Had a savings account with them for several years. Had a couple grand in there. At some point I lost my password and ended up locked out of online banking. Not a high priority account, had a chequing account with a different bank which was obviously what I used for transactions, while savings account was just a kind of save up for vacation/fun account. After a few months when I remembered I was locked out I called customer service and they said there was a problem with the account and I'd have to go into the bank to get it reopened. Cue Covid. I didn't get to the bank and then kind of forgot that I needed to do that eventually. I obviously wasn't going on vacation so wasn't reminded of it for ages. Late 2022 I remember that I needed to do that and walked into my local branch.

They can't find my account. I've got my card, my login info. I'm still getting your marketing emails. Appears my account doesn't exist anymore. I'm asking where the 2+ grand I had in there go? They call out a manager and she runs through the same drill. Can't find it. It doesn't exist anymore. I ask again where the money went. She tells me the charge for the account for the 2-3 years would have drained the account and once it was empty it closed.

This never even occurred to me as a possibility. Generally, the idea is to put money in the savings account and then let it sit. They're just holding your money while interest accumulates. So for the account to be empty then their fees per month must be so high as to be more than interest, and be over 2+ grand in the span of 2ish years. That's assuming they were honest about what happened and didn't just steal it because the account was inactive and didn't want to tell me that. All I can say is that if they are charging that much to hold your money for you while it accumulates interest, then you're not saving money at all by having them hold it. If it was an inactivity issue then I'm sorry, but I work under the assumption that unless I've paid the money out or I'm dead, then its mine. I worked for it, and I obviously need it more than your corporation does.

As I'm leaving they ask if I want to open another account. No ma'am, I'm obviously better off stuffing the cash in a pillow case like the old days than I am giving it to you to hold onto. Go anywhere else man. Just go anywhere else.

REP NAMES: FRANK & MILDRED.
DONT KNOW WHAT THEYRE DOING AND REFUSED TO HELP AFTER SECURITY QUESTIONS HAVE BEEN VERIFIED LOL.

My last email to them:

Hi there, I send this email in hopes it will be the last time I have to go through the timeline of this whole situation. I have had many phone calls and in-branch visits over the last 2 days regarding this matter, and I have still not been able to come to a resolution with anyone.

Over 10 years ago, I stopped banking with Scotiabank and closed all of my accounts and credit cards. The cards, of course, I had assumed had a balance of 0, as it is my understanding tellers can't close cards without that being the case.

Roughly summer 2022, I began receiving what I thought were spam phone calls and texts multiple times a day, nearly every day. I ignored them, as they came from strange 'spoof' numbers, supposedly from all over Alberta.

The texts stated "your scotia visa is past due for 10.09" with numbered reply options for payment. What really made me think this was fake was the inclusion of "R.Anderson VP Scotiabank" at the end. I ignored the texts, as they seemed frankly like phishing texts, and also due to the fact that I do not have a Scotia Visa, and have not had one for over 10 years (I would really suggest you guys need to figure out this system, as it looks very much like a scam).

I finally responded to a similar email that was sent to this address, that I did not have a Scotia Visa. I received no reply.

I finally answered a random phone call that turned out to be someone from Scotiabank Collections. They advised me to go to a Branch.

On November 28th, 2022 I went to the Scotiabank Branch in REDACT Alberta. After 20 mins with one teller, another who overheard took over, as she understood somewhat what was going on, and was able to assist me better. She finally gave me a number to call, but when I called that later, it was an internal number, and I could not take action without an employee passcode.

Later that evening, I called Scotiabank-either collections or customer care, I'm honestly not sure anymore. Since I told this person I was not paying the $10, as I do not have a Scotiabank Visa, and have no idea where the charges were coming from, they transferred me over to the Visa department. This was after about 20 mins of them trying to verify my ID with security questions I didn't have all the info for, as, again, I have not banked with Scotia for over 10 years.

