Royal Bank of Scotland > Reviews (70)

Having spent 11 years of my working life at the Royal Bank of Scotland, now that I can look at it with a degree of detatchment I think I should write a review.

I joined the bank in 1989 when it was quite frankly very low down in the UK bank ratings. Financially they weren't doing very well (It was a hard time for all banks because of the burst in the property bubble, but we seemed to be particularly vulnerable) but it was on the whole a nice place to work, of course there was the odd boss who made you glad when it was home time, but all the staff were good and there were no sales targets. What I can remember of those early days were really long hours and loads of paperwork. It was shortly after this that all the changes started to come about.

A 5 year plan was introduced to improve customer service and profitablity and at this point Sales were invented. I am sure they were a big part of branch targets before now but it was never previously expected that the lower minions should become actively involved.

Anyway to cut a long story short, staff numbers reduced dramatically, technology improved equally as dramatically and sales took off. Now, especially following the Natwest takeover, the Royal Bank of Scotland is one of the forerunners in UK banking.

What do they have to offer the consumer? As with all banks there are a number of accounts available and the introduction of 'added value' accounts is now the fashionable thing. The Royal Bank is no exception with the Royalties and the Royalties gold accounts. Even as a member of staff I loved these accounts, I won't bore you with all the benefits as they are all on the website but I'll give you a brief overview of the ones I use regularly.

The account offers interest, not a huge amount and no where near covers the £10 a month fee but its there and I definately get my annual value from other things. I have the Royalties Gold account and the most useful to me is the annual travel insurance. This does include winter sports, and covers the whole family. This means that no matter who we book our travel through we are covered. Royalties also have a travel booking facility which offers 10% discount off the brochure price - this is on all add ons as well so if you book your car hire or disney tickets you get additional discount. They also have free entry into the executive lounges at UK airports where available, this really takes the stress out of the airport bit of the holiday and there are ones you can take kids into and get free drinks.

The next section I have used recently is the concert booking. The account gives 25% on theatre and concert tickets so when I went to see Robbie Williams at knebworth this year I am fairly confident I paid one of the lowest prices there. It also has the convenience factor in that these tickets were extremely popular and sold out early on. I phoned a week before they went on sale, they took details of my requirements and phoned me back to confirm. Essentially they cover most major ticket events in the UK so is worth checking out.

There is a home shopping service that offers discounted electrical items (and we bought our bikes through this) they will negotiate if you can prove you have found it cheaper elsewhere so as long as you shop around and know what you want and how much you can expect to pay for it it is worth it. I have used this less recently as you can often find things cheaper on the internet and they will no longer match internet prices (although we got some really good deals in the early days)

There are other assurance and life cover benefits but this will turn into a really long review if I go into detail with them all.

Next I will turn to the service. Royal Bank do take customer service very seriously and the staff are targeted on customer satisfaction so on the whole the service is very good and has improved over the years with the advances in technology. As a customer I have always received excellent service and it would be unprofessional for me to comment from an employee side but I can assure you it is very high on the agenda of the staff.

My favourite aspect of being a customer of RBS is the digital banking site, I can manage all my accounts over the internet and it is in a very similar format to what I was used to as a member of staff, and if I am away from the pc there is the telephone 'direct banking' service.

I can recommend the Royal Bank from both a customer and as an ex-member of staff. I have no regrets about leaving them as my life has taken a very different direction now, but I have opened my business account with them as it is easy in the beginning - I may not keep it there as business charges can be high, but unless they have a change of policy and seriously upset me my personal account is there for good.

Thank you for reading.