Bank of Scotland Reviews 

This is going to be a long review given the issues raised. Firstly the bot on the mobile app clearly has the equivalent intellect of a dead amoeba - actually that’s probably very unfair to the poor little amoeba. After numerous failures (using simple english) to get the bot to understand it finally said it would put me in contact with the international payments department. Several eons went by (during which thousands of species probably became extinct!!) before someone left me a message on the app but of course without telling me they’d sent anything. Finally the person on the other end informed me the international payment I’d sent to myself had been stopped because my account was held for fraud. She was quite unpleasant and shared the same intellect level as the bot and should be fired. I asked her for contact numbers to resolve the issues and she sent me two numbers WHICH DID NOT WORK!!!!! The reason I asked for the number was because - and this is hard to believe - the International department of Bank of Scotland are NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE INTERNATIONAL PHONE CALLS!!!! Get real!!!

I finally went back through the usual banking number which made a few more thousand species extinct and eventually got someone who was ok but obviously frustrated herself over the bank’s internal processes. Having used my debit card between the 5-14 Sep with a timeline starting with a hotel at Gatwick South terminal, a week of using restaurants and shops in and around the Norfolk Broads concluding with a final hotel before flying home to Poland my account was blocked (AFTER the card had been used - by me- all week). The bank claimed they sent me a message asking if these were legitimate transactions but did NOT notify me of the message. I have all the necessary notifications set on my iPhone. Finally the fraud department accepted it was me and unblocked my account. However to have my debit card unblocked of course I had to speak to another separate department - card fraud and not just fraud. After another several thousand species extinctions it was answered by the most helpful person Robert. He apologized I had to go through (again!!!) countless security checks but was highly professional and courteous - in fact he could give lessons to the international payments department

By coincidence I retired early from my last job where I ran a global business assisting companies improve their customer service and quickly realise a substantial improvement in profits. I’m sure the CEO of BoS or their parent Lloyds never read these reviews - if they do then for your own sake get in touch and I’ll come out of retirement and help significantly improve your operation. Having been CEO in several businesses myself I would be ashamed of the reviews on here.

Absolute joke of a bank. Customer service is non existent. Spent 8 hours on an app to speak to someone who could not understand a simple question. Went back and forth for hours to then be told to contact fraud department. Contacted fraud department was on the phone for 20 mins was told the "system was slow" was the cut off. Trying to unblock my elderly mothers account which I hold power of attorney for. How you expect elderly people to deal with you on an app or on the phone its basically impossible for anyone to get anything done. No email address, app staff don't understand English & phone staff cut you off.

What a complete joke. I was with the bank for 15 years. Funny thing is I had many complaints with them - and only with them. But what happened today blew my mind!
I was told in Airdrie branch that I cannot pay in money with the cashier and I HAVE TO use the machine. I cannot pay in the money without the card and driver's licence and passport issued by the British government is not acceptable as proof of ID!!!!! Seriously!! I called to make a complaint. They stated it's up to branch to accept ID or refuse cash at the counter and it's up to their discretion. Enough is enough. I'm switching to Nationwide...

On 'chat' waiting for over an hour. Arshad joined the chat, but left again after 2 minutes and I was just left waiting, with no answers to my questions. Shocking customer service

Giving these rodents 1 star is far too much

They tell you if you have been scammed, especially from cryptocurrency to let them know as soon as possible....

You do this, give them every single detail then a day later they give you a useless automated response, these people are not the slightest but interested in you or anything you have been scammed, when you eventually get talking to customer service, it is from a call centre in India that really really does not give a crap about its customers

I am ready to switch to their rivals as l have totally given up on the shower of circus clowns

This is the worse Bank I ever dealt with in my life. They breach personal data, they kept my money for no reason and their customer services is worthless. These issues are really serious, including fraud, even with simple basic online accounts. Be very careful with this Bank and avoid at all costs!

the most corrupt banking system in the UK, terrible

Fraud department is completely useless,they will do and say everything to get you to close your complaint whilst on the phone, or they say they can't take you to the next step of the process until you close the complaint, even though complaint is unresolved and still on-going

most corrupt employees of any bank I've ever used

After declining my payments and telling me the transaction had not went through and money had not left my account, turned out to be lies.....the transaction went through and there systems got it all wrong so they just lied to get the complaint closed

AXA home emergency cover through bank account.
I pay BOS so should they have a duty of care?

25 DAYS WITH NO HEATING OR HOT WATER

Why would you leave a customer with no heating and hot water for 25 days then over the weekend. Very poor service. Never again.

Update - now DAY 16 no heating or hot water no call back no update.

18/09 DAY 17 - engineer came out then left still not fixed. No update or call from anyone.

20/09. DAY.19.- Sorry, the engineers in your area don’t work weekends.

27/09 Day 25 -
Still no heating or hot water
We will get this sorted straight away
The engineer will not send anyone out until the bill is paid. It's not fixed
There's nothing we can do.
We'll definitely call you first thing tomorrow with an update-
You should contact customer services
We close at 9pm
Sorry not s SORRY
We will reply within 8 weeks AXA

Unacceptable Poor poor service

I recently reported an unrecognised transaction.All they tell you is all l can do is sent you a new card .What about my hard earned money that is gone.Im not trusting them anymore with my money , will rather open a new account elsewhere and close this one and escalate the issue with the Financial Ombudsman.And they say your money is FSCA protected , how ?

