Scotiabank

solid 3.5 stars simply for the location and easy access to Pacific Centre. Even easier with the recent renos in past few years, in regards to the London Drugs.
One of the nicer Scotia branches, this one has a nice, spacious lobby.
Connected as well as to the big office towers so lots of action.

Lillian the bank manager is terrible, lazy, unprofessional. She should be working at a swab meet instead of a busy bank… She refused to take care of my transaction and did everything possible not to help me. Finally I had to call my branch manager at niaggra falls to have her talk to this lady to get my work done. Don’t go here as long as she is the branch manager.

Scotiabank has the WORST service EVER. I was offered a Scotia Scene Visa last year and didn’t want to use it until I had online banking set up (b/​c I don’t want to deal with the mail/​paperwork) so I tried to activate it online. FIRST, it said that there was missing information on my profile and told me to go to a branch, so I did. I gave them my sin number and tried again next day. SECOND, it said that my phone number was not up to date, so I called the damn customer service number and updated my number. The guy on the phone told me to wait 24 hours for the system to update and try again. AFTER 24 HOURS, I tried again and I couldn’t even get pass step 1 of 4 of setting up online banking AND it said that the system couldn’t verify my info and told me to call again… so I called AGAIN, and the lady told me that my account was blocked but she couldn’t unblock it for me (even though I can verify all my info) AND she didn’t know how long it would be blocked for ??? WHAT??? ??? Then she told me to go to a branch to get an Access card which will allow me to activate online banking. At this point I am already about to cancel the damn card, I do not want to do any other banking with Scotia. So I asked if an Access card was an account (like a chequeing account (and the lady said NO, so I’m like ok because I definitely do not want another account. SO I GO THE BRANCH, and the lady there could not figure out my problem, she could not activate for me, and she tried to start a fucking account for me (because she thought that would fix the problem) which I explicitly said I did not want another account. IN ADDITION, she asked for my mothers maiden name which I told her and she proceeded to tell me that it’s probably because my account was missing that information BUT CLEARLY IT WASN’T. Because incase your Scotiabank tellers did not know, whenever someone calls the customer service line they ask you a whole bunch of questions to verify that it’s you INCLUDING your mothers maiden name SO I KNOW FOR SURE that information was already on my profile. The lady was nice but at the end of the fucking day I come out of the branch having stood at the counter for 40 mins, multiple calls to customer service, an unresolved issue, and being told try again online by yourself in 24 hours. Fk Scotia!

Bad customer service and telephone bankers with poor english skills make dealing with this bank really frustrating. I closed my credit cards with a zero balance and they continued to charge me! The person on the phone was incredibly unhelpful and did not give satisfactory reasons for the charges, just that I had to pay them to close the account. Stay away!

I would definitely recommend the newly opened Yaletown branch instead of this one, especially if you are only doing personal banking.
Until about a month ago, this was the only branch in downtown, so they service all of the business and hotshot investment clients at this location. This equals horrible service for the average customer doing personal banking. There are always huge lines, and don’t even bother trying to call them unless you are a private banking client (you’ll be on hold for 10+ minutes). Plus, every time I go in here, there’s different tellers, so I don’t ever get to know any of them. It makes banking here a very intimidating and unpleasant experience.
Aside from my annoyances specifically with this branch, I always found Scotiabank to be very irritating to begin with. They have a gazillion hoops for you to jump through to get anything done, apparently for your own security. But I deal with other banks too, and none of them have most of these security features. Their call centre also contacts me about one every two weeks asking about how satisfied I’ve been with their customer service, despite the fact that I’ve already told them what I think and asked them to remove me from their list.
The only reason I don’t switch permanently to another bank is because of the Scene program, which gets me free movies. If it weren’t for that, I’d give Scotiabank 1 star.

great bank… great location… been banking with Scotia for 20 years

I can’t imagine a big bank getting more than 3 stars. The reasons I have apply to every big bank I deal with. This review applies to Scotiabank because they have most of my money, and I see them the most.
I used to run a home-​based business. I was paid solely with cheques. Depending on the branch, or teller I went to, I was sometimes able to cash cheques, avoid lengthy US fund holds (nearly a month), or just be treated fairly. At the TD Bank in Chinatown, I was refused the right to cash a cheque on their grounds that the signature didn’t match the one on file. I have better than ¹⁰⁄₂₀ vision and my eagle eyes could see that it was an exact match to what they had on the docket. I pointed it out, and they covered it up, and told me they couldn’t help me. Refusal to accept CASH at the Lonsdale Scotiabank! Or even holds placed on cash when depositing at a teller. This while the teller was dressed as a clown for Halloween! No problem doing the same at an ATM, so why the hassle? I’ve been with them for 20 years.
As my balance grew over the years I noticed a drastic improvement over how I was treated. Tellers whispering to each other more. Managers approving a special request, obviously pointing to the account balance on the screen. Treatment that was completely absent in my experiences when having a harder time building up savings.
I had a problem at an ATM in Texas, and funds went missing from my account. Scotiabank didn’t not a lift a finger to help, even after repeated visits, and my money was never seen again.
Only recently, since I’ve had a mortgage at another bank, and more activity in my account, has the ‘computer-​triggered’ niceness began. Phone calls requesting personal banking meetings, investment advice, and so on.
There are stories of people winning lotteries and having family members suddenly come out of the woodwork. Scotiabank is the cousin across town who’d never help me move or drive me to the airport in the past, but now wants to go for drinks.
I’m not thirsty, but may need help moving sometime soon.

For those of you from America the United with checking accounts from Bank of America, Scotiabank has an alliance with them and you can pull out Canadian cash monies without incurring ridic atm fees. In fact, there are no ATM fees at all!