So, I get transferred over to the Visa department. Finally, after another lengthy time of ID verification, I am told the card is closed (I know), and the balance is actually a result of the insurance not being cancelled when the card was cancelled. This person was quite condescending, and explained to me what insurance was repeatedly, and that it was apparently my fault this wasn't cancelled. I tried to talk to this person on a human level, to shine light on how ridiculous this situation was, and I guess that didn't go over well. I asked what they thought the insurance was covering, since the card was closed, and they weren't sure. I made a joke about being 22 (the age I was when this card was cancelled), and that I probably wasn't that smart at that age, but assumed when a credit card was closed by a bank teller that it meant all fees associated with the card were paid and closed. This person could not see the humor in the situation, and when I asked for a resolution, the only option they could give me was to pay, or be transferred to Insurance.

So, I asked to be transferred to insurance. Go through the process of telling my story and ID verification again, so 20 mins later he can finally pull up the matter. Dominic is who I spoke to. He at first told me there is no insurance on the card, and can't see anything owing. I asked him to verify, and he tried again, and then apparently did see that yes, the balance owing was a result of insurance. I explain the situation in detail again, and finally someone is able to speak to me like a human, and Dominic agrees with the absurdity of this situation. Dominic explains that the Teller that originally closed the card did not properly cancel the insurance on the card. He says that he take care of that balance, gives me a case number, and suggests I talk to Collections again to ensure that I get a letter of correction from Scotiabank that can be sent to equifax etc so that this stops affecting my credit.

So, thinking I am close to the end, I get transferred back to Collections. I belive I spoke to Louis, but not entirely sure. I have to explain everything again, and this person cannot comprehend a case that is outside of the norm-I keep offering to give them my case number, and he keeps reading off of a script that I need to pay the balance owing. I mention the case number I have, and he keeps saying, "I don't have a case number for you". I had to resort to interrupting him, asking if I can speak, and explaining that I have a case number to pass on to him. Finally he understands, and accepts my case number to look up. Apparently this didn't help, as this person still could not do anything about the matter, and wants to transfer me back to Customer Care. I told him no, I can't be transferred to yet another person and go through this process at this point. He says okay, but now I will have to wait for an email that will contain the corrections letter.

Total amount of time on the phone Nov. 28th was 1 hour, 36 minutes.

On Nov. 29th 2022, I receive multiple 'spam' calls from Scotiabank, including one coming into my workplace office number, which is frankly unacceptable.
I take the initiative of again calling customer service myself. I explain the entire situation, yet again, to someone else. This person cannot escalate this matter apparently, and I am transferred, yet again, to Insurance.

So, I speak to Chaitanya. She is fine. I have to explain the entire situation and timeline yet again. She tells me "no the insurance was cancelled in October". I never talked to anyone to do this in October, no idea I had any insurance with Scotiabank active until Nov. 28th, so I need someone to investigate what happened here. She also says there was a different card with the $10 balance. I have been operating under the assumption there was only one historical card to this point-again, because it has been over 10 years since I have banked with Scotiabank. She keeps telling me not to worry because she will take care of the balance. I tell her that I thought Dominic already did that-so apparently he did not. I give her the case number, and she does not verify one way or another if Dominic took care of the issue yesterday, but assures me she will take care of it today. She explains the process of receiving the refund.

I tell her that she is misunderstanding the core of the issue here. I do not have $10 owed to me. I don't need a refund on something I never paid. I would not be going through this process for $10 (although apparently Scotiabank feels the need to do so on their end. Tough times). I run through the list of what I would like to happen (listed below), and the phone call resulted in her telling me she needs to call me back tomorrow-I tell her this won't work, and she does not provide an alternative, and that is essentially where this has ended up.

What I need to happen:

1. The 'spam' calls, texts and emails need to stop immediately. There should be no reason that this takes more than one day to figure out. The fact that Scotiabank resorts to these shady tactics as well really speaks to the Customer Service of this bank overall.

