Which Banks Have Been Treating You Well as a Customer?

meong on 14/01/2023 - 21:51
Last edited 16/01/2023 - 18:12

Hi OzBargain,

I would like to hear your suggestions on banks that have been treating you well lately.

I have been using CBA for more than ten years for my everyday banking and despite never having a mortgage with them my main credit card is with CBA. However, lately they have been treating me poorly as a customer such as:

  1. Asking for a chargeback for a pre-purchased in-flight meal of an AirAsia flight. The flight was cancelled due to Covid and international border closure in 2020. CBA said they couldn't provide chargeback because it was due to Malaysian government's decision to ground all flights instead of the airline's decision. Flight ticket was however refunded successfully as it was purchased using a card that was issued by a different bank.
  2. Asking for a chargeback (2nd time ever asking for a chargeback) request for a dispute with a seller due incorrect dimension of a $60 shoe rack and the seller was ignoring me and CBA came back saying that I need to get a "licensed expert to assess my claims". When I asked what kind of licensed expert can assess a shoe rack and the response was an automated email saying I need to send an email to a specific dispute email address which replied with the same automated emails.
  3. Asking about a recent fraudulent transaction alert and not allowed to speak to a person and was redirected to mobile chat app which can take 10-15 minutes to respond per message (so couple of hours just to describe issues and discuss resolutions), the chat person couldn't find the offending transactions despite alert messages sitting in my Netbank inbox.
  4. Advised by CBA to cancel my credit card and when I asked them to provide the list of recurring direct debit messages so I can transfer them to my new card and they refused to provide that and simply advised that I "go through the list of transaction history in Netbank". I mentioned to them that they are obliged to provide the list of recurring direct debits as their banking code of practice and they ignored my chat messages.

Issue #1 and #2 were resolved only after I raised a case with AFCA. Six months after case #1 CBA was made to send an apology letter to its customers for previously rejecting travel-related chargeback claims due to border closures.

Issue #3 and #4 are on its way via AFCA already. However, I feel dirty. I find like I'm wasting time for a financial dispute ombudsman who should have spent more time dealing with more pressing issues like there was a case that a BNPL was ignoring my request to close my account (2+ weeks) despite having no overdue balance/repayments and since I needed it to be done sooner due to an impending mortgage credit check, I had to get AFCA to step in.

Are banks/financial institutions really struggling in the customer service department? Or is it just CBA?

Or am I being an entitled person here? Happy to hear you feedbacks on this.

I feel like I've been using AFCA to deal with basic customer service, or is this why AFCA was created? Because the banks are just terrible these days?

I assumed case #1 and #2 can be challenging to assess as in with many chargeback process, but at least case #3 and #4 I believe should be basic response.

Would be keen to know if you have other banks to recommend as well.

UPDATE #1:
Provided extra clarification to point 1.

UPDATE #2:
Added poll

Poll Options

  • 77
    ING
  • 42
    UP
  • 18
    CBA
  • 16
    Ubank
  • 13
    AMEX
  • 12
    Westpac
  • 11
    Macquarie
  • 10
    ANZ
  • 8
    Bankwest
  • 8
    St George/Bank of Melbourne
  • 7
    NAB
  • 7
    HSBC
  • 7
    Bikies have my money
  • 6
    Mum and Dad/Parents
  • 4
    Bendigo Bank
  • 1
    Heritage
  • 0
    MacBank
  • 0
    Wife/Partner
Financial

Comments

    • meong on 16/01/2023 - 18:21

      i too am considering the lesser banks now…

      feel free to cast your vote…

  • brawndo on 16/01/2023 - 16:13

    Nope.

  • cloudmonk on 16/01/2023 - 16:49
    +2

    CBA has been pretty good for me.

    ANZ is a nightmare, so I raised a AFCA complaint - Anz tried several times to challenge AFCA since I didn't complain directly to Anz first despite having copies of Anz complaint emails and acknowledgement emails etc

    I'd highly recommend keeping detailed notes of any bank correspondence.

  • PlushToys on 16/01/2023 - 16:54
    +1

    Treating you well and banks does not go together.

