Scotia Bank? Good?

[adam c]

After getting in a fight with some bitch at ATB cause I couldn't recall the last 5 transactions on my account so I could get a stupid direct payment form I've had enough... Called the customer service complaint line and they don't even care soo...

Their online banking system is a joke as well as the payee's available
I get charged twice as much for my account as I would at Scotia bank
They don't want to increase my CC limit so I went out and got a 5k AMEX instead
They put a hold on a lawyer trust cheque and wouldn't reverse it
as well as various other garbage I've put up with throughout the years

Now I'm looking to change banks
I've had bad experiences with TD and don't think I will ever go back to them
I heard RBC has terrible customer service if you're not a high roller
BMO doesn't have a lot of coverage in Calgary
CIBC seems to have even less

Is Scotia a good choice or should I suck it up and goto one of the big players listed above?

[cgyITguy]

Originally posted by adam c
After getting in a fight with some bitch at ATB cause I couldn't recall the last 5 transactions on my account so I could get a stupid direct payment form I've had enough... Called the customer service complaint line and they don't even care soo...

Their online banking system is a joke as well as the payee's available
I get charged twice as much for my account as I would at Scotia bank
They don't want to increase my CC limit so I went out and got a 5k AMEX instead
They put a hold on a lawyer trust cheque and wouldn't reverse it
as well as various other garbage I've put up with throughout the years

Now I'm looking to change banks
I've had bad experiences with TD and don't think I will ever go back to them
I heard RBC has terrible customer service if you're not a high roller
BMO doesn't have a lot of coverage in Calgary
CIBC seems to have even less

Is Scotia a good choice or should I suck it up and goto one of the big players listed above?


I've always had good experiences with Scotia, never had any problems over the years. Their branches arn't open crazy hours like TD but that's not a big deal.....and last i checked Scotia is a "big player" they are one of the big 5 in Canada along with those others you mentioned

[Disoblige]

adam c, I love RBC. I know you may have heard bad experiences, but if you are going to stay away from TD, I'd consider RBC.

I have been with them for a decade and their customer service as well as their customer service for Royal Bank Visa has been great. I am also a student and am not a high roller. Any of my concerns and transactions were dealt with professionally and I was happy 99% of the time.

I'm sure the other banks offer the same, but RBC has online protection guarantee as well.

Most Esso's also have the RBC atm as well.

I don't have anything bad to say about ScotiaBank either.

[Kloubek]

Good? They're GRRREEEAAAAATTTT!!!!

Actually, I have no idea. I just wanted to say that, based on the thread title.

[b_t]

I've been with Scotia for years. Its hard to find branches & ATMs (in my experience) and they work pretty crappy hours, but the service is awesome. The guys on the phone have always spoken perfect English, are extremely helpful, efficient, never had any issues at all. As far as I can tell the phone line is open 24 hours and they can handle 90% of your issues. Their online banking system is great too. They've done some stuff for me before that I don't think most banks would do (bending or breaking their own rules), like putting in a credit card chargeback against PayPal almost 90 days after the fact when I deal went very sour.

I have no one to compare them to because I've only ever banked with Scotia but one thing is for damn sure.. they give me no reason whatsoever to change to a different bank.

[TheCheff]

I'm with Scotia. Its been great so far, their online banking is top notch, its great for paying bills and money tranfers. You can use Scotia Mcleod for direct investing online & they hooked me up with a great loc. Their ATMs r sparse but they are starting to get good number of locations around calgary.

[adam c]

Thanks for the feedback
I'm not worried about locations or hours, there's a scotia bank that always seems to get robbed in the same office building i work at and there's one 2 blocks from my house, I also like the program where they round up to the nearest dollar or 5 and deposit into your savings

I'll take another look at RBC, i notice they have promotions on every once and a while which are nice

[Pacman]

I've also had good customer service from RBC, and I'm more of a liability than an asset to them.

[Disoblige]

Can someone explain the Scotiabank $1 or $5 round up?

I notice it says it can only be deposited into the "Money Masters" Savings account. What does this mean? In other words, what's the catch?

Apparently if you buy a lunch for $5.65, and you round to the nearest $5 multiple, it rounds up to $10?! What?! That's pretty much a free lunch lol..

[adam c]

it works like this

$1.00 round up: if you buy an item that's $5.50 instead of paying 5.50 you actually pay $6.00 the remaining 0.50 is deposited into your savings account

$5.00 round up: same as above except you pay $10.00 and $4.50 would be deposited into your savings

[Disoblige]

Ugh. That's no use to me.