2. Whatever balance, on whatever card(s) I had closed need to be gone. I believe this is taken care of already-if that is the case, I need that in writing.

3. An explanation as to why, 10 years later, this is only coming up as an issue. As a 22 year 'child' essentially, I would have assumed my balances were 0 whe that was what the teller told me when I cancelled with Scotia. How is this coming up 10 years later, and why? I would also like some explanation of the urgency, as not only have I been receiving incessant, sketchy looking communication, but now my workplace is being called. Over $10. This is absurd, and could impact my perception in my workplace.

4. A letter of correction, both mailed and emailed to me. This needs to be sent to equifax and transunion directly from the bank as well. I am assuming this has impacted my credit score. This letter needs to outline that this card was not closed properly on Scotiabanks end, and include the original closing date.

5. Finally, a call or email from a actual human that can work across departments within Scotiabank, that can explain the situation to me, as well as provide me with a case number that will be relevant across all departments.

I can honestly say that I did leave Scotiabank due to the way I was treated at my local branch over 10 years ago, and this has only reinforced my feelings. This is such an absurd situation, and I have been made to feel like a delinquent over a $10 charge that was no fault of my own. If I keep getting more spam calls and emails over this, I have no problem escalating further.

I understand everyone involved here is human, I wish your customers got treated the same way. Customer Service folks that can think outside the box and solve problems creatively, and just talk like humans would go a long way (shoutout to Dominic!). I have also tried to cc the branch manager of Scotiabank in REDACTED just so I can guarantee an actual human will receive this, and that email is impossible to find-I could not even call in to the actual branch. A five minute search led to me to a third-party site that says this persons name is Andrew, but I still can't find an email. Why is this not easy information to find? Just another example of why people may be frustrated with you folks. Real human interaction would go a very long way here.

Glad to see others are having similar issues, I guess.

CALLS ARE RECORDED FOR QUALITY AND TRAINING PURPOSES'?

MY QUESTION IS THIS... ARE THEY? If they are... is anyone actually listening to them?

It's great to tic a box and SAY you are doing it but isn't that misleading? Maybe even lying. I say this because the same problems keep repeating. No one is listening because no one cares. It's just Kool Aid kids and its time we wake up and hold these corporate giants accountable. I am not on their payroll, are you? Ask yourself what your time is worth? What else could you do with the 3 hours that was wasted... and I might add all in the name of, get this, CUSTOMER SERVICE! It's an over used word and these companies that hide behind their websites know that. Customer service is dead unless you are dealing with a small business owner.

Today alone, with SCOTIABANK, I had to call 3 times; first call lasted 7 minutes before the agent became passive aggressive and hung up. The second call lasted 39 minutes before line went dead. And now I am 24 minutes waiting for the next agent. So its not customer services.

Hey, wait, what about all those lovely bank fees? Doesn't that give service? No, thats just more smoke and mirrors.

Let me add a new dilemma for us common folk. Since when is it okay for phone operators to simply hang up because they didn't like your voice or what you had to say. So now we have call centre operators adding more pain to an already bad systemand these giants dont care. Smoke screens abound.

'WE ARE EXPERIENCING LONGER THAN NORMAL WAIT TIMES..."

SECOND QUESTION. ARE YOU? ARE YOU REALLY EXPERIENCING LONGER THAN NORMAL..." Really...? Best get another VP of Operations because this problem has been going on for atleast 7 years now! Still not on their payroll and this is just another reminder that they are using our time, us, the paying customer, our time so that they dont have to hire to acceptable levels. It's brilliant! Have the customer WAIT versus adequately staff your call centres! All in the name of service!

WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Customer service is when you don't have to wait and you actually get treated with respect.
TIME WE ALL WAKE UP AND WALK AWAY FROM THOSE COMPANIES THAT USE US CONSUMERS TO IMPROVE THEIR P & L, ALL SO THEY CAN GET THEIR BONUSES!

