Royal Bank

[scotia]

I am so frustrated and angry with Royal Bank and the terrible way that they conduct business.

I recently decided to leave the bank I have been with since I was 19 and switch to Royal Bank for the Shoppers Optimum account. I set up the accounts (the Optimum chequing account as well as a free savings account) online, and was called in to the branch to finalize everything. The experience at this point was good - I got everything set up and they gave me a direct deposit sheet for work which they asked me to give to my payroll department right away. I also set up Custom Switch, which was to move all of my preauthorized payments to RBC.

After completing the Custom Switch, I received a letter from them saying that I was not to move my payroll deposit until a couple of weeks later as my payments would still be coming out of my old account. This was an annoyance because it meant that I had to take the money out of my new account and transfer it to my old one, but it was not anything that I would have made a complaint about. Then, things got much worse. My pay was deposited into the savings account rather than the chequing because the person who set everything up had given me a direct deposit sheet for the wrong account. I also learned, when trying to transfer the money over, that there was a hold on my chequing account that was never removed by the branch. I went into the branch to speak with them regarding this, and was given a $25 gift card for Shoppers, waived fees for 3 months, and an apology. I thought that this was the end of my issues and I was happy with the way that things were rectified at the time.

That was until my mortgage bounced (I have NEVER bounced a payment in my life) and I learned that she had also given my savings account number to the Custom Switch people. I phoned the branch, livid, wanting to speak with the manager but she wasn't there and I left a message. After waiting for several hours, I called back and was put through to an assistant manager who told me that he had intended to call me sometime that day. When I told him that this was ridiculous and I would be closing my account once this mess was done, his only offer was to have me come into the branch and sit there to call all of the companies that I have preauthorized payments with to change them back to my old bank. I also mentioned that there were now significant fees on the savings account that I was not going to be responsible for and he said that they would waive those fees. I then had to spend hours of my time phoning various companies to change payments back, some of which could not be done in time as the payment requests had already gone through. I did speak with the person who originally made the mistake, and she did not apologize once for what she had done or the issues that I was now dealing with as a result. I never heard from the Branch Manager again either.

I have received several calls from the head office asking me how my experience has been with Royal Bank and when I tell them what has happened, they just mumble an insincere apology and nothing is done. To top it all off, I realized that I had not fulfilled the steps necessary to get my Optimum points (since I was having to make my online payments from the savings account) and was advised by one of the customer service reps who called that once I made my second payment that I would have my points in 48 hours. It took 2 weeks for me to get the points, and several phone calls on an almost daily basis. Despite the fact that I had them put a rush on dealing with the matter, nobody even looked at the file for over 8 business days.

I find this to be a terrible way of doing business. Royal Bank has lost me as a customer and I am telling everyone I know about the terrible treatment I received. I know that all banks have their problems, but in 13 years at my previous bank, nothing this bad happened.

[ColleenMGorecki]

i also had a problem trying to open up an account and we have dealt with the Royal bank for years. Finally after all the hassle we just closed the account. lt wasn't worth the trouble. The bank doesn't even know much about this new account which seems to be alot of the problem here.

[i_love_to_save]

wow, and i was thinking on switching...guess not!

[mommafinch]

I switch from Royal to a credit union and i have no more headaches. Royal bank just had way to many screw ups!! Its nice walking into my current bank and they know me by name.

[hollyquaiscer]

I don't deal with the Royal Bank, alnd have heard many horrow stories about them. I'm not sure what ever happened to customer service when it comes to certain banks, but it is definatetly lacking. I have been with my bank for over 30 years, I'm very happy, and would not think of switching no matter what another bank was offering. My branch knows me very well and they treat me with respect. To me, that is more important than anything else.

[SavenRaven]

I'm sorry to hear about your horrible experience. I would be livid also! Hope everything is back to usual for you. What a nightmare

My husband asked me if I would be switching our accounts to the new Optimum RBC. I said NO WAY!!! My banking is far too important for me to take a chance with just for a points program. I've been with TD my entire life and plan to stay there.

