I was transferring money back the UK regularly and one month, if I remember correctly 50 CHF went missing in the transfer, so I asked them to find out what happened, they told me that the first clerk had sent it one way (via an intermediary that took the 50 CHF), then the next sent it directly to my bank.

I didn't even push to get the money back, thinking oh it's my fault a language problem, but did insist that they send it the right way the next time. Of course they screwed it up again and that's when I complained and got the nice response from the bank manager. Even my swiss colleagues where shocked. This was a smaller branch, not used to foreigners back then.

I had an account with CS but they really let me down regarding transferring money back to the UK - it just took ages to arrive. Mr S and I had a joint a/c but I was soooo angry when they called up about something and refused to talk to me even though as I say - it was a joint a/c.
I have been with UBS for a few years and nothing is ever too much trouble with them.

So for me it is UBS every time....

Woah. I definitely would have escalated that.

Post Finance USD account
http://www.postfinance.ch/en/priv/pr...ign/offer.html

I once got this tongue-in-cheek joke told by a UBS-employee:

A customer walks into the UBS branch at Bahnhofstrasse with a suitcase full of money.
When it's his turn at the counter, he happily announces to the clerk "I want to open an account and deposit these five million CHF on it, that I have here by me in my suitcase".
The clerk looks at him, then decisively directs him to a small, dimly-lit counter in the corner: "The small-saver counter is over there, please."
And in a just very slightly compassionate tone "You know, here in Switzerland nobody needs to be ashamed of his poverty".

Co-workers tell me that the core of the joke is true. UBS used to hate retail banking customers.

They thought, retail-banking is for wimps.

http://www.google.com/images?client=...w=1574&bih=975

Now that the IBs need to set their sights lower, every bank has found new love in retail-customers. Even UBS.

I would be wary about using Paypal for 'reasonable'/large transfers. Paypal is not a bank. If they freeze your account for whatever reason, you have little recourse and could lose it all. I've read about happening to quite a few individuals/organisations (no direct link, but your freind Google could quickly dig up something), although personally I've never had any hassle (but have used Paypal less than a dozen times I think).

I use CS and they're very good