[Skyline_Addict]

Originally posted by Disoblige
Can someone explain the Scotiabank $1 or $5 round up?

I notice it says it can only be deposited into the "Money Masters" Savings account. What does this mean? In other words, what's the catch?

Apparently if you buy a lunch for $5.65, and you round to the nearest $5 multiple, it rounds up to $10?! What?! That's pretty much a free lunch lol..

the catch is that it's not free money, like you're hoping.

[msommers]

I'm with scotia and for the most part, I've liked it. As b_t mentioned, help over the phone has been top-notch. Hours suck and tellers from certain branches are absolutely awesome or terrible.

They have a neat little deal going on now where you save cash using various ways and can get a max of 150 bucks next year.

[Grogador]

+1 for Scotia, too lazy to write why, mostly covered above

[djayz]

Who's the agent you dealt with at ATB?

I may be able to pull some strings :thumbsup:

[adam c]

no idea, it was at branch 710, i would know her if i saw her... unless you work in central services branch support i doubt there's a whole lot you can do

plus she was sitting behind the teller who was logged into CSA so you can't track that part either

[Abeo]

I keep with scotia, basically because they haven't pissed me off enough to cause me to switch. I'm pretty meh about it here, the branches seem to be hit or miss and the ATM machines are sparse. However, when I go back to Ottawa and walk into my home branch, I'm greeted by name, so that counts for something. I can also do pretty much everything I need online, and its rather intuitive. $2500 min balance for no fees in a chequing account is rather high compared to other banks.

I also have a credit card with BMO, they seem to be trying hard to win over business but their online system sucks in comparison to scotia. The BMO branches/staff I've been to have been pretty good for the most part.

edit: and I will lick a c-train floor before I bank with CIBC again, what a bunch of useless twats. Government workers are more helpful. They are in every 7-11 and you can use their machines with PC financial, but I won't touch either of those companies due to having my savings held hostage by their retarded policies

[djayz]

Ohh if in branch then you're right can't do much. Thought this was an over the phone ordeal.

[adam c]

the original ordeal happened in the branch, then i called the customer contact centre who gave me the phone number to the customer support line or whatever it's called, that person was just as useless, just kept saying uh huh, ok, uh huh, ok

anyways, i'm heading to south centre tomorrow to see about switching all my accounts

[cde1966]

PC Financial FTW! Below is a list of the service charges for the past ten years. :thumbsup:

[codetrap]

Originally posted by cde1966
PC Financial FTW! Below is a list of the service charges for the past ten years. :thumbsup:

I've had to pay exactly $20 in charges for the past 6 years to PC, and that was only because I needed bank drafts for buying expensive stuff.

Otherwise, I'm super happy with them.

[kaput]

.

[Abeo]

Originally posted by adam c
anyways, i'm heading to south centre tomorrow to see about switching all my accounts

I find the south centre is one of the 'miss' branches

I use Braeside even though its a bit of a drive for me

[spikerS]

I switched to Scotia from BMO a few years ago now, and have loved it!

BMO would not give me a RRSP LOC, constantly held checks, impossible to get a loan or LOC, they would not even discuss it with me.

I went over to Scotia in Tuscany, and was given a RRSP LOC, unsecured personal LOC, Visa and overdraft with ZERO issues. And now most recently, my mortgage. Online banking is good, but can be a little confusing in spots. Phones have been great, and the 2 branches I have been in so far, Tuscany and Ranchlands, I have had great service. They do their best to accommodate everything we have requested.

[cream]

All I gotta say, $#!%^!#%^! @ working hours of Scotia. Amazing bank though, good online banking too. But I always start school at 8-9 and end at 3-4. Their working hours are usually 10am-3pm or 10-4pm =(

Bmo is alright for me, I just use them for airmiles credit card benefits. The online is pretty horrid, they won't increase my limit.. But I never deal with them face to face so I wouldn't no.

Also, Scotiabank usually bends the rules for me, and doesn't put a hold on checks, even ones over 500$+. Nice lads ;)

[flipstah]

Originally posted by Disoblige
adam c, I love RBC. I know you may have heard bad experiences, but if you are going to stay away from TD, I'd consider RBC.

I have been with them for a decade and their customer service as well as their customer service for Royal Bank Visa has been great. I am also a student and am not a high roller. Any of my concerns and transactions were dealt with professionally and I was happy 99% of the time.

