Coutts Reviews 102

Having been an Adam & Co client for more than 40 years, I was forced to Coutts a couple of years ago. Inevitably, and unsurprisingly, I am now being forced out of Coutts, because we do not meet their new wealth criteria. Fair enough. I used to be a private banker and was headhunted by Coutts a couple of times in the early to mid 2000s, for very senior roles. I turned them down because I thought the senior people were very unimpressive, and their business model made no sense. However, I understand why they want to get rid of me, despite having introduced some very big clients to them over the years.
What I cannot forgive, however, is their total disinterest in keeping me as an RBS/Nat West client. My wife and I have been business clients for 15 years.
I have tried to close our Coutts account and open an RBS account. Mission impossible, despite it being inter-company. I have complained to both RBS and Coutts. For the first time ever, I got a call from some young guy in Coutts in Scotland. He appeared to think he was a hero by suggesting the telephone number of an Indian call centre, who might be able to help. I called them and spoke to a nice lady, who promised to call me when my wife was available as well. We waited two hours for her call, which never came.
After more than 40 years as a client, who used to be treated with respect, it is very upsetting to be treated as an irritation by the current morons.
If I win more than a £100million on Euromillions this week, not a penny will go to Coutts. They are horrendous.

Asked to leave this review by Courtney in private banking

Absolutely amazing service

Always willing to helps

They do not seem to want new customers. Too difficult by far to open an account. Bailed out by the taxpayer who they now do not want to serve.

Wine and dine then decide no account. Horrible experience

This feedback is directed at Coutt’s HR department. After seeing a job vacancy that caught my attention, I spent several hours preparing and completing my application. Many weeks went by and I was surprised that I had no form of communication. To submit the original application, one has to log into their portal site, so after going back into the portal, it showed that my application was simple closed. No communication whatsoever. While I appreciate that not every job application results in success, I was puzzled by this decision, especially given that I possess all the required qualifications and several years of relevant experience. I would have expected at least an interview invitation.

I wondered if there was something wrong with my application or CV, so I reached out to the HR team for feedback to understand the reasons for the rejection and, more importantly, to help me improve future applications. The HR team never responded.

It is disappointing to see that Coutt’s HR department considers this behaviour as acceptable. It is highly unprofessional. The directors, who are ultimately responsible for every member of their team, should be made aware of this conduct. HR is often the first point of contact for job applicants and such behaviour creates a negative first impression of the company. Furthermore, this is a highly incestuous industry where word-of-mouth and reputation matters greatly. At a time when “ESG” is a focal point for many companies, it’s essential to remember that this isn't just about pollution or how environmentally friendly they are, the “G” stands for Governance, this encompasses how a company treats its people and how it interacts with others outside of the organisation.

Finally, HR and the directors of the company need to recognise that their decisions regarding job applications directly impact people’s livelihoods. Is it too much to ask for a few minutes of your time to provide a response, especially considering that this is the job which HR is being paid to do? After seeing what the average Trust Pilot review is for Coutts, it is clearly an organisation that doesn't care at all levels.

Having formerly been a customer with Adam & Co, who were absolutely excellent, however now, after Adam & Co were closed down and all customers were moved to Coutts I can honestly say they are by far the worst Bank I have had the misfortune of being involved with.

Do not trust this Singapore coutts bank private banker Sarah Lee who is extremely rude and arrogant

I was represented for a legal matter. No communication whatsoever. Totally unsatisfactory and incompetent. Would never recommend. Only give one star because won't accept zero. The main communication was when they were to be paid. Would never recommend this place

They did less than zero for me.
I would not recommend.

Coutts provide a terrible customer experience. As a premium bank, I was under the impression everything would go smoothly and seamlessly. This couldn’t be further from the reality. It is incredibly slow and unresponsive. It’s been over a month since they have been progressing with an application to remove my husband’s name from a mortgage and they have been so slow and unreasonable. I would never recommend them to anyone and we are looking to put forward a complaint.

I have been a customer for many years and am finding it increasingly impersonal and unable to react quickly to issues which get passed from one to another and cannot be quickly resolved. Fraud checks block regular routine transactions far too often and customers are not informed quickly enough to take remedial action. The algorithm that blocks transactions makes no sense. All very dispiriting and then there is the App……..!

I replied to your email 2 weeks ago and since then nothing .. says it all really!

