Cater Allen Avis 

Cater Allen does not fulfil any of the minimum customer expectations.
As usual, Santander has downgraded a customer-oriented UK business to the most disappointing banking organisation.
My understanding that they current aim is to discourage existing customers to keep banking with them, only because they've not been able to provide the same level of customer satisfaction since they took over.
I've now moved all my assets to a well established British bank.
When opening those new accounts, I did wonder: why did I ever bank with Santander/CA??

I don't think Cater Allen have quite found their way into the 21st century. They're part of Santander, yet 'Faster Payments' from a Santander account to Cater Allen are anything but. OK, I know they probably have different systems but up to 2 days? Really? They're just about instant between any other bank (I regularly make payments between Santander and Barclays). Trying to make a CHAPS payment today (at a cost of £25) to complete on a property purchase. Again, instant everywhere else, but Cater Allen? NO! They want to wait a few hours after the instruction is received and even then we don't know if it's going to happen today. Appaling.

It's a real shame, as I have used this bank for around 10 years for all my business accounts. The telephone banking was excellent, and the website just did everything that was required, with a simple interface. Perfect.

They have recently upgraded and it's now almost completely unusable. My business accounts are buried away somewhere. I can no longer download statements which automatically load in to my software. Transferring between business accounts can now only be done on the phone, and when I wrote an email through their internal system it took days for a reply. Oh yes, when you call up they tell you that you have to try a range of different browsers as it 'doesn't really work' with Safari - which is the default installed browser on Macs, which are the world best selling computer brand. They are still polite, but you certainly feel as though the people I am now talking too have very little knowledge, like the vast majority of banks these days - Cater Allen used to be a cut above though.

I'm very disappointed as I could call up and the very first person I spoke to could carry out everything I needed, from complicated international currency transfers, through to simple tasks.

Why oh why did they think they had to change something that really wasn't even broken. They never claimed to be a high street bank with an all singing and dancing website, and I think most customers knew this and were fine with it.

I think it's time to move bank - a hassle for me, and a shame for them as I have a £200k in my business savings accounts which just sits there.

I'm an old Fleming customer and have banked with Fleming and then Cater Allen after the name change since 1999. Over the years they have been without dought the best bank I've used, well until 2 months ago.

This was always the bank for IT Contractors back in the day, they have a lot of IT savvy customers, well until 2 months ago. As other reviewers have stated I can only guess this is a bid to leave the market. This is what you get with 100 monkeys and 100 laptops and no sane human in the release process.

I'm sad that after 20 years I have to move (to Starling), RIP Cater Allen

For YEARS the Caterallen website was basic but functional. It did advanced stuff like "displaying your balance" and "viewing transactions". It offered slower payments for many years after the UK moved to faster payments. This I got used to. Within the past two years it allowed internal transfers between currency/sterling accounts. Hurrah!

The "upgrade" is shockingly, shockingly dreadful. Whoever looked at this and decided that this is what a bank in 2019 needed to win (let alone to maintain) customers should be sacked. Without a doubt the worst internet bank site that I have seen or used within the past 20 years.

My welcome message when I log on is "no accounts" and it goes down from there. o be FAIR - I can now perform "same day payments" and it is for this that the site earns one star. Otherwise, sack team that implemented this and change supplier. Shocking.

1st star for the most terrible bank for business customers.
The online system is so basic you have to call for anything.
I did not choose them, the accountants introduced me in order to open an account quickly. 5 years later CA claim that they missed paperwork when opening the account, they suspended my account for weeks with no justification, no information. Never communicate back to me. They sometimes send tons of paper which entirely useless but when they should send something important they don't.
My business has lost thousands of pounds because of them so I have forwarded the whole lot to my solicitors for a court claim.
Never ever bank with those people!

We've been with Cater Allen about 15 years. Always been excellent telephone service and so-so Internet banking.

Since they "upgraded" their online banking, both have become appalling. The website is unusable. It's like going to back 1990s websites, but not as good. The user interface should become a case study in UX design: how not to do it. Doesn't appear to have been tested by the developers, let alone by any customers.

At the same time, the telephone service has degraded. It takes a long time to answer, and the staff sound fed up. That's hardly surprising if they have to deal with the fallout of the online banking fiasco.

My conclusion is that Cater Allen want to get out of the banking market, and this is how they intend to achieve that. It's working: we're migrating to Starling.

Horrible website. Can't transfer money between my accounts. Going to close my account.

Horrible online banking - both pre and post "upgrade" . Their online banking upgrade (which should have taken place years ago) was in shambles , and still is. So many issues and their new online banking interface is totally cluttered and in a complete mess.

Terrible customer service on top of that.

How they claim to have won an award in 2018 is beyond beggars belief

Avoid at all costs!

Horrific Website

I can't even begin to describe how disappointing the new website is. I can't even transfer money between accounts now. The other comments on Trustpilot cover it though. I feel like I've jumped into the Delorean and gone back in time to pre-internet.

Cater Allen - did you do any sort of user or customer testing at all before you pulled the trigger on this and did you actually read the results?!!!

Your new software upgrade is a shambles and has set internet banking back 15 years. I have had to call your helpline today 3 times to complete basic banking transactions. Your IT guys should be ashamed of themselves. The design is appalling, functionality abysmal, conversion shaky at best, and testing absent. Shame on you.

I put in an official complaint on 22 September mentioning 4 or 5 issues with the software upgrade, and have had cause to report 3 more issues since then. I did get a standard letter from you though.

I’ll spell it out: your internet banking is now unusable because I don’t have a reliable mobile signal at home, and the changes you have implemented have all but destroyed your business banking offering by labelling business accounts as “linked accounts”.

This was a great bank for small business people, but now they’ve updated their computer systems and you can’t access the new one from an IPad.

Now there’s progress for you.

Firstly, I just want to point out that I didnt want to open a Cater Allen acount but had to for accounting purposes.

Does it function as a bank? Yes, I get money paid in and I can pay money out with no problems. But consider the below when choosing to open an account with them as the way they operate just doesnt fit my lifestyle.

The only way to log in is going through the browser, there is no easily accessible method to check your accounts quickly (no app) and the log in process is long. Additionally, I dont think the site is easy to navigate unlike other banking systems.

Secondly if you need to send money in a hurry...well this bank is probably not for you. Sending payments is not instantanious and can take 3-4 business days, even with a payee that is already linked to the account.

I guess it's nice that they dont have fees but I think I personally would rather just pay for a business banking account with one of the other high street banks instead of using this private bank.

Their customer service is fantastic, the only thing I could say they could improve is their online banking interface.