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Smile |
Smile is owned by the Co-Operative Bank and prides itself on its ethical criteria for investments and savings. It is primarily an internet bank.
As with the majority of internet banks it specialises in internet savings and current accounts, but it also offers credit cards and mortgages through the Co-Operative Bank.
Smile offer a reward current account called Smile More, where you pay £13/month and you receive UK and European motor breakdown cover, worldwide family travel insurance and mobile phone insurance.
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I was with Smile before and they used to be good. Second time round big mistake, referred to me as sir, staff insulted me, generally rude, stopping payments saying lack of funds when this wasn't the case. Refused to increase overdraft by 100.
Eventually I could not stand them or their unprofessionalism any more and have now moved to another bank that is much better Alliance and Leicester.
Eventually I could not stand them or their unprofessionalism any more and have now moved to another bank that is much better Alliance and Leicester.
| Posted by gabriella Coscia on the 10th March 2010 |  |
I've had largely a positive experience with Smile but recently seem to be having real problems logging into my account. As the whole idea of internet banking for me is ease of access that's not good, been trying to make a credit card payment for 2 days now.
I also wasted weeks of my time after a string of staff gave me incorrect information about a financial problem I had. I eventually complained to the M.D. and to be fair got a nice letter of apology and an assurance from him that he would personally deal with the staff concerned, I could have lived without the couple of months of stress involved though no matter how polite the letter.
I've twice contacted them about their Ethical Policy, my query as to why they banged up their credit card interest rate by 3% in one hit was met by, I think you'll find we're still amongst the cheapest... which wasn't the question. The other question was ignored, as was my e-mail asking why my Bank had lent millions of pounds to the Labour Party with no apparent collateral and also questioning the ethics of supporting a party implicated in an illegal war. Ethics are for adverts apparently.
I also wasted weeks of my time after a string of staff gave me incorrect information about a financial problem I had. I eventually complained to the M.D. and to be fair got a nice letter of apology and an assurance from him that he would personally deal with the staff concerned, I could have lived without the couple of months of stress involved though no matter how polite the letter.
I've twice contacted them about their Ethical Policy, my query as to why they banged up their credit card interest rate by 3% in one hit was met by, I think you'll find we're still amongst the cheapest... which wasn't the question. The other question was ignored, as was my e-mail asking why my Bank had lent millions of pounds to the Labour Party with no apparent collateral and also questioning the ethics of supporting a party implicated in an illegal war. Ethics are for adverts apparently.
| Posted by Dave B on the 19th February 2010 |  |
Their website is Jurassic, their customer service shocking. If you can squeeze a complicated foreign transaction problem into a secure online message limited to 1000 characters without any symbols, without cutting and pasting any text into the minuscule box and can manage all that in 20 minutes, then you can communicate with them. If not, save your typing and open up a proper bank account.
Want to make a one-off payment on a standing order that's already set up? Forget it.
Want to speak to a customer services agent who knows anything about the website that you've got to use? Forget it.
Want completely false promises of managers to phone you back within half an hour just to get you off the phone - plenty of those.
Want them to refuse a payment every time you make an online transaction on something that's being bought from another country? They're hot on that too.
Want to be stranded abroad having told them where you're going to be for the next two weeks and still have your card blocked because you tried to make a foreign transaction? Then Smile is the bank for you...
Quite simply, any other bank would be less stressful, more helpful and employ people who can speak clearly and intelligibly. Avoid the trap I have fallen into and get out while you can.
Want to make a one-off payment on a standing order that's already set up? Forget it.
Want to speak to a customer services agent who knows anything about the website that you've got to use? Forget it.
Want completely false promises of managers to phone you back within half an hour just to get you off the phone - plenty of those.
Want them to refuse a payment every time you make an online transaction on something that's being bought from another country? They're hot on that too.
Want to be stranded abroad having told them where you're going to be for the next two weeks and still have your card blocked because you tried to make a foreign transaction? Then Smile is the bank for you...
Quite simply, any other bank would be less stressful, more helpful and employ people who can speak clearly and intelligibly. Avoid the trap I have fallen into and get out while you can.
| Posted by Max on the 15th December 2009 | |
Online banking functional but basic and, worryingly, has not changed in 5 years. Comparisons to HBOS with whose online services I have battled most: smile stmts fit on one page not 3; smile Faster Payments is reliable but limited to c.£100 while HBOS is completely unreliable but much higher limit; smile do respond promptly and competently to online service requests, while HBOS give conflicting answers by phone then do what they please regardless; smile have never made a significant error, and have corrected minor mistakes efficiently, while HBOS have made many major errors and it's usually a huge struggle to obtain redress and then only grudging.
| Posted by William Rankine on the 1st December 2009 | |
Just had the smile wiped off my face - went over my overdraft limit by £300 for 5 days, my account is normally well in credit. £140 bank charges, which they consider reasonable. For an ethical bank, they don't behave ethically to their customers
| Posted by Rob on the 24th September 2009 | |
i've had my smile wiped off my face by these people.
'co-operative'? maybe to other banks in ripping customers off. 'ethical'? that's if you consider it ethical to have £197 (one hundred and ninety-seven pounds) in cumulative charges taken out of your account for going over your credit limit by £3.34 (three pounds thirty-four) for less than 24 hours.
i've had a fair amount of experience with different banks, and smile have been the most bullying, least communicative, most abrasive and most hostile bank i've ever come across.
do not, if you value your sense of sanity and justice, bank with these people: they and their parent company are absolute hypocrites: they are not an ounce more friendly or more ethical or more customer-orientated than anybody else and in many regards they're a hell of a lot worse.
