Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Account Reviews
Latest Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“Pathetic”
Written on: 25/08/2011
Took over 2 years to remove my ex-wife as a signatory on the account. Took over 2 years to get a change of address acknowledged (still not convinced its been done. Help Desk full of lovely people - but a bag of doughnuts would be more effective. Best rate of interest keeps me sane. I would close the account but can't - because of the signatory issue. Can't leave it empty and idle or I get charged. Pathetic! (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“SHOCKING, USELESS, CANNOT FIND NUMBERS FOR OUT OF...”
Written on: 03/03/2011
SHOCKING, USELESS, CANNOT FIND NUMBERS FOR OUT OF HOURS LOST & STOLEN CARDS, NO BRANCHES TO PROCESS BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. PATHETIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM, STAFF USELSS. WORST EVER!!!! SH1T (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“*********AVOID********** ”
Written on: 11/02/2011
*********AVOID**********
They took 4wks to set up a business account, sent me someone elses's bank card, wrong PIN sent. Customer Services staff are clueless and contradict one another.
Recently I was hit by a £15 charge for going into overdraft despite £240 credit being in the account on previous day of alleged o/d breach. See what I mean!
I complained and got £400 compensation. Needless to say I have closed the account.
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“If you are thinking of opening an account THINK AGAIN...”
Written on: 15/01/2011
If you are thinking of opening an account THINK AGAIN !! I have been with A&L for 5 years and when you need them to do something important they mess up. Our latest problem was when our debit cards where due for replacement, when the new cards arrived we tried to use them but INCORRECT PIN came up. We informed A&L they said nothing was wrong with the cards, we tried again with the same result, eventially after another long phone call they agreed to send out new cards and pins. A week later a... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“The telephone banking service which likes to say "yes"...”
Written on: 12/01/2011 by Dr Bond (1 review written)
The telephone banking service which likes to say "yes" but never does what it promises. This incompetence and disinterest applies to all the staff answering the phones. I have been promised that interest was being paid regularly on my business account (with a balance of £300K) on 4 occasions when it was not.
I was told today that there is no way to transfer money the same day (the staff had never heard of CHAPS)
I am currently making an external complaint about the worse than inadequate...
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Banked with HSBC and didn't like paying out so much...”
Written on: 03/06/2010 by robbyj64 (3 reviews written)
Banked with HSBC and didn't like paying out so much for the privilege of putting money in the account! Hence, swapped to A&L. BIG mistake.
First, all credits have to go to Bootle so take 3-4 working days for any credits to go through. Two of my cheques I sent in for credit never arrived, which usually wouldn't be a problem since I just get the payee to cancel them and send replacements. I had to contact A&L three times to find out if they had them over a 8 day period. They just don't...
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Had small business accounts with Alliance and...”
Written on: 28/05/2010
Had small business accounts with Alliance and Leicester for about 10 years.
cancelled one because of time taken to clear cheques. Kept one going for another business that is seasonal and very handy to pay in cash at local Post Office as live miles from a town. The cost was around £5 monthly so good value but difficult to transfer money to my other bank accounts and unable to get through on phone. Recieved letter to day saying they will be closing the account in 30 days because of lack of...
(read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“The business account internet facility is a joke. Any...”
Written on: 28/05/2010
The business account internet facility is a joke. Any payment over £250 to a normal high street bank takes 3 days!!! If you make more than one BACS payment a day they are all lumped together on your statement as one debit!! Free banking for 2 years was a great lure, but I would rather pay to be able to have a decent internet facility. As soon as I set up elsewhere I will be closing this account. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Must be the most incompetant commercial bank I...”
Written on: 10/05/2010 by MH Taylor (1 review written)
Must be the most incompetant commercial bank I have ever had the misfortune to deal with If you require assistance do not expect it from someone in authority for four or five days or more Telephone customer services can do nothing but tell you what your balance is, other than that you will be told that a Manager? will contact you. MY experience is it is more likely that the Queen will ring me (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“overpriced and ineffective systems”
Written on: 20/01/2010
overpriced and ineffective systems (read more)
See next 10 reviews
Showing 1 - 10 of 24 Reviews
★★★★★
“Ideal if you want a very low cost banking and just...”