Bank off scotland stole my rent money between 2017 to 2022 . I'm lamdlord so all my money got stolen complete fraud . Then also I over paid my buy to let mortgage they over charged me buy alot . Also then decided to appoint corrupted sherrifs and law firm to make false decrees and try to sell my property for the 5 years they stole my money and accused me off owing them that so ended up selling around 27 odd property they are corrupt to core complete thiefs now fca fcrc and law society all involved in closing them down

Cannot sign up as the app keeps asking for ID verification, despite me completing it 3 times now. Customer service number cuts out when transferring me through to an advisor.
When I finally got through to a human, they told me my ID check had failed, which I had not been informed of via email or on the app. And that the only way of signing up is to go into a branch with my ID. This has never happened previously with any other bank/organisation, all of which have accepted my ID checks.

Customer service really poor
Can’t get answers , so the best thing to do is move banks , been a customer with no adverse history or transactions

Continually hangs leaving you with the only option to turn off your phone, reboot and try again. The worst performing bank app I have by a long distance yet nothing appears to be done to fix it

I was scammed by a well-known company for £40.56 by myhelpshop, (you can check out theirhistory of frauds online) Despite this, the bank would not help.

I complained to the Bank of Scotland and they did absolutely nothing. I was under the impression that banks had a responsibility to protect customers from Fraud!

I am currently being treated for cancer, the fraud team that I was put (Mark) Approximately 9:10 am, was unsympathetic to the point of being rude, at one point he threatened to take my card away or delay it's arriving to me, eventhough I had already cancelled my card two days previously because of this fraud two days prior to this. I could not imagine any bank being less helpful, and definitely unsympathetic.

The company that had committed the fraud and taken the money out of my account, I saw this almost immediatelyand called the bank to cancel my card, after noticing it was a fraudulent action. had left me without food for a week.

Mark was aggressive with me, he has left me upset for the rest of the day. In the end the bank reluctantly did a chargeback, but threatened it would not last, and the money would be taken again from my account.

I strongly urge the bank of scotland to listen to the recording of our conversation.

Just spent 29 mins trying to get through to business banking customer services finally managed to explain my issue to real person I have now been on phone 38 minutes she asks me to hold on a second and then duly cuts my call off - have given her all my account details and name however no return call. Service is appalling cannot go into a branch as they have no business advisors & you get disconnected regularly on the help line. Time to move banks they just are no longer customer focused !!!!
My problem remains unresolved but I don’t have another 40 minutes to waste my time is previous too however the bank now think they are doing you a favour answering calls or assisting. They offer little or no assistance in a branch & helpline is obviously painfully understaffed.

I have been a customer of this bank for over 25 years, but trying to open a new business account has been one of the most frustrating and time-consuming experiences I’ve ever had.

After weeks of delays, the account was finally opened, but getting online business banking set up has been a complete nightmare. I’ve spent hours on the phone, received multiple duplicate letters and terms & conditions, and still don’t have proper access.

The biggest problem has been customer service. The call centre staff are almost impossible to understand, and when you politely say you can’t follow, they hang up—forcing you back to the end of the queue. This has happened repeatedly. Even when I provide the account number and sort code (issued by the bank itself), I’m often told the account “doesn’t exist.”

After countless wasted hours, I’m seriously considering moving both my business and personal accounts to another bank that actually values its customers.

Given the sheer volume of negative reviews, it’s clear this is not just my experience—customer service here is among the worst in the industry.

Zero stars if that were possible.

The very worst telephone service I’ve experienced in a long time. If I could give a minus score I would. I phoned to report a possible fraud having received a text message I didn’t recognise purporting to be from Bank of Scotland about funds being moved from my account; I’ve given no instructions for this to happen, and phoned to report a possible fraud being carried out. It took 20 minutes to speak to a person who then transferred me to another dept, again a prerecorded message about them being very busy with an anticipated wait of 10 minutes. I chose call back again. On my second call to the phone number on the net which stated they were open 8am to 8pm, after the automated check: DoB, a/c no, sort code, my reason for calling etc., the automated voice said they were closed as their opening hours were 8am to 6pm. So, is a fraud being perpetrated on my account? If I ring back tomorrow, will my account have been cleared? Does anyone at BoS even care enough to contact me back? The given advice in case of any possible fraud is to call your bank.

Awful experience. I had the misfortune of having my isa transferred from another bank here and they had no knowledge of it when I asked where my money was. Avoid.

Disgusting wait times on phone. Considering I was reporting a fraud on my account they were in no rush to answer. "Thank you for holding, we are particularly busy at the moment but expect your call to be answered shortly" 59 minutes I waited.
You people on high, who get paid mega bucks for playing golf and taking long lunches, need to get off your lazy arses and serve the people, who pay your ridiculous wages.

Diabolical customer service from your Haddington branch.
My 80 Yr old mother used to bank in Dunbar, till it closed. She had to travel to Haddington as she had a problem with the app on her phone. She has mobility issues but made her way to Haddington branch, she stood in the queue and waited her turn. When it was her turn she stepped forward and explained to the cashier her problem with the app.
She was told by the cashier, that she didn't have time to sort it and to just switch it off and turn it on again.
Did she not think we tried this before travelling to Haddington?
My mum came home upset as the app she uses to pay bills and transfer money was still not working.
Thanks for nothing BOS