I haven't been with many banks, in fact just 3 in 40 years, and I don't want to use this review just to critisise Nat West, First Direct are rubbish too, but I just wanted to give you a few examples of why NatWest must be run by incompetents: Nothing works as it should. This is a general moan because I know everytime I have a banking issue it takes at least 30 minutes to solve it. As someone else has said, the staff in branch and on the phone are very nice, but clueless. Check out how many contact numbers they advertise on their website - good luck finding the right person. (At least First Direct had one number) They have been selling bits of their service for years and they divide your accounts into what's staying and what's going, but they don't tell you which until you log in - and the login is different for both accounts... I battled to get mobile banking working for half an hour until they told me it didn't cover business accounts... Nice to be told first. I still can't login to my business or personal app - they assume I have forgotten my details; I haven't. Hit or miss whether you can get through to phone banking - I can't again today. The complete system has gone down completely more than once - no payments, no receipts. They should sack the CEO as he patently doesn't care about his customers. Try any other bank - apart from First Direct - and do yourself a favour.

Earlier this year I booked two months away to go travelling across the USA. Obviously going to the health industry hell that USA I wanted to ensure I had a good travel insurance agreement. I went to one of Natwests' branches (the one in Bearsted, Maidstone to be precise) where I took out my insurance with them that i said would need to cover items such as my iPhone 4s that I would be taking with me and cover me for any medical mishaps that could happen. Unfortunately, my iPhone was stolen (obviously not Natwest's fault) however, upon my return trying to make a claim I was told my iPhone was only covered for £300 as is every single item and not the £500 it would take to replace. Absolute jokers!

My local Natwest branch is not far away, and being able to call the branch make it good. Only thing is that the bank charges are high. They have UK call centers able to understand them and the online banking easy to use.

My overall experience of Natwest has been OK and I would just about recommend them.

They have plenty of free to use cashpoints which is helpful and the people in the branch have been competent whenever I've been down there.

Online wise the Internet Banking set-up is pretty good, but getting a password was a song and dance - not helped by the call centre staff member whose English seemed somewhat suspect.

My main gripe is when they talked me into a credit card, it was an irresponsible sales pitch from the manager to me and I felt this somewhat unethical in hindsight.

As banks go, they are OK and I have heard much worse about rival companies.

Two further quick points about NatWest banking, in case anyone up there might ever take notice. You go into a busy branch at lunchtime on a weekday. There is a queue, getting longer by the minute; customers are in a hurry, it is their lunch break. Only two of the service tills are operating. In the window of one of the other tills you see a young lady calmly counting banknotes, manually, and re-checking each count before applying the rubber band, and paying no attention whatever to the waiting customers. Query 1: why does she not postpone this non-urgent task and show willing by attending to customers, during this probably quite short rush-period; and why doesn't some supervisor deal with this bottleneck promptly if she is not authorised to shift to active service? Query 2: why are bank notes being counted by hand anyway, when there are highly efficient counting machines that can do this more quickly and accurately than she can, thus saving time and reducing customer frustration? An alert bank that took customer experience seriously would be keen to attend to points like this, because they are noticed, and make a difference.

I began to use Natwest's telephone banking service in summer 2003 as I worked abroad. The first time I tried to use it to check my balance, I spoke to an advisor who asked some personal questions and that was fine. However, the next time I phoned I was told that I couldnt get my balance untill I registered a pass number, they transfered me to an automated system, I entered the pass code and then had the option to go back and speak to an advisor. I tried to speak to an advisor and got cut off. Tried to phone again, using the quick system of putting all your security details in the automated system which proved impossible as I kept getting cut off. Eventually I had to hold the line until the system got bored and transfered me to an advisor. I then tried to transfer money to an external account which I was told I couldn't do as I needed to either go into a branch or send a letter. I have an account with the Co-op bank and its possible to do this over the phone. I would have thought it was more secure to do it over the phone as they ask you loads of security questions, how can they prove its you if you send a letter? just by a signiture? I think the system needs updating before they loose customers to other banks who offer a more flexable service.

I, and many family members and friends, have been having numerous problems with NatWest current accounts in the last few months - lost Switch cards, charges for non-existent overdrafts, terrible interest rates, all compounded by poor customer service. I am now contemplating switching banks, and wouldn't recommend NatWest to a new customer.