Make visual effects for features films such as Gladiator and Harry Potter
Make visual effects for features films such as Gladiator and Harry Potter
Member since:20.03.2002
Reviews:7
Members who trust:1
Background: I have been a customer from year1. I had (still have in fact) accounts with barclays and abbey national however they are now used only for emergencies now. Disatisfied with both I looked at the newly advertised smile. The great interest rates - ethical banking (it being part of co-op) made me think it seemed to be good to true. Eventually I plucked up the courage and went for it.
Initial impressions: It was not clear and some people still seemed confused by the application criteria. YOu need EITHER your SALARY to be paid in regularly OR at least £1000/month ie. if your salary is less then £1000/month then thats fine as long as its regular. A fairly painless
transfer for myself, though I know others that have had some problems getting accepted. I have few direct debits to transfer and good credit rating. Even then it only takes a quick call to the amazingly efficient customer services to sort out most application problems. I filled out the simple clear online application and sat back and waited... Soon enough a card arrived which I could start using immediately even before depositing any money using up my £500 free overdraft! Cheque book and welcome pack soon followed. The web site at that time was rather ameuterish though I would say more human and friendly. It was simple and a joy to use. Quick at all times and never in my experience crashed. It was always available except for very ocasional maintenance very late at night. Do you really need to check your balance at 3am?? I was delighted with the amazing interest at the time around 4.5% I think. I earnt more in one month than I did in a whole year with rip off barclays and useless abbey national.
Current experience: I am still smiling. I keep wonder when I will awake from this pleasant dream, when the dark unplesant reality of todays corporate money grabbing business world will cut in.. .after about 5 years it hasnt yet! Sure interest rates have gone down but they pledge to both raise and lower interest rates directly inline with base rate. They have not so recently redesigned the web site so it looks a little more professional. Gone are the quirky pictures but it is still pleasant, clean and free of clutter (unlike egg!) Could be a few improvements but they are pretty much spot on with this now. I have NEVER had a problem or any complaint whatsoever. I may be lucky but the legions of happy customers have come across make me think that I am not just lucky. Customer service is still outstanding at every level, both on the phone and through the secure email system they have in place. Replies are always sent within 24 hours minimum.
Details: Wont go into this too much as you can find most info on the site. They provide cash mini ISA's (they used to have the best rates around check for current status), current accounts, credit card accounts, savings account, student accounts and loans. They also provide other services such as insurance and mortgages and stocks isa's but these are provided by third parties or the co-op of which smile is a subsidiary. You can setup standing orders, direct debits, pay bills, transfer funds and all the usual banking tasks. Best to look at the online demo to see all this in action. I have used the web site on both mac and pc and even linux and unix. I have used it on netscape 4 and IE. I am currently using netscape7 with no problems. They only validate explorer but the other browers work though with the exception of Opera I think.
A short story that sums up smiles attitude I think Soon after joining I was asked to join a focus group to discuss smile and banking. The meeting was in a pub rather than the more usual hotel room. The market researcher explained that smile had asked for this specifically as they felt the money should be better spent on the customers than on providing big conference rooms for focuse groups. THe marketing guy was so impressed with his clients that he set up a smile account to. He said they were some of the friendliest and most sincere people he had worked with. Weirdly all us smile disciples agreed, fervently preaching the wonders of smile...
lets hope it lasts
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Let's face it, all banks are commercial operations, not charities. But having recently joined Smile, I have found them user-friendly, and they reply to e-mail enquiries promptly and helpfully. It's good to be able to view your Direct Debit set-ups and payments.
darpor 27.08.2002 22:59
As we have seen before, many times, it doesn't always last. As you say though, lets hope it does. Excellent op. Darren.
CareBear 21.08.2002 12:45
easy to read, sensible opinion! A huge welcome (back) to Ciao! Claire
Advantages: Ethical bank, good interest rates, cheap overdraft, OK site, Post Office OTC service Disadvantages: Extortionate admin and penalty charges, can't remove overdarft, seems slow
magdadh 18.01.2005 (18.01.2005)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Smile Accounts
Aug 20th, 2002
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