Had enough of Abbey - can you recommend your bank?

[ScarletA]

I have finally - after 6 months of the most dreadful service imaginable - decided to leave the Abbey. Maybe it is their merger with the Bank of Sandander that has made this previously fine organisation turn into a large cretinous object that does not know how to scratch its own bum and that its feet are rammed firmly up its nose, but I have had enough. Could rant for HOURS about how incompetent they are and how many HOURS I have spent on the phone to their stupid call centres being told 25 different things every day but can't be bothered anymore, too exhausted with it all.... [Large sigh icon]

The two most local banks/building societies to us are the Nat West and the Nationwide, both of which I have heard good reports. I need a good joint account that will allow us to go overdrawn without charging more than a few pence every month and right now I rate good hassle free customer service higher than fantastic interest rates.

What do you recommend? Or not recommend?

Smile.co.uk

NOT Natwest!

Why not Natwest??? Do tell.

Well, I'm impressed with Lloyds, we changed to them as our joint ac had to go to Barclays (who I was with at the time) or Lloyds (who dh was with at the time) about 5 years ago and Lloyds have been fab. Good service so far every time I've needed anything.

Not surprised to hear about Abbey being rubbish, have heard that before.

Lloyds are lovely

Would definitely recommend smile.co.uk - friendly, ethical, on-the-ball (picked up on my dh's card being cloned within 3hrs)
Have also had good service from Halifax in the past.
Sorry - have to go against the crowd and say don't go near Lloyds - have had truly bad customer service and financial advice from them.

Partner uses Nationwide - they seem very good. Also picked up cloned/misused card over a £1 transaction and rang him at home on a Sunday over it.

Cheers folks - have also been told by a friend that first direct is good too. Is it?

I love First Direct.

I can recommend both First Direct and Natwest. Haver had great service from both of them.

Moved from Lloyds (fine but completely disorganised in branch) to Nationwide - fab as they have never charge me for going overdrawn!! Great service, great internet account features.

Nationwide, Nationwide, Nationwide.

Really good customer service, the internet banking is straightforward and effective, and they don't charge you a fee for going overdrawn. You also get free cash withdrawal if you use your card at a cashpoint abroad (which all other banks charge you for, cheekily).

I really like them. And the interest rates on their savings accounts are consistently competitive -- they don't do that maddening thing of setting up a new account with a headline-grabbing interest rate only to change it to some paltry sum six months later.

Natwest have stuffed up for me on countless occasions.
And whenever I go in to the local branch they try to flog me their £12 a month Advantage Gold account which hacks me off. If it's not that, they try to sell me some product or other.
Our joint accoint is with the Co-op. We deal mainly with them over the phone and they have always been helpful, polite, reliable. I like the fact they are an ethical bank too.

I would have to recommend Natwest..

They have been fab for us, I can always speak to my account advisor, have sorted out bridging loans, overdrafts, mortgages, and investments over the years with no problems at all..

AND their call centres are in the UK...

I hate HSBC, we set up an executors account there and had so many problems - can never call the branch direct and can never just call in and talk to someone about the account as only 1 person deals with this type of account and they are never in!

Natwest, I only have to see 1 person for everything!

I'm agree with you ScarletA, Abbey has gone downhill big time, DH and I have been lifetime bankers with them, but over the past year they have been worse than useless.

We too have only a Nat West and Nationwide close to us, would highly recommend Nationwide, we only have a small branch near us (2 tellers), but don't mind queing on a sat morning. Our local Nat West doesn't open Saturday, so that is a major factor for us.

Have to agree abbey is awful.
Just spent 20 mins on the phone trying to transfer money for the agent to tell me that I can do all this on internet banking. Yes well I could if you stopped sending me 2 passcodes and 2 passwords for my accounts and not advising me which is for which account, so that I spend 1 hr trying to work it out and find that every combination does not work. His response was ' sorry madam but your passcodes are confidential even to us and we cant help you'

I want to change but the thought of changing every DD depresses me.

First Direct are fantastic. Phone always answered after just a few rings, always get to speak to a real person in the UK who is friendly, helpful and knows what you are talking about. Phone service is 24 hours a day 365 days a year - you can ring them at midnight on Christmas Eve if you want!

Royal Bank of Scotland have been great for us (personal and business banking) with v. good customer service, and always getting through to your own branch by phone.

Then even phoned me to warn me that I was on the verge of going overdrawn, and would I like to pop down with some cash to avoid charges!

Smile are great and have stuck by me during hard times too.

I don't have a bad word to say about them

SMILE

Thanks to all of you - have decided to go for Nationwide as opposed to Nat West on your reviews. Opened an account today and they will transfer every direct debit over in the next 4-6 weeks (so kbaby, take the plunge). The woman at Nationwide who filled in the forms etc for me today said that she had had a lot of disgruntled Abbey customers coming in to do the same as me. Even the call centre staff at Abbey slag it off - one agreed that it was the merger in the last year that has made everything so utterly shambolic. Every time I call, I get someone else saying something completely different - and that is NOT an exaggeration. Feel elated that we are finally on our way out of that terrible bank - fine for years but now appauling - and am looking forward to the rest of my life with Nationwide.