Do Not Open A Smile Account

brookerbabyisababy

I have to honestly say in my lifetime one of the worst companies to deal with has to have been Smile part of the Co-Op. There service is next to nothing. They want you to do everything on their website and everything is automated. Problem is it is the worst website on earth. They have no class and last time I called I waited over 1 hour getting through. Then they have to go through there stupid security which is like a interrogation on your account. What is funny is if one thing is wrong they tell you to go to the Co-Op- it makes you sick. The employees are the worst of all - they are plain and simple rude. If there is one company to avoid it is Smile and the Co-Op.

Andy_L

Just for balance I'd say pretty much the opposite.
They want you to do everything on their website - which is why they're cheap & gives me control.
It's an average website.
Never waited more than 2-3 mins to get through on the phone on the rare occasions I've wanted to.
They ask security questions when you do (well thank god for that)
Never been told to phone the co-op, in fact when I've phoned the co-op number by mistake (have a co-op credit card as well) they've transferred me through
Call centre staff have always been polite & competent.

jtb2412

Must say i'd agree with Andy on this one. Security is there for a purpose and I did make a note of the questions when I opened my account (just in case I forgot ! lol) Had to ring them on a couple of occasions and found them to be nice and polite and haven't had to wait long to get through. Last occasion, the chap on the phone couldn't answer my question straight away, but he put me on hold and went and found out the answer for me.

Mikeyorks

If you want a fairly dedicated online Bank ..... why would you be puzzled that they want you 'to do everything on their website'? Isn't that their 'raison d'etre'?

brookerbabyisababy

Smile are horrible because

their website is crap. for a online bank that is a big no.
their people are awful. for a bank which prides itself on being otherwise that is a no.
their rates are dire. for a bank which doesn't have a high street branches that is a surprise.
they are plain and simply slow. you would have thought that having no branches they would have been able to deal with customer queries quickly. but no.
okay yes i get security is important. but come on. making you give you go through 9 different items and asking you to give them specific characters of those security items isn't just secure its a nightmare for you the customer. e.g can you give me the 11th letter of your favorite colour? when you just what the balance or cancel a direct debit it is not perfect its not going to make you smile.

Fedz

They should have biometric access and supply the fingerprint reader to all customers :rotfl:

Hazzanet

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

their website is crap. for a online bank that is a big no.

At their launch their website was groundbreaking, but I would tend to agree that it hasn't kept up with the times. In my opinion the best Internet Banking website I've used is that of the Nationwide. Truly brilliant.

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

their people are awful. for a bank which prides itself on being otherwise that is a no.

I've always found them very polite and helpful. Where something's gone wrong, they've immediately apologised, admitted they're in the wrong and nine times out of ten put it right. Indeed, for every time they've upset me, my former main bank, LloydsTSB would have upset me several times over.

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

their rates are dire. for a bank which doesn't have a high street branches that is a surprise.

I quite agree. They've not kept up with competitors at all, and frankly this needs to be addressed. When they opened their doors, they had market leading rates, but have been content to drag their heels in this respect. Shameful really.

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

they are plain and simply slow. you would have thought that having no branches they would have been able to deal with customer queries quickly. but no.

Depends on the complexity of the query. I've always had an immediate answer by phone, or 24 hours via secure message. Perhaps they were just having a bad day?

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

okay yes i get security is important. but come on. making you give you go through 9 different items and asking you to give them specific characters of those security items isn't just secure its a nightmare for you the customer. e.g can you give me the 11th letter of your favorite colour?

I've not experienced this. Normally on the phone, it's the 4 digit security code, and when you're through to an operator one of Memorable Date, Memorable Name, First or Last School. I don't believe I've told them that my favourite colour is aquamarine

brookerbabyisababy wrote: »

when you just what the balance or cancel a direct debit it is not perfect its not going to make you smile.

Both can be done on the website, so why would you need to phone? Also, you could get a balance from a cash machine.

At the end of the day, they are an online bank... I seem to recall that the telephone service is a backup rather than to be used all the time. That's why they're Smile the internet bank, not Smile, the telephone bank.

Hazza

topher_2

I've got to say one of the positive things about Smile is the customer service - I've never waited more than 5 minutes to talk to someone and they've always been helpful.

Their website is easy to use but doesn't have all the features an internet bank should have - you can't download a statement for example. When I logged in this morning I noticed a message saying that on Saturday night/Sunday morning they are making minor changes to the website - I hope they are adding some new features!

I agree with others on this thread that the interest rates are no longer competitive.

I'm still happy with Smile for my current account but my savings are elsewhere apart from a very small "emergency fund" that can be transfered immediately should I need to.

I hope that Smile read our comments!

soolin

I love my Smile account and of course they were also near the very top of the poll on the Watchdog survey.

Yes you do everything online..but um, they are an online bank. If you want a branch or telephone support then go to a high street bank.

Their website could possibly be a little easier to navigate for one off queries, it took me a while to find their telephone number the first time I looked for it, but on a day to day basis I find it easier than most. I also have had my phone calls to customer support answered within a few rings whenever I have called them.

AS for the questions..I don't understand that point at all? When you register you set up simple questions and answers that enable you to be identified when you use the site or call them, it is called security. The alternative would of course be to have any person just able to log in without answering any secret questions or knowing digits from a password and I know which I would prefer.

If you think Smile are complicated try getting into Barclays with a Pin sentry machine. At least 1 in 4 of my attempts returns an invalid operation error.

SparciaM

I have to say smile are nothing like the original poster suggests. They only have 5 memorable pieces of info they 'may' ask and if u forget ur security or log in under a joint acc as other person or forget these then they ask u questions about ur acc NEVER a colour! I used to work for smile and colour was NEVER a question!

I think the original post has either done something themselves with security or is moaning untrue truths for the sake of it! Why don't u back up ur claims? Why is the website ' crap' why are their rates 'crap' compared to others? Why did u have to give the 11th letter of ur favourite colour when it isn't known by smile for security?

Hazzanet

SparciaM wrote: »

why are their rates 'crap' compared to others?

That's exactly the question we're asking