# Alpha Bank



## Nosher (Apr 23, 2013)

I make no bones about this post, I’m having a blast at Alpha bank in Griva Digeni Avenue, the one near the Makarios statue in Paphos. 
Below is an excerpt of a letter to Head Office and I post it here to inform others lest you fall foul of this insensitive and stupid attitude to the customers of ALPHA BANK
Two days ago my wife tried to pay our electricity bill through JCC Smart as we’ve done for a number of years. She was told her Alpha bank card had been declined, no details were given and she was advised to contact the bank, which she did, and was told our account had been frozen and we both had to come in the following day and to bring passports and a household bill with us. Having identified the person who froze the account, it transpired the bank wanted to update our personal information; that was it!! No problem with unpaid bills, missing cards or other irregularities, they just wanted to update their records!! It seems the crime that necessitated the instantaneous freezing of our account was that we’d missed the one and only phone call this woman had made; she hadn’t tried again and we weren’t even given the opportunity of phoning back when we discovered a missed call. When asked why it was so urgent a letter couldn’t have asked us to call in, she told us they didn’t have our address, which is strange considering we’ve been getting statements for the past twelve years. We asked what might have happened if we’d been miles from home and needed petrol, or in the queue at a supermarket checkout what then? The only response was the famous Cyprus shrug; in other words, ‘not my problem and I don’t give a stuff!!’ There was no reason given as to when our information had suddenly ceased to be up to date but it appears it must have been some time during the past five years. 
Needless to say but the account was closed with immediate effect and all funds withdrawn.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

Doesn't surprise me one bit. The few experiences we have had with Alpha bank when taking clients to open accounts were that the staff are rude and unhelpful in the extreme. Unfortunately when someone is buying from a developer and needs a mortgage they have to use the bank the developer is with and many developers use Alpha bank.
What amazes me is that this bank is t he worst of the lot for having huge non performing loans from developers (Alpha Panareti for one) yet when the EU hit the banks with haircuts they were left untouched.


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## Baywatch (Mar 30, 2014)

Veronica said:


> Doesn't surprise me one bit. The few experiences we have had with Alpha bank when taking clients to open accounts were that the staff are rude and unhelpful in the extreme. Unfortunately when someone is buying from a developer and needs a mortgage they have to use the bank the developer is with and many developers use Alpha bank.
> What amazes me is that this bank is t he worst of the lot for having huge non performing loans from developers (Alpha Panareti for one) yet when the EU hit the banks with haircuts they were left untouched.


Did they hit ANY bank that is not Cyprus owned?


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## wizard4 (Feb 3, 2013)

That's interesting folks, when I went into Alpha bank in Paphos about opening an account, they gave me information about what I would need, so when I went back with the documents, I then got different information. EEEUUUUGH


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## Talagirl (Feb 24, 2013)

A similar thing happened to us with our UK bank account last week, even though we have been with them for over 30 years. The customer services assistant insisted our address was incorrect even though the bank had posted us a new card in September. We had to produce our passports before she would proceed with our transaction (not that the address appears anywhere on the passport).


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## zach21uk (Jun 26, 2014)

I am with Alpha Bank and its all been good with them so far. 

Very helpful, very speedy, very transparent on the various fees involved on international transactions and such. I use the branch at 16 Apostolou Pavlou Avenue. Friendly staff, friendly branch manager.

Back in Serbia, all the banks were a complete nightmare and I recently had a 5 month ordeal with Barclays in the UK too, so by comparison, I am very happy with Alpha Bank thus far.


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## PeteandSylv (Sep 24, 2008)

zach21uk said:


> I am very happy with Alpha Bank thus far.


Give it time.

Pete


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## Talagirl (Feb 24, 2013)

In ten years we have banked with three Cyprus banks and for the past eight years have been happy with the service provided by Alpha Bank.


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## Veronica (Apr 5, 2008)

I think some of the smaller branches are fine but the main branch by the Makarios statue is appalling. I think the staff there are too complacent that jobs are secure no matter how rude they are to people that they can't be bothered to be pleasant.


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