UBS terrible service!

Complaints Corner
21
there’s an amazing invention called the mobile phone. It’s great, you don’t have to rush home and wait by the phone if someone’s going to call you, you can literally take it anywhere

22
You need a certain amount of business with a large bank to have a dedicated contact person aka client advisor or relationship manager otherwise you are dealt with by whoever picks up the phone/email at the contact centre

100% agree. This is just common courtesy for any business

This isn't specifically related to COVID although it may have had a further acceleration in the last couple of years. It's been a story in banking globally for at least a decade if not two. The simple facts are:

Branch footfall has dropped massively

Clients demand a digital offering - big IT investments needed

Handling of cash has dropped in society (and large amounts require anti-money laundering/source of wealth checks)

Running branches is expensive

Ultimately, this makes the decision to close under-utilised branches easy. Some new branches have been opened e.g. in the Europallee of Zurich. Sadly, it does impact the elderly, less tech-savvy, the poor and the rural disproportionately. I suspect there are lot of overlaps in a Venn diagram there.

23
Interesting. We have one and so does our son and I wouldn’t say either if us fit into that category. As a low income uni student who lives with his parents and mostly uses his bank card to buy sandwiches at coop he’s probably the last person who needs a client advisor at this time but he’s got one. He even got a letter recently saying the person had changed and giving the contact details of the new person with an invitation to contact him if he needed anything.

We’re not with UBS though.

I do think if they promise to provide a service they should actually do so. Not calling when arranged is not good.

24
Do you have a mortgage? I can‘t remember what the minimum value is, but if you have even quite a modest one by the current level of property prices it would qualify you, at least at my bank.

25
Yes we do but our son doesn’t.

I believe the OP has one too as that is what they are looking to top up so I would have thought they’d have been assigned one when their local branch closed.

Dealing with the client advisor is far easier than trying to navigate the central contact system.

26
Well yes. We are ordinary punters, with ordinary accounts and ordinary low mortgage. Thing is, last time we talked to our advisor he told us to just phone the Branch and be put through. A main Branch that covers the whole region should have a phone system that works- and should get back to you, especially if they confirm a phone appointment by e-mail, for a specific day and time.

Tried to phone again at 9am, opening time. Same thing again- and 'would you like us to phone you back within 5 to 10 minutes? Press on 4 for yes- and ... nothing within 30 mins!

So finally got the direct number for advisor- and got through to him- and appointment made to speak face to face. But what a palaver- and yes, he fully agrees it is very poor service indeed and apologised.

Mobile phone? How does that help if they don't get back to you, even when arranged by e-mail? Yesterday I was at the swimming pool/spa - no mobile phone. And last few days I was either emptying composts at the bottom of our field, or walking in the woods foraging for morels. A mobile phone is not much good in either situation- and I prefer to speak to someone with all the relevant documentation in front of me.

Back to OP- terrible service.

27
If they've any sense they will have grouped you as a family of clients, hence why he has one.

I know the OP has a mortgage too, but given her numerous posts about how cheap it is to buy property where she lives, how long she has had it and it was (I think) a word of mouth sale between friends/acquaintances I was making the assumption that it was too small to qualify.

28
UBS and I parted company in the mid 1990s. They were big, inflexible and arrogant.

I moved my overdraft to the ZKB (Zürcher Kantonalbank). I’m not interested in palling up with staff. All Business is dealt with electronically. They occasionally want meetings, but I avoid these.

Banking has changed radially in the last 50 years and it’s not going to stop...

29
JackieH, I totally get your frustration.

All the responses of "your business is not big enough for UBS" bla bla bla is beside the point. If their phone message gives you an option of wanting a call back and you choose YES, the bank MUST call back. Whether it is within 30 min or 2 hours, I don't think that's what upsets JackieH, but a call back within the day at least.

But hey, this really is not just UBS. Happened once with CS with me as well. I guess it can simply be an unlucky day - can happen anywhere to anyone. There was once a post from someone bashing how terrible Swisscom service was. Funny, because on the same day, at the end of the day, so most likely the person almost finishing her shift wanting to go home, I got through quite fast and had the most pleasant lady on the phone. So one person's experience surely doesn't define the whole company.

30
What? They have an area of expertise? I didn’t know that. I dumped them when they closed the branch near my office and I went to SBS. They merged and I was back with UBS. I am now in the process of dumping them again except for one of our two mortgages which still has a few years left on it. I moved the second mortgage to Key4.ch, which despite being owned by UBS gives much better rates. Including SARON.

Jackie, you should look at them, almost everything online except for a short video consultation.

31
Indeed.

While we've had nothing but excellent service (although slow since many days are spent waiting for things to be mailed) with UBS, I can easily imagine that they can be frustrating, and that there are "les incompetents" employed there.

Funny, I was thinking of Swisscom too, as we've generally had great service, expect for the Nyon La Combe branch (who suck so badly that they should ALL be fired, especially the local arrogant branch manger - arrogance from a cellphone salesman? Clown.). Still the Cornavin and Centre Manor Chavannes branches had very lovely and helpful staff, and so I know that both levels of service exist.

Good luck, go visit, be friendly, get a nice person, and hope that they will be your point of contact, if not, I'll look up the name of the fellow in the Gland office who is so nice, or the woman near Nations who had us in stitches while we sorted paperwork.

32
thanks summergirl ''I guess it can simply be an unlucky day - can happen anywhere to anyone. There was once a post from someone bashing how terrible Swisscom service was. Funny, because on the same day, at the end of the day, so most likely the person almost finishing her shift wanting to go home, ''

of course, if it happened once- the fact is I tried to call that main branch, where our advisor is now based, several time over a week- and several requests for being called back ignored, several times, including one appointment which was confirmed by e-mail. So something is definitely wrong with their system!

Our advisor agreed and apologised, and will be visiting us soon.

33
I told you not to mention the services!

34
Well, this may well be. But this is not the point.

UBS was our local bank, with a local branch- and a Manager known to us and very pleasant, helpful and available at all times when we aranged our initial mortage. So was his successor- then the Branch was closed.

I imagine that transferring the exisiting mortgage to another bank and adding to it would be both complicated and costly.

35
And risky as a lot of banks now look at your age when increasing or renewing.

36
When increasing or renewing it is more about checking your income and expenses now than checking your age, of course, age (i.e. pension) can be a significant determinant factor of your income.

37
No issue there- thanks.

38
Your son might be the next Bill Gates, better for the bank to keep on the good side with them youngsters

I can confirm! I avoid the LaCombe branch like the plague.

39
First consideration: the bank (any bank) is not providing you a service, you are lending your money to a bank in exchange of certain benefits. Even a mortgage: it is your money, just not all of them now.

Second: You don’t think about it, but the bank does for you: you may suddenly disappear from the material world, your money do not and they go to the first in the blood line. Better to have a structure in place for that moment...

40
Was in Wetzikon (ZH) yesterday. ZKB branch has gone. UBS closes next week.

re. contact:

ZKB have the direct line of customers' contact on every statement. If like me, you don't get paper statements, the contact is on the app and online complete with photo...