A
bank to be proud of
Pros: local network of branches in Scotland
Cons: slow service
Recommend to potential buyers: yes Full review
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have been a customer of the Royal Bank
of Scotland for 8 years, but not due to their
service standards. I
considered their Current Account, but
for £60 a year you get discounts. On
my last trip abroad my currency only cost
me £18 and any unspent currency was
returned commision free (even taking into
account the poorer exchange rate). If
the £60 actually was to benefit
the things I buy every year, then fair enough.
You can also use this to reduce your overdraft
fee. Call me naive, but then surely that
is a "charge" not a benefit,
and hidden too. Now I move into service at branch level.
My local branch has two teller positions,
and from 10:00 to 15:00 it is quite common
to have to wait in a queue of no less than
4 people, for about 20 minutes. The closer
of a local Clydesdale Bank has increased
this branches business, and it was busy
before! The
statements they produce are quite
easy to read, although they new-style
credit card
statements are not as comprehensive as
previous ones. A new benefit is that
you know what
your interest charge for next month "may" be. I have been trying to use their Digital
Banking for the last 6 months, and this service
failed on every occasion, so I retured to
their traditional Direct Banking, which alows
you to call an 0845 number and access your
account details out of hours.
I finally connected to their Digital Banking
service a few weeks ago and this enhances
their service further by allowing you to
manage your account from ANY PC. Well thats
the theory... It was such a shame it had
taken so long to find out why my account
could not use the Digital Banking service,
even though I was already on the Direct Banking
service! The only thing missing now is the ability
to eMail my own branch, as this is something
they still do not support, even though I
can fax my branch!
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