  • qaz182 on 16/01/2023 - 17:17

    This thread needs a poll

    • meong on 16/01/2023 - 18:12
      +1

      created as per your recommendation

  • Herbse on 16/01/2023 - 18:08
    +2

    Up bank (sub of Bendigo bank). I contact them constantly by their chat section within the app for any issues and they're always friendly and fix them instantly.

    I can't believe people still walk into and call banks anymore. Boomers.

    • meong on 16/01/2023 - 18:14

      yeah interesting thing is, one of my recent mortgage was with Newcastle Permanent and apparently they use AusPost to perform ID check so they don't really need a branch…

    • SlartiBartFozz on 17/01/2023 - 20:36

      was planning to try them soon — find their website is revoltingly ugly, but I guess that's to attract the retro-80s handheld gamers ?!?

      • Herbse on 17/01/2023 - 22:11

        Yea that's their style. Just use the app and sign up through that. No need to go to the website at all

  • DingoBlue on 16/01/2023 - 18:24
    +1

    Multiple chargebacks with Citibank (and Paypal as well for that matter) have gone smoothly.

    • burningrage on 16/01/2023 - 22:57

      My experience with Citibank the same.

  • mezje on 16/01/2023 - 19:07

    I have been with CBA since Dollarmites and to be perfectly honest they have been fairly good to me. Recently reduced my variable rate by 0.9% and as I only have 15% equity, I didn't have much of a leg to stand on beyond loyalty and they gave me the discount.

    Had some issues with Netbank once which required multiple levels of escalation and they resolved it fairly quickly.

    Beyond that random encounters at branches haven't been terrible beyond wait times.

  • A-mak on 16/01/2023 - 19:26
    +2

    I'm with Bank Australia (been with them since I was a kid before it was even MECU). Still very happy with them, great customer service, better security than other banks; your best interest first over profits. Every member gets a vote in the yearly thing. Has the usual Osko payments.

    Only downside is in recent years they closed a few branches locally, but so did every other bank.

    • jooncheez on 25/01/2023 - 20:27
      +1

      Yep, not in the poll but my partner and I have been with Bank Australia for 4 years now.

      Amazing customer service and good security.

  • aub on 17/01/2023 - 09:06

    I've had good experiences with Auswide bank. Only issue is their branches not extending south of Brisbane.

  • FareEvader on 17/01/2023 - 10:51
    -2

    CBA has been great for me. I've tried all the other banks… the grass is NOT greener on the other side.

  • Something Darkside on 17/01/2023 - 11:02

    I use ING, Bendigo Bank, UP, tic:toc.

    ING is good with their fees, their HISA is no longer as good but I use my offset more for that now. I haven't had to interact with them.
    I'm finally going to cancel my Bendigo Bank credit card, it's points are crap and charge international fees. Whenever I've requested a chargeback though it's gone through and deal with a fraud on wife's account well.
    UP I don't us much yet.

  • dogboy on 17/01/2023 - 11:28
    +2

    Anyone still banking with CBA must have rocks in their head. They are the worst bank by a country mile.

  • theguyrules on 17/01/2023 - 11:36

    Qbank has been good.

  • Navgsc on 17/01/2023 - 12:28

    BOQ

  • 1195qq on 17/01/2023 - 14:16

    Also having this issue with CBA at the moment with a dispute.

    I literally have confirmation from the hotel saying to release the fee (bond hold) and they’re not budging asking for a very specific statement from the hotel. I’ve waited 45 days already and thought the process would be more streamline with a fraud team and literal letters from the hotel as evidence.

    Thanks for posting and I may go through the AFCA route if the resolution isn’t streamlined.

  • endolphin on 17/01/2023 - 18:23

    I churn credit cards and home loans so often that I probably don't give any of the banks a chance to impress (or not).

    I seem to remember St George as well as Bendigo giving pretty good service over the phone.

  • Seni0r El Cheapo on 17/01/2023 - 18:44

    Banks are not there to earn your respect or love. They are money making machines and their customers, almost always, have no significance.

