OK, well just about everyone on here is probably sick of my whinging about the entire UK being afflicted with poor customer service disease, but hey, when organisations keep giving me such easy targets, its hard to resist!
Today's target is the Bank of Scotland business current bank account. ... Read review
Advantages: Easy to set up Disadvantages: Telephone only, hidden charges, you name it!
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Today's target is the Bank of Scotland business current bank account.
There are several reasons for their being targetted, but I think they can all be summed up in two ways, misleading advertising and poor customer service.
I'll attempt to tackle each issue in detail:
WHAT IS THE PRODUCT?
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Well, all businesses need somewhere to store their hard earned cash, ... .../>
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT BANK OF SCOTLAND?
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These days, most personal accounts are free of all charges unless you are overdrawn irrespective of who you bank with, but for businesses, the old charges for using cheques, withdrawing cash etc. still apply.
Most high street banks offer new businesses anything between 12 and 24 months free banking.
OK, well just about everyone on here is probably sick of my whinging about the entire UK being afflicted with poor customer service disease, but hey, when organisations keep giving me such easy targets, its hard to resist!
Today's target is the Bank of Scotland business current bank account.
There are several reasons for their being targetted, but I think they can all be summed up in two ways, misleading advertising and poor customer service.
I'll attempt to tackle each issue in detail:
WHAT IS THE PRODUCT? ---------------------
Well, all businesses need somewhere to store their hard earned cash, Shaun and I are no exception. The two most common options for businesses are not really any different to those for personal customers, they offer a savings account and a current account. The current account (which I am reviewing) is the best option for us because we need a cheque book to pay our suppliers and we need easy access to our cash.
WHAT IS DIFFERENT ABOUT BANK OF SCOTLAND? -------------------------------------------
These days, most personal accounts are free of all charges unless you are overdrawn irrespective of who you bank with, but for businesses, the old charges for using cheques, withdrawing cash etc. still apply.
Most high street banks offer new businesses anything between 12 and 24 months free banking.
However, despite advertising to the contrary, Bank of Scotland DO NOT offer free banking - it is conditional free banking.
What has annoyed me in particular about the Bank of Scotland is that they have great big posters all over the place advertising 'No business bank charges - ever' (not just for new businesses) and when we were introduced by the Halifax, (our personal bank), we were told again, 'no bank charges, its free banking'.
In actual fact, they are one of the few banks who still apply charges for new businesses, including a charge per cheque of 40p unless you have an enormous sum of several thousand pounds in your account (something in very tiny small print). The print was so small, we only found out that in fact, banking WASN'T free when our statements started showing bank charges.
HOW DO YOU OPEN AN ACCOUNT? -----------------------------
You can go into any branch of the Halifax or Bank of Scotland, and they will hand you out the appropriate forms and then after they have been completed, they will arrange for someone from the Bank to call and speak to you, as everything is done over the telephone (this is a Telephone/Internet account).
As with any other bank account these days, you need to take in plenty of ID, such as a driving licence, passport and cheque card etc. The reasons for all this ID are simple, it prevents fraud and protects customers.
After the initial telephone call, the account is set up fairly quickly and we only had to wait a few days to receive cheque books etc. I did have to ask for a statement folder, which I was a little surprised at, I would have thought these would have been sent automatically with a new account, but then again, I suppose it isn't so common as it used to be.
The contact number (I think!) is 0845 300 1956, but this may not still be accurate.
HOW DOES THE ACCOUNT OPERATE? -------------------------------
Well, you don't walk into your high street Bank and see a Manager, it is all done over the telephone with a call centre in Scotland, you also have internet access but at no point do you have face to face contact with the bank.
Apparently, you are supposed to be assigned a Manager, but we have never been able to find out the name of our Manager, or to speak to him/her to assess his/her competency.
We pay in cheques via self-addressed envelopes they send us, but obviously we'd have trouble paying in cash as they don't have many high street branches - they are linked with Halifax, but our nearest branch is about 15 miles away, too far to do a daily run.
As we only bank cash at the end of the month, its not too much of an inconvenience for us, but for businesses such as vending firms, with big bags of small change, it would cause major problems.
AND CUSTOMER SERVICE? -----------------------
The people we have spoken to have all been very pleasant, which is obviously important. However, the advice given has been very inconsistent, and we have frequently been passed around departments, sometimes being on hold for ages.
Even the telephone numbers you ring to access your account have changed, and the one printed on the back of the cheque book we were only sent a month or so ago is out of date.
Our most major gripe was in arranging joint access to the account, which is only held in Shaun's name. I was initially given access with no problems at all. Then Shaun was told in order for me to continue to access the account, I would need to quote his password.
On the next occasion I called, they would not allow me access even though I said the password because they said they needed Shaun to put this in writing (even though he's already named me on the initial forms). He did this again, but the forms somehow got lost.
This farce still hasnt been sorted to date, sometimes they give me the information with the password, sometimes they don't and insist it isnt set up on the account, which is VERY frustrating.
WHAT DO THE BUSINESS ADVISORS RECKON ON THIS ACCOUNT? -----------------------------------------------------
Well, with all the telephone number changes, hassle and finally, the charges, we discussed the situation with our small business adviser.
