Let us face it, the Charles Stanley Direct site is complex from a customer point of view. So I needed help to navigate and used the chat facility. I was pleasantly surprised how quick the responce was... See more
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Review summary
Created with AI, based on recent reviews
What people talk about most
Reviews shaping this summary
Really good website for easy access to view share prices. Alerts when dividends are paid. Really helpful videos at sensible intervals on market trends, tax change implications etc. Charges are reasona... See more
CS-Direct and way the site manages my money gives me complete confdence. All the web-site information, the functions (e.g. buying, selling etc.) are very easy to manage; it enables me to monitor and t... See more
Company replied
I was trying to use the preferred list of investments earlier last week but there appeared to be a technical hitch. I spoke to Ewan who investigated the problem and said that was a technical problem w... See more
Company replied
Company details
Written by the company
Charles Stanley Direct is a personal financial service combining a modern digital experience with the traditional client focused values of private wealth management. It provides all self investors with the knowledge, tools, products, and services to take control of their financial futures and realise the rewards of your investments. Whether you are a novice or an experienced investor we are here to help you every step of the way. You can call our award-winning client service team for technical help or speak to a qualified financial coach if you need guidance. Available online and via the Charles Stanley app.
Online investing
Written by the company
- Invest in your future
- Sign up in minutes to our first-class service to implement your investment decisions, through our secure platform and app.
Contact info
Ropemaker Place, 25 Ropemaker Street, EC2Y 9LY, London, United Kingdom
- 0131 550 1234
- info@charles-stanley-direct.co.uk
- www.charles-stanley-direct.co.uk
4.1
Great
143 reviews
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Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Lou:
Many thanks for the feedback. That is just what we aim for and I'm very pleased we were able to help.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Easy investing
Used Charles Stanley for a few years now. Good platform, simple to navigate. Support always answer my silly questions! Would easily recommend to anyone
April 24, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Joffy:
I can confidently say that there is almost nothing we have not been asked! Please always feel free to ask away and I'm glad we've been able to help. Thank you very much for taking the time to leave feedback. We genuinely appreciate it.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
On line agent help…
The online agent was prompt and very helpful. I had a question which was not covered by the FAQ's and they were quick to establish what I needed and and prompt in providing the solution
April 21, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear JS:
Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience. I'm very pleased we were able to help. That's exactly what we are here for and please do let us know if you need anything else.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
I think I solve my problem
I think I solve my problem. The agent explain quite well what to do.
April 20, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Paulo:
Many thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. We appreciate it and are here to help you further if needed.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Irfon:
Many thanks for your feedback. I'm very pleased we were able to help and we are here if you need us again.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Colin:
Many thanks for the feedback. We genuinely appreciate it and I'm glad we've been able to assist. We are here if you need us.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Terrible website
Terrible website
Terrible messaging system.
Can’t find the documents supposedly sent
Been trying to transfer ISA and it was said as was verified early March by my other provider but Charles Stanley said they haven’t received it.
April 1, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Ms Stephens:
I'm very sorry to read of the difficulties you've been having. I can see that you've since been in touch with Ewan on the Helpdesk, who I believe has helped you find the document. He'll also be able to assist you further with the transfer mystery once he hears back from you. I'm here too if you need any further assistance: ClientExperience@cs-d.co.uk.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
dont buy gilts
took me hours to get through to buy a gilt but then to be told on phone charge is 1% (plus their platform fee, and needless to say bid offer)... bonkers .. gilts only pay 4% (so they want approaching half of year 1 income); whereas i can do the same trade on HL or AJ Bell online (ie. not phone) for almost £free ... why should i pay CS a fee for their platform being defficent?? Platform, settlement is also the slowest of everyone in the markst it seems, bar possibly Invest Engine.
March 31, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Mrs Bridgwater:
I'm genuinely sorry to read of your disappointment. Although we offer thousands of investments online, you are correct that gilts trades have to be placed by phone, but we have noted your feedback, which we appreciate.
The best way to contact us is to call during working hours when the phone is normally answered very promptly, sometimes in seconds. I believe you may have left a message and I'm sorry that the call wasn't returned as quickly as you wanted but we do try our best.
We work to standard UK settlement timescales, at two working days for shares and four for funds, but you may be pleased to hear that the UK is moving to faster timescales next year.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Website performance needs improvement:
Website performance needs improvement:
Hmmm… can't reach this page
It looks like the webpage at file:///C:/Users/coura/CrossDevice/William's%20Tab%20A9+/storage/Download/Trade%20Now%20-%20Charles%20Stanley%20Direct.mht might be having issues, or it may have moved permanently to a new web address.
ERR_FAILED
February 25, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear William:
It looks like you've got the wrong link! Try www.cs-d.co.uk. The website is fine but if you have any further difficulties please call the Helpdesk on 0131 550 1234.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Gillian:
Thank you very much for taking the time to leave feedback, which I've passed onto Tia. I'm very glad to hear she was able to help.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
great.............
