Exteemely poor reviews on Banco Sabadell on Trust Pilot - Page 5

I have been with Sabadell as a resident for 5 years, had nothing but excellent service. My friends who are with Sabadell at different branches in the Costa Blanca North say the same.

Exactly my experience over five years as non resident and resident, nothing but praise for Sabadell. 

Hi Steve and John,

Yep, we were very happy initially, it was the change of our personal account manager that saw things go downhill.  Thankfully, we don't need to go to the branch very often and Sabadell's online offering and extensive ATM network still make them, in my opinion, the best of the bunch.

Kind regards,

Kim

Ray you assume far too much!!!  I could bore you with the equivalent of War and Peace on my hellish experiences at both branches of Sabadell in Torrevieja (as I have already mentioned).  None of which have to do with language, but solely with incompetency, ignorance, rudeness... etc etc.  What screams out from this thread is that there is no standard decent service and it all boils down to the personality of the individual and their personal competency level at doing their job. If you are lucky, then great stuff.  If you are not, then tough luck. Enough said on the subject from me as we are going round in circles.  

Ray, I think as many members were applauding their banks as were complaining. Your earlier post seemed to imply that the complaints were, in the main, down to lack of communication, ergo lack of Spanish.

That someone can arrive in Spain, never having lived here, with enough Spanish language skills to converse at a level that allows for the successful opening of something as important as a bank account, is, in my opinion, nothing short of incredible; I take my hat off to them.

Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people. I reference Sabadell (my bank) as offering what I required; English speakers. The service they provide me with has, to this point, been excellent. 

What other posters appear to be saying was that the service they have received was of poor quality. That’s what I read.

I will bore you with a little story. Some years ago, when I was a newbie to Spain, I had some difficulties and needed to visit the Ayuntamiento. I was informed by a neighbour that the staff spoke English. As I have said many times, my Spanish is limited and certainly not up to explaining the problem I was having

I memorised “lo siento, no hablo espanol, por favor puede habler en ingles”. The guy replied in rapid Spanish, non of which I could understand. Long story short, I was reduced to tears and returned home having achieved nothing

The problem needed sorting so, I used my iPad and translator to explain the problem, saved it, and returned the next day to show the same guy. Initially, he wouldn’t even look at the iPad, just pushed it away. I pushed it back and eventually, he read it.  He sorted the problem, returned my paperwork to me and said “ you need to take this paperwork to the bank and they will set up the necessary direct debit. These are your receipts”. All in perfect English.

Fortunately, I refuse to let this humiliating experience influence my opinion of Spain and the Spanish people🤪🥂

Hi Ray,

I'm afraid one of your favourite hobby horses is wearing blinkers 😉  You seem to be fixated with the idea that all Spanish bank customers must speak Spanish.  I agree that those of us living in Spain should at least try, but to expect Spanish property owners, who visit here maybe 3 or 4 times a year, to attain that level of fluency is unrealistic.  You concede your wife lives permanently in Spain, yet she doesn't speak the language.

By the way  "We speak your language" was "advertised" - Sabadell ran an extensive marketing campaign using that strapline last year.  If your wife is a Sabadell customer, I'm surprised you missed it.

As for this forum being the only place that reports complaints about Sabadell and Spanish banks, didn't you read the Trustpilot reviews?  The OP started a thread about 'Sabadell', not 'Spanish banks' and the feedback I have given has not "condemned" the whole of the Sabadell organisation - I've been very precise about the circumstances of an issue with my particular branch, yet still decided that the advantages of Sabadell's online service and ATM network outweigh the irritation of not receiving the level of service I'm paying for from my personal account manager.

Please read what people are saying without the blinkers, rather than making the (sometimes false) assumption that any problem is caused by a bank customer not being able to speak Spanish.

Kind regards,

Kim

Yes Ray, I think you have said enough and all of it correct. 👍

Banks are commercial entities - if they advertise they speak your language it's because there's a bit of coin in it for them. There should be no guilt from a customer signing up to an arrangement such as this and it's reasonable to expect the bank to make good on it's promises.

When I take out my private medical insurance I will also select the one which offers me English speaking services - I'm paying for it and the market place is there to match my needs.

It's the same with my legal and financial needs. 

If I were receiving a service from the Spanish state it would be different and I'd engage with a Spanish/ English advocate, as with our future residency application.

You pay your money and you make your choice :) 

"My wife didn't speak Spanish because she spent 15 years on an urbanisation and never heard the language spoken."  So you think it's acceptable for her, as a Spanish resident, not to even try to learn the language, whilst you reprimand non-residents for not being able to speak it?  Do you not see the double-standards in your position?

"Strangely, I don't seem to come up against these rude and unhelpful people that so many do. Maybe they only inhabit the english areas and are pissed off themselves with the rants they get thrown at them."  I've never "ranted" at anyone in my bank, or anywhere else for that matter, and I think even you would have to concede that Almoradi, where my Sabadell branch is based, is not an "English area". 😄

"As you said earlier, there have been several other posts on here supporting Sabadell, which does support my position that it is individuals who give poor service, and not the banks themselves."  Ah, something we agree on and my point precisely! 😂

Kind regards,

Kim

Funny enough, at my appointment with Sabadell I was booked with an English speaking advisor as they knew I was a UK citizen (and probably assumed I spoke little Spanish). However,  I speak fluent Spanish and Valenciano as I went to university in Valencia and use it all the time when here, and in the UK I work as a Spanish teacher. The clerk was prepared to talk to me in English, but said that my Spanish was way better than her English, so we conducted the meeting in Spanish. Maybe that has inadvertently led to me having a good experience so far with Sabadell, but we’ll see😛