Darlington Building SocietyAvis 

I am extremely frustrated with the abysmal service from Darlington Building Society. They are handling the mortgage for the buyer of my property, and their inefficiency is dragging out the entire chain.Their communication is non-existent. They consistently ignore our solicitor. When they finally do respond, they completely move the goalposts, introducing brand-new issues and conflicting information that contradict previous updates.Furthermore, their advertised "8-day turnaround" is a complete fiction. It has been weeks, and we are still left completely in the dark. Nobody seems to have any idea how long the process will actually take, and the total lack of accountability is halting our house sale. Avoid if you value efficiency and clear communication.

I am in the unfortunate position of selling my house to a customer of Darlington BS. EVERY TIME a correspondence or a document is required, Darlington has a turnaround of 8 working days (never one less). This translates to a 2-week wait any time the customer sends a document, only for them to assess it; should the document be wrong (or if they need more), the count restarts. So far, we are at a 2-month delay; I will update in due time. Simultaneously, I started the same process for the property I am moving to, with Nationwide, and it took me a total of 8 days: any situation is different, but two weeks for checking one document, every time one is submitted, is beyond ridiculous and disrespectful towards their customers and whoever is in a chain after them.

I tried to deposit £10000 into my ISA with my bank card. I was told we only accept cash or cheque. But if I wanted to take £10000 out it could only be by cheque. Who carries £10000 in cash. Everywhere uses card now except for this rubbish building society. I will be moving the money already in the ISA plus the money I wanted to deposit to another building society as soon as possible.

We had a very disappointing experience with Darlington Building Society.

Our mortgage application progressed for a long time, and only at the final stage, after the underwriter reviewed the case, we were told that funds originating from India would not be accepted. This was extremely frustrating because this should have been made clear much earlier in the process, not after months of waiting, paperwork, and effort from our side.

We had already provided documents to show that the funds were legitimate and had come through proper legal channels. Despite this, when we asked for a clear explanation, we were not given a proper answer. The only response we received was that it was considered a “risk,” without any clear justification.

What made the experience worse was the lack of transparency. A decision of this importance should be explained properly, especially when it affects a family’s home purchase and causes so much mental stress. Instead, we were left feeling that our case was not assessed fairly and that the origin of the funds was judged negatively without proper consideration of the evidence provided.

Overall, the process caused serious delay, uncertainty, and unnecessary stress. We expected a fair and transparent assessment, but unfortunately that was not our experience.

Our five-year mortgage journey with Darlington has wrapped up, and dealing with them has been nothing short of delightful. I truly appreciate the convenience of reaching out via email or phone—unlike the 80s when visiting a branch and facing someone in a suit was the norm. Their guidance and assistance have been impeccable. They are both efficient and friendly, what more could one desire? Kudos to Darlington!

I wish i can give lower than a 1 star. Please guys taking up a mortage loan with DBS is totally not recommendable. If you must, please take your time to read the terms and conditions very well especially if you plan to make annual overpayments. Their overpayment can only be a one lump sum during the fixed period, not annually like many other lenders.

The process is overly bureaucratic, with an excessive dependence on traditional mail, leading to significant delays. Setting up or using Darlington online can be quite challenging, as they even send your ID through the mail, which is puzzling. Although interest rates are generally more favorable compared to Nationwide, the hassle of dealing with these issues makes me reconsider continuing with them.

What a useless building society.
I tried 4 times to make a deposit into my regular savers account using the confirmation code numbers supplied by my bank. Every time, kept on repeating to put in the confirmation code. Obviously have very poor software. So I tried to issue a complaint and this also did not go through as the software did not recognise my postcode. Will no longer be putting further money into this account and advise everyone to avoid.

Could not rate a building society or bank lower than DBS. Constant misinformation on their website, mortgage staff don’t have an up to date picture, change the goal posts constantly, rude and overall unhelpful.

