Skipton Building Society

Yesterday I contacted Skipton B.S. by telephone, to make several enquiries about my own account and another account I have Power of Attorney for. I had many questions to ask, I must say the girl who took the call was extremely helpful and very patient. I have not have that level of excellent customer service and satisfaction for a long time.

A totally satisfied customer. Thank you.

Received a letter from them on 16/4 saying that someone may be impersonating me. The letter asked me to email documents so I was suspicious.

I called their fraud line and gave the reference on the letter, my correct name and date of birth and, to the question "what's your account balance?" I honestly said that, as far as I was aware,I didn't have an account.

On that information. I was asked to call back. I asked what I should say if I did so as I had told them all the relevant information? She didn't have an answer.

Massive formal complaint coming up

Absolutely terrible experience at the St Albans branch, staff certainly need to be more competent at there job. After speaking to the mortgage department at head office and informing them that I had sold a work van for cash, I asked if I could pay my mortgage for that month in cash as I was working near to the branch in St albans, all was agreed and my monthly direct debit was put on hold for that month. I tried to pay my mortgage in cash but the worker was making all kind of excuses as she simply didn't want to take the cash, they were short staffed apparently and needed 2 people to count the money, she then found what i had agreed with the mortgage department on her system, she then goes absent for 30 minutes, coming back saying I need proof of where the cash come from (1 hour after entering the bank) made to feel like a criminal for trying to pay my mortgage, in the end I paid the cash into by bank around the corner, returned and paid by debit card. Absolutely terrible experience

I first went to the Bolton branch but no appointments

Opened on telephone and given an account by Skipton

Told I would be sent a code by post on 17/11/23

Never received and it is deadline day tomorrow so my account will be closed; absolute shambles

Phone calls from my bank at Nationwide to the new 18 month fixed cash is account at Skipton have been a waste of time because neither bank will take responsibility for the situation.

Nationwide thinksI have transferred 15K today and blocked me…..the money was returned from Skipton BS.

I have spent hours on phone to both BS’S .

Tried to get an appointment at the Edinburgh branch but no one answers the phone. Spoke to someone on chat who kept asking the same questions I had already answered. When I said I wanted to complain she said she would do it for me and still did not answer my question or acknowledge that someone should be picking up the phone (I tried all week to get through) finally got through on Friday after 20 mins after 3:30pm and after giving the person my number the line went dead and she hasn't called back.

Tried to open Triple Saver 6 account online on Jan 9th as website said I could. I could not. When I phoned I was told they would conduct background checks on myself and my wife. Then I had a letter informing me that they could find no record of my wife, despite the fact she is on the electoral roll. So I sent off three original documents as proof of identity and proof of address, that were acknowledged and returned on Feb 9th. On March 6th, having heard nothing I phoned again and was told they had no record of an account and the Triple Saver 6 account had been withdrawn, but if I hung on the phone they would try and fond out. After 22 minutes of silence I gave up and decided to invest my £5000 elsewhere. What a way to run a business!

This Society is terrible to contact. They don'#t answer their phones or web chat. They just want your money without any effort.

If you ever need to withdraw your entire funds from a savings account at Skipton to buy a house, you'll go through hell and high water to get YOUR money out, even from a flexible savings account. They will drag it out 4 weeks or so and many many calls of absolute misinformation. First they tell you it is being processed one week. Two weeks later someone will tell you they need a letter from your solicitor to authorise a withdrawal of YOUR funds. Unbelievable! Their customer service is appalling with one person telling you it is being processed and then another putting a stop on the transfer to YOUR bank account and this will likely go on for 4-6 weeks. If you happen to be managing funds for someone with a legitimate legally recognised and registered Power of Attorney (with the Office of Public Guardian), well they refuse to recognise it even though months prior, they acknowledged it. They can't tell you what law they use to refuse withdrawal of funds, because clearly they are acting illegally. They will tell you that THEY will decide if purchasing a house by the account holder in the account holder's name is the right thing for that account holder. Really! Since when did the consumer entrust their purchasing power and freedom to a building society? Since when did we hand over that freedom? I don't recall they had the right to manage funds over and above the Lasting Power of Attorney.

Stay away from this horrible organisation who think the consumer account is their money. There are plenty of other reputable financial institutions to choose from who operate more ethically and morally. Customer service and my review would be negative 10 (-10) if I could give such a rating here.

Absolutely awful experience trying get my money out. Still ongoing I am very concerned that that want to see my bank statement (personal data) which will show my incomings and outgoings before transferring my money to me.I would be interested to know if this is breaking GDPR.

Please Avoid this company as they are useless and time wasters. One rep will decide one something ably for the next phone call to decide against that decision. Unskilled and poorly trained staff. Do Not contact this mortgage company as they are old and not competitive. Decisions in principle will be denied and argued against by their own staff and you will be left waiting way too long for any decisions to eventually be made in writing.