  • Other on 17/01/2023 - 19:10
    -2

    I've heard CBA are good.

    • SlartiBartFozz on 17/01/2023 - 20:34
      +2

      good at being … terrible ?

  • MagicMushroom on 17/01/2023 - 19:51

    Hiver was good although I don't use them after 5% cashback deal is finished.

    They actually gave me a call after they declined my transaction due to suspecting it was a crypto scam. Didn't manage to answer it, they left a message to call back.

    calling them actually gets you direct to a real human, answered just after 3rd ringtone.

  • Jaspa7 on 17/01/2023 - 19:58
    +1

    ING is basically the big F U to the big 4 Aussie banks after the royal commission revealed their dodgy practices - no apology to public once they got found out either, just "oh that was just standard industry practice", i.e. EvErY oNe wAs DoiNG iT.

    Under no illusion that ING are saints either though; no doubt just as deep in bed with all the evil bA$$tards as well - blackrock, vanguard, statestreet, goldman sachs etc.
    That's why I'm paying off the mortgage as quick as possible making sure as little as possible end up in their hands in the way of interest - should own the house outright toward the end of the year, and only took 3-4 years as well. (house was only around 320k when we bought it. Perfectly fine, suits our needs, didn't need anything more. Made sure to have at least 25% deposit to avoid LMI)

    Average Australian mortgage debt being around 600k (probably higher now), rates being up around 5% - that's more than 30k per year… for literally doing nothing.

    Live within your means, and PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS PEOPLE!!!

  • SlartiBartFozz on 17/01/2023 - 20:32

    CBA is utterly crap in every possible aspect: level of service, lack of staff training, woeful staff ratios, highest fees and charges, strictest limits on banking products. It goes without saying they scored pretty poorly in the banking royal commission too.
    I used them for years since childhood until ~18yo, now my teenage children use CBA for their banking, only because AFAIK they are the only bank to offer an EFTPOS card to under 15s.

  • berger on 17/01/2023 - 22:45

    CBA ticks all boxes, home loan with them. Recently bought an investment property. CBA guy came to work and worked very hard for us. Was great!

    Rates a little higher than other banks but I have offsets and it just suits my needs.

  • Poor Ass on 18/01/2023 - 00:22

    My experiences with Suncorp are mostly positive

  • scbrother on 18/01/2023 - 09:06
    +1

    I have found Amex to be incredibly attentive and responsive with chargebacks and call wait times. Unfortunately I haven't had high needs with any other bank to judge their performance, however most make you wait for hours on the phone to talk to someone.

  • surg3on on 18/01/2023 - 09:12

    I would suggest your local bank/credit union if you want a human touch when things go wrong.

  • MrKnowItAll on 18/01/2023 - 14:55

    I've been with CBA for close to 20 years now with no issues at all. I had one fraudulent transaction on my account and within a month the funds were returned to my account, CBA were very informative through the process too which was very nice as I'd never been through any of that before.
    My wife is with ING and if she has too many transactions in one day they block her card. So every single fortnight when paying bills, etc. she has to call up and have the card unblocked.
    To their credit their anti-fraud mechanisms are exceptionally good (almost too good) and they're always nice about reactivating it.. but man is it frustrating.

    • 1Kenobi on 18/01/2023 - 20:19

      if she has too many transactions in one day you should block her card

      • MrKnowItAll on 18/01/2023 - 21:02

        Sadly, you're not wrong haha

  • serpserpserp on 18/01/2023 - 18:26

    I think at most banks in Australia there is a person you can raise complaints to that is independent of the call centre etc. Not always easy to find, but they are suppose to be a removed from the banks internal process and a bit more independent. They are there to solve AFCA type problems, because the banks don't really want complaints going there.

  • MrBillions on 18/01/2023 - 20:01

    Banks are bullies

  • yannyrjl on 18/01/2023 - 21:05

    Having banked and worked with ANZ, CBA, Macquarie, Westpac / St George (across consumer banking to institutional).

    I currently have my accounts with St George, for the sole reason the St George Lender understands the structure I want to use.