'co-operative'? maybe to other banks in ripping customers off. 'ethical'? that's if you consider it ethical to have £197 (one hundred and ninety-seven pounds) in cumulative charges taken out of your account for going over your credit limit by £3.34 (three pounds thirty-four) for less than 24 hours.
i've had a fair amount of experience with different banks, and smile have been the most bullying, least communicative, most abrasive and most hostile bank i've ever come across.
do not, if you value your sense of sanity and justice, bank with these people: they and their parent company are absolute hypocrites: they are not an ounce more friendly or more ethical or more customer-orientated than anybody else and in many regards they're a hell of a lot worse.
| Posted by george on the 21st December 2008 | |
Do not waste your time with Smile. The internet banking service is light years behind other banks such as HBOS. Numerous mistakes, failing to contact me requiring important account changes. Avoid.
| Posted by Jay on the 5th November 2008 | |
They have always been brilliant in every way. They told inattentive me that there had been some fraudulent transactions on my credit card and immediately refunded the money. Always friendly and helpful on the phone. Website works well even on a Mac. Triple 5 star for customer service.
| Posted by AW on the 2nd October 2008 |  |
Absolute shambles. Their internet banking is stoneage - you can't even find out what your true available balance is without going to a cashpoint. No running total of what your ongoing balance is, making it a nightmare to budget. The service is patchy at best. Messages left on the web site are rarely replied to. if you do manage to speak to someone they're usually very friendly, but because the infrastructure of the bank is so bad they can't solve your problems. terrible for charging - don't advise you of anything. have made tons of sloppy mistakes then tried to charge me for it. I do my main banking with Lloyds TSB and I have to say they're a trillion times better. People looking for ethical investments should consider taking a Sharia account with one of the big banks (I'm not a Muslim and I use that at Lloyds TSB) - you'll get a mile better service than Smile / the Co-op offer.
| Posted by TH on the 8th September 2008 | |
I've been smiling for six years now. Current and Savings accounts, credit cards, recently moved the mortgage to the Coop bank too. They are excellent. I've had a few minor problems, they sort them out. When my credit card number was stolen, they refunded all the money rapidly and got a new card to me in a couple of days. I can't speak highly enough of them.
| Posted by Alan E on the 8th March 2008 | |
Excellent bank, been with Smile for over three years, have bank, savings and ISA accounts. Maybe not the best rates but very easy to use, transfer money between accounts, set up payments etc., had to use charg-back on visa card transaction once and they deposited the money back in my account with no hassle.
| Posted by Paul Hopcroft on the 7th February 2008 | |
Ethical? What is ethical about being charged 5 pounds a day for being £3 over your limit and them making no effort to inform you that you are incurring this charge. Just the same if not worse than any other bank, the ethical thing is just marketing gloss.
| Posted by At on the 1st January 2008 | |
APPALLING to say the least. Check the horrenduous "£5 daily charge" for being overdrawn on top of a charge of £15. NOT ETHICAL. They take away your overdraft without informing you by letter. They leave a message telling you in the message section of the online banking page. Then they lump on £145 fees after a month.
Would never recommend this bank. Has to be the worst bank for their fees.
Would never recommend this bank. Has to be the worst bank for their fees.
| Posted by A. Farrell on the 5th September 2007 | |
A great bank to deal with. Moved to them after awful and arrogant service from NatWest and Lloyds. Smile are easy to deal with, responsive and fair. No branches but you can get your cash out of any post office which means loads of choice. Ethical investment policy, brilliant online banking service. Highly recommended.
| Posted by Richard Hartley on the 10th May 2007 | |
Fab bank been with them for 5 years and they definately beat Natwest
| Posted by Karen Joseph on the 26th March 2007 | |
Abysmal. I opened an account over 2 months ago and Smile was to arrange transfer of DD's and transfer my old acount from HSBC. Their website states the whole process take 14 days or less. Nearly 3 months later the Smile account is still not up and running, but they have closed my old account leaving me in a banking limbo without access to services or my money. They don't respond to emails for 48 hours or more. Keep clear!!!
| Posted by J A Starbuck on the 25th January 2007 | |
Awful bank. Promote personal service but are inconsiderate of needs and have gone back on a verbal agreement. I would not recommend to anyone.
| Posted by Miss Talbot on the 22nd August 2006 | |
I have a Smile credit card (which I am now cancelling) as every time it expires they neglect to send me another. At present I receive computer-generated emails from them to say my credit card statement is ready, but as they have not sent me a new card since my old one expired in November (this has happened on several occasions and I have not moved house!), I am unable to spend on it.
The first time this happened I contacted them to ask where my new card was - their reply was that, as I did not have a balance on the card, they considered it dormant and would not send out a new card (but they still kept my account open!?). On initially opening my account they messed up my direct debit and I ended up, unknowingly, not paying my minimum payment!
Waste of time! I will do my banking elsewhere with a bank who reply to their customers, and provide cards for credit card account access.
At present I have requested via secure message to close my accounts with them - it is two days later and still no reply.