Bank of Scotland Reviews 

Writing this review specifically about their 'help' chatbot.
I've been trying to dispute a transaction via their live chat option for two full days now. I've given every possible detail more than once, but STILL I'm going round in circles.
The transaction was for an item I'd ordered a few weeks ago. It eventually arrived last week, but the item was nothing like the website photos of the item. Despite using the merchant's contact page (as well as the only email available online or in correspondence) I have heard nothing back from the seller. Their email address was flagged when my email was bounced back to me. The message from my email provider said that the email address I'd used was 'inactive.'
I have spent much of the last two days in a repetitive cycle, having to provide the same details over and over again. Still, no resolution.
At one point I did actually chat with a human, and they advised that my dispute would be sent to a supervisor for review.
Anyone who's used this supposed 'service' will know that each response takes a while to receive. But after chatting to the helpful human, the back and forth basically broke down. I'd receive a message back, so get a notification on my phone. I'd go back into the chat to answer, and the chatbot is responding like we've never chatted about the issue before. So my responses are treated like a new issue every time I go back into chat!
I'm going to end up bald due to the amount of hair I've ripped out with frustration!
Alas, we all know that visiting a branch of BOS doesn't help in the slightest. The staff do not deal with your enquiry, but instead provide you access to a phone to talk to a call centre. So...a complete and utter waste of time and effort.
If the transaction had been for, say, £20 or less, I'd probably have given up by now. But given that the item cost £80+, I can't just write that off out of frustration!
So, here I sit, yet again waiting for another of their human advisors to answer my last message. They will no doubt ask all the same questions that I've answered in detail at least twice before. I hate banks...particularly BOS.

A few weeks ago I tried to pay a supplier invoice of around £6,000 online and was blocked and told to call the bank. After much questioning I eventually was then told I'd need to attend a branch with the invoices to proceed. I don't live near a branch (they closed the local branch a few years ago), and I asked for a way to verify myself remotely.

The block to the supplier has since become a hold on my whole account. I can't make any payments, and I can't even transfer money to my own account at another bank (which had been set up for many years).
I haven't been given a clear explanation of what triggered the hold or a straightforward way to lift it without travelling. At present I am incapacitated and could not go if I wanted to.

After more than 50 years with Bank of Scotland, I'll be leaving. Loyal customers with legitimate payments deserve better than this.

Preet was very friendly and professional in her response. Swiftly sorted all my issues such as setting up my app, mortgage etc.

Appalling!
It is a week i am trying to figure out where they sent my credit card.
They keep asking the same questions over and over every time a new incompetent unable to read two lines anove in the chat and wasting hours of my time.
Rubbish rubbish

It is a pity you have to give one star the customer service is absolute rubbish now no extra support for vulnerable customers even though they say there is because I had a stroke it can take me over 20 minutes just to get past the automated part ask for credit card dispute team wait 40 minutes to be told that they will pass me over then you are put in another long queue I have asked and asked why the automated assistant asks what department you want for then to just be put through to general enquiries they close most of the branches then there is no one to answer the phones it is a nightmare when you are phoning for the answer to one question and it can take over an hour tried going to the branch but as they have closed all the branches down except one the queue was all the way to the outside door I think there was over 20 people queuing with one person serving

Livingston, went to visit to get cash to pay workmen in house. SHUT!!!!!!!!! No advanced warning despite being in shopping centre weekly - no details on hoarding where nearest Bank of Scotland is - probably because it is about 50 miles away!!!!!!!!!!
2 Branches of Bank of Scotland closed in Livingston.
Time to change to Royal Bank of Scotland - they were open and asked if I could get cash - but only to limit on Bank Card - now trying to up my limit - what a job!!!!!
Despicable service to it loyal customers!!!!!!!
No staff at Branch to discuss.

I have a Bank of Scotland (B of S) credit card.
I lost the card so using the number printed on the back of my monthly statement called to report card lost.
Answering machine asked a few questions about me then asked reason for my call. I said 'lost card'. The voice then asked for card number which I gave.
Then asked me for security code from the back of my card!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I wonder how much B of S paid to have a telephone answering machine that asks a question that can not be answered?
This is the second time I've brought this issue to B of S but nothing has been done to rectify this issue.
If B of S replies to this posting please explain why you are still using a system that does not work?

