Bankwest Reviews 129

Pathetic bank, no staff, rude customer service, closing branches.

BankWest utilising underhanded tactics to steal from customers. And then when called out, blatantly lie about what happened. Even changing the lie 3 times.

So I have used my BankWest Mastercard as my linked payment method for Oz Lotteries for years. Never been charged as a cash withdrawal or gambling.

Recently looking over my statement I noticed a cash advance fee. I had drawn cash out from that account, however the account was in excess credit, and so long as the cash withdrawal doesn’t draw against the line of credit there is no fee charged. I’ve done this multiple times and also clarified with the bank before I did it the first time.

So looked into the cash advance fee and it was classified as ‘Gambling’. Odd I don’t gamble.

I messaged the bank to inform them of the mistake and asked for a credit for the advance fee charged and also to make sure that the cash advance interest gets removed.

Immediately I was told the fee was accurate as I used it for my Oz lotteries purchase. Odd, I’ve got multiple years precedence established of not getting charged as cash advance for that purchase (I would of used a different card long ago if that was the case) and I had not received any correspondence from the bank that they were going to treat lotto purchases made with a credit card as gambling and will incur the associated fees.

Once I pointed that out. I was then told, they made a mistake when they told me what the cash advance fee was for, they said it was for a cash withdrawal I’d made that day. Odd, the banks own description attached to the cash advance fee was ‘gambling’ not cash advance. So again I refused to accept the bs, told them they are lying to me, explained the description attached to the fee and demanded my refund.

They then came back with their original stance, but with the added spin of the merchant code. That’s the identifier code Oz Lotteries has with the bank. So I was told that Oz lotteries had changed their merchant code, and the merchant code dictates how the transaction gets assigned that’s outside of the banks control. They did give me my refund.

However, the same day the gave me my refund, they took another cash advance fee for the latest Oz lotteries purchase. With that I decided to get my ducks in a row before contacting the bank again as they’d already demonstrated they won’t let the truth get in the way of boosting the bottom line.

Speaking to Oz Lotteries, I wasn’t surprised to hear that, no they have not changed their merchant code, ever.

So it’s in fact the bank have decided to reclassify how they process Oz lotteries purchases, they didn’t inform any customers that new fees would be introduced. They then lied through their teeth about it, to avoid refunding the money they stole.

The lies they told for the most part sound plausible and for most people would be enough and to just accept the fee and leave it.

This is disgusting and unethical behavior. Not to mention the banks advertising strategy over the previous 12 months telling customer to not worry about the fine print because there looking after us. So an adverting campaign revolving around trust.

Well if I get money taken out for any reason purchase,ebay, what so ever ,if there's isn't money in my account it want accept transactions simple ,so every now and then more often now its over drawn like few bucks ,and they want say where it went just that they added it up well I do that being unemployed im extra careful

We have our home loan with Bankwest and when we moved we were told by our solicitor that we owed an additional $37k. The bank insisted we did not but they never actually followed up this matter so we had to pay the money or lose the house. Communication has been terrible and they’ve provided no answers and no support. Can’t wait to refinance with another bank! One with local branches.

All the business accounts were closed on the 24th of August and very poor online customer service with a lack of transparency about the processing times. We haven't received our money for the business needs and it's affecting our business, It's almost 14 days. We will not go with Bankwest again.

Such a shocking and horrible first time experience dealing with these guys. Unhelpful service and employees give you the wrong info!

THE GREAT B.S. BANK

It's about time I said something publicly about this bank. All manner of issues and they keep fobbing me off...

Here's the latest: My debit card keeps failing despite having plenty of money in it. This is the type of response you can expect from their customer service. Refer to the image attached.

Oh, the last B.S. before this was they did not want to cancel a bank cheque, and insisted I did it at the branch I set it up. I was in Qld! After I kicked a massive stink they gave me a workaround, but even after I returned two weeks later, it was still not done.

Absolutely crap service.

Terrible bank, branches incompetent, seem to think it's okay to just shut down all banking systems often at night. Orange logo on Freo jumper looks hideous (just make it colour match and it would actually look great)

My credit card application was rejected as Bankwest only counted my liability but excluded my income. This was so simply as you can not only just consider expense but not consider the matching income. Called their review phone line they did not want to listen at all, simply saying its final did not want to be bothered any more.

