I tried to save money with santanders 123 ac...Ho...

[mootyhooty]

I received a phone call from the branch under the premise that they actually cared about saving me money. They said they wanted to review my accounts so they could save me some money & I'd have to pop into the branch...so i did.

The woman ran through all the gumph about a 123 account and to be honest made it sound fantastic, so i signed up. Then a few days later a credit card appeared through my letterbox...hmm i though why have they sent me this, I wasnt aware that I'd signed up for any such thing?

I called the branch a little bewildered and irritated tbh and spoke to the manager. But rather than taking my complaint seriously and actually listening to what was a serious failing by a member of staff under his (so called ) management all he could do was bombard me with how good the credit card was and that perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad thing if i hung on to it.

His deluded world must be such a gloomy place to be. It really was like speaking to one of those help desks where they read from a script at every turn except this guy barely gave me a chance to speak. He then decided to hang up on me...I couldnt believe it!!

I called straight back and continued to try to get mey point about being mis sold a credit card whan all I wanted was an upgrade on my bank ac. Until the bitter end of our telephone call he was relentless and even tried to put down the other high street credit card i already have.

This isnt the first incident with santande rby a long way. They also did the same thing to my mothers partner.

They also closed her ac and declared her deceased???

Must have had a shock when she walked into the branch alive and kicking with her ID.

Also locked my account for 6 MONTHS after i happened to pay for some petrol at a garage that had been cloning cards. Over the 6 month period I spoke with about 28 different members of santander staff over the telephone to various countries and in person in various branches. I even tried major city branches as i thought my local branch may not have been switched on as a big city branch.

Eventually the only way I could get to the money in this ac was by them transfering it into a new banck ac that I had to open!!!

I dont usually write on forums, but in this case i just wanted to make other people aware of how this so called business conducts themselves so nobody else has the misfortune of having to deal with them.

Be very wary.

[woodbine]

I might be missing something but its obvious to me as a non santander customer(over my dead body)that you would need the cc to get some of the benefits from 123?

[Frogletina]

You do not need to have the credit card to make savings from the Santander 123 account although using it would give you the most money.

The debit card gives you cashback on certain direct debits and the credit card gives you cashback on certain puchases.

[sweetilemon]

The service you recieved was not right, a member of staff should not hang up on you. If you are in debt a credit card maybe isn't a good idea but the banks just care about pushing their new promotions. However, to sign up to the 123 account the credit card is issued to help receive cashback. This should have been explained and is bad practice if it wasn't. If you can pay this off monthly it will be beneficial but otherwise another account would be more suited. Its not just Santander...other banks have the same pushy sales. I find it irratating if I go to my bank and they tell me wrong info on their own products...so i tend to read up online before discussing with staff.

[asparagus1968]

sorry,don't think thats right-i've swapped my current account to the 123, i haven't been sent a credit card,though was offered one.
but shocking treatment to OP!
maybe a written complaint may help?
good luck

[ILW]

What is the problem with being sent a credit card?
You don't have to use it.
Don't think you can be mis sold something that is free.

[owen_money]

TBH mootyhooty with all the problems you had in the past with Santander why are you still with them?

[sickasachip13]

Hmm, how annoying for you.

FWIW, I signed up for the 123 account, I was specifically asked if I also wanted the CC, and I said no. End of story.

On the 123 account, everything was done really quickly and smoothly and, I'm pleased to say, after the monthly charge for having it, I'm still making about £7.50 per month from it.

SAAC

[JustinCredibleGillespie]

Santander are the worse bank I've had to deal with in the last 10 years, their customer service is for nothing. I think a written complaint maybe the only way to go.

JCG

xx

[ses6jwg]

Unfortunately, and this is strictly my own opinion, all the high street banks preach about being "customer driven" and customer focused, then force extremely high "product driven" targets on their frontline staff.

Then when things like this happen, senior management wash their hands of it and say that they tell their staff to be "customer" not "product" focused. What they don't realise is that frontline and regional management are bashing everyone below them with a big stick if they don't hit these product based targets.

How can you have a customer focused environment sit hand in hand with a product based target system? In my view it simply doesn't work.

You need to talk to the central complaints team, obviously this member of staff is not doing things in line with company procedure and their manager is backing them up. You need to talk to somebody impartial who can nip this in the bud.