Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank Account

Took over 2 years to remove my ex-wife as a signatory on the account. Took over 2 years to get a change of address acknowledged (still not convinced its been done. Help Desk full of lovely people - but a bag of doughnuts would be more effective. Best rate of interest keeps me sane. I would close the account but can't - because of the signatory issue. Can't leave it empty and idle or I get charged. Pathetic!

SHOCKING, USELESS, CANNOT FIND NUMBERS FOR OUT OF HOURS LOST & STOLEN CARDS, NO BRANCHES TO PROCESS BUSINESS TRANSACTIONS. PATHETIC TELEPHONE SYSTEM, STAFF USELSS. WORST EVER!!!! SH1T

*********AVOID**********

They took 4wks to set up a business account, sent me someone elses's bank card, wrong PIN sent. Customer Services staff are clueless and contradict one another.

Recently I was hit by a £15 charge for going into overdraft despite £240 credit being in the account on previous day of alleged o/d breach. See what I mean!

I complained and got £400 compensation. Needless to say I have closed the account.

If you are thinking of opening an account THINK AGAIN !! I have been with A&L for 5 years and when you need them to do something important they mess up. Our latest problem was when our debit cards where due for replacement, when the new cards arrived we tried to use them but INCORRECT PIN came up. We informed A&L they said nothing was wrong with the cards, we tried again with the same result, eventially after another long phone call they agreed to send out new cards and pins. A week later a letter arrives, WE HAVE SENT YOU CARDS FOR THE WRONG ACCOUNT !!! I thougth that when SANTANDER took over things would improve, they have only got WORSE

The telephone banking service which likes to say "yes" but never does what it promises. This incompetence and disinterest applies to all the staff answering the phones. I have been promised that interest was being paid regularly on my business account (with a balance of £300K) on 4 occasions when it was not.

I was told today that there is no way to transfer money the same day (the staff had never heard of CHAPS)

I am currently making an external complaint about the worse than inadequate service provided.

If you bank with them I would advise you to look elsewhere and if you are thinking of banking with them DONT!

Banked with HSBC and didn't like paying out so much for the privilege of putting money in the account! Hence, swapped to A&L. BIG mistake.

First, all credits have to go to Bootle so take 3-4 working days for any credits to go through. Two of my cheques I sent in for credit never arrived, which usually wouldn't be a problem since I just get the payee to cancel them and send replacements. I had to contact A&L three times to find out if they had them over a 8 day period. They just don't respond to queries fast enough.

Password systems are inadequate. There's a 10 character company ID, then a Logon ID, then a Logon password and if you want to make a payment, there's also an authentication password. The result of course isn't increased security, it's massively decreased, because you end up writing them all down. I know you're not supposed to but in reality this is what you have to do to remember them. Finally, the system doesn't update itself as fast as other systems when you make payments etc.

Going to bite the bullet and go back to HSBC.

Had small business accounts with Alliance and Leicester for about 10 years.

cancelled one because of time taken to clear cheques. Kept one going for another business that is seasonal and very handy to pay in cash at local Post Office as live miles from a town. The cost was around £5 monthly so good value but difficult to transfer money to my other bank accounts and unable to get through on phone. Recieved letter to day saying they will be closing the account in 30 days because of lack of activity (through the winter). Account always had money in it and again impossible to get through on phone. So they have now lost a customer for any future loans mortages on any product whatsoever. Bet I still get their Junk Mail though!! Will now be opening another account with a proper bank .

The business account internet facility is a joke. Any payment over £250 to a normal high street bank takes 3 days!!! If you make more than one BACS payment a day they are all lumped together on your statement as one debit!! Free banking for 2 years was a great lure, but I would rather pay to be able to have a decent internet facility. As soon as I set up elsewhere I will be closing this account.

Must be the most incompetant commercial bank I have ever had the misfortune to deal with If you require assistance do not expect it from someone in authority for four or five days or more Telephone customer services can do nothing but tell you what your balance is, other than that you will be told that a Manager? will contact you. MY experience is it is more likely that the Queen will ring me

overpriced and ineffective systems