Use Revolut as my main bank, but my account is frozen and I can't get them to fix it

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SharonC

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I decided to choose Revolut for my daily banking needs (having been a KBC customer until now). Last week I had my salary paid into my Revolut account for the first time. They put a block on my account to verify identity. I didn't notice at first because I tap for most things using my phone and Google Pay had defaulted to using a small amount of remaining funds in my KBC account. I had no notification of the block on my Revolut account.

I contacted Revolut through chat to find out about the block and began to follow instructions on sending a selfie showing the date on a piece of paper.

Then they had me change my google password. I was reluctant because it sets off a chain reaction of updates and security checks with other apps I use, but I did it.

Now they wanted another selfie with the date, as they said my hand wasn't properly visible in the first one. I provided this (now days were passing).

Then in the chat they posted a pdf of my most recent transactions and asked me to confirm if all were mine, I confirmed.

Next they wanted me to change my Revolut pin, I followed the direction, but the pin-change function requires an in-app selfie (the others were attachments in chat), and this feature would not work for some reason. Nothing would happen when I tapped on the selfie button and the process would go no further. I explained in the chat what I was experiencing.

So they said they would send an email to the address associated with my account but nothing came in to my inbox. I told them no email had come and I kept trying the in-app selfie route to no avail.

I asked what should I do next but suddenly the chat feature stopped working! An error message saying something had gone wrong and I should try again later. I have been trying again and again for a couple of days now, but the message remains the same! I now have zero visability of my account and I have no line of communication with Revolut. Two days ago I emailed support but just got an auto response that it was received. I don't know how long until someone responds.

I am so dissapointed in Revolut! I had been championing them as an alternative to the regular banks, but based on this experience I can't recommend them except for small pocket money amounts. The risk of getting locked out from all your money is too great. I urgently need to access my salary! What should I do next? :(
 

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First things first - open another bank a/c as quickly as you can and notify your employer so no more salary payments go into Revolut.

Can your employer give you an advance to get you through the next couple of weeks? Failing that can you rely on a CC? I assume you don't have any direct debits or standing orders.

Secondly I would write to Revolut's registered business address, with details you have posted above. Keep a copy, you might even want recorded delivery.

If your card is frozen, I would hope that it also can't be scammed.
 
There is an email and Lithuanian phone number listed on the website. I haven't used it but I would try first:

www.revolut.com

How Do I Contact Revolut Customer Support | Revolut Email, Phone Number

We’re happy to answer any questions you may have, just send us a message via our in-app chat support
www.revolut.com www.revolut.com

I lost access to my account/card
If you lost access to your account and need emergency protection, follow these steps:

1. When logging in, tap 'Lost access to my phone number'
2. Tap on 'Forgot passcode?' and we'll help you regain access to the account through our chat.

If you still can't access your account and chat, contact us at support@revolut.com. If you need to block your card, you can call an automated phone line +37052143608 (fees may apply). This number can't connect you to a human agent nor make outgoing calls.
 
Have you tried to set up and access Revolut on a different device ?
There might be a software error in the Revolut app on the device you are using.
You could also try deleting the app from your device a doing a new install.
 
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What the hell are they doing telling you to change your google password. I don't even know how they would know you actually did it. Such a bizarre request. I too am a former KBC customer. I went with EBS and after finding it painful to deal with how archaic there systems are, I was tempted to just use Revolut as my main bank. After reading this, that won't be happening. I really hope you get it sorted soon.
 
Nobody should ever, and I mean ever, rely upon Revolut as their only operating bank account. You will at least once have your account frozen by some algorithm, and you will spend most of your waking hours talking to Ronnie the Robot trying to sort it.
 
Gordon Gekko said:
Revolut is for tapping to buy coffees and beers or sending your mates your share of the restaurant bill or the cost of a flight.

Nothing more than that.
Click to expand...
Revolut is excellent for free currency exchange and for buying online from foreign currency based websites. It is a fantastic travel card. Used wisely it is a great service.
 
Connard said:
What the hell are they doing telling you to change your google password. I don't even know how they would know you actually did it. Such a bizarre request. I too am a former KBC customer. I went with EBS and after finding it painful to deal with how archaic there systems are, I was tempted to just use Revolut as my main bank. After reading this, that won't be happening. I really hope you get it sorted soon.
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I know, I questioned it strongly, but they insisted it was nessesary so that they would know that anything they sent me by email could not be compromised. They proceeded to send me nothing by email
 
24601 said:
Nobody should ever, and I mean ever, rely upon Revolut as their only operating bank account. You will at least once have your account frozen by some algorithm, and you will spend most of your waking hours talking to Ronnie the Robot trying to sort it.
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You are right, I know this now. I was lulled into a false sense of security by recent positive press on what a good option it could be for those looking for a new current account solution. The measure of any service is how it handles problems when they inevitably arise. And one's salary is a little too much to gamble when customer service is so faceless and remote. I'm nominating another account immediately for my next salary payment. Perhaps my employer will even forward it earlier to me if need be (along with spoonfuls of humble pie ).
 
SharonC said:
I know, I questioned it strongly, but they insisted it was nessesary so that they would know that anything they sent me by email could not be compromised. They proceeded to send me nothing by email
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When I seen you say that they asked you to change your google email and then you had change your Revolut pin and take selfies I thought the story was gonna end with you being scammed and that it was the scammers asking you to do this. This is the type of thing people are told to be wary of doing as it is something that scammers do and here Revolut are doing it. It is mental.
 
ArthurMcB said:
Which bank do people recommend for current acc, putting salary in to and paying bills out of?

Im a soon to be former kbc customer and am thinking aib. Not for any reason other than its a well known irish bank
Click to expand...

Key Post - Which is the best current account for a personal customer?

