Smile - Why I'm no longer smiling

arrowsmith

Having also been with Smile since almost the start, having had an ISA, current account, savings account and credit card with them, I left 3-4 years ago.

Their products were once class leading but slowly became average and then poor. Customer service was always excellent and actually I was kind of sad to be going, but having read certain things I no longer trusted the Co-op with my money.

A few years ago one of the guys in charge was featured in an article in the Times and it turns out they are one of the biggest backers of non premier league football clubs. He actually said in the article that it was a great opportunity, he couldn't believe other banks wern't investing in them. Football clubs are big money pits, people put money in as a hobby, virtually none of it is profit making.

Of course it turns out football is a disaster investment wise and Co-op lost 17 million on one club that should have gone bankrupt

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Mandaric-and-Allen-hail-bright.6643137.jp
29th Nov 2010
"The Co-Operative Bank, who were owed £23m by the Owls, have agreed to sell to Mandaric for just £7m and sever all ties. It is understood that directors Bob Grierson, Geoff Hulley, and Ken Cooke, along with former directors Mick Wright and Keith Addy have agreed to walk away with less than 50 per cent of what they are owed. However, they will be repaid the full amount if the club wins promotion to the Premier League."

Stuart_W

arrowsmith wrote: »

A few years ago one of the guys in charge was featured in an article in the Times and it turns out they are one of the biggest backers of non premier league football clubs. He actually said in the article that it was a great opportunity, he couldn't believe other banks wern't investing in them. Football clubs are big money pits, people put money in as a hobby, virtually none of it is profit making.

Of course it turns out football is a disaster investment wise and Co-op lost 17 million on one club that should have gone bankrupt

http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/sport/Mandaric-and-Allen-hail-bright.6643137.jp
29th Nov 2010
"The Co-Operative Bank, who were owed £23m by the Owls, have agreed to sell to Mandaric for just £7m and sever all ties. It is understood that directors Bob Grierson, Geoff Hulley, and Ken Cooke, along with former directors Mick Wright and Keith Addy have agreed to walk away with less than 50 per cent of what they are owed. However, they will be repaid the full amount if the club wins promotion to the Premier League."

I think we're heading into very dodgy ground if we are going to start condemning how "secure" the co-operative bank is.

It is one of the most stable and fully-solvent banks in the UK at the moment, has one of the best ratios of deposits to loans, did not need a penny of government support when so many of the other banks did in the banking crisis, and has recently been awarded the un-modest title of the most sustainable bank in the world by the financial times! The Sheff Wed situation is already fully accounted for in bad debt provision. I'm more than happy that they've got all of my money.
I'm inclined to agree with their advertising mantra - they are good with money.
http://www.cfs.co.uk/servlet/Satellite?c=Page&cid=1263305237429&pagename=Corp/Page/tplCorp&currart=1280733074016&currmth=08

Admittedly, customer service levels at certain times have been a little lacking more recently - but they have been overwhelmed with new customers from their high street branches, probably due to the banking crisis and the attractive "trustworthyness" of being a solvent member-owned bank. Hopefully things will improve post-Britannia integration.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Smile did have one last laugh at my expense (apart from the irony of £100 being paid incorrectly and that money was what they were paying me for all the mistakes they made to that point).

On another thread I have said an insurer refunded £23 to a credit card which if you followed this thread you would know I closed that card in favour of a better deal. I phoned Smile to say can they please transfer this money to my current account and I will withdraw it from that account. Fine, no problem. Didn't happen so I sent them a secure message saying I'd like the money. Then I received a reply saying my request had been actioned and the money would be transferred overnight to my current account.

The next day it hadn't happened so I left it a day and logged back in to discover the £23 wasn't anywhere to be seen. I made a phone call and someone investigated it for me only to discover the money had been transferred to one of the Co-Op child's accounts I closed down (see earlier posts). The gent was very apologetic and said he would sort it out, which to his credit he did.

What is really puzzling me though is the secure message about this has disappeared in a flash so I wonder if someone realised what happened and tried to cover their tracks. Surely it is wrong of a bank to delete secure messages without authorisation?

My banking with Smile was fine when it was all automatic or if it was something I did. When I have required human intervention their end every single time this year something has gone wrong and has required a minimum of two contacts to rectify by either secure message or telephone. I like to think I am straight talking and eloquent enough not to be confusing when I make clear requests. What is it with their staff in that case that leads them to provide such poor service and have so many mistakes?

I can only summise either staff are lazy or incompetent. They are always very friendly on the phone but customer service is one part 'bonding' with the customer and another part actually fulfilling the customer's request. With so many chances to get things right but failing every time Smile now seems to be one of the shoddiest operations in terms of getting things right in my experiences since August.

arrowsmith

Stuart_W wrote: »

I think we're heading into very dodgy ground if we are going to start condemning how "secure" the co-operative bank is.

I don't believe that anyone is talking about how "secure" their money is with the co-op bank. I don't trust some of the people in charge and the way they "invest" the money.

Also its a bad idea to leave all your money in one place, doesn't matter how wonderful it is, always wise to distribute it.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

My complaint with Smile is not yet quite resolved. I am still in dispute about the deleting of some secure messages and this has angered me since they are relevant and I wanted to keep them. Smile do not permit downloading of these messages and I didn't bother doing a screenprint as all the messages I wanted to keep over the years have always stayed there until I wanted to delete them. Funny now there is a live complaint against them messages start to go missing. I have referred this back to their executive team, it is fundamentally wrong a bank can delete messages that can be used as evidence in a complaint against them without my permission. I expect some answers as well, if the bank cannot track what has happened and why they will be in breach of financial regulations for a lack of an auditable system.

In the meantime I am keeping an eye on the account even though it is a nil balance, I do not intend closing it until I get full closure on my complaint - I want some answers. Closing my account at this stage will let them think I am about to go away and let this drop. From their treatment of my accounts between August and October or thereabouts I want some firm answers before I am going anywhere.

Jake'sGran

barak wrote: »

I might be able to solve at least one of your problems :j

I haven't tried it recently but there is an alternative to their 0870 number.

http://www.saynoto0870.com/

I am a long time customer of Smile/Co-op
and had a problem with them earlier this year. I tried very hard to find an alternative phone number but nothing worked so I was stuck with 0870.

Recently, I have considered changing but I am so used to them (and them to me I expect) that I just leave it be. I like the messaging service and always get answers quickly enough for my needs. I regularly say nasty things about the interest rate but they can see that I move money pretty fast to other banks and BSs. I got a long letter about my complaint this year - in one part telling me off - but I also received £50.

4$£&*(£$&*(!

Jake'sGran wrote: »

Recently, I have considered changing but I am so used to them (and them to me I expect) that I just leave it be.

Unfortunately that is the view of many people with banks, they get stuck in a position that is just about workable but far from perfect so they put up with it.

As I have said before they had so many chances to get so many different things right first time, yet they failed at every hurdle. Given the literally dozens of times they should have got something right but didn't, that points to incompetence in either staff, their training or their managers. I do not want any bank that displays these sorts of incompetency levels to have anything to do with my money.