Are santander a crappy bank?

Are santander a crappy bank?


Not in my experience. We've had 123 accounts and ISA accounts for a few years now and not had problems.

I've also been with them since they were Girobank a couple of small problems quickly sorted I have various accounts with them . Their online banking works fine never had any problem with it lots of my family also use Santander without problems.

AdventureRocks wrote: »

So if you run into trouble sounds as though you are screwed :rotfl:

Not necessarily, if you know the rules you can tell them & they'll act on it, just don't expect them to know the rules. A few examples, branch staff didn't know you could pay in at a post office, a secure message got the same response - "We don't do that". Was told I could operate an executor account online, it can't be done. They couldn't tell me where the nearest ATM was to Denver because "the system was down", all they had to do was zoom out on their little map & see it was hundreds of miles away. And the old favourite - I'll call you back, don't hold your breath.
I've been with them for years, the only place I found staff who knew what they were doing was the old Alliance & Leicester branch in Stafford, which is now of course closed.

I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole, personally.
(Although they do have some attractive products.)

They blocked all my accounts without warning several months after opening, because they had not done the right ID checks when they did open them.
Then demanded that I go into a branch with ID to resolve it.
Very inconvenient, so I closed the lot.

When you setup a new payment online, to a new person you haven't paid before, then they do have 2 stage auth, and they send you a text with a code on to make sure it is