Smile Bank Customers - Email Campaign to improve website?
topher_2
Forumite 155 Posts
I'm a customer of Smile and I think their customer service is great. I know that their interest rates aren't brilliant but I mainly use them for my current accounts and a credit card.
I've just emailed them to suggest that they upgrade their website to allow customers to download statements and delete money transfers that are no longer used. I'm sure others reading this have a list of things they would like doing.
So the point of this message is to ask customers to email smile with these suggestions. I used the "talk to us" link on the website front page. Hopefully if enough people email they'll take notice.
Anyone interested in this?
Thanks!
I've just emailed them to suggest that they upgrade their website to allow customers to download statements and delete money transfers that are no longer used. I'm sure others reading this have a list of things they would like doing.
So the point of this message is to ask customers to email smile with these suggestions. I used the "talk to us" link on the website front page. Hopefully if enough people email they'll take notice.
Anyone interested in this?
Thanks!
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"At the moment smile is not directly 'downloadable' to software like Microsoft Money or Quicken. We're looking into providing this service in the future, though have no plans to incorporate it in the next few months."
Or, it would seem, in the next 18 months!
HTH
Smile's internet banking appears to be a slightly reworked version of the Co-Op's. I've got accounts with both and the same login details even work with both sites! Neither allow statement downloads.
I'm not too bothered about downloading statements as I prefer to 'tick off' on a spreadsheet anyway, however it would be useful to be able to 'file' a copy.
I too would like to be able to delete transfers, not a big issue and hadn't occurred to me to ask them to do it
Agreed. When I joined them in 2000 the interest rates were some of the best in the market. Now, however, they're quite mediocre.
Whilst a good proportion of people will stick with them because their customer service is better than the likes of Alliance and Leicester and Abbey, the vast majority that simply use the online banking and rarely have cause to come into contact with Smile's customer service may well be better off exploring the market.
I think this may have been a "get em in and they'll stay" tactic, although I might just be being cynical again . Has anyone else noticed that the overdraft rate has gone up to 15.9% AER? When I joined they were somewhere between 8 & 10%. Both Nationwide and NPBS beat them on this rate.
Such a shame really. I quite like Smile, although I couldn't care much for the vivid pink they have on the back of the debit and credit card!
The interest rates don't bother me, we use Smile as our main work-a-day bank and use others for better rates (our ISAs, savings and mortgage are elsewhere).
We did suffer some fraud on our Smile Visa card account which took quite a while for them to completely correct but they got there eventually with a bit of prodding from us.
Overall, we have enjoyed pretty good service throughout and are quite content with the status quo. We would be happy to commend Smile to others. Ten years of free banking - cannot complain at all....
But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”
Mark Twain
The £20 charge increases the overdraft rate between 17.23%-19.99% for the overdraft between £500 and £1500.
The new management policy seems to be how can we completely destroy the loyal customers fanbase (who's word of mouth recommendations has saved them 1000's), introduce 'unlawful' charges for admin work that clearly doesn't take place. They obviously have a plan to go the same way Abbey National went in the late 90's and have never recovered.
If you work for Smile in Customer Services 'jump ship' its sinking fast - customers are on the verge of a Mutiny! Its probably being a nice place to work at the glass pyramid - but the next 12 months look like good training for working for one of the big 4 - p*issed off customers and more unnecessary / 'unlawful' charges that are just impossible to justify to an educated customer base.
Sadly - If you are thinking of opening an account look elsewhere - the only direction Smile.co.uk seems to be going is downhill - AVOID.
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If you are been asked to pay the £20 Overdraft fee, I suggest you refuse to pay it until at least September 2008, ie. they extend the overdraft until then at least so that all customers are treated equally, as before Sept 2007 people would have negotiated the next 12 months free.
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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.
Seems they are pretty desperate to make some money somewhere ... they offered me a £25,000 loan when I rang up to check my balance. Which is quite astonishing really, because (a) it's more than my salary (b) I don't even pay my salary into this account, so as far as they know I have no regular income at all.
Anyway, I have no complaints about the service I've received from them at all. Oh, and although they don't provide pre-printed freepost deposit envelopes any more, there is still a Freepost address you can used to send deposits in. I just print off a few sheets of labels with the freepost address on and pop them on old envelopes as and when I need them. Saves paper, and is still free - double bonus. Well, OK there's the cost of a label and a bit of printer ink, but I think that I can probably stretch to that.
I would agree with you to a point - the £500 o/d is fee free, as is one from Nationwide, however a product that was comparatively excellent value some two, maybe three years ago doesn't cut the mustard now - e.g. Nationwide @ 9.9% vs Smile @ 15.9%. Also, the credit interest is lower - 2.78% vs 4% on an account with a monthly credit of >£1,000. I think the point is that Smile sold itself on being fresh, new and cutting edge, but now lags behind the opposition with its differential solely being customer service and a vivid pink website
This is a shame as most of us look for the "best deal", and I for one would accept less from them if they were relatively comparable with other offerings. Sadly, they don't just come close
Again, I agree, but at the same time they've priced themselves out of the equation. They're already charging a higher APR on their o/d than some others (Nationwide, NPBS and the like) AND if you have a higher limit than the bog standard £500, they want an extra £20 a year off you. Whilst there's nothing illegal/unlawful about providing this service (it annoys me when people shout unlawful at any old charge they don't like!) I would say that this is a bad business decision. I have the bog standard £500 with them, but if I needed more I wouldn't be inclined to ask them. There's better value elsewhere
And this is one of the reasons I'm not behind the reclaiming bank charges campaign. Smile is now just a shadow of its former self, and it's a shame that it would appear to be struggling to compete in such a cut-throat market. It should still be a market leader.
I've had several issues with their service in the past, but where things have gone wrong they've admitted that they messed up, apologised quickly and put things right with the minimum of fuss. As for freepost envelopes? I'm happy to drop cheques into the local co-op bank, and the local co-op supermarket will also take them for me.
My gripe is with their value to me as a customer of theirs, and that alone
Thanks for that snippet - I had not noted that and have just used the last of my stock of pre-printed, postage-paid envelopes.
Have to agree that the service has slipped - I've just had to question an interest charge on our Smile Visa card - the balance is cleared every month by DD on the matching Smile Current Account. This arrangement has been in place for years so I look forward to their explanation.
:beer:
But when I got to be twenty one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”
Mark Twain