Waited for 45 minutes online to resolve a declined card with no response.....tried the phone service and after completing the security details was told the line was now closed and promptly hung up on me! Terrible customer service! Perhaps the Bank of Scotland should invest in some paper cups and string as it would be an improvement on their current systems.

Worse than Usless can’t ever speak to someone other than that DAMN AI rubbish! I am sick of it I am moving banks lloyds group is the pits!!!!

What has happened to thd bank of Scotland service? It is utterly diabolical. I use telephone banking and I phoned to set up a bank transfer. I was kept waiting for almost 30 min and the phone was answered by some man I could barely understand that sounded like he was outside. He took all the details and then said he would now have to pass me to a different dept as he could not do it. I explained I had waited half an hour to speak to him and asked how long this would take and he then cut me off. Really shocking service, I am just disgusted with them. Time to look at moving to a different bank after 41 years.

tried a bank switch from nationwide to bank of scotland,received my new account number & sort code,waited & waited for my debit card to arrive,finally told my account was declined!! no explanation(apparently they don't have to) but why give me a account number & sort code in the 1st place?,the switch (thankfully) never happened staying with nationwide who are great at communication,only wanted to switch for the £150 bonus,better the devil you know.!

The Bank of Scotland virtual Agent is absolutely rubbish, where has customers service gone? No idea how I am going to sort my account as they have also recently closed down our local branch. Been with this bank for over 30 years but will definitely be looking at banks now which have good reviews for customer service as Bank of Scotland is so bad now.

The Bank of Scotland imposed a £3600 limit on transfers from our current account without telling us.
My wife has upcoming surgery next week and we had to transfer £12,000 from this account to cover the cost.
The web link to how you could manage this limit didn't work (forbidden 403) using Chrome although we did eventually found that the web page did work on Edge.
The help desk person said he to do this for us, but before he did he cleverley passed us on to the IT help desk.
I don't know why my browser did what it did did but I didn't want to go down the road of clearing my cache to try and sort it.
The problem was not one of IT but how we were treated as loyal customers by imposing this restriction on our account and not initially helping us,
This left us both stressed thinking that the surgery wouldn't take place.
We were informed later that we did receive an email telling us to check a PDF in our online archives regarding the new limit - so they are covered.
Why not just send the PDF in an email to start with, this would at least better ensure that you read it!
All I want to do now, is withdraw all the money we have in accounts with BOS and put it under the bed!
BOS have closed our local branch in Dingwall, and this morning we might as well been talking to an AI chat bot.

I would change banks, but what good would that do, as you'll get treated in a similar manner by all of them.
We've been on the phone for over an hour & 20 minutes trying to raise a complaint.
At the moment the phone is just beeping at me.

Apparently we have been awarded £40 for our inconvenience.

Poor customer service...
Wait 20 minutes to get through...
Why don't they just offer a customer call back service like Amazon do/

Preet: I went to argyle street branch today and met with preet she is so helpful and supportive she helped me to set up online banking and applied for personal loan thank you so much preet.

It was bad enough being interrogated when withdrawing money, even separating me from my wife to see if we gave the same answers.
They’re basically working for the government to bring in a cashless society, which we hate.
Now they’ve closed our branch. Nearest branch 35 minutes drive and we’re both disabled!
I’ve been with them since 1978. I despise them now.

Preet
I visited in branch today and met with preet she is very supportive and friendly she gave me excellent customer service.

⭐ 1 star — Absolutely appalling customer service

I have banked with Bank of Scotland for years. I have my current account with them, my children have savings accounts with them, and I have always kept the accounts mainly because it is convenient having everything together. I have never been particularly impressed with them, but until now I have had no reason to go out of my way to complain.

That has changed.

My son has just turned 12 and has had a Bank of Scotland account since he was very young. I recently decided to open a Smart Start account for him, including the linked savings account and Visa debit card, so that he could start managing his own spending.

Opening the account online was straightforward. Then came the ID verification.

The app asked us to complete the facial verification, where you have to position your face inside an oval. We spent 30–45 minutes trying to get it to recognise my son’s face. It simply wouldn’t work. The ridiculous part was that it would repeatedly take a picture of me, but wouldn’t recognise him.

