APPRAISAL OF DIFFERENT QATARI BANKS

BALANCED APPRAISAL OF COMMERCIAL BANK ... PLEASE STAY AWAY FOR YOUR SAKE

OK so I landed in Doha nearly 3 months ago, and, on the advice of a fellow-colleague, joined Commercial Bank. I was told my Cash Card and PIN would be sent to my PO BOX. I would check daily the PO BOX at work but it never arrived. I would then have to drive to the bank after a day's work, take a ticket and queue up to be told: "I don't know, it is not on the system"...or.."yes it is in process"...or..."it has been sent to your PO BOX". Finally when it obviously was not coming, again another visit, more queuing, more keyboard tapping and now ..."have you checked the Central Post Office?". Exasperated , I would ask where the central post office was, but I was merely met with a shrug of the shoulders that they did not know. When asked was my card / PIN definitely there the answer was a spectacular "For sure, for sure, maybe it is at the Central Post Office". So a trip to the post office ensued and I now had a functioning cash card - not bad, only several visits to the bank after work and hours queueing later.
The same nearly to the letter happened with my cheque book; I thought I had been smart getting the customer service person to guarantee to me it would DEFINITELY go to my PO BOX. The only mistake I made was believing them again...several times. And yes, weeks later it was found at the post office.
So onto more recently; I am looking into a car / personal loan and I find out (like extracting teeth at Commercial Bank) that their rates are 1% higher than QNB!!! So I decide to close my account. And I am told that I must get a Clearing Letter, which simply is a record that I do not owe Commercial Bank any monies (which I do not). This letter will take 7-10 WORKING DAYS?!?!?! I argue this is ridiculous but save your breath - it gets you nowhere. So a week or so later I find myself back in the regular after-work queue, am told it has been passed across to another department and they are not responding!! The bank manager was actually a decent guy whom I actually felt sorry for - you could tell he knew the level of service was worse than pathetic. He even told me that it was unacceptable and that the hold up was likely because they were delaying things to try to keep me as a customer!!!!!???!!
I have been across to confer with the QNB and (I have only basic visits to compare with), the queuing has order, the queues are very small (I waited less than 5 mins on every visit) and I was given simply all info that I requested by what seemed like, well-informed staff.
So my verdict on Commercial Bank: STSY AWAY IF YOU VALUE YOUR TIME, MONEY & SANITY; their Service is terrible (and I mean terrible), the queues are far too long (sometimes 45 mins wait - bring a book), they are misinformed, they regularly misinform you the customer as a direct result, their interest rates are inferior to competitors, and when you want to leave (legitimately) they simply don't process your exit in order to keep you there.
QNB on face value have well-informed staff, nice branches inside, free wifi whilst you wait, short queues, better loan interest rates, and generally a more helpful environment, exactly what you would expect from a bank.
If this helps just 1 person not to have to go through the crap that I have been through above, it was well worth while. Good luck :-)