS.

    I could certainly believe this. My company stakeholder pension is with CIS and I was going to sign up when I joined, but they were so astonishingly incompetent at even such simple things as answering my phone calls and emails (not to mention miscalculating the contribution that I had requested), that I called the whole thing off and went to Norwich Union instead. The company don't contribute anything to the pension, so I'm not losing out - and I'm afraid there is no way on earth that I would trust the handling of my pension to a company whose customer service staff could not even grasp the difference between net and gross contributions. I'm not exactly a pensions expert, but at least I can comprehend that much!!
    For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also ...
This discussion has been closed.
★ ★ ★ Meet your Ambassadors

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 343.3K Banking & Borrowing
  • 250.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 449.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 235.3K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 608.1K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 173.1K Life & Family
  • 248K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 15.9K Discuss & Feedback
  • 15.1K Coronavirus Support Boards