    My view is out of the majors, if things are within defined processes, CBA seem to to have the best response, however, if things are out of the ordinary, St George tends to provide the best "custom" experience.

    Also, you are dealing with people here, and sometimes, you get really empathetic staff that makes you feel good even if they couldn't help you vs you get someone that pee you off even if eventually the problem is resolved. So sometimes, I just call up a couple of times until I get someone competent.

  • nk7 on 18/01/2023 - 23:40

    Is anyone else still waiting for ING to accept their application for the savings account?

  • burningrage on 19/01/2023 - 00:56

    Wow. Ing topped the chart in Ozb's world.

    Considering the bank has been in the front news for "de-banking" scandals, I am surprised they are Ozb's number one choice.

    Could I please ask why?

    • Kyle-K on 23/01/2023 - 14:40

      The OzBargain's number one choice in this thread but they have not been winning the annual poll for at least the last 3 years.

      Could I please ask why?

      The snarky remarks I like to make a it's because $75-$100 referrals bills good loyalty. But the real reason it's just the same reason that most other banks stay with their numbers momentum and reinforcing a decision.

      God knows why people stay with them their product offering has been getting overly complicated with more monthly hurdles for a minimal bump in savings and their product offering has been completely eroded away over time so you getting less while doing more to keep the bonus features.

      Considering the bank has been in the front news for "de-banking" scandals, I am surprised they are Ozb's number one choice.

      I haven't seen much of this? The biggest thing I see online is the re-verification of customers, that's also happening at other banks as well.

      • A-mak on 25/01/2023 - 22:03

        plus tHe BaReFoOt InVeStOr ToLd Me ToO! lol.

  • freefall101 on 23/01/2023 - 14:50

    St George was really good to me. Raised a complaint on a credit card transaction when an airline was shitty to me during covid times, there was a lot of back and forth with the airline and in the end St George went "if you drop the complaint we'll just pay you back the amount".

    Pretty much everything else I've just had an account that money goes into and comes out of again, never had any issues. Currently want to switch to a bank that has better security but they all seem to be crap.

    • Kyle-K on 23/01/2023 - 15:53

      I would say for security Macquarie is winning provided you're willing to turn the level up and use mobile banking.

  • Meridianz on 25/01/2023 - 20:57
    +1

    I have never dealt with a bank more difficult and incompetent than CBA - They blame their systems endlessly, promise call backs that never occur to get you off the phone, thats of course after waiting at times over an hour with the same song on repeat on hold, redirect you to the branch (as its easier in a branch apparently) for you to go to the branch to be told they dont have the access in branches to most things (like credit cards) - its shocking how bad they are. The guy in the branch whilst apologising told me he didnt even bank with them it was to hard and that me waiting a month for a reply was a good result as he has been waiting longer for things in the past and he works there. Go figure.

  • MrCAMEL on 26/01/2023 - 22:49

    I spent over 3 years in customer service at NAB, wishing we could be as good as CBA, who I had had all my accounts and first small home loan with forever.
    After I quit NAB and got a 'normal' sized home loan with CBA, I started to have to deal with CBA. There were transfers between my own accounts that they held for 24 hours each time for three days, the stupidity of their home loan department asking me if I knew what my next steps would be when I told them I can get a better rate at any other bank and as a new CBA customer and they didnt give me a better rate, the only time ever I had a transaction dispute with a dodgy DDR company, dumbness of a direct debit dispute process (separate from the other dispute) to go in branch and sign a form, lack of communication between departments when I asked a simple loan change question, my question was put through to a 'senior dispute specialist' because they thought I was complaining about my lender (I wasn't and that ended in my favour).

    But when I looked back at all these things as a whole, I can 100% say that at NAB, we would never ever say as dumb things to customers or treat our customers as shitly or as plainly stupid as this. We used to just get the job done and they really do care about how you treat and offer solutions for the customer. That said, I still have 99% of my bank with CBA and cannot afford to refinance anymore and they know it.

  • AncientWisdom on 01/05/2023 - 21:30

    So what did you end up doing OP? Did you move and if so who to?

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