Close Brothers Savings Avis 

Just purchased 2 ISA's - great rate very easy process online - very secure - letters emails afterwards all spot on. Read all the info via Martin Lewis before deciding - very happy so far.

During a period of several years I have opened and operated four fixed term deposit accounts with Close Brothers. All my dealings with this bank have been simple and straight forward. I am really surprized to read some negative reviews

easy to understand account and very helpfull staff good savings rate

My bank, Halifax, stopped me from paying a large sum into a new fixed rate account I opened yesterday. the fraud team said that they had checked companies house - close brothers is listed as a bank holding company (not a bank).

Frankly terrible service - days for transactions to arrive in account. Very slow website. A withdrawal from the account requested and confirmed 4 days ago still has not left the account. Very concerned. Based on this I would recommend anyone steers clear even though the savings rate is attractive.

Account opened promptly. Online access was not then achieved despite 2 phone calls, regarding problems, to customer services totalling 36 minutes.
Having now read some other imperfect reviews of the bank they will not be getting my deposit.

I applied for an online savings account with Close Bros. I made one or two mistakes as usual, but was able to rectify them online and completed my application successfully in a short time. Able to do a test bank transfer in of just £1 to check that I had the correct bank details.

I used a cash ISA with them for 3 years.

Contact with them is difficult. They do not answer the phone, for a start. They use a machine instead that nevert puts the caller through.

The email address on their correspondence is incorrect: emails to them are returned as 'undeliverable'.

Their records are faulty. They doubled my investment - very nice of them but since the phone doesn't work I couldn't tell them.

Their workers are at home watching TV, playing games, and indulging themselves. They certainly do no useful work.

Transferring in a new ISA for my wife involved quite a few 'hoops'. A shorter application would have made it somewhat easier.

Very good interest rates, easy application.
Only issue was that I had to restart application (once) when webpage timed out.
Otherwise 5 stars

After spending days deliberating where to put our savings I decided to fix with Close Brothers for 3 years. Applied on line and sessions kept timing out whilst I faffed around trying to upload documents in the required format. Each time-out meant starting the application process again. Then on the final attempt it didn't require documents uploading and a message on screen thanked me and said they would be in touch. Waited a week and no response. Emailed them - standard response saying they would be in touch but still nothing. Not impressed and so placing our savings elsewhere.

I applied online and it failed, I called as instructed and was told it was live and they would be in touch. Nothing. I tried online again, this time it looked like it went through, but again zero communication. At this point I gave up and put my money with someone that actually knew how to treat potential new customers

Opened an ISA online - few problems along the way. Initially the application failed, and I had to call Close, because the system had not recorded what product I had applied for (although I'd ticked the box). Very strange - surely their IT does validation checks?!
I'd asked for a partial transfer from my existing holder, but they tried to close that account and transfer the lot. Fortunately my existing provider alerted me.
All sorted out with a phone call to Close, and they've been very good on the phone. All OK now. Just surprising this very routine process should create problems.

I would not give Close Brothers Savings any stars but that is not possible. On death and over £5.000 it can be a costly business to invest with them. To apply for Probate it will cost you £273. Building Societies and Banks have in most cases much higher thresholds. It is worth thinking about because it is not possible to have a discussion with them . The £5.000 limit can not be waved. Close Brothers reply to my comments does not resemble the way they treated me. They can ring me if they want to say something. I rang them time and time again and got nowhere.

Update

My error, I was on the banking page instead of savings. All sorted now.
Unable to log in despite all details correctly entered. Have requested twice for an email link to change password even though the one I have entered is correct but there is obviously something wrong as I am not even receiving an email link.
What is going on?

Absolutely dire
Website is not fit for purpose as it takes forever to load and actually timed out
When eventually, after several attempts, I managed to access statements I was met with the message that I was using a pop-up blocker ( incorrect ) or they were not available
Account closure pending

Awful website. Slow and error prone. Avoid at all costs. I tried opening a 2 year fixed savings on 13th December. Every button press felt like it was going to timeout. After numerous attempts and numerous errors, I eventually created the account. I then went to credit the account from another bank, and the payment is failing. Today 19th December, I tried to login to close brothers to see if it was a blip, and it errors when I ask it send a OTP to my phone. Your IT department is failing miserably. The worst online experience ever. Believe the other 1 star reviews.

I am a previous customer of Close Brothers and have always completely satisfied with their service.

Easy and trouble free opening of an Easy Access account. Website is user friendly and I really like the confirmatory e-mails I get to say my money has been deposited OK.
Not had to try customer services so can't comment on some of the negative reviews but I can't believe Close Brothers can be worse than many of the high street banks/building societies. Trying to contact any company is a nightmare these days!