written by Bures on 01/09/2014
I have been with Smile now for circa 15 years and they dont seem to update their literature I mean the web site is truly boring and not very appealing The Paying in books have an awful smiling cat on the front cover, really horrendous. I have complained about these books on many occasions, but it falls on deaf ears. I dont think the Post Office paying-in envelopes have changed in 15 years ? The banking app is also not the easiest to use. On the plus side, in all the time I have been with them, no problems with banking.
written by Bures on 01/09/2014
I have been with Smile now for circa 15 years and they dont seem to update their literature I mean the web site is truly boring and not very appealing The Paying in books have an awful smiling cat on the front cover, really horrendous. I have complained about these books on many occasions, but it falls on deaf ears. I dont think the Post Office paying-in envelopes have changed in 15 years ? The banking app is also not the easiest to use. On the plus side, in all the time I have been with them, no problems with banking.
written by on 10/12/2013
As a Smile customer of a few years, in the early days, I thought they were brilliant. Interest paid on Current Account, better savings rates, and a very competitive Credit Card. All on-line, what was there not to like? Now, I feel they are no different from any other on-line Bank. In fact, if you compare their accounts to their sister Bank, there is little or no difference. It begs the question, why bother? For those of us who complain that the options on the 0845 call centre no are difficult to bypass, try this. Keep pressing the # key on each prompt....Your call will eventually be answered.I'v now transferred my accounts elsewhere.
written by shallxr2 on 06/08/2012
My wife and I have been customers for over ELEVEN years... so you could be forgiven for taking that fact as a recommendation. However, recently the bank made a number of mistakes in connection with our account. To inflame this, no hint of an apology was received in respect of any of those mistakes. The final straw came when they warned that our credit card was going to be withdrawn owing to a period of non-use. I replied stating that we would resume using the card (which we did!) and they, in turn, acknowledged that the card would NOT now be withdrawn. A matter of a few weeks later, the card account was closed. The only readily available route to submit queries to them is via their 'secure messaging' facility on their website.... however, when I outlined the above issue, all I received in reply was a terse message stating that we had to re-apply for the credit card which had been erroneously withdrawn!!!! SO... THAT'S HOW YOU TREAT CUSTOMERS OF ELEVEN YEARS STANDING!!! (I DON'T THINK SO). The end!
written by on 15/07/2010
Smile Current Account
Initially I was happy with my Smile account because it was simple and efficient to use. However, since the card reader is now part of the payment on line process, I find it irritating. Paying bills is not something anyone looks forward to but now, with the card reader, I end up putting it off even more because it means looking for my debit card and looking for the reader. And for every bill you pay, you have to start the process from the beginning which includes physically removing the debit card from the reader, putting it back in and having your pin number verified - doing this even three times for three bills is really really irritating. Now I find I'm locked out of my account because I've got my pin number wrong grrrr There must be an easier way than card readers. And of course there is the issue that you may want to pay a bill away from home and you're not going to have your card reader. This means that instead of a free service, you have to pay for a phone call.
written by mandrews on 10/04/2010
While reviewing online banking accounts in teh past few days I have come across most people having the same issue as myself when I used the Natwest online banking site - i.e. the card reader they all provide to us.
I found a website from where I bought a credit card sized reader that i can carry around in my wallet, which quickly solved a lot of problems for myself and my wife. Only downside is that i had to get one for my wife as she kept nicking mine most of the time and it used to end up in her purse! The website I used to buy the reader was http://boutique.gemalto.com/e-banking/uk/. Just thought I would share the link with you just in case it solves your problems as well.
written by on 08/02/2010
I've been with them over 5 years now and whilst I think they are ok - they are not as squeaky clean as they purport to be.
Beware of their Visa card scam on your bank card. I used my bank card to obtain foreign currency from Sainsburys and got slapped with an extra 3% charge on my bank statement for using my money (it is somewhere in the small print). They charged £10 for a bankers draft and took 2 days to send it out - by non recorded delivery!
Their internet banking service is pretty basic compared to the big four and the card reader is an annoying ill thought encumbrance. Why did they not make it only required when setting up a new transfer? Is it really preventing fraud when it has to be used EVERY time to pay MY bills and MY credit cards? It's all just 'Security Pantomime'.