As I pointed out in another thread, in the UK, Which? magazine would have a detailed survey of a few hundred customers and would rank the various offerings. I want to see if we can do that via Askaboutmoney. This is for personal accounts only and not "Which is best for business?" It should be...
www.askaboutmoney.com
 
KBC: agree, that an app was great and the customer service opening hours much longer than the Irish banks had. I always was surprised about the customer service knowledge and swift accurate responses over the phone and chat. I absolutely loved their chat working even at night (not just to report lost card, but for any general questions too).
PTSB: my local branch are incompetent and slow, made too many errors just while opening my account. Customer service are incompetent, gave me a false information over the phone about my branch opening times and gave me a wrong date for my appointment (emailed me this which I showed in the branch who apologised and admitted the mistake, but still asked me to come back another day as they didn't have available staff - this was last year). Their app is terrible, online banking is outdated. Can't login to the app with a fingertip, need these funny numbers. Their app is simply outdated.
AIB: customer service used to be better, lately they are arrogant and either lazy, tired or unmotivated, opening ours, as any other Irish banks', are inconvenient, app is just average (but not better than KBC's), fees if used as the main bank are dear. However, fee structure is convenient in the sense that AIB can be used only for a wage and then Bunq, Revolut or EBS for daily transactions and direct debits - this way AIB would be one of the cheapest option, but having two accounts in two separate banks would give more options.
EBS: no banking via the app, online banking is so basic that I laughed, need a lot of patience opening an account in branch - a bunch of paper. Need to be very understanding, patient and respectful to the staff who has to deal with this 15-20 years old system daily. I feel sorry for them. It's free, so I was very grateful and polite for their time helping me. Setting up access to the online banking is a free circus, but I liked it, because it's free. It was fun and also funny. I don't want to complain about EBS, because I pay them nothing, and my expectations are equal to zero - exactly zero I pay them for service.
BOI is not for me - I hate absolutely everything about them. My partner has BOI. So many times we had issues with them. Their biggest problem is that many of their new features are built on their ancient system. There are certain yhings what you can't get in their online banking so you need to send them a text using their messaging system, similar to the Revenue.
I see no reason to pay PTSB or BOI their fixed monthly fee for banking.
I think that AIB is the best to be used for salary and then Revolut, Bunq or EBS for daily expenses and direct debits. AIB has no monthly fees: there is a quarterly 4.50 Eur fee plus 20c for each online or POS chip transaction, tap is free. It also costs to send and receive (!) money into your AIB account - thats 20c. So just to use an AIB to get a weekly wage into your account is (4.50/3)+(0.20×4)=2.30 Eur per month. If you move money to your Revolut/EBS once a week for daily transactions, that would be 3.10 Eur per month with AIB which is still twice less than PTSB or BOI.
The only thing about PTSB is that you receive 10c for each transaction when you use PTSB bankcard meaning that it can reduce your monthly 6 Eur fee. But I personally don't use my bank card 30 times a month so AIB + EBS/Revolut works the best to me. There's another advantage using AIB with EBS - AIB issue Visa debit cards and EBS issue Mastercard. I believe, Revolut will also be changing cards from Visa to Mastercard gradually. I prefer having two different types of cards in case if one of them has system failures and can't be accepted in store - we've seen that happening a several times within a few years' time.
 
The problem is that moving banks is a shocker and the customer service of disruptors like Revolut is terrible.

If, for example, Santander came into the Irish market offering the sun, moon and the stars, I’d ignore them based on past experience because the chances are they’d be exiting stage left in reasonably short order.

Similarly, you can’t rely on Revolut when anything out of the ordinary puts you into a dogfight with a chatbot.

Pay BOI €6 a month and live with it. At least you know they’ll see us all off.
 
SharonC said:
I was lulled into a false sense of security by recent positive press on what a good option it could be for those looking for a new current account solution.
Click to expand...
Their marketing is very good, and their app is unrivalled, but if you look in the weeds you'll see that they are absolutely plagued by governance & management issues. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them go to the wall in the medium term. They only generated a profit for the first time in 2021 on the back of the wild west of crypto trading so there's a good chance that now all the free money is gone that they'll run out of road before they can become sustainable - they had a good 2022 but I don't trust their figures given their accounting irregularities and proclivity towards short cuts. They are a tech start-up learning how to become a bank on the job.

I use Revolut for day-to-day transactions - mainly discretionary stuff like takeaways, gambling, nights out - but I never have more than 2 or 3 hundred in the account. I would suggest opening an account with AIB, BOI or PTSB and having Revolut as your back-up that you can top up as you go. Revolut is handy to have as a back-up debit card on holidays and to send money to friends etc. but there will always be a risk of your account being randomly frozen. They will never hire enough support staff either so unless ChatGPT4 or some other AI revolutionises their support customers will always find it difficult to resolve basic issues.
 
KBC is like a former partner who was great craic and superb in bed.

None of that matters, BECAUSE THEY LEFT YOU.

I pay Bank of Ireland the paltry sum of 20c a day to look after all of my money and facilitate payments. Everything works fine, I can call someone if I need to do so, and I know they’re committed to Ireland.
 
24601 said:
They are a tech start-up learning how to become a bank on the job.
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Customer growth is something like 30% a year for the last five years. Compounded, that's huge.

That kind of growth is feasible in a lot of tech activities but for something as high risk as banking and payments it's hard to onboard so many customers without corners being cut. I just don't think you can automate KYC effectively as much as they do, and if they start lending at scale I don't think automated underwriting is without issues either.

So I think in 20 years the neobanks will be as boring and safe as incumbent banks today, but I think there will be at least one failure along the way. I don't keep anything more than low three figures in Revolut either.
 
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