I'm sure the other banks offer the same, but RBC has online protection guarantee as well.

Most Esso's also have the RBC atm as well.

I don't have anything bad to say about ScotiaBank either.

+1

Adam, I was in the same boat as you and needed to open a new account to accompany my TD.

It was between RBC and Scotia (hate CIBC) and the turning point was RBC's instant account setup and late Thursday hours at the Saddleridge location.

Scotia had to do this tedious scheduling just to set-up a profile, then come back to establish the account;RBC loved walk-ins and BOOM! new account.

Both are great but that was my tipping point.

[ExtraSlow]

I switched away from ATB a couple of years ago, and I went with RBC.
The thing that sold them for me was the VIP banking service. A free "premium" visa, and several accounts for myself and the wife, for one monthly fee. I went into a TD branch and asked about a similar bundle of services, and they pretty much told me I needed $1 million with them or GTFO. They thought I was crazy when I told them that I didn't want to pay fees individually on each account and credit card.
Free Interac email money transfers, free cheques, 2x free Infinite avion visa, and at the moment, three CAD accounts.
They've been absolutely wonderful to deal with to. I go to the branch in the Lambda Supermarket. the Lady there treats us like gold, and remembers us when we go back. Could be because we are the only white people in the whole building, but still, impressive.

[masoncgy]

I highly recommend Scotiabank, they came to my aid when I needed assistance and I left TD completely as a result.

I now have both of my mortgages with them, same with my RRSP, Visa and LOC, savings & checking accounts too.

The only non-Scotia account I have is my BMO Mastercard because of the Air Miles. If Scotia offered the same product, I would have it with them too.

I never had an issue with finding a branch or ATM in Calgary... since I moved to Ladysmith it's been a bit of a pain since I have to go to either Nanaimo or Duncan to use one of their ATMs for deposits.

Good bank, all around.

[adam c]

I'm caught in between, I'm hearing good reviews about Scotia but their savings account is terrible for interest rate .15/.25 while RBC has a 1.15 or even Ally at 2.00

I've got some time to think while I wait for my new DL to come in the mail

[interlude]

I have an account with BMO, my mom works there, so she we have linked accounts so I have zero service charge. I would highly recommend INGDirect to store all your saved money. I used them because once my money is in that account, I wont touch it. If I do, it takes 1 business day to transfer money into my BMO account. I also have RBC, they recently opened a branch at keynote. So if I have any banking stuff to do, I can walk 2 blocks and get it done there. I would say go with whatever bank you want to do your banking, and use INGDirect for savings.

[krazykhoja]

Sorry to hear about your bad experience with ATB. I've worked here for 5 years both in branch and behind the scenes and it sounds like you got a pretty raw deal. There was no need for the lady to have you confirm your transactions to get a direct payment form if you had picture ID with you, because that would verify you. I don't know if she was new or not, but if you had ID that should have been sufficient to get the form.

I've always done my best to provide excellent customer service, and it seems you've got the short end of the stick a couple times. Have you tried dealing with a different branch to see if you get more positive results? If you wanted to send me a PM, as I work with a branch you could come down and I can see if we can do anything for you, if you wish to stay. I don't know what your current account is, but we have some accounts that let you waive the fee.

As with any company there will be times when you will unfortunately get less than stellar service, and it appears its happened a few times, but there are still good branches/people that work for the company. Feel free to PM me with any questions you might have.

[Zero102]

Originally posted by adam c
I've got some time to think while I wait for my new DL to come in the mail


Perhaps the most important detail. No wonder they wanted to confirm 5 transactions.

[adam c]

Originally posted by Zero102



Perhaps the most important detail. No wonder they wanted to confirm 5 transactions.

I spoke to one of the managers at the branch and she appolgised for what that bitch put me through, she said there were other questions that could have been asked to prove identity...

you think after verifying name, address, birthday, ACCOUNT NUMBER it might have been enough but she was asking me to verify the last 5 transactions which were
1 Food Purchase
1 Monthly service fee
3 Pre-Authorized debits/transfers

do you really think anyone in their right mind would know that without looking at a computer?

[Xtrema]

CIBC is useless, avoid them.

TD/RBC has always served me well. Never pay for anything but cheques.

[2002civic]

Scotiabank sponsors the saddledome so they can't be that bad...:goflames:

[PD77]

We moved everything from CIBC to Scotia 7 years ago...they have always treated us well with one exception and the lady responsible was fired the next day.

[thetransporter]

never mind scotia bank, go with PC financial