And finally they constantly harp on about smiling and being happy so much it makes you want to stick your fingers down your throat....
written by d8veh on 30/01/2010
Ive been with Smile for about 8 years. I used to recommend them to everybody. Unfortunateley, everything seems to have gone downhill recently. Like the previous reviewer, I can't use my cardreader. I know there is something wrong with it because I can use my RBS one for my Smile account. Their customer service is now much worse. It now takes several days to get replies to secure messages and there were substantial delays in making an urgent foreign transfer. They told me their foreign dept was overloaded. Also, their interest rates are no longer as competitive as they were. I think its time to move on!
written by on 28/11/2009
I recently opened a smile account and although the process was easy and simple enough it wasnt the best account to go for, all the accounts are opened online. There is a card reader which isnt mentioned at all when opening account and is posted to you with all your documents. I dont mind using the card reader but it does seem a bit silly to have it with whenever you are banking just in case you need it. I wanted to consolidate all my debts into one payment and applied for a loan with smile however i was declined as they dont lend to anyone within 3-6 months of opening the account. However i only found this our after i had sent an appeal in the post with all my original statements and after 7 days of calling to see whether they had received my documents and constantly being told that the lending team were working on backlogged files. It was very disappointing that smile dont offer new customers the opportunities to move all their banking to smile. Apart from that the customer service was polite. The only problem i have seen so far is that any transactions on your account (debits by card payments) dont show on your account until 3-4 days later which is a big pain.
i would recommend this to anyone who is looking to do online banking and loves the internet.
written by on 02/10/2009
I've used smile for between 5 and 10 years now. Until fairly recently their service has generally been excellent. I have several current accounts, savings, and a credit card acc. Things have started to slip though - they've gradually increased the price of their premium current account, and customer service is nowhere near as good as it used to be. One thing I found hugely frustrating is there is no facility to download statements, or to import them into financial packages. You can only print hard copies. I recently requested copies of statements that were no longer available online, s quoted £2.50 per statement, but charged £10!!!! Repeated requests for an explanation have been ignored, so unfortunately it's heading towards the ombudsman.
A pity. If statements were made available as pdf's or excel files, it would be so much easier. It's possible that smile counts on requests for hard copies to generate revenue though.
Security is tight - they've introduced a card reader that you need to use to authorise certain online transactions, and they're quick to call you about suspicious activity on your accounts. In my case they transactions have always been legit, but it's nice to know someone's checking.
written by scrunge on 24/07/2006
Smile internet banking take an ethical stance, although their attitude to their customers could be construed as less than ethical.
It is reasonably easy to use the website, although the cursor doesn't position to the first input field on the screen. When I complained, I was told that this was for the benefit of disabled users. I fail to understand how this 'feature' could benefit anyone!
Just like other banks, once they've hooked you, the benefits are steadily removed. First. the monthly subscription went up from £6.00 to £7.50, then the interest rate on the savings account dropped, now they've abolished the cashback on the Visa card. Freebies such as 12 free bottles of wine are dished out to new customers, but there's no loyalty bonus for existing customers. I have seriously considered changing accounts, but moving to Smile was such a painful experience that I dread to think what leaving them would be like. They failed to transfer two of my direct debits, leading me to go into arrears on my life insurance and cable TV, and they were absolutely no help at all in getting the situation sorted out. In the end I had to contact the payees myself.
There is no facility to download statements into a financial package like Quicken or MS Money, which is for 'security reasons' apparently, although other banks seem to manage it, and I can't even save bank statements as Excel or PDF documents with Smile, and there is no facility to view secure messages after sending them.
written by masariello on 10/03/2006
There are very few Co-op offices around, so I have to mail in my cheques, which I do not like because they can get lost in the mail. This also gave me troubles to set up my accounts because I had to mail in authenticated copies of several documents. My girlfriend is a pharmacist so the authentication was not a big problem, but I can imagine this can be quite a pain without that luxury.
I travel a lot so I don't like to be charged for overseas transactions, and Smile does charge. I wish I had checked this before opening the accounts.
The website is certainly not very flashy, but complete, friendly and clear. The level of security is very good, and the phone banking advisers are always competent and ready to help and explain.
Smile is an ethical company so it's a pity that I have to leave them. I just don't like those charges for overseas transactions.
I'm moving to Nationwide. They have very competitive interest rates for my situation, and they do not charge overseas. Let's see how it goes there.
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As rated by our community of reviewers
Trikkitt's Comment
Written on: 20/05/2014
You can call their normal number to avoid the 0845 call rates...