I am a very happy Bunq customer for 4+ years, and as a user of other Dutch banks (for a mortgage - ABN amro, in the past UK banks like FD), their overall service levels great - if I chat via the app I have always been helped quickly, flexibility with accounts, cards, automation via the APIs etc is absolutely worth the price hike. These are things I am happy to pay a few extra cups of coffee a month for as they make my life with an extended family much easier to manage day to day.
Good service levels will be a real USP, I expect. In the Netherlands where physical banks are a dying breed (especially those that deal with money. Aforementioned ABN Amro doesn't let you change a 100 Euro bill into 2 fifty bills, for instance). Especially the elderly are lost in the digital world and need guidance. For my parents for instance, every website is like a completely different app they need to learn how to use and with layouts changing all the time this is an enormous struggle to them.
I hate the fact that physical banks (and cash) are disappearing. I don't have complicated needs as to the digital services I consume, same as many other people. Then online banks become indistinguishable from the next, and it is ability to contact real people that sets them apart.
The cost-cutting wrt physical bank branches is just ridiculous. You can't even deposit or withdraw coinage at ABN AMRO branches anymore; they outsourced that to home improvement stores instead (yes, really).
Yes, I experienced that too. Acted surprised and look at me exasperated and what seemed with slight disgust when I came with actual cash to their office. "We don't deal with money, sir".
The situation with cash is overall very bad. Try to pay with a 100 Euro note in smaller cities. Almost no one will accept it, including banks. I regularly see very frustated tourists who with cash in hand are left out in the cold.
