Al Rayan Bank Warning

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DoDa
DoDa Posts: 49 Forumite
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in Savings & investments
I have been trying to make a partial transfer from my Al Rayan Bank Cash ISA to my Coventry Building Society (CBS) ISA since early September. Al Rayan Bank still use the paper based transfer system and therefore under FSC rules have 15 days to complete the transfer. Towards the end of the the first 15-day period I contacted CBS who stated that they had not heard back from Al Rayan Bank following their transfer request. Al Rayan Bank told me they had not received the request. CBS issued a second request and I rang Al Rayan Bank to confirm they had received it and were processing the transfer.

Al Rayan Bank sent CBS a cheque and the funds were credited to my CBS ISA on Monday 14/10/19. Today I received a letter from CBS saying the cheque had been returned unpaid and my CBS ISA account debited. After the usual 30-minutes on hold I spoke to an Al Rayan Bank employee who would only give me his first name, could not explain what has happened or understand my concern over my missing savings. Apparently Al Rayan Bank do not do call backs so I have to call again on Monday to find out what has happened to my savings. What a shambles. I will be transferring the rest of my savings and never having anything to do with Al Rayan Bank again.
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  • xylophone
    xylophone Posts: 44,422 Forumite
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    How extremely strange - did the letter from CBS give any indication as to what the problem may have been?

    You will be making a formal complaint in writing?

    https://www.alrayanbank.co.uk/useful-info-tools/about-us/contact-us/complaints-procedure/
  • Living_proof
    Living_proof Posts: 1,921 Forumite
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    I agree that all is not well at Al Rayan. I will be contacting the Regulator on Monday as a £1500 deposit I made a few weeks ago has disappeared.
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  • eskbanker
    eskbanker Posts: 31,066 Forumite
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    Living_proof wrote: »
    I agree that all is not well at Al Rayan. I will be contacting the Regulator on Monday as a £1500 deposit I made a few weeks ago has disappeared.
    The regulator (FCA) will say that they don't accept consumer complaints about regulated businesses and will instead point you towards the Financial Ombudsman Service.

    In turn, FOS will highlight the need to go through the provider's formal complaints process (to the point of final response) before escalating to them.

    How far have you taken your formal complaint with Al Rayan so far (as per the process outlined in the link in the above post), and what has their response been?
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,277 Forumite
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    Just for information, on Monday I made a complaint through the web form linked in xylophone's post. Al Rayan so far have failed to send me an acknowledgement within 5 working days as set out in their resolution time (though perhaps they don't want to use the email address / mobile number I provided and there is a letter in the post).

    So I rather suspect they are as busy handling complaints as they are overwhelmed by calls following the launch of their table-topping easy access savings account.
  • SevenOfNine
    SevenOfNine Posts: 2,357 Forumite
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    An earlier thread about communication problems with Al Rayan was making me think twice about depositing a maturing £28,000 there.

    THIS thread has certainly given me focus, thanks DoDa. I'm sure many have no problems, but I don't want to be one of those who does!
    Seen it all, done it all, can't remember most of it.
  • Living_proof
    Living_proof Posts: 1,921 Forumite
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    eskbanker wrote: »
    How far have you taken your formal complaint with Al Rayan so far (as per the process outlined in the link in the above post), and what has their response been?

    I haven't yet put in a formal complaint, but spent 33 minutes listening to arabic chanting waiting for a customer service response. I was told everything was down to IT failure and that it is being sorted. Over a week on I had heard nothing more and phoned again, this time there was a pre-recorded message to the effect that welcome packs were being sent out by email and that the matter was being dealt with. I am going away in a few days and won't be back until mid-November so I will try and get something formally started before I go. It is the worst customer service I have ever come across in financial services, gives no confidence at all in their system and as it will be the first time many people in the UK have put money in the Sharia way of banking, it is a very poor introduction.
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  • emc
    emc Posts: 256 Forumite
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    Living_proof wrote: »
    It is the worst customer service I have ever come across in financial services, gives no confidence at all in their system and as it will be the first time many people in the UK have put money in the Sharia way of banking, it is a very poor introduction.
    I agree totally, having opened several fixed term accounts without problem over a period of two years, and then about the middle of last year, starting to encounter horrifically poor service, on several fronts, so much so that I had to make a formal complaint to Al Rayan, which eventually went to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 23,277 Forumite
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    Thanks for confirming my suspicions emc. The good news is that there are alternative products offered by firms with much better service and rates almost as good.
  • Zanderman
    Zanderman Posts: 4,683 Forumite
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    Living_proof wrote: »
    ...as it will be the first time many people in the UK have put money in the Sharia way of banking, it is a very poor introduction.

    I'm not sure it's fair to suggest that Al Rayan's failures are anything to do with the 'sharia way of banking'.

    There are, and have been, many other sharia banks out there and many here have money in accounts with those with no problems.

    This seems to be a technical problem that they're having - it's nowt to do with their banking philosophy!
  • emc
    emc Posts: 256 Forumite
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    Zanderman wrote: »
    There are, and have been, many other sharia banks out there and many here have money in accounts with those with no problems.
    Absolutely. Since I stopped using Al Rayan because of their bank procedures and appalling customer service, I have been using other sharia banks, such as Gatehouse and BLME, and found them much better, particularly in the way they operate, the way they communicate with the customer, and in their customer service generally.
    Zanderman wrote: »
    This seems to be a technical problem that they're having - it's nowt to do with their banking philosophy!
    The issues I encountered from Al Rayan started last year, well before their current issues, which are in any case much more than just a 'technical problem'.

    The issues were to do with Al Rayan's procedures, which have not changed from last year, and customer service, which have clearly got even worse, partly as a result of the new accounts opened on their Everyday Saver, which they started with a high interest rate, but quickly and drastically cut that rate.
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