Students steer clear
12 of 12 Ciao Users found the following review helpful
()
Advantages Debit Card (nice colour!)
Disadvantages Late notice of charges, false advertising, poor service
I 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 a friend a cheque for some money I owed him. Now, i fully accept that when I wrote this cheque there was not enough funds to cover it. But cheques take four working days to clear. Or do they. Two days later I went to put in money, thinking it was all ok. Only to discover the cheque had already gone though. And a £30 charge whacked on my account. Since when have cheques cleared in two days? When it suits the bank, thats when. In addition, I did not recive written notice of the charge until 4 days AFTER it had been imposed. I'm not sure if this is even legal.
The BOS advertises the Solo card as being wonderful as it is not possible to go over your account balance. Not in my case. I was treating my partner to an Italian meal one evening, and I paid with my Solo card. It was accepted. I then went to the cash machine to get money for a taxi home. I withdrew £10.- this took me 4p (yes, four pennies) over my account balance... another £30 charge. But why did I go over my balance? I shouldn't be allowed to with the wonderful Solo card. When I enquired, apparently, this does not cover cash withdrawls made in the early hours of a Sunday morning whe Solo transations have not cleared. A bit strange if you ask me.Why was I not informed of this when I opened the account? Why was I not told of charges which would have been imposed on my account.
Of lesser importance, the account offered a pitiful interest rate. I was not so bothered about this - I opened the account more for the convenience (ha!) of the Solo facility.I also subscribed to the banks 'phoneline' service. What can I say? In my experience of the phoneline... I think I would have had a quick response from a pile of earth.
So three 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.
Detailed Rating
| Efficiency of service | |
|---|---|
| Competitiveness of charges/rates | |
| Staff courtesy | Average |
| Promptness of service | Poor |
| Online - Content/organization of site | Not Applicable |
| Online - Reliability/speed of site | Not Applicable |
| Online - Ease of applying for products | Not Applicable |
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| 1 - 5 out of 12 comments
killip 22/03/2001 22:11
Brilliant op, but I wouldn't bank with them anyway seeing as they don't think Bradford is good enough for a branch (although EVERY SINGLE OTHER bank has at least one branch) but I can reccomend NatWest, they have 4% intrest instead of the 2.5% offered by Bank of Scotland and they are very helpful. Its actually 3 working days in most cases for a cheque :). Anyway, good op and keep p the good work.
starry 16/03/2001 00:39
jason.rowe 16/03/2001 00:35
Diane22025 16/03/2001 00:01
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| 1 - 5 out of 12 comments
Just go into your local branch and explain your situation - £30 fee for going 4p over is plain theft. As for the cheques - well the money comes out of your account as soon as he puts it in, but he doesn't get the money until 3 workings days later - So that was really your own fault.... most banks will let you away with this the 1st time. I've been with the Bank of Scotland for over 4 years now - and have always had any charges refunded. I would definetly recommend them!