I was a customer of Scotia for most of my life. I admit I had no problems for many years. UNTIL I made the mistake of getting a credit card and life insurance through them. They deactivated my card for no reason they could explain after I used it a couple times then did not send me statements. Told me I had to go to the branch to get my card reactivated so I said cancel it. They said I have to pay balance before they cancel and I said, mail my damn bill then. That's when I realized what was happening. They were charging me credit card insurance I did not ask for or agree to.
Then I tried to cancel my life insurance. I read up on the details and it was not at all what I was told from their advisor and was basically useless to me but I paid $30 a month for it. I was given the run around and not able to close my insurance. Told they are not affiliated with scotia life? Then I phone scotia life and they tell me I have to deal with the bank and back and forth. After all that nothing. So I took money out of account and let my insurance collapse. They sent a letter stating my insurance is cancelled due to non payment. So I thought great!? Right? WRONG! As soon as money went back into my account they took it! Continues to take it whenever there was enough to do so. So I had to take my money out again. Then I try to deal with the fraudulent insurance charges from my credit card. For years I go back and forth telling them prove to me where I said I would pay for this. It never happened. So I have money they took from my account and insurance charges on my card every month I refused to pay. There were over $2000 in these charges by the time I was able to even deal with these people. They falsely report on my credit rating. Never shows payments made as well. After 6 yrs of fighting I had to close my account as they took money from me during the covid crisis to pay for credit card fees I do not owe after their customer support said they would never do that. So then I escalate it. Took me over a year to get a call from their president. He says you are right! We owe you money. You will get it in two weeks. Yeah that didn't happen. So another 6 months go by more emails and stress. I get an email from the president again! Acknowledging my contact with him months previous and he states again two weeks I will get this package I take to the bank and get my money back. Of course the amount they owe is far more then what they claim but I just want to get as much as I can back as they have totally disrupted my life. The package has not shown up and it has been another 6 months. Why? I don't understand how any bank can be so careless and awful to their customers. I made appointments with advisors and had them not even be at work the day they told me to come as he was on holidays! Then he calls me after he gets back laughing about the situation. I have no choice but to escalate this further and report to governing bodies as they plain and simple do not care and are not complying with regulations. Do not feel you are finally gonna get what they owe even if they tell you so. This is the most horribly run bank I have ever heard of and I wish their reviews reflected the absolute horror of dealing with them prior to signing up. I thought they could help me build my financial future and instead they ruined it. I got this account when I was 20. When I got a good credit rating I got my card with them and I was doing very well. The stress and financial loss I have suffered has just destroyed me mentally and financially. No one should ever have to go through this! My credit rating says I owe $3500 and I just got a call from their multiple credit collection agencies saying I owe 800. I have emails and phone calls from the president saying I owe nothing and they owe me $2000. As you can tell they are completely incompetent when it comes to dealing with anything besides taking your money. I sure hope their business is reflecting their horrible service and lack of care. Nobody should ever be destroyed by their bank they are supposed to care about their customers since they are profiting from borrowing our money. If they did care about money they would get this right. They obviously have too much and if you are a current customer close your account before you experience the devastating loss and being totally vulnerable to their attacks! You can report them and you should. Contact FCAC. Do not let them steal from you. I had a break down because of this and I am still suffering. This is beyond any bad experience I have had with any company in my life.

I, Ling, did a transaction to my wife's visa, using my scotia line of credit visa on August 31. It was a $*******. I was told the transaction might take 2-5 business days to process.

There were some issues before this call. I called 2 times. They were accidentally dropped out. One is during the waiting time, one is when I was connected with the staff. Each calls took me average 20-30 minutes to wait.

Fine, it might be an accident. Might be Soctia is so busy to provide a call back service. Our time is not their concern. They just don't care.

