RBS SUCKS...........

Technically this is not a smart technologies post, but one born out of personal frustration and expense caused by at best an inability to deliver customer service and at worse a complete disregard for a Small Business.

RBS have been our commercial bankers for almost 3 years now and at the time of opening the account they couldn’t do enough for us. Sadly once our signatures were secured the service got markedly worse.

The following events culminated in the decision to be made to move our custom elsewhere, but as you will see if your read on not even that was straight forward.

As part of the Financial Services sectors infatuation with online security we were issues with an online access card and a reader for producing unique codes for specific functions like setting up a new payee. This is on top of providing a unique Customer number AND after providing 3 digits of a secret 4 digit PIN in random order AND after providing 3 characters from a secret 8 character password again in random order. It is only then can you actually look at any transaction let alone make one with a new payee.

Well this is where our issues really began to affect our business. Firstly the reader did not give the correct codes requested my the RBS online banking service so we called up and was assured another would be with us in 7-10 days in the interim we would be able to use the telephone banking service or the any branch. Not ideal as we are a small company and the whole idea of internet banking was the convenience of being able to make transaction 24 /7 . Also we noticed that using telephone banking or the branch network cost the business not only time but money. Anyone how has operated a small business knows only too well how administrative costs such as bank fees need to be kept to an absolute minimum is the business is to survive the first 5 years.

The new reader did not materialise and so we, again, requested another which did arrive but again the same response as the first. We contacted RBS and were advised that it was “User Error”. I have two fundamental issues with this statement

1. As a service provider you may truly believe that your service is perfect and it is always the customer who is the idiot (personally I believe this to be a closed minded bigoted view) but you MUST NEVER allow the customer to be aware of that view. Instead take responsibility for resolving the customer issue AND provide the service to the customer that you have promised no matter what at the price agreed.

2. Whilst it is not beyond the realms of possibility that it may well have been the user at fault, in this case myself. However, during my career I have spent almost 15 years in the banking industry specialising in plastic cards, and the last 10 years implementing multi-application smartcards INCLUDING dual factor authentication for networked systems, the very same application that we are talking about here.

Yes it may have been something I did or didn’t do however the fact remains that the issue was left unresolved and remains so to this day almost 3 years later. During which time I have mentioned the issue to RBS virtually every time I have been to the branch or call telephone banking services. I’ve lost count but that has to be a dozen opportunities to resolve the issue and (pay attention this is the important bit) deliver the service which was promised. I’m not being unreasonable this is only what RBS promised me they would provide as a corporate banking service for which they would be paid a monthly fee.

The saga goes on……in May 2009 whilst trying to pay a supplier via telephone banking services my account was revoked because the User ID or password had been incorrectly input 3 times. Again it was said that I had given the incorrect details 3 times and again I refer to my earlier point about taking responsibility for issue resolution.

But no I have to call another number and…………at which point my toy flew out of the pram and I levelled the threat of closing the account, which was met with total indifference. Now the account will not be the biggest that the branch has but it certainly wont be the smallest either and the value of the account should not matter RBS are happy to sell the service and levy charges against the account.

So I still haven’t made my transfer yet and there is the payroll also. I trot off to the branch and make my complaint to a very understanding however powerless cashier. Who promised to “look into it and call me back that afternoon” that was over a month ago and I’m still waiting. I do however withdraw several thousand pounds and walk across town to another bank to pay it directly into the suppliers account.

MY REWARD………a charge of £28.68 for withdrawing my own cash for a transaction the RBS should have enabled me to do over the internet for 37p.

So I have now finally managed to get hold of my business account manager to advise I want her to clos the account and forward the funds to a new account that I have set up with Lloyds TSB. Again she seemed resigned to the fact that I was taking my business elsewhere and tells me to put it in writing which I did on the 10th June 2009. Sadly she cant refund the £28.68. I will let you decide for your self what was the right decision here.

On the 25th June I received an auto generated letter from the Bolton Customer Service Centre over 200 miles from my branch in Brighton East Sussex, where I should have been having personalised and regular meetings with my Relationship Manager. Truth is in 3 years I have NEVER met her spoken to her a handful of times on the phone but never met her. The letter said the account was not and could not be closed as the signature on the letter did not match the signature on their file.

In the interim I have employees and suppliers that have not been paid and the small matter of year end figures to be calculated and a corporation tax bill to be paid.

A not so wise old man once said to me “If you are going to get it wrong then get it spectacularly wrong”

Hell are RBS succeeding there!

Never once over the last 3 years did I feel like RBS were committed to resolving the reader issue and NEVER has any one from RBS offered to reinstate the online account access in over 1 month

I believe that RBS have missed numerous opportunities to resolve this customer issue and save a customer which I’m sure is many times cheaper than securing a new customer.

I have shared my experience with others small business owners and found that I am not alone.

RESOLUTION
My only avenue left is to go to the branch with passport driving licence and whatever else I have in the way of ID, withdraw all the cash, close the account ask for a printout of the last 3 months of transaction for accounting, have them manually uploaded into our records (as there is no access to the internet to down load them from) and then walk across town with many thousands of pounds in my pocket and pay it into the new bank account.

AND HERE’S THE KICK IN THE BALLS………………..I will receive a 3 figure fee for withdrawing the account balance in cash and RBS will pursue its payment.



Each year this account cost my business hundreds of pounds, some would say I am doing the right thing by voting with my feet, and I do too as I owe it to my business and our employees and clients to be as lean as possible and get the best value from our service providers This blog is part of that process and also intended to:-

1. Highlight my issues so other potential and existing RBS customers are aware and better equipped to manage any similar issue they may encounter.

2. Solicit feedback from existing RBS customers with similar experiences.

3. Give RBS the chance to readdress its service provision to small businesses and see what this is doing to their reputation with small business owners.


Hence we see headlines like "RBS lost the most; & RBS loss eclipses all rivals & save
Bailed-out RBS to pay chief $23m & Outrage over RBS CEO's pay package & Anger mounts to £9.6m pay deal for RBS boss & RBS Posts Biggest Loss & RBS lost most money last year & The World's Worst Bank: RBS & JPMorgan is strongest bank; RBS is biggest loser

And these headlines explaine why they wont be refunding the bank fees I have paid to cover their failure to provide my company with the service THEY promised to provide.

SHAME ON YOU - We should have let you go under!


Please comment and let me know if you have had a similar experience with RBS or another UK bank.

Either way I am interested in your thoughts especially as we, the tax payer, own most of the RBS.