Smile UK Avis 904

Just a quick thankyou to Anila at Oldham for helping me unlock my account, she was patient and extremely helpfull.
Thank you!

Another customer of 20 years plus that is leaving.
Recently had transfers to my SIPP provider blocked that meant jumping through hoops to resolve.
Over the bank holiday weekend they have blocked online access via web and the app. The reason? Because I ported my mobile number from one provider to another. No warning, just blocked.
The call centre wasn't working over the bank holiday and then I have to wait in a queue to get it unblocked. The person I spoke to didn't care about the inconvenience to the customer - the process is the process.
Yes, I get that fraud prevention is important, but I'd have thought not annoying your customers was more so.
Reviewing other recent experiences and the 1.6 ratings reinforces what a great decision I've made.

Smile Benefits Travel Insurance (AXA) takes months to handle claims. Does not respond to emails and keeps asking more questions.

I'm finally leaving Smile, don't know why i've waited so long. Some hangover of brand loyalty - as they were so great back in the day. Call up first thing in the morning and the wait times are still over 30 mins to speak to anyone. Payments take longer than any other bank. While others do chat services or instant messages, Smile's message function has users waiting 48 hours for a reply! Their staff sound bored and not interested in solving things. Clearly would be better for this bank to call it a day and direct users to some of the other good digital banks now. I'm going with Starling.

Shocking level of customer support. Online payments blocked, call the customer line and spend an hour or more on hold. Deposits blocked, call the customer line and spend an hour or more on hold. Got a problem, call the customer...... They have been saying that they have unusually high call numbers and that there may be a delay for probably close to a decade now

I'v received the products l ordered in excellent condition and very well packaged, l received them in only a few days after ordering online so that's brilliant service thank you very much, l'll certainly recommend Smile for both efficiency & quality products.
Keep up your Good Team work.
Kind Regards Mac Ravey.

Update 17/02
2nd response was even worse.
Suggesting I make sure I am going to the correct website!
Thankfully I found a solution myself, after setting up a single payment, and then I could use an existing payee to set up the standing order.
Think I will now move bank though, as lost all confidence.
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Been with Smile for 25 years.

Had an issue this week and I messaged Smile to advise I could not set up a New Standing Order, that after entering the details, the S/O would not set up.

Reply was - these are the steps you take to set up a standing order.......

I have had to reply to say, read my message, I did not say I do not know how to create a standing order (I have set up several, and they can see I have existing standing orders.)

Very disappointed with the reply, and I will be opening a new bank account and transferring if the reply to this one, does not investigate and resolve the issue

Time and time again whenever you actually interact with them over something they are useless. Its an endemic long term problem with them, and there is absolutely no way to get them to change as you can't escalate any complaints.

Useless!
Decided to try and log in!
They ask the most ridiculous security questions- had to go to experian to try and find answers - still no luck!
I've now been locked out for 24 hours - for the 2nd time !
I asked for a new pin number - takes 8 WORKING days to arrive - so still waiting after a week!

If you have an account- just leave.
What's wrong with logging in with a fingerprint??!

Rubbish bank.

9th February:

I have complained to the CEO, have received a reply and they're investigating.
The service provided is abysmal.
I'll phoning and changing my login details but it won't make my new login arrive any sooner.
Their procedures are just too difficult and slow

I have been banking with smile for a couple of decades or more. Great service - I've never had worse than the occasional slight glitch. Don't understand all the negative reviews. Maybe there are groups out there that have problems with it being part of the Cooperative Bank.

I've been with smile for about 25 years. It was okay originally, head of its time really, but now the service has been ground down to below the bare minimum so I'm going to leave. The Coop were supposed to be ethical, but this level of customer service is below anything I've ever experienced, bordering on criminal. Protecting your money to them means your card just doesn't work. You can't easily contact them, phone lines are not advertised. They have 'Secure Messages' so if you are if you have an urgent query you can get a one line response in about 2 days. They have stopped taking new customers so this review can't put people off but the service level is now so low you have to wonder if the bank is meeting basic financial standards.