March 17, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Daniel:
Many thanks for the feedback. If you need any further assistance, we are here.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Charles Stanley Direct SIPP is a front…
Charles Stanley Direct SIPP is a front for Embark Pensions SIPP (The Alpha SIPP in my case). It took from December 7th 2025 to March 14th 2026 for them to transfer my pension out to another provider. The transfers team at Charles Stanley did respond to my contact, however CSD remain responsible for the deadly slow and incommunicative behaviour of Embark. The transfer process was done using the 'Origo' service, so should have taken a few days, not 3 months. CS-D are responsible for the service level, its not for the customer to chase their intermediary. Boo
March 14, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Tom:
Many thanks for taking the time to leave feedback and outlining your concerns. I am genuinely sorry to read that your experience did not meet your expectations. We will take your comments onboard and use them to try ensure that high standards of service – which you rightly expect – are met for our many SIPP clients who place their trust in us. Once again we appreciate and value your input.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Christopher:
I'm very pleased we were able to help and many thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. We appreciate it.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Prompt reply
March 8, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Jillette:
Thank you again for the review and I'm glad we were similarly prompt in response. We appreciate it!
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Charles Stanley Direct PROMOTION WARNING cashback and referral promotions. ALWAYS READ THE SMALL PRINT.
BE AWARE of the small print, terms and conditions of any Charles Stanley Promotions - cashback and referral promotions. The hidden ' eligibility rules ' are NOT " clearly highlighted alongside each offer" published on the main advertisements regardless of Charles Stanley's response to my review. Please see Charles Stanley Direct website for current promotions which supports my review and undermines the company's response.
These get out clauses were buried in separate, linked "terms and conditions" pages rather than being clearly and prominently displayed alongside the headline benefits in the primary promotional content.
In my opinion, this created a misleading impression that the offers were more straightforward and accessible than they actually were, leading us to proceed with actions (e.g., transfers or referrals) under a reasonable but mistaken belief that we would qualify. The small print was not adequately brought to attention in the main advertising, contrary to expectations for fair and transparent promotion of financial services.
As a result, myself, my wife and my Son have been deprived of the advertised benefits despite meeting what we reasonably understood to be the requirements from the prominent materials. Two referrals, three opened accounts and an initial ISA transfer into Charles Stanley Direct of over £200,000 yet ZERO pay outs as all three accounts were unaware and did not keep a minimum of £1000 in the accounts for a year.
I will take up the invitation to discuss this with CSD and I will update my review accordingly.
In the meantime, run a large magnifying glass over Charles Stanley Direct, small print before taking any financial action.
UPDATE 20/03/2026
Well, two weeks on from submitting a detailed complaint complete with historic relevant promotion advertising, supportive emails, online chats at the time of commiting myself, the three complaints have been completely ghosted by CS Customer Services. After obtaining the CS,Group Chief Executive Officer's email address, Kim Jenson replied and confirmed that the compliance team are looking into this. Benefit of the doubt for now after the ghosting, let's see what happens. I sense, however, that a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service may be required. I hope my senses are wrong. To be continued.
March 6, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Mark:
Thanks for taking to leave the time to leave a review and I'm sorry to read of your disappointment. We operate our Cashback and Referral Schemes in line with the Terms, which are clearly highlighted alongside each offer. To ensure fairness, we need to apply them consistently for all clients.
If you have any questions about how the Terms apply in your case, please feel free to contact me at ClientExperience@cs-d.co.uk and I'll be happy to look into it for you.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Timothy:
Many thanks for taking the time to leave a review. We genuinely appreciate it and I'm pleased to hear that we were able to assist.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Investment enquiry
My enquiry was dealt with very quickly, efficiently and I got answers to my questions almost immediately!
February 23, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Thank you very much for the review. That's what we aim for and is great to hear!
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Needed to use the help chat
Needed to use the help chat, got a very helpful response and an answer pretty quickly to my question. On the whole I find the platform is a sound way to manage a stocks and shares ISA through
February 23, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Alan:
Many thanks for the feedback. I'm pleased to hear that you got the answer you needed, quickly. We are here if you need us again.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Invest elsewhere
My app stopped working , I use face recognition which didn’t work , my prompt questions were also fruitless so I used the online function to get a temporary password , that failed. Have now rang up twice to get a temp password thru the post , both times the operator at CS has said that the password has not been sent . Very stand incompetent, will now invest elsewhere.
February 23, 2026
Unprompted review
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Scott:
I'm genuinely sorry to hear about these difficulties. I'm afraid I can't see any request for a temporary password either but am certain that we should nevertheless be able to help. Would you email ClientExperience@cs-d.co.uk to let me know a suitable time to call you?
Many thanks,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
Easy to use and obtain any information.
February 17, 2026
Reply from Charles Stanley Direct
Dear Derek:
Thank you very much for the feedback, which we much appreciate. We are here if ever you need assistance.
Best regards,
Louise
Louise Miller
Head of Client Experience
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