Coventry Building Society

Just opened an account with them and paid some money in a savings account. Next day they’ve put it under review straight away, when I tried to contact them they wouldn’t be able to give any details of what happened or how long will this take. Definitely not coming back to this bank,and after the review I’ll be gladly closing down the account.

❌⛔️❌⛔️❌ Coventry Building Society ???????????????????????? ????

⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌ Coventry building society is definitely the WORST financial institution we have ever been unlucky enough to have invested our money with in 50+ years of investing !!!!!

CBS want to charge us a to make a withdrawal (that was authorised by them) via a telephone call. That conversation to authorise the withdrawal, was listened to,in full, by their disputes dept - where they are now trying to go back on what was said in that telephone call - UNBELIEVABLE !!

All they seem to be interested in is trying to extort their MASSIVE penalty fine (when they clearly can see one shouldn’t have been made)!

So please be aware IF you were thinking of opening up an account with CBS due to any favourable deals/rates etc - PLEASE DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR AND GO ELSEWHERE ⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️⛔️❌❌❌❌ otherwise you’ll end up regretting it - BE WARNED !!!!

Due this extortion by CBS, we’ll now have to get the financial ombudsman involved to see if there any way Coventry Building Society must be made to uphold what they authorised.

⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️❌

There’s better companies out there to invest with. I can’t DISCOURAGE you enough to NOT use these ‘chancers’

PLEASE BE AWARE !!!! ❌⛔️❌⛔️❌⛔️

My Tristpilot rating of is one star ⭐️ ❌ purely because ZERO was not an option!!

Therefore, we’ll be CLOSING OUR ACCOUNT TODAY !!

Well done Coventry Building Society.

ANOTHER DISGUSTED CUSTOMER !!!!

Date of experience: 22 May 2024

I read online an account backed with witnesses and documentation about how the Coventry building society harrased and cheated 2 OAPS out of their home of 40 years. Their malicious persecution of the 2 OAPS highlights corporate greed at its worst. When this story gets more publicity people at the Coventry building society will loose their jobs and go to jail. Those responsible will have this following them all their lives. Does it take 6 years to show the OAPS a mortgage they didn't sign or fill in , or even send? The Coventry building societys action were described twice by a Judge as Harrasment of the OAPS with cancer. Justice will be obtained eventually by all means.

This so-called mutual society has sent me an email announcing a massive cut to their regular saver interest rates from 1.80% to 1.05%. That is a whopping 42% cut. This is just as the Bank rate is about to increase and inflation is about to rocket.

No proper reason has been given to account holders for such a big reduction. All they have said is that it is in response to the rates being paid in the market. That is a very weak excuse and doesn’t provide an explanation.

If they were to cut their interest rates by that amount on their other savings accounts their customers would be paying interest to them. The Saffron pays 1.75% on their regular saver account. So it is untrue to say the Coventry is responding to the market - the Coventry is leading the market.

My goodness am I astounded at the poor mental attributes of the staff at the Highworth branch of the Coventry Building Society. It's not the first time I've been shocked at their attitude and I can tell you this: If you don't respond to them in the manner which they demand then they'll make life very difficult for you. My latest trip resulted in a closed account which involved me eventually depositing my money with the Post Office. I was already an account holder with an existing balance and they would not take my word for the fact that the 3 grand I was trying to deposit was from the honest private sale of a motorcycle. I remonstrated but was told that I should have brought some kind of documentary evidence which determined exactly how the funds came into my possession. I kid you not when I tell you the manager suggested a bill of sale, a screenshot of an eBay advert or the green DVLA transfer slip. I can't imagine how a hand written copy of receipt would have been evidence enough. I struggle to grasp even the concept of just exactly how a screenshot of a motorcycle advert could possibly even allude to a sum of money but that's the kind of mental attribute you'll have to deal with in-branch. In hindsight I should have just gone on ebay and searched for motorcycles for sale, pointed to one and said "That's mine, I just haven't taken down the advert yet". But when they're being that objectionable about a deposit then a decision has to be made as to whether you want to carry on a relationship with them.

I opened a Double Access Saver (online) account with the Coventry paying 1.2% interest on 22 September 2020. While preparing my tax return for the 20/21 year, I noticed from the end of year statement issued by the Coventry in April that the account was listed as a Limited Access Saver (online) account paying 0.55% interest.

I queried this by phone & was told that the Society had supposedly sent me an email on 10 February telling me of this change. No such e-mail was received. I complained about this, and was told that as far as the Coventry was concerned, it had met its obligations. And so, on the back of a single email, of which I have seen no evidence whatsoever, the Society believes it can unilaterally close a customer’s account and open another one on considerably reduced terms – in this instance a c. 70% interest rate reduction - without first seeking consent.

Unlike other financial organisations, the CBS feels no need to ensure that a customer has received an email on such matters by inviting a response. It doesn't believe it's necessary to issue a follow-up confirmation either electronically or via the post. I see that it subsequently ‘reissued’ the Double Access several times in Autumn at a continuously lower interest rate. This in itself doesn't inspire confidence.

My extended family & I have been customers of the Coventry for 20 years. It's a shame that, having once traded on its ethical reputation, the Coventry now freely resorts to sharp practices & treats its loyal customers with such contempt. My family will be taking its custom elsewhere. Not that its managers will care, of course.

My land line does not ring and the call to my mobile goes to voice call when I try to log in. Clearly something very wrong. Both numbers checked and are correct. Spent 40 minutes on hold to talk to someone andstill the problem persists! Come on Coventry get it right before you lose customers.

I WOULD BE THE FIRST TO RECOMMEND A MUTUAL COMPANY BUT THE COVENTRY BUILDING SOCIETY IS AN EXCEPTION . MY WIFE AND I WANTED AN EASY ACCESS ACCOUNT FOR EACH OF US TO INVEST THE FSCS MAXIMUM. SINCE THE BEGINNING OF AUGUST 2018 WE HAVE HAD A SUCESSION OF LETTERS AND FORMS TO RETURN. DUE TO AN ILLNESS WE MISSED THE 7 DAY DEADLINE FOR A PASSWORD RECEIVED BY POST TO BE ACTIVATED. WE CANNOT RESET ANYTHING ONLINE NOR BY PHONE AND HAVE TO START AGAIN WAITING FOR ANOTHER LETTER TO GET ANOTHER PASSWORD AND EVEN THEN WILL HAVE TO WAIT AGAIN FOR A WEBSITE ID ! WE HAVE OPENED SEVERAL ACCOUNTS RECENTLY WITH "NEW CUSTOMER" INSTITUTIONS WHO HAVE NOT HAD THE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES THE COVENTRY PUT YOU THROUGH … I CANNOT BELIEVE THE ATTITUDE OF THE STAFF ON THE COVENTRY PHONELINES EITHER

Moved an ISA account to Coventry due to an attractive interest rate, however registration to the online account management portal is a nightmare, it is massively convoluted, they bombard you with letters that only confuse matters, resetting my password (which wasn’t actually setup due to the confusion) needs to be done via post, the process of which itself is confusing. Over 1 month later I still don’t have access..

Compared to the banks the online security approach is significantly more difficult than it needs to be - a hard to remember, computer generated log-in code, followed by an archaic grid card system and a personal password. If you struggle to get in it locks you out, makes everything paper based and takes 10 days by the time you get the paper from them and they take 4 days to process it.

As this is my main interaction with Coventry my overall impression is unfortunately very poor and I can't wait to switch mortgage at the end of my term.