Written on: 09/12/2009
Ideal if you want a very low cost banking and just need to put your money somewhere. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“I'm am at the end of my tether with the Alliance &...”
Written on: 10/08/2009 by Jemma Watts
I'm am at the end of my tether with the Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Account. I have banked for 2 years nearly and am always having problems with their service. Charges for not putting in £1000 per month - I am a small business and I can't always pay in the stated amount. Charged £20 for making a chaps payment - this was not made clear on the website, it says to check the terms and conditions. I admit that is was my fault for not reading this small print but if they are going to... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Product: 30 day notice account ”
Written on: 24/07/2009
Product: 30 day notice account
This is the worst banking experience I have ever had.
A&L operate an security system that prevents the account holder from transferring money out unless they are able to take an authorising call from the bank at any time during the 30 days notice, even after fullfilling normal telephone security checks on making the request backed up by written request. If the authorising call from the bank is missed, they cancel the transfer and you have to start all over...
(read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“totally agree with the top comment set up a joint...”
Written on: 24/06/2009
totally agree with the top comment set up a joint account with Alliance & Leicester, and was geting so many passwords sent for the both of us it gave me an headache ie phone pins/passwords and then internet banking passwords which was that complicated i could not set it up at all ie passwords within passwords closed the account after they charged me fees for drawing my own money out and they come out of another account??? nightmare.... stephen hawkins would struggle setting this account... (read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“I have had so many problems with my business account &...”
Written on: 16/06/2009 by victoriaclough (2 reviews written)
I have had so many problems with my business account & its only just been set up!
They took months to set it up, then sent all of my passwords to the wrong address. The lady I spoke to at the call centre wasn't the most intelligent person I've ever spoken to (thats being very polite).
I wanted to do my banking online, but the Alliance & Leicester set up on the internet is uneccessarily complicated, so I will be looking for a new bank after months of trying to set one up!
(read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“I have recently gone to India for 5 months, I have two...”
Written on: 10/12/2008 by mr natal
I have recently gone to India for 5 months, I have two accounts one with Halifax one with Alliance & Leicester, I have two very bad experiences which are now going to lead me canceling my account.
1. before going I went to Halifax and told them of my return dates next year, they have put a marker on my account so all my bank cards can be used from India without hindrance until that date.
Went to A&L to do the same and was told they could only mark my card as valid for 30 days?!? - But I am...
(read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“Alliance & Leicester are just awful. Here's a...”
Written on: 10/11/2008 by nigelroot (7 reviews written)
Alliance & Leicester are just awful. Here's a selection of problems from the last four weeks:
1. After firework night, an Alliance & Leicester branch refused to take a cash deposit to go into our account. Can you imagine? A bank that refuses to do it's own business?
2. I needed to become a signatory on the account and found the forms on the web. They were for private accounts only and forms for a commercial account had to be sent by post. More delays.
3. I still needed to become a signatory on...
(read more)
★★★★★
“Ideal banking for businesses situated in a place with...”
Written on: 15/10/2008
Ideal banking for businesses situated in a place with no Bank as cheques can be deposited at post office. For our small electrical engineering business we have no bank charges at all and get a generous interest rate for our deposit account at 0.5% below the current bank of england base rate.
The online banking is slick and easy to use.
Brilliant - 10/10 all round.
(read more)
★★★★☆
“Overall I am much happier with Alliance and Leicester...”
Written on: 17/09/2008 by jph
Overall I am much happier with Alliance and Leicester Commercial Bank in comparison to my previous bank which did not give anywhere near the level of interest on company savings on deposit. I have never had a problem with the telephone banking service except that they will block large transactions without written proof of the order from a verified scource. However as this is due to security concerns I am wholly in favor of this approach. (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Because Alliance and Leicester don't seem to have any...”