I'd post MINUS 5 Stars if I could. If you are overseas and have a Bankwest Account they are the ABSOLUTE PITS. The rigmarole to do ANYTHING is IMPOSSIBLE. I have just cleared down my accounts, they just don't seem to care. Their Compliance Department is totally paranoid because their Know Your Client and ID Confirmation "processes" are total overkill. Dealing with Bankwest is a truly draining and APPALLING "process". AVOID - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

During covid our mum passed away and we had to close her account. This bank were just shear awful, no empathy, took so much time one of our paid notarised passports ran out and we had to pay for a new passport and for the notary to stamp again. I would never ever bank with this bank, not helpful, customer services appalling, at a time of extreme grief and mental health, this bank were terrible, i can't even describe the lack of just about everything. My family have subsequently all cancelled any bank accounts with Bank West and moved elsewhere

I'm pleased, in a way that I've just read about a person having problems with sms and online banking in March 2023, and of the lack of assistance long-term and in their case quite rude treatment whilst trying to solve the matter.... I am only sort of pleased because I've had the same problem for over a week now, and as I am totally computer illiterate, felt it was probably a glitch their end and it would resolve itself. After the 3rd day of trying I discovered that nothing had changed, so I approached the help line again 2 days ago, and had so much help and time given it was amazing, but still no good end result, and it being suggested I download a new browser....haha... download what?? Anyway, I thought I would just try to get into my personal banking site again, and have the ability to make online payments or even look at my accounts and, hey, it's still the same, so I now have to pay someone to come out to me in a semi-rural area and try to put right something that BankWest has known has been a problem for at least 3 months. I can , but the way, access the account on my mobile and make payments from there, but being 71yrs old this month & having eyesight like I'm looking through a beer bottle, don't find that too easy at the moment. These problems only seem to have occurred whilst the Bank have been going through the changes to the banks methods of online banking, so I wish they would actually get their acts together and start to serve the customers before we all thing of pulling our monies out and storing it under the mattress!!

Been having issues with SMS Code since around February/March and contacted BankWest - could be earlier as I cannot recall the exact date. Today I was on a phone with a rude representative that tried to hang up on me while I was still asking question. She also spoke about how she has spent 40+mins trying to help me solve this issue(I appreciate this but she also gotta know that I have spent months with them to have this solve). So their conclusion for me is to close my ticket, told me this is an unique case and have not had this issue before(is this even my concern?) and they have done all they can and provided me alternative solutions which is tedious and time and cost consuming. And basically I had to live with this issue until it somehow gets fixed by itself. I have not been able to make purchases on some websites, have not been able to enjoy using their mobile app as everyone else does, not able to view my card details on the app. This just made me.... speechless and helpless.

They give the worst interest on the Easy Transaction account so I would recommend opening a ANZ Access Advantage account with ANZ for your spending since they have the best interest.

It took them 34 minutes to answer the phone!! Imgaine if you were overseas in an emergency... DO NOT USE THIS BANK! They could not care less about you.

I'm amazed Bankwest have had the same message recording since COVID. We are experiencing higher than normal call volumes. The service is a joke and even worse since they have closed all East Coast branches.

Waited on the phone to enquire about an account advertised during TV show. Not currently a customer. Wait time is horrific and while waiting I read some reviews...vast majority giving 1 star but saying zero would be better! I will be going elsewhere.

I would like to give them 0 star if I could. For bank focusing on online banking and closed out all branches, BankWest ‘s customer service is horrifying. Average waiting time for phone call is 45 mins and after 2 mins of speaking with someone, they put you on hold again for another 50mins. Will never ever bank with them again.

Been a customer for 10 years.

Have now deleted my bankwest account after a decade of being a customer.
Waiting on hold has gotten longer, customer service worse and can put my account in debt asap but can't accept bank transfers from my other bank in a timely manner.

Don't waste your time with this useless bank.

Ridiculous excuse for customer service. What is this crap about 'longer than normal wait times'? What is normal? Lazy and uncaring. Will I even speak to someone in Australia?? Still on hold after 60 minutes. grrrr