Since my other thread was renamed (for PR reasosn I assume?) and subsequently even removed...
I opened a Free account personally some years ago, as my employer switched to Bunq and this allowed us a very practical way of dealing with expenses. I have started my own business this year, and chose Bunq. Added the AutoVAT option, as I am quite forgetful. Ever since yesterday;s bomb dropped I had some interaction with support, but even that mostly defaults to webcare lingo.
Some sincere thoughts..
I don't care for the smiley faces communication style. I tolerate it, to a point. I also don't care about some green initiative being offered through my bank. If I want trees planted, I will do it myself, or join such an initiative separately. If Bunq wants to plant trees, feel free to spend whatever amount of your income on it too. If you want to advertise that you do, fine. If you think customers want to do this in the convoluted "for every 100 euros spent" way, and you offer this as an option / add-on... yeah! All very fine.
I am not interested in this, but what makes me furious is the continued communication that this is what "your customers" want. In your email, and in a later response from support, I was told that 80% of the customers find the pay as you go for options complex, therefore simplifying into Business and SuperGreen Business. It would be trivial to maintain the option for paying extra in Business for options like auto VAT. This does not make it any more complex at all. This is merely a marketing/sales decision to manipulate people into a more expensive package. And it fully contradicts the message pushed by Bunq for such a long time, pay for what you use. Adding to the hypocrisy.
I fully accept that some things may cost money, or that perhaps the business model as it is is not sustainable. Your owner, Ali, has repeatedly stated this as such in public interviews. If you want to increase prices, and you come with a good way to warrant the price hike, I would be totally ok with that. Because I do care about other things, such as a decent app, flexible services (multiple cards / accounts etc) but perhaps most of all, not gambling our money away, like other banks.
If my business account would simply be increased from 10 (+2 autoVAT) per month to 15 (+2) stating this is necessary to cover costs... fine.
But how the hell do yo come up with a strategy to tell me I should be happy to get a automatic "upgrade" to this SuperGreen account because I have a paid option active?!?!
I have asked a number of very specific questions in the support chat, all of which are ignored or simply replied to in the endless bullshit of webcare speak. The threads on this forum, and the way that conversations are moderated / ended / deleted (?) is just adding insult to injury.
Dear Bunq, the financial industry is built on trust. I need to be able to trust you with my money. This trust is now mostly eradicated. Perhaps not for everyone, but it definitely is for me. I have closed my free personal account as I no longer have a need for it anyway. A shame, because I was also considering moving more of my personal financial life to Bunq, and moving to premium.
It is a shame that there are so little alternatives in the market, but right now I am looking for an additional account from another bank in order for me to make an easy switch when your next communication / service debacle lands. Depending on how you deal with this I may save myself the trouble and stick around a bit longer. Like I said, I have disabled autoVAT, but if you are still pushing me into a SuperGreen plan, or communicate to me that you are doing me a favor... I'm outta here completely.
It is a sad time. Seriously, there are many customers out there, that just want a decent, flexible online bank, without all the unicorns, rainbows, and gamified little medal bullshit in their app/mail. We are willing to pay a fair price for a fair product, but I refuse to be the subject of a narcissistic company playing A/B tests on me like I'm a lab rat.
Hopefully you come to your senses. In the mean time I'm shopping around and I suggest others do the same.
Can you imagine your communication and actions are so bad you are actually driving me back to ING?
Let that sink in for a minute.