Saffron Building Society Arvostelua 218

As a long-standing member, I do not find it palatable to give this review but the truth is that the launch of the new website for online savers was either reckless or incompetent. It does not work as intended. You are told you will receive a temporary password and you don't. Once that is sorted, you are told you will receive a verification code ... and you don't. 30 minutes "online chat" just to make a withdrawal.

Goes from bad to worse - absolutely atrocious. Online savings account access not working and call centre down till Monday. What kind of company is this? Time to ditch them and move to a professional organisation.

Recently opened a 2 year fixed rate ISA online as the rate was favourable. The account was set up within minutes and you are able to transfer money in immediately by using the sort code however if you want to access your account online you have to wait a few days for the UserId to arrive in the post (for security reasons). I called customer service with a small query and they were quick, efficient, friendly and very helpful. I read the reviews on here before I opened the account and they were off-putting but I wanted to form my own opinion. I thought it was worth writing a review to show that the service I received was good so far.

I was just about to open a savings account for my daughter, then read the reviews......Thank goodness I hadn't already opened an account !!....needless to say her money is going elsewhere.

Thank you for your prompt reply. A simple recorded message stating it is a training day, please leave a message and we will get back to you, or please try again tomorrow would have clarified the situation and avoided I’m sure many frustrated customers.

An update to my review below - Saffron BS made contact through Trust Pilot and a very professional lady called Narina sorted my problems quite quickly with a proper apology so I have changed 1 star to 4 star - shame Saffrons own feedback systems just did not work !

Previous :- I have a business savings account and for the last 3 days i have been unable to transfer money to our account - i have done this many times without an issue bit now i get a message saying there is no account to transfer to with no other option available.
On ringing the helpline number i get told the mailbox is full choose another option to speak to someone but that mailbox is also full - i am now in limbo waiting on a response to emails and instant messages - very worrying when dealing with funds for my business.

I have set up two childrens savings accounts recently and I have to say, each time I have called and spoken to the building society, it's been very quick and easy and the customer service people I have spoken to have all been so helpful.
I never write reviews but I read the negative ones here and just wanted to give a balanced perspective.
So far, so good. Much easier and quicker than dealing with big high street banks!

Very straight forward to open a savings account online. Received log in details via post, no difficulty to log on. Customer service staff helpful and friendly. All monthly payments have been received into the account. No problem! :)

OMG! I was just about fill in forms for a Junior savings account but something in my head told me to check out reviews first. I did, was stunned and horrified, changed my mind very quickly even though they quote good rates.
Saffron building society should take note and act, or may be they dare not open the reviews page!

I have two savings accounts for my kids. Their paying-in system is weird - it actually goes through one giant Barclays account. Anyway, I haven't been able to actually log on to see the savings in place because I never got log in details. Trying to get through to them was long and tedious. When I did they were perfectly helpful and I did get the promised email and letter with password but I still can't log on! It's been literally weeks. The account wants to set a memorable question but you just can't get past it. I think I give up. I'm going to withdraw the £ and go to another (better) bank. I just don't want all these frustrations every time I just want to pay in / check savings. Bye Bye Saffron.

Total waste of time, so glad I am not with this building society. They build nothing , need to change their name to "obstructive society" AVOID

Apalling that this financial company is allowed to exist and to continue to trade.

We have been trying to close an account for over 3 months now (nothing abnormal about the request - in fact we gave up asking to OPEN a savings bond as they were so incompetent so decided to move all our monies elsewhere). Take 2 weeks to respond, cannot get through on the phone, crazy excuses each time, and still they have our money....

Read the other 1* (zero star) reviews and stay away from this business...it will not be around for that long the way it is performing.

Roll up, roll up to the most incompetent 🤡 show in town!
You'll be rolling in the aisles as you watch the hysterical antics of these clowns.
From sending actual letters in the post to a customer's accountant asking for further financial information only for it to get lost and then responding to this by replying that "We have to send it a further 3 times before we will try another way" Hilarious 😂
Watch in amazement after the customer's financial advisor complains they then reply"Oh, there was no need for us to send it in the first place!"
3 weeks wasted - side splitting fun 😂
If this isn't enough you'll fall off your seats in stitches as you watch one of the 🤡 take the role of a cleaner and accidentally pull the internet modem lead out of the wall with a broom. This then prompts Coco the 🤡 to say "You'll have to reapply because we've lost your files"
Stop it, I can't take any more 🤣
Oh, no. The show goes on!
Through your tears of laughter you'll watch the clowns refusing to answer the phones for 3 days as they're short staffed!
Pure comedy gold 🥇
Don't waste your time and energy on this incompetent and uncaring company.

Unscrupulous and unprofessional provincial building society who are completely out of their depth in the modern market.

Avoid at all costs.

Like others, I opened an account online and went to log in for the first time. User ID and password were recognised, but when it came to the next section it asked for letters from my 'Memorable Answer' - without even asking me a question! I have no recollection of setting up a memorable answer, and if I had, I would have been expecting that there would be a question associated with it! Rang them as advised, as they don't send hints, but after waiting on hold for 10 minutes I gave up. The account will close in 30 days if I don't pay anything in so that's fine. It can close. It hasn't got the best interest rates now anyway - others have overtaken it since I applied last week. Not recommended.

Opened a new savings account. On trying to access it online for the 1st time it didn't recognize my details/passwords for some reason (I'm sure I typed them in correctly). After x3 failed attempts the system locked the account, instructing to phone them to unlock it. Phoning gets nowhere as no one answers (tried 3x over a week waiting 10 minutes per call listening to muzak), called on Saturday morning only to get a taped message saying call back during opening hours (company info on that says they're open on Saturday mornings?), & an e.mail sent to the head office over a week ago hasn't been answered either. Received an auto/no-reply e.mail from them yesterday saying if I didn't deposit funds into the account it'll soon be closed. Am in the mood now to let that happen & go elsewhere with my £ if they're this incompetent at managing the basics of a financial's administration.

Just a complete waste of time! Tried opening an account but its just impossible without going into a branch!

Super efficient response (and response time) on CHAT just now with Chi Cameron. Also a helpful and quick phone response recently too. Speaking as a hearing impaired person, I am sick and tired of unacceptable call wait times and disinterested and poorly-trained staff, although to be fair they are probably poorly paid too, the whole too often equals a major waste-of-time and resources. At Saffron on CHAT, which, in general, is a massive comms boon for the deaf, there was no AI to get past either, or endless tick boxes, just an instant and accurate response to my queries. Praise where praise is due; moreover, it is in stark contrast to a recent afternoon trying to get through to the right team at Barclays and NatWest only to find the former had misinformed on product info yet again and the latter sees nothing unacceptable about 1 and half hour call wait. With the demise of High Street banking, wholesale branch closures, supporting mutuals has probably never been more needed ...

I opened a second product with Saffron - the E-Saver 20 described as an "immediate access savings account" and the set up was quick and easy.
Saffron state "You never know when a rainy day might come along so a savings account that gives you immediate access to your savings is always useful. As the name suggests, an Immediate Access account allows you instant access to your savings"
I assumed this would be the same as many other accounts available today where both deposits and withdrawals are completed instantly, but found that Saffron take several hours before the money appears in the receiving account.
Saffron need to make clear the meaning of instant/immediate access.

Ok opened a joint saver account on Tues. No correspondence to me at all. But my wife the other account holder gets a password. But now must wait for snail
mail to receive her ID number. This will be a week before we can load any money into any accounts.
Just too slow in these times of fast changing rates

Point made as now we have a reply over 2 months later from Saffron BS