Written on: 27/07/2008 by kpearson
Because Alliance and Leicester don't seem to have any dedicated business branches, you have to do everything through the Post Office or by post which means if you receive a cheque from a customer on a Monday, you'll be lucky to have that cheque cleared 10 days later. I had/have so many problems with A&L and their lead time on cheque cashing I've now just cancelled the account. (read more)
See next 10 reviews
Showing 11 - 20 of 24 Reviews
☆☆☆☆☆
“I have not managed to actualy open an account with...”
Written on: 07/07/2008 by JOSIEHC (1 review written)
I have not managed to actualy open an account with Alliance and Leicester. I completed the application on line and then all correspondance came to my husband who is the company secretary. They said that I must have filled the form our wrongly! Despite asking for my details to be updated they still wrote to my husband and refused to speak to me. They also asked for lots of forms as proof of id that we had never heard of and made it really complicated. As this was a business start up account I... (read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“We are a very small business but I was given...”
Written on: 24/06/2008 by Madinthehead (1 review written)
We are a very small business but I was given application forms for turnover of in excess of £1m by the local branch! We requested internet banking, they did not set this up, we were issued with Visa Electron cards despite the impression we were getting "full" debit cards (we were told that this would last for 6 months to see how we handled our account). I pointed out that my partner has had a personal account with them for decades and never been overdrawn and what is the point in asking for... (read more)
★☆☆☆☆
“Look around the market place. Yeah, they initial give...”
Written on: 20/06/2008 by blaneyw (1 review written)
Look around the market place. Yeah, they initial give you a good interest rate if your account is in credit but that soon goes after a year.
The staff are vague at times, make you feel if your taking to someone thats just come-in off the street - sorry guys!
(read more)
☆☆☆☆☆
“Dreadful customer service. Almost everything has to...”
Written on: 14/04/2008
Dreadful customer service. Almost everything has to be faxed or sent in by letter. The Alliance & Leicester call centre staff do not appear to be able to do anything to answer very simple questions (read more)
overview
MoneySupermarket
Top 5 Business Bank Accounts
To calculate the top 5's we take the following factors into account:
Top 5 Business Bank Accounts
To calculate the top 5's we take the following factors into account:
• All the star ratings the company/product has received,
• The number of reviews
• How recent the reviews are
As rated by real users
-
1. Butterfield Private Bank Account
3 reviews read latest review -
2. Investec Private Bank Business Bank Account
9 reviews read latest review -
3. Bank of America checking account
4 reviews read latest review -
4. Cater Allen Business Bank Account
41 reviews read latest review -
5. Allied Irish Bank Business Bank Account
5 reviews read latest review
Hot Stuff in
Latest Reviews in Business Bank Accounts
-
Cater Allen Business Bank Account
"Great customer service!" Read More
-
Bank of Scotland Business Bank Account
"Awful" Read More
-
Barclays Business Bank Account
"Service non-existent" Read More
-
Butterfield Private Bank Account
"Great service, rip-off costs" Read More
-
Natwest Business Account
"Natwest Business Banking - Tim..." Read More
Latest items in Business Bank Accounts
- You are here:
- Review Centre
- Business
- Business Bank Accounts
- Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Account
- Overview
Jpward1's Response to 477125_Jemma Watts's Review
Written on: 04/11/2009
I agree wholeheartedly with Gemma,
<br/>
<br/>The website is the most user unfriendly system I have ever had the displeasure to operate and paying is a total nightmare. It only allows you to pay out in lots of £250 unless you chose to pay by bacs or chaps then you get stiffed big time for that.
<br/>
<br/>I left Barclays 2 months ago and even though they are not the best at least you can readily move money around. Alliance & Leicester are a joke. Can anyone recommend a good business bank with a user friendly site that is good to a small business?
<br/>
<br/>John