I tried to transfer some money to Wise but had the transaction blocked. My debit card, Apple Pay and online banking have also been blocked. I have received emails telling me I need to log in to my account to read a secure message but of course I can’t because my access is blocked. I have spent more than 12 hours trying to get through on the phone (on an endive number…) to no avail. Absolutely terrible customer experience.

Have banked with them for ten to fifteen years, customer service has deteriorated badly during that time, do not want to ring them as it takes so long to speak to anybody. 😡

Terrible customer usage. App not fit for purpose, you have to login to the website to do anything. Website clunky and you cant do things you need like search for transactions. Apparently this is because its a telephone bank not an online bank??! That is what the lady on the phone said to me as an excuse? She kept talking over me and I gave up trying to get the help I needed.

I joined Smile because of its ethical credentials but the service is now so poor I am now looking to change asap.

Customer Service abysmal only have a secure message service which they promise to answer within 3 days. You have no copy of your message once sent! When you do get a reply it seldom addresses your issue and usually just a reaffirmation of what there system does or doesn't do. You try to be constructive but they just say we will pass onto to our IT dept but nothing has changed for years.

No contact phone and no chat line though they say they do? The online system is so basic. Frustratingly you make a payment to their credit card and there is nothing to say you have done this for days;
no pending payments, no change of balance nothing. Easy to forget you've made a payment and no way of checking.

I tried to query a credit card payment recently and spent ages filling in online forms which I was told were the incorrect ones with quite abrupt and unhelpful emails.

Recently taken over by the Coventry I thought things might improve but no.

I'll look at reviews and pick another.

Once again I started the day by trying to login to my Smile account (that I have had since Smile started) only to find yet again that internet banking was "unavailable because of scheduled maintenance". Why is this not done out of banking hours? Smile is cearly run for the convenience of its owners and not its customers and no longer can be called a bank. I am now looking around for a real bank that puts its customers first

So I’ve been with smile since it started in 1999 when it was truly excellent, forward looking and apparently ethical. Right now they are so bad that I’m about to leave. Security is utterly useless - as is updating my information of address, phone number, etc. Frequently blocked transactions for no apparent reason followed by lengthy calls to get the issue resolved, which then wasn’t I’ve lost faith in their competency. It’s a sad thing.

Blocked card, couldn't be bothered to tell me, can't be bothered to answer calls in real time.

Reported problem transaction with my card, spoke to fraud department who said they would get a replacement card in "8 - 10 working days"

No card arrived so I sent a secure message. Got a reply to that which said they'd tried to call me (spoiler alert - they hadn't) but to phone them.

After forever on hold, got told my replacement (?) card had been blocked but no-one had bothered to contact me.

Pure incompetence.

Blocked my card without explanation, no suspicious transactions on my account.
Refused to be contacted by email or WhatsApp for ‘security reasons’, only by phone (premium rate 0345 number uncontactable from Turkey due to they left me penniless).
Newsflash, you idiots: WhatsApp is double-end encrypted whilst a phone conversation is easily hacked.
Left me stranded in Turkey with zero cash and ruined what was shaping up to be a nice holiday. As soon as I get back, I’ll be moving every single penny from both my accounts to another bank. Revenge is a dish served cold 👿
They are an absolute joke. Avoid them.

Since my last review I have since read that the Co-operative Bank have been named "eco-providers" by Which?, in a report noting the absence of exposure to fossil fuels in their banking activities.
Another area which is very important to me is Animal Welfare and who the Co-op Bank will and will not do business with in that catagory, part of their Ethical Policy screening. As I have said I don't go abroad or shop on line so I cannot comment on card usage in those areas.
Smile still provide cheque books and the convenience of depositing and withdrawing cash at the Post Office which is so easy and convenient and not forgetting the App where you can easily transfer funds, pay bills and see pending transactions etc. I have banked with them for many years and will continue to do so into the future.