Fine. The app specifically said that if digital verification didn’t work, I could take his passport into a branch.

So that’s exactly what I did.

I went into the branch with his passport, only to be told that they couldn’t accept it because my 12-year-old son had to be physically present, despite the fact that I am his parent and legal guardian.

Annoying, but fine. We have three children, I work full time and our lives are ridiculously busy, but we made the time and went back to the branch yesterday with my son.

The staff took his passport, scanned it, took his account details and told me everything was sorted. I specifically asked before leaving:

“So that’s everything sorted now? It will all be working?”

I was told yes. I was even told it was an instant process and that we could go to an ATM, use his card and change his PIN.

Great.

Except it wasn’t sorted.

We had already received his card and PIN the previous week and were literally just waiting for the ID verification to be completed. I left it 24 hours and tried transferring some money into his new account.

Error. Please call us. We can’t complete this transaction.

I then went to an ATM. His card accepted the PIN, but when I tried to check the balance, it simply spat the card back out. I tried again and went into Card Management to change the PIN — it spat the card back out again.

So I called Bank of Scotland.

I waited approximately 25 minutes just to get through.

Then I was passed between three different people/departments, having to explain the entire situation from scratch each time. Eventually I was put through to the fraud team.

Why on earth is my 12-year-old son’s account being referred to the fraud team when we’ve followed the verification process, taken his passport into a branch as instructed and had branch staff tell us everything was sorted?

Apparently, there had been an error in the branch. They had taken and scanned everything but hadn’t completed the necessary updates.

So essentially, I had wasted my time going into the branch, my son had wasted his time going into the branch, the problem still wasn’t fixed, and then I spent over an hour and a half on the phone being passed around departments.

And the timing couldn’t be worse.

My son is going away tomorrow, Friday to Monday, with a friend from school. He needs his bank card to pay for things while he’s away. A lot of places at his destination are cashless, and obviously neither me nor his dad will be there with him.

I have absolutely no idea whether his card will actually work or whether this will be resolved in time.

The whole experience has been an absolute shambles from start to finish.

The app’s verification doesn’t work.
The branch gives incorrect information.
The branch makes an error and doesn’t complete the process.
The phone service involves ridiculous waiting times and being passed from department to department.
And nobody seems to actually take ownership of fixing the problem.

This is a 12-year-old child who has banked with you for years. We aren’t asking for anything complicated. We are simply trying to get the debit card you issued him to actually work.

Bank of Scotland should be embarrassed by this level of service.

After years of banking with them, I am now seriously considering moving my accounts and my children’s accounts elsewhere.

Absolutely shocking.

Preet, Argyle Street branch, was very helpful and patient when answering my questions and helping me with advice.
Thank you Preet for your time and support.

Just wanted a quick transaction, but turned out to be a lengthy process, that said ,I understood they were protecting my security..
The staff member, Fraser, however was very helpful and he made the process easier

I have a Visa card from these people announced with a great fanfare in June to replace my Mastercard and which has been active for the last couple of months or so.

When it arrived I tried to update Paypal where I use my credit card to pay but wasn't able to and the Bank of Scotland wanted me to contact me on a old landline that I haven't had for 8 years.

So I contacted them the person I talked to was very helpful but couldn't help me it appeared that the system didn't hold a birthdate for me!! I've had a Credit card with them since I was 18 in 1992 and am sure I had to prove my date of birth then. But somewhere along the line they lost it!!

So I had to go to a branch of Halifax, part of the same group, to get a birthdate put in and to change my telephone number to my current mobile which I'm sure they have but not in their system as my primary and only contact number. This was done but I was not happy that the assistant doing so who seemed to like wandering off with my documentation and credit card without explanation. Most places tell you why they are taking a card or piece of documentation away from your sight. And really I didn't feel welcome more like I was a chore not a person.

Anyway today I tried to use paypal and it asked me to link my card for easier payment I agreed and then the Bank of Scotland wanted me to confirm this by ringing the same 8 year old telephone number. I'll trying ringing them instead but customer loyalty has in my case been tested to the extreme by what can only be said to be incompetence. I do my bit and they do nothing.

I've never had this trouble with Nationwide or Barclays time for a new provider bit of a shame after 44 years but there we go.