Smile - Are they any good?

GrahamH

Been with them as my main bank since 2000. Good service, with knowledgeable, helpful, on the ball, UK based staff. Rates are much better than most, although a little way off the best out there.

Website is functional and robust, and all the basic services work well. Emails are answered promptly.

Telephone customer service is 24 hours a day and can do almost anything at any time of day or night. (Don't use the 0870 number though - use 0161 477 1927 instead)

Never had the 7 day problem referred to above - If I pay in a cheque, it's into a Post Office branch on a Saturday morning, and clears into my account on the following Thursday, same as it would for a high street bank. (Coop bank own Smile, but I don't know where my nearest Coop bank is - I never need to go there!)

Quickly learned what bad service is when I attempted to transfer to Coventry Building Soc "First" account (one of Martin's recommendations, and being plugged again in the email today) Coventry are completely shambolic, and make the high street operators look good! Customer service claims to be available 8-8, but no-one with any authority to fix things is available outside 10-4. The website is crude and lacks functionality. Then they lie incessantly about the costs of using their 0845 number. Would not touch them with barge pole now, personally - and I was a satisfied mortgage customer of theirs for 7 years!

After Coventry made a complete hash of transferring my Direct Debits and Standing Orders, I went quickly back to Smile - they know what they are doing.

Overall I'd give them 8/10 ( vs Coventry 1/10, Nationwide 5/10, First Direct 6/10 from personal experience over the last 5 years)

Frankly I don't give two hoots about the ethical bit, or free bottles of wine, but a combination of decent rates and efficient effective service do it for me!

oldagetraveller

About 3 months ago I stupidly transferred my account from smile to Cahoot. Now transferred back again! Having never trusted a bank in the past to transfer the account e.g. Direct Debits I decided to let smile look after this aspect. 100% perfect, it's taken less than 3 weeks.:T Cahoot can't even set up a DD when everythings more or less done for them.:mad:
So I know which of the two I prefer in spite of the slightly lower smile current account interest rate.

Voyager2002

I agree with the above poster. I started using UK banks in 1976, and have banked with Smile since 2000. Smile is far and away better than any othre bank I have experienced, with the possible exception of First Direct.

As for paying in, I always go to a branch of the Co-op bank. If you pay in a cheque at the post office it gets sent by ordinary mail, and you don't have any kind of receipt if the cheque gets lost. At least the system for paying in cash at the PO is a bit more secure, but I would still prefer to do everything at a bank branch so the funds credit immediately.

billbob

I was with Smile for a few years, but they finally blew it when they refused to refund a bank charge for a bankers reference which they never actually produced. I found their service and website pretty basic compared to other sites and what I didn't find very professional was the bad grammer and spelling mistakes in their secure messages.

I am now with First Direct, although the rates aren't great, I love the fact that they are so efficient and helpful on the phone.

CopperPlate_2

billbob wrote:

I was with Smile for a few years, but they finally blew it when they refused to refund a bank charge for a bankers reference which they never actually produced. I found their service and website pretty basic compared to other sites and what I didn't find very professional was the bad grammer and spelling mistakes in their secure messages.

I am now with First Direct, although the rates aren't great, I love the fact that they are so efficient and helpful on the phone.

That's a pity. Was that your only problem with Smile billbob or was that "the last straw"?

kenshaz

UncleJoe wrote:

I have been meaning to switch my First Direct internet bank account (very poor interest and naff website) to either Smile or Cahoot (better interest rates).
I noticed the thread about the free case of wine from Smile, but aside from that I have heard lots of things about them giving poor customer service. I also noticed it takes 7 days to pay in money!?

Can anyone recommend Smile, or Cahoot, or any other internet account provider?

Never open an account on the basis of a freebie,move to cahoot excellent customer service,transfers of money OK

CopperPlate_2

Smile offer decent products - okay, perhaps not the most ground-breaking rates, but their customer service is excellent I've found, and the ethical stance has to be applauded.

From experience, cahoot were worse than useless in their administration of account opening and subsequent account management, but then there are good and bad experiences of all banks and financial institutions. Go with whatever you are reasonably happy with after reading all the information about it - if you don't like it once you're there, you can always move again.

oldagetraveller

billbob wrote:

what I didn't find very professional was the bad grammer and spelling mistakes in their secure messages.

Try a spell check - sorry, couldn't resist.

kenshaz

oldagetraveller wrote:

Try a spell check - sorry, couldn't resist.

Does it really matter ,when the content is good,please do not start scrutinizing post ,makes users hesitate and spoils flow

CR1_2

I've been with Smile since 2000. Customer service is great either by telephone or secure messaging on their website. Staff are genuinely helpful. I was particularly impressed with them when I had to report the loss of my debit card. I was away from home at the time and the lady who dealt with my call was particularly sympathetic and sensitive to the stress that it was causing me. I received a replacement card within a few days.
For those who may be interested, Smile allow you to open as many savings accounts with them as you want. I am just starting to open more accounts with them now so that I can implement Martin's "piggybank" approach to saving...with instant access to all of them under one umbrella.