This bank is crap,run by nerds in a call centre.
I am now changing to a proper bank.

I also bank with LloydsTSB and find the service fantastic from my Commercial Manager, my local branch and the online banking team. I have a system called LloydsLink which allows me to send international payments from my office using the banks online platform. I have also heard they are introducing a new system at the end of this month call ‘Arena’ which allows you to forward buy/sell currency and avoids the need for using the banks spot rate in the branch in theory this will improve my margins by 2%!

Depending on the size of your business and your international requirements I would suggest speaking to your local manager and asking him about LloydsLink it might also we worth asking depending on the volume of your overseas transactions if you could speak to the Local International Manager to discuss payment options and the benefits of ‘Arena’.

As I say I have banked with Lloyds for a few years and they have supported my through a difficult trading period and I can only say how impressed I am with them and would not move bank.

(Btw, just looked at your ‘about’…sounds like we’re in a similar line…drop me a mail if you need any 3D help).

And thank you for this blog!

Today I finally got into our online account (though only after a phone call, since the number from the card reader failed first time). Praise the lord! ( I thought ).

Unfortunately, SHOCKINGLY, I then discover that Lloyds TSB online commercial banking has ZERO facilities for making international payments. That’s right… you CANNOT MAKE INTERNATIONAL PAYMENTS online. And since a large % of our workforce is overseas, that means that the online banking is utterly useless to us.

The only good thing to come from this is that A) it’s given us no option but to switch to a better bank, thus saving future headaches, and B) For once I got some really helpful (as much as possible) and sympathetic service from someone at the call centre. Obviously he couldn’t do much but it’s good to know that Lloyds have at least some good people on their staff.

No international payments from a commercial account….The mind boggles at why that decision was made. It’s like going back to the old TSB days when they were commonly referred to as the ‘Toytown bank’.

There are so many flaws in their system -

- Firstly they have a ‘known issue’ with their online application process. The issue is something to do with the Enter key being used to finalise an application…which causes the application to fail and delivers a message saying that they can’t process it because an application has already been received.

I moaned at them about this as it caused huge delay from the outset… And they tell me that the issue remains but only with certain browsers (I used Firefox or Chrome, both very standard)… For such a large organisation to leave that problem and not even warn users about it is ridiculous. The best they can do is wait for your stressed telephone call and tell you to make sure you use the mouse instead of the key (I swear I used the mouse anyway, but…. apparently I didn’t). And then some of them will even start talking as though they understand the technical issue in the web development and try to make out it’s all absolutely perfect and not a technical issue at all, but rather the customer (me) being too dumb to use the right browser or know psychically that a key pressing issue exists.

- When calling to talk to them they require a security number. So I asked to reset mine to one I’d remember. I tried to do this on 2 occasions and was passed to the automated service to enter my chosen number. On both occasions the call disconnected before I was transferred to the automated service. Which brings me on to -

- If you call them without a security number, they require you to go through a security check. This sounds fine except that a standard security question is “What year did you open your PERSONAL account with us?” , and since I opened my personal TSB account when I was a child (I’m in my 40′s now) how on earth can I remember the exact year…So I fail security EVERY TIME. And to make that worse, the operator is then locked out of the system so I have to call back to try again. I’ve explained to them how stupid this is and that it would save everyone time if they could try again without hanging up, and they repeat in a robotic manner “It is for your security”. But if I can call back and try again, how is that more secure? And anyway…I own the company and I can’t get into it…so if any fraudster can get in, they’ve done well!!! I told the Lloyds phone bank robot this, but she failed to see the funny side of it.

- Anyway…. I finally got over the technical problems and got an online application done. The downside is that I applied online nearly 3 weeks ago…and today I am still waiting to receive everything I need to login. My desk is covered in letters from them, card, card reader…I have everything except the user ID which still hasn’t arrived. So I called them and the best they can do is get it to me within another 4 working days….If it reaches me this time!

3 Weeks to set up an online account is crazy. I have a personal online account with Santander which was up and running pretty much immediately.

- So as it stands today…Unless I go to the branch (Which isn’t an option at this time for me as my local yocal branch shuts at a ridiculous time) I can’t pay myself, my staff, or my contractors….and if this continues it could destroy my business.

All in all this has been the worst experience of banking I’ve ever had… and having read this blog and the replies I fully expect the experience to get worse as it sounds like getting logged in to internet banking will be difficult even WITH all the required bits and pieces to hand.

Talking to people at Lloyds over the phone is useless. Some of them are at least sympathetic to these issues, but unable to help…And some of them are barely human, and will even argue that they have no important issues and that my complaints are unfounded.

I’ve no idea where the Lloyds business manager assigned to us is … I have her mobile number but I don’t think she actually receives the calls, or she can’t be bothered, because since the day we set the account up she has been beyond reach.

I imagine that if someone at a very high level in Lloyds knew about this terrible service they might not be very happy…. But those people are obviously unreachable and too busy spending our money on yachts. That said… if there was a way to contact the right person and get this page exposed, perhaps something would be done.