After about a week, my wife told me the transaction was only $10 to her visa from my scotia visa. She might get internets charged to her visa.

I called scotia again to fix this problem. It's the beginning of my nightmare.

As usual, the first call took about 30 minutes for me to wait. I was connected, and the staff asked me some questions to verify myself. "Your full name? Your date of birth?" These are normal. I answered. Then the hardcore ones came to me. " what's your last transaction to your daily interest account?" I answered, "I don't know." Then he asked, "what's your credit limit of your other Visa card?" I answered "Maybe $2500, maybe $1500, I am not sure, because I don't normally use the card." After I answer, the staff responded " Sorry Sir, there is some errors to your account that I can't do anything now. I suggest you to go to our branch to solve the problem." Then I got hung up by the staff. My thought was was there something wrong to my account? Was my account hacked?

The next day, I went to scotia bank at Mccowan and steels. The lady on the counter helped me with it. She was very friendly. She told me there was nothing wrong with my account. Then I ask her to help me with the transaction issue, she could not help me because the rate is different. She told me I have to call scotia visa again.

Again?! Fine! I called scotia visa the next day. Same 30 minutes wait before I was connected. Then I got hung up again because of the same problem " the error to my account "! I realized it must be the question they asked me. I must answer the exact amount in order to get my file verified!

Without opening online banking account and look into it, will you know what your last transaction is? Do you know your overdraft limit of your saving account? Do you know the last transaction amount made by the bank? Why didn't scotia bank staff remind us of it, before they ask? If we can not get them the correct answer, your account would be suspended. Keep in mind, those are not some number you can remember right away. Instead of reminding, they just ask you to go to the branch to verify yourself again. Dose that make sense to you? Not necessary in their point of view, because they just don't care.

Second time I visited their branch, located in Markville Mall. I'm the first customer in the morning. However, they did not treat me right.
Told to the lady on the counter, verify my account. Then ask her to deal with the issue by calling scotia bank visa directly from their branch. She answered " You will need to go to your home branch to do that." What a attitude! I then required to see the manager. The assistant manager, Qian Sissi Huang, came out to see us.

She was friendly. She sat us on her office, listened to us, and helped me to call scotia visa directly. A lady picked up the call, maybe her name is Lorra, was friendly and professional. Sissi explained our issues to her. Lorra then helped us to do the transaction of $9990 in the promotion rate that i got previously, promised to waive the transfer fee. She also promised to reimburse the interests charged by my wife's Visa card, to the missing payment of $9990 generated. It's because I don't know how much the interest we will be charged to my wife's visa. I decided to let them know later. Lorra promised us they are opened for us to do the reimbursement later. Sissi was right beside us and she heard it on the phone.

Today, September 28, I called scotia bank visa for the reimbursement, since I just got the amount of internet we were charged by my wife's Visa card. The staff that picked up the call, told me he couldn't do anything for it. Then I required to talk to their supervisor. The supervisor, Humberto, told me the same thing. He first asked me who that promised us the reimbursement. Then he said that nothing he can do. I asked him for a explanation. He answered, " It's because within the 5 days of my transaction, It's my responsibility to monitor if the amount is correct or not. After 5 days, they can not do anything. Keep it in your mind, they said the transaction would take 2-5 business day. Does that make sense to you? Again, they just don't care!

I asked him where the conditions and terms is on my contact. I asked if he can confirm that I acknowledged these conditions and terms. He said, " Yes, you can go to our complaint email to ask for it! *******@scotiabank.com Nothing I can do." Congratulations to scotia for having Humberto. He is a perfect employee to you, since you just don't care of our business.

I have recorded the conversation to prove my statements.

I am extremely disappointed to Scotia Bank. It took me almost a month to just try to fix the problem they made. The problem is still there! I believe Scotia Bank is a rotten business from top to bottom. It was so ridiculous you would hear they claimed they are the best bank while you were waiting on the phone. What a joke!