Close Brothers Savings Avis 

Constant maintenance at peak times website not acceptable. No warning either of when system will be taken down or reopen. Website functionality is very limited.
Will never reinvest with Close Bros. All I hear is feedback will be given but nothing improves.

Please don't use this company. I had an ISA with them and although it went ok to start with, transferring from that ISA to another Bank's account this year has been a nightmare! It was supposed to take about 15 days but it was more like 55 and Lloyds Bank are still waiting for the transfer certificate so I can use my allowance this year. The website is worse than useless and constantly crashes, and although the staff who did respond to queries have done their best to help I've ended up being go-between between the two companies as Lloyds Bank weren't getting anywhere (to be honest most people I spoke to at Lloyds who were trying to sort it (equally as bed tbh) had never heard of them. I'd stick to a company you've heard of and avoid at all costs.
They really need to invest in their technology and improve their performance.

I've just opened an easy access account. I was concerned at first as my own bank could not connect to Close Brothers but then found out after that Close Brothers go through a clearing process for security reasons. So they advised just to make a £1 transfer to set up the process.

Everything appears in order now so will be making larger transfers very soon.

As someone has said. A Close Brothers app would help alot.

Regards Nev

Edwin contacted me within hours of my online enquiry and talked me through setting up an account in very clear terms. He later went on to confirm same day when deposits had been received (reassuring) and also confirming my new account details within 2 working days of the deposit being transferred. A secure portal was set up for communication regarding the account which again was reassuring to me and Edwin has been extremely responsive whenever I had any queries. Clearly a good rate of interest I was happy with too.

I opened a savings account a few weeks ago but I can’t access it online. Have rung several times but customer services don’t seem to think it’s a problem. ‘There’s not much else we can do…’I was told to wait to be contacted but nobody did contact me. I rang again but the lack of concern made me ask to withdraw the money and was told I couldn’t. They say they’ve raised it again with IT and with Complaints but still nobody has got back to me.

The application process does not have the facility to enter both a village name and a town/city name resulting in me waiting for my account to be set up and requesting an amendment - they said there was no difference in both my amendment and my original address - I corrected them - there was a difference - and they apologised and amended my address however my village name has been added at the beginning of my address and looks like my house name - I have not bothered to write back - there should be a facility in the application process to enter both a village name and a town/city name - how many people have written to correct or have not bothered resulting in Close Brothers holding incorrect addresses

Terrible service... web site crashes, can't download documents, no response to on line messages, emails not sent when agreed by phone, take ages to answer phones, send excessive paper out by post etc, etc..

You have been warned!

Applied for their 1 year cash ISA - due to the market-leading rate at the time,

Since applying have endured a series of time-consuming broken promises due mainly to processes that are designed for the benefit of CBS rather than their customers!

Raised a complaint with Head of Savings Operations (mark dot stevens at closebrothers dot com). He didn't respond so had to deal with an inexperienced Complaints Handler. Provided with bland excuses for process failures (including one response which contradicted what they had been saying about their process and which I'm sure isn't factual).

Offered a compensation sum that didn't reflect the time and hassle I'd endured - refused offer and sum increased by 66% - but still less than the value of my time.

Will not use CBS ever again for investments. I can only hope that the withdrawal process is swift - I'm not hopeful!

UPDATE - following CBS reply

Yes my complaint was resolved - I was offered compensation to stop me taking it any further - at times life is just too short and I chose to take the £50 bribe

Perhaps you should focus on the reasons for my complaint and actions that CBS could take to reduce the chance of such customer frustration in the future

Why would I want to discuss my review any further? I'm very happy that my review reflects my experience with CBS.

If I did want to discuss the poor service any further why would I contact the very same team that was responsible for such poor service! Why not think of the customer and arrange contact with somebody at CBS who can make a difference - such as the Head of Savings Operations - oh wait - I tried that approach and got no response!

Your reply is both meaningless and irrelevant. Another illustration of the contempt CBS displays for its customers.

I have only been a customer of this company for a few years and don't usually write reviews but wanted to say how easy it was to open an account with them and how easy it is to see my money grow on their online banking portal. Thank you.

The range of products has increased drastically since I last opened an account with Close Brothers. The whole process seemed a lot slicker too! Keep up the good work!

Fantastic isa transfer from another provider seamless quick transfer no issues

Opened a number of accounts with close savings latest being the easy access, seamless process through the website to manage

Easy online processes, new bank account opened quickly. Would love an app to be able to process and move my funds more easily on the go

Good online banking. Easy to place notice on my funds and got an email confirmation. Did have to call to update my address however, would be nice if I could do this more easily.

The process of setting up an ISA could not have been easier to set up and the navigation was straight forward. Good rates too.

Account opening process was good and rates seem consistently attractive. Wish they had an app though as would be easier than logging into my pc when I want to withdraw money.

Good online experience, no problems setting up a fixed rate bond and a fixed rate ISA, communication was very good throughout. Interest rates were very attractive.

Opened an account with £50k online - balance showed £85k. Contacted bank and explained their error, they called me back for me to explain for the second time, heard nothing for two days and was contacted to be told they had found a discrepancy with my account. Informed Shane that I had reported the £35k discrepancy to which he said as it’s Close Brothers fault they would give me a payment of £25 for my trouble. I told him that was an insult for my honesty of their £35k mistake and to return my original investment.To be fair they sent it back that day, still waiting for paperwork to explain how they debited my account without permission, showing mistakes.
Still waiting for the compensation!
Update 13:50 7-8-23
CBS contacted me 31st Aug to be informed that on top of the £25 already paid in compensation that they were willing to pay another £25 to settle any complaint against them. I told the caller that I have not received the original £25 and another £25 would not be enough to settle my case. In response he replied he would have to speak to his manager as he had no authority to increase offer and would get back to me. A follow on call was received 3 days later by Mario but I was not home so he booked an appointment to speak to me that day at 12:45. Unfortunately I am still awaiting that call and CBS continue with an unprofessional approach to banking.
Update:16:00 7-8-23 finally contacted by CBS accepted offer to close complaint

Don’t touch this company you will regret it! Support is unbelievable, you call and nobody knows what they are doing, it’s like bad dream.

As it happens, my review went into the finance side of Close Brothers but I would like savers to know that if they wish to put their money into a regulated bank, try to not to go here.