[scotia]

I'm just glad that I didn't get to the point where I closed my original account (which RBC was more than willing to do for me as part of the Custom Switch program). I think that the worst part of all was that nobody apologized or took responsibility, and when I said that I would be leaving they couldn't care less. I know that I was a new customer, but the fact is that I am a loyal customer (evidenced by me staying with my old bank for 13 years). Oh well, their loss! My main disappointment is that I was really looking forward to getting something for all of the money I spend on bank fees

[marstec]

Which city are you in? I have been with RBC for many years and they've been good to me. I'm thinking there is incompetence at your bank's local level. I would certainly phone in and complain about the inferior service. All banks will make mistakes at one time or another, but I can certainly understand your frustration.

[CouponasaurusRex]

I was thinking of switching! Thank you for sharing this story with us, I will not be switching now!!

[scotia]

Which city are you in? I have been with RBC for many years and they've been good to me. I'm thinking there is incompetence at your bank's local level. I would certainly phone in and complain about the inferior service. All banks will make mistakes at one time or another, but I can certainly understand your frustration.

I'm in Oshawa, which is where the branch-level issues took place. However, even when I call into customer service I have not gotten any assistance regarding this matter. At least a couple of them have apologized, but when I told them I was taking my business elsewhere, the best they could do was "well at least wait until you get your points." And, as I mentioned, even being awarded my points was not done properly. I know that all banks make mistakes, but this has just been so many errors from the very beginning with very little being done to satisfy the customer. I am glad to hear tha tthey are working out for you though, and I hope this remains the case!

[lecale]

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[nessa23]

that is a horrible story. I also probably would have been yelling at some people..... I had to apologize to my CU manager once because I got angry about money taken out which I had forgotten. But when it comes to MY money, they should be lucky to even be handling it as far as I'm concerned.

This is not the first time I've heard horrible things about RBC.... the company I work for banks with them, and everyone always seems so clueless and careless. Not to mention, their fees are stupid high! (but maybe i'm just super cheap lol)

I hope everything works out for you. Live and learn I guess... if your happy with something for an extended period... probably best to just leave it be...

.. on a different note, I knew the optimum account sounded far too bad to be true. Yes, you get SDM points, but RBC + SDM = bad news. lol. (just my opinion! - good on anyone who was successful with this account process lol)

[MomOfOne79]

Wow! Sorry you had such a terrible experience.

I don't even have an account, and they drive me nuts!! My landlord (who is my dad) lives out of the country so every month my husband and I take in a cheque for our rent. At first we would just take in cash. BIG MISTAKE. They couldn't understand why I was putting money into an account that wasn't mine and would have to have a supervisor come over (which wasn't always quick) to clear the transaction every time . So then we got cheques, thinking that the large sum of cash we would bring in was the problem. Another mistake. So I go in one month with cheque, ask her to deposit it into MY FATHER's account. The teller asks for my ID, which I show her, then I give her all my Dad's acct info and she looks at the screen puzzled and goes to talk to a supervisor. Then comes back to tell me that she cannot cash the cheque b/c my DH's signature isn't on it and it is from a different bank, and we don't have an account with RBC.That is not what I want to do. I repeat exactly what I said to her not even five mins ago. "I would like to deposit this cheque (added 'which I wrote') into my FATHER's account, here is the number." She looks like I just spoke a foreign language. I also mention that the cheque is from MY joint acct. with my husband and nothing on the cheque says 'both signatures needed'. Supervisor comes over to ask if there are any problems. I take another deep breath, bite tongue and say the same thing to her that I just told the teller. "Oh, you don't have an account here, well no problem. we just need to know a bit of info (my id again, and a bit about my father's account and his address) This is how it's done." Now I feel bad for the teller as maybe she was new and didn't understand, but not anymore. DH and I have gone in there EVERY month for 6 years and we STILL have this issue (with almost all the tellers there)!! and Every month we go through something similar and the kicker is that every month they ask us if we would like to open up an account with them. ROTFL!!!! Umm, No.

[Lynx123]

I've been with the same bank for over 25 years now and everything is with them, I can't even imagine trying to switch to another bank.

Sorry you had so much trouble but I'm really not all that surprised, there are just too many things that can go wrong when you are dealing with so many factors.

[misstarbender]

I was thinking on opening an account at Scotia bank for the scene points debit card. I would still keep my BMO account which is where all my direct deposits for everything go to, but I will just take the money from there and put it into my scotia account and earn the point using that debit card...especially for christmas where I spend the most money....still deciding weather or not to do it though...