I felt I had to write this as I am personally appalled by the way Coutts have treated Dress2kill over the last year. We approached Coutts asking for help over a difficult but small period of time (as always at that time of year) in December. We were being met with little to no communication over this time and were passed from seemingly everyone in our bank managers department. I understand he had not been well but I’m afraid in people’s absence we as a long-term customers should not be ignored and passed around the houses as we had been.

We have provided Coutts all the information they have requested and they have said on more than one occasion that everything will be fine but to then come back with further bad news and requesting yet more information.

To put things in very simple perspective and having read all the chain of correspondence to date, Coutts have tried to delay and find any excuse possible not to help Dress2kill in what is their 26th year now . We have gone through possibly the worst 5 years the retail world has ever experienced, with Covid, the cost-of-living crisis, tube strikes etc and we have survived. We needed a simple £50K extension to our current facility (less than we required the year before) either by loan or by overdraft and are in a financially better position owing our suppliers less than ever. We have also successfully paid back the majority of a £100K government backed CBILLS loan which thousands of other businesses have failed to do. Having banked with Coutts for 26 years and paid their extortionate prices, we expect slightly better communication and far more support from our bank. They hardly ever return calls and are now coming back with the lame excuses as to why the bank isn’t prepared to help us. We have even offered to guarantee the extensions through our own personal assets and have filled out the relevant forms. They are not in any way helping us grow, in fact they are doing the very opposite and being detrimental to our business.

I have emailed their chairman and am posting this review online outlining our experience and utter disappointment. My Grandparents met at Coutts some 70 years ago and this is one of the reasons we were drawn to bank with Coutts - Oh how times have changed for the worst. They have totally done the opposite of helping us as a customer and we have wasted days if not months being passed from pillar to post with no real solutions or help but just lame excuses that seem to be stalling for time.

Very frustrating and not helpful in these tough times!

I've been with them 30 yrs. I've never really met their minimum wealth criteria, but they have always been very responsive. Its true that over the last 10-15 yrs the personal relationship with a banker who recognised my voice has totally gone, but I find the 24-7 desk very practical wherever I am in the world (yes there never used to be any wait at all, and now sometimes there is a few mins - but honestly - compare that to the horrendous alternatives. I saw the overwhelming number of poor reviews here so felt a bit of balance was appropriate. The app - I dont understand what people's issue is - it has worked fine for me for last few years. Face login, transfer £, done (with decent security) - 2 mins tops. Whats the problem? After having also banked with a popular High St retail bank I can't imagine how anyone would conclude Coutts service is inferior to that godawful utility-like experience. OK so its not what it used to be 20+ yrs ago and its probably not the best option for many non-HNWs (although I am far from that category), but if you value someone actually picking up the phone and an account mgr that answers emails (I do), then you have to decide how much that is worth to you.

I have been a client for over 15 years, it counts for nothing. Upon the end of a mortgage term I wanted to extend, they refused quoting their criteria, which is farcical, they then proceeded to charge me extortionate amounts of interest whilst telling me how I could not qualify to extend the loan. I paid the loan in full after trying to reason with them but they do not speak in logic only their only language of nonsense. I asked for a daily breakdown of how the interest had been charged and they can't give it to me and blame the system, so you cannot see if they are charging you correctly, i suspect they are not. They then gave me a gesture of goodwill for their inept way of handling my case. Please do not consider this bank for even 1p of your wealth, they operate without morals whatsoever. You've been warned !

They have introduced a new on-line system which has absolutely no advantages over the previous system but which was a nightmare too install. it is still problematic, clunky and not at all user friendly. To be fair the young ladies on the help desk were, without exception, very good and helpful and immensely patient but their system is rubbish!

I have enormous gratitude for their 24-hour telephone support... not to mention everything else.
A funny credit card charge - ring (even at 1am!) to understand why. A difficult refund from a seller - call them!
They are expensive but brilliant

I was a customer for 23 years until I was unceremoniously debanked at the beginning of last year, no reasons given. Service had declined significantly over the last few years, very difficult to get hold of a private banker and even then very little care or time taken to understand my banking needs, made several requests for a DSAR which where missed, and then investigated to say the the bank were not at fault, (I find it very challenging dealing with middle management who start a sentence with "thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to deal with this". Eventually received a heavily redacted DSAR which included cover sheets for 2 other Natwest customers, rather a poor data protection breach, which again was dealt with poorly.