smilemore/co-op privilege warning!

marky1982_2

Not sure if anyone else has had this problem - as an existing smile customer, I applied for the smilemore account to get the insurance freebies featured on the MSE news section (usually £13 a year but free for a year.) After about 5 days of to-ing and fro-ing through their secure message service - something they used to be quicker at replying to, incidentally - it now seems that if you are already a Co-op or Smile customer you cannot apply for this as section 7 of their T&Cs state:

7. Transfer of Direct Debits must be from another provider (not a smile or Co-operative Bank account)

Yet again, new customers are being treated better then existing ones. Be warned!

premierfella

marky1982 wrote: »

Yet again, new customers are being treated better then existing ones. Be warned!

Er, not entirely true?

The adverts are pretty clear that it is a switching offer, and Co-op have been generous enough to leave it open to existing customers with accounts elsewhere (they could easily have excluded existing customers completely).

You even have until the end of the year to get a switching form to them, allowing you time to open a mule account at another bank if you don't already have one and switch a direct debit to it to switch back to Co-Op/Smile using the form.

Co-op Bank has many faults, but I think they have been pretty fair on this particular offer.

jambosans

marky1982 wrote: »

7. Transfer of Direct Debits must be from another provider (not a smile or Co-operative Bank account)

Yet again, new customers are being treated better then existing ones. Be warned!

This condition applies to both existing and new custom. It's an incentive to attract customers to have their main banking relationship with smile or Co-Op. If you feel like you're not being "appreciated" take your business elsewhere, there are other banks with their own incentives to attract new business.

It's pretty common practice, I can't see why you're "warning" people, you didn't think even smile with their "ethical" stance would give you something for doing nothing?

realaledrinker

You clearly did not read the T&Cs.

I am a smilemore account holder, read the T&Cs, set up a single DD on a dormant halifax current account and then set the transfer in motion. Result - confirmed I have complied with the terms of the offer, saving £156 over the year, plus an unexpected bonus of £15 as they lost the transfer form & had to ask for another one from me!

I agree with the other posters - few if any other banks make switching deals available to existing customers.

marky1982_2

To be honest, I don't how the three of you could be bothered to set up another account elsewhere just to get around this switching rule...and I have another secure message from them today saying "Welcome to your Smilemore account!" when I have already told them I don't want the bloody thing! The customer service from smile has definitely got worse over the past year.

premierfella

marky1982 wrote: »

To be honest, I don't how the three of you could be bothered to set up another account elsewhere just to get around this switching rule

I wouldn't and have chosen not to take up this switching offer as the benefits of the added value account for me are next to worthless (I have most of them elsewhere). I was merely highlighting that new customers were not necessarily being treated better than existing ones.

marky1982_2

premierfella wrote: »

I wouldn't and have chosen not to take up this switching offer as the benefits of the added value account for me are next to worthless (I have most of them elsewhere). I was merely highlighting that new customers were not necessarily being treated better than existing ones.

Well they are, because the fee free offer is not applicable to existing customers who upgrade from a smile current account to a smilemore account unless they switch a DD they may have on another account in the meantime.

premierfella

marky1982 wrote: »

Well they are, because the fee free offer is not applicable to existing customers who upgrade from a smile current account to a smilemore account unless they switch a DD they may have on another account in the meantime.

I am happy to agree to disagree that this constitutes treating new customers better than existing ones, which is the comment my original post was challenging. Its a switching offer, not an upgrade offer. Customers new or existing have to switch to get it.

Bear in mind that if the Co-Op had allowed existing customers simply to take up the offer with a brief phone call to upgrade their accounts, the effective cost of doing that (call centre staff, cost of account benefits for the year) would have had to come from somewhere. And then there would have been the issue of those who already hold the account, etc, etc. Under that premise, I suspect there would be no switching offer for anyone - this way existing customers can still avail of the offer without excessive costs to the Co-op.

smoky

The other poster's points about "all other banks do similar" are accurate but not a reason for not feeling aggrieved. The headline advertising is "Whether you’re new to smile or you already have a smile current account, you can enjoy all of the smilemore added extras FREE for a year". Small print says this is only if you are an existing customer of Smile and of another bank. I see this as misleading.

Smile make a big point of being ethical and treating their customers fairly. In this case, I am a long standing customer (20+ years with Co-op) and, because I was previously fully committed to Smile (and happy with their service), have no other current accounts or direct debits to transfer. I am thus being treated worse (i.e. no free benefits) than another customer who has recently transferred to Smile from another bank (and will probably transfer again at the end of the offer).

The sum effect of this offer is that I have today opened another account at Lloyds TSB and, whilst I won't be closing the Smile account, will use the Smile account less and have a lot lower credit amount in the future. Their appeal to new customers whilst ignoring their current customers has certainly made me less loyal to the bank - surely not what they want.

realaledrinker

smoky wrote: »

Smile make a big point of being ethical and treating their customers fairly.

They are treating their customers fairly by providing terms and conditions better than any other switching offer currently available and which are very clearly set out for all to see.

If they gave every smilemore customer free banking for a year this would clearly increase their costs dramatically, resulting in a reduction in their outstanding customer service levels in some way or other. This would surely be unethical as people would lose their jobs because of it and would be not treating customers fairly as customers would suffer a drop in service levels.

sheff-spud

I disagree that existing customers are ignored.

Firstly like mentioned this is a switching offer, not an upgrade offer. So if you are an existing customer who also holds an account elsewhere then if you switch at least one direct debit from that other account then smile/co-op will give you the upgrade account free for a year. Seems fair afterall this is a bid by the co-op to increase share of current accounts but they are being prudent by wording the offer to discourage those who have no intention of making co-op their main bank.

Second the co-op rewards existing customers of its financial products with membership points based on credit or borrowed balances. The more business you do with them the more points you get. The points are converted into a share of the co-op groups profits paid twice a year. How many other banks share their profits with customers? There's the loyalty incentive in addition to great uk based customer service!