Fantastic experience today. Took my grandson who is almost 3 into the branch to pay his piggy bank money in. I am trying to teach him about savings, so it's fantastic that he can still get a passbook account to watch his pennies grow.
The staff were wonderful with him. The low counter for disabled customers was perfect so that he could see what the assistant was doing. He was allowed to 'help' her weigh his money and the staff attitude made the experience so positive that we will be going regularly to do this. Banks could learn a lot about personal service from small building societies

We've just finished our five year mortgage with Darlington and in my experience they've been so easy to deal with it's been a pleasure. I love how I can email or phone ( we could never do that in the 80s it was into a branch with a stiff wearing a suit) and their advice and help has been spot on. Efficient, friendly what more could you ask. Well done Darlington 👏

I wrote a review of Darlington Building Society 2 1/2 years ago which was not very complementary at all and was fully deserved. Gave them another chance at the weekend by opening their online regular savings account. How things have changed.

The account was opened instantly with little fuss and access to online banking with them is good, simple and straightforward. Last time they insisted I had to have an interview with someone before I could open an account - thank goodness that's gone.

So overall would highly recommend Darlington Building Society. The only issue is the low interest rates on many accounts compared to elsewhere

Terrible slow, tills and staff are not ready when open, always have IT issues. Always long queues .

Just had lovely lady ( forgot her name we were on phone so long) she talked me through setting online account, it took me ages and she was so patient with me,, Northallerton branch is my local, they know I'm poorly and struggle getting in branch, but if they can help they do

Took out a mortgage with DBS which was paid off over 30 years ago. Received a certificate acknowledging charge had been removed.
Came to sell the property only to find the charge on the property had not been removed. All it needed was an email saying the charge was no longer valid and would be removed. I phoned Darlington BS who did not return the call. I visited the Redcar Branch,who were helpful, and contacted the mortgage department who refused to speak to me and told me to put it in an email and they would deal with it in due cause. So they are jeopodising the sale going through by their incompetence and laziness.

The service we received in the Bishop Auckland branch yesterday was outstanding! My son (16) wanted to open a savings account and as he was off work we decided to go in person to do this. Armed with all the necessary documents (passport, birth certificate and proof of address) I didn't think it would be an issue. To my astonishment after completing a morning bank tour of Bishop Auckland we were turned away by every bank and informed "all accounts are opened online now, we live in a digital world". I expressed in each bank that we wished to do this in person and requested an appointment but was told "this is not something we would ever make an appointment for as you just do it on your phone". Several banks were kind enough to offer support with sitting and helping my son do the application himself - this I found ridiculous as it would have been better customer service to simply open the account for him.

We had just about given up and started to head home when we discovered the Darlington Building Society had opened a new branch. We walked in and every member of staff was truly wonderful. We experienced outstanding customer service from start to finish. The cashiers we spoke to asked their colleague if he could help and within 15 minutes my son had been talked through the products they offered and opened an account - service at its best!

I am sorry we couldn't remember names but please pass on my thanks to this team. Yesterday morning initially left me feeling totally disheartened regarding the state of this world and how everything needs to be done digitally, but the staff in this branch left me feeling that there is hope. Once again, thanks so much!

I decided to open a new account and only had the choice of doing this by post or visiting a branch
I unfortunately went to a branch where I was told that I would need an appointment, No mention of this on line Or to fill in a lengthy form. The assistant was Not friendly and put me off this Society for Life
I decided to go to another Society and opened an account without a problem and will give my savings to them as the Darlington building society didn't want it !!!!!

Following your reply 20 hours ago, I will not be giving you my full details as I will never contact Darlington building society again Following my experience. You should give excellent service to All of your customers or do more monitoring of your branch staff

Far too bureaucratic. Too much relience on snail-mail, so very slow.

Darlington online a nightmare to set up/use. They post you an id.....??!!

Interest rates tended to be a bit better than the Nationwide but such a pain to deal with I am not sure if I can bothered for much longer.

Not great when a Darlington building society cheque bounces. (Stockton branch) Closed account due to poor interest rate. Had to go back to branch to sort out. Can never get through by phone always need to leave message. To be fair always get back to you but this can be several hours later. This must be a policy as the head office is the same

Rebecca from the mortgage team has helped us out no end during the period or sorting our remortgage out. She’s always on the end of the line when needed and responds to emails quickly.

Also a shout out to Dan who remembered us every time we called.

Thanks so much for changing our lives!