He felt the account offered poor service for new businesses when compared with many of the other High Street Banks, and certainly, we were not happy so on his advice, we have now changed banks.
We only wished we had discussed a business account with him before opening one, because in changing to another bank, we now have free banking for 2 years, our own local Manager who will visit us and offer telephone advice on a one-to-one basis (rather than a different person every time you call), not to mention a business expansion loan at a very competitive rate!
Overall, Shaun and I were sad that this didn't work out, and that as a result we had to change our business banking facilities. It must be said, though, if we hadn't been led to believe it was free banking, we wouldn't have chosen this account in the first place.
RECOMMENDATIONS ----------------
From my experience, Bank of Scotland didn't work for us and I wouldnt recommend it for any other start up business who would probably need a little more support initially and who won't pay bank charges (except overdraft fees) almost anywhere else.
Its too early to fully rate our new bank, I'm not even naming it until I see how it pans out.... then I'll share it with my Ciao friends! At least right now, we are not paying any charges, which is good.
What I would strongly recommend if you are thinking of starting up in business & opening a business bank account is to speak to a Business Advisor. Their advice is usually free for the first few months via such organisations as Business in Focus, and they will be able to advise you on the best deal for your individual situation. As they will have good relationships with the local banks, they will be able to advise what will work best for you, if we had done this earlier, we would be better off now.
I hope this is of some help to new businesses seeking a bank account, and if that's you, I wish you the very best of success with your new venture!
Advantages: Biggest overdraft, branches are plentiful, great service Disadvantages: Can't think of any!
...a student and chose the Bank of Scotland mainly because they offered the largest interest free overdraft - In my first year I didn't need this, but I'm thankful that I took it as its proved very handy this year (2nd year)
I originally wanted to go with Lloyds - but they said I couldn't bank with them because no member of my family banked with them (great business model) - I hope they go bust now. But them I'm glad they did, because I got to go with ... ...two credit cards with the Bank of Scotland, and everything it managed from the one portal. It's secure, easy to use and doesn't require you to write down your password and pick the 7th, 11th and 12th letters from it just to log in.
Telephone banking is also relatively easy - with a trusting scottish accent on the automated system you come out of the ordeal slightly happier than you were before - quite impressive for telephone banking I must say!
...
Diablo666 08.03.2008 (12.08.2008)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Bank of Scotland Accounts
Advantages: Debit Card (nice colour!) Disadvantages: Late notice of charges, false advertising, poor service
...opened an account with The Bank Of Scotland in June last year. They gave me a lovely camp cash card with a Solo facility, and a cheque book. Everything seemed fine.... for two weeks.
I recieved a letter from UGC cinemas regarding a direct debit for their cinema subscription... it had been cancelled. But why? There were sufficient funds in my account and I didn't ask for it to be cancelled. That was black mark number one.
A few weeks later I wrote ... ...months after opening an account with the BOS, I closed it. It's clear that complaining does nothing with the BOS, so what else but to take my custom elsewhere.
The only thing which impressed my about the Bank Of Scotland was the design of the card I received. ...
tw1314 15.03.2001 (17.03.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bank of Scotland Accounts
...so badly treated by any bank as I was with thr Bank of Scotland. I had been a loyal customer since I was about 5 so when I went to University I assumed I would get a student accout with them.
I waited untill I had turned 18 before applying for one as I thought that it woul be a bit pointless before then as I already had a cheque account with them and i wouldn't be able to take advantage of a switch card or an overdraft untill then anyway.
So, my ... ...I went along to the bank and asked to be transferred to a student account. Their response (2 weeks later I might add) was basically "no, we think you can do with the account you have just now"
Bearing in mind that I hadn't yet recieved my grant cheque yet, due to various mess ups, so I was living off my very kind flatmates money, so i really needed an overdraft!
I explained all of this to them in great detail, showed them the letter from the awards ...
Kunama 15.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bank of Scotland Accounts
Advantages: Lower APR, online Disadvantages: Any APR is a disadvantage
I have recently taken a personal loan with HBoS and I was offered the Preference Account. At first I did not accept, but after getting annoyed at my credit card company (Capital One) I have decided to use it in favour of the credit card. The interest rate on the preference account is 28.9% oppose to my credit card is above 30%.
Re: Martin Rowley 's review: http://www.ciao.co.uk/Bank_of_Scotland_Accounts__Review_5067338
More specifically to Martin ... ...are made aware of the interest rates when you apply, if you go a head and use a large chunk/all of the available money then that is entirely your fault, not the banks, so it should not receive a bad review for that reason - i.e. your irresponsbility. I have no affiliation with HBoS despite this review possibly suggesting such, however it annoys me when people don't take responsibility for their actions and check obvious details such as the APR. ...
Teaser318 02.09.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bank of Scotland Accounts
The express account with the bank of Scotland is a very good account for children/teens of the age 11-16. When you first join you get a free gift which you can chose yourself from an electronic organiser, a personal mini radio or fact file. Also every three months you get a statement and a magazine which you also get special discount offers with. Each member gets a bank card so that he or she can withdraw money from any cash machine without going ...
vc123 18.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Bank of Scotland Accounts
Efficiency of service
Competitiveness of char...
Online - Content/organi...
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