Hi all, something I’ve discussed with a couple of other co-ops is just what an appalling service the Cooperative Bank has given us, especially since the duplicate payments issue a few weeks ago. Has anyone else had a bad time and do you want to make some kind of joint complaint about it? I don’t know if it will help but it’s really draining our limited resource as a small organisation atm.
Are you aware of the Save Our bank campaign?
If might be worth raising this with them to see if they have any suggestions?
Shaun Fensom has played a role in this campaign and the bank has come up a few time on the CoTech forum, we closed our account a decade ago due to their apparent neocon political agenda, we did subsequently open a new account with them a few years ago in the hope of being able to get some government Covid funds but we were too late so missed out on that and the account has remained dormant since.
My co-op has banked with the Co-op Bank since day one about 18 years ago, and service has been fine. And free. And the bank is about to be remutualised under the auspices of the Coventry Building Society. And they have probably the strongest ethical stance of any mainstream bank.
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I spoke with the Co-op Bank Rep at Congress and listed the persistent issues we’ve had. She expressed surprise and sympathy, gave me her business card and asked me to get in touch for a meeting with colleagues for a full and frank discussion.
I followed up and her email bounced back.
Yes, I did check the address repeatedly.
Says it all.
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workers.coop is with Unity Trust and that is who I always recomend to others, haven’t recomended the co-op bank for years.
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That is so very disappointing.
My co-op is with Co-op Bank and it’s been a let down. Their security procedures have massively hindered our access to our account and their phone ‘please wait’ jingle haunts me. The people on the end of the line are fine but, honestly, the institution makes me loathe handling co-op money—it does not feel like an enabler for the co-operative economy.
We’ve gone with Unity Trust for our second bank account for reserved funds.
We have used coop bank here at creative coop them a long time but the online service is awful, it’s like online banking from 2001 but with flaws. I have brought this up at Congress multiple years and at other events and have also advised that coops uk should not be recommending them as they are holding coops back. Just looking at payments in the past takes ages. Bank feeds that use to be supported no longer do, we couldn’t even get an overdraft despite a flawless record. We are told big changes are coming but I’ve been told this for 5 years and we have just been putting off the inevitable move due to all the hassle. On the plus side is they are helpful over the phone and also appreciate the business banking is terrible. We still have some clients paying by cheque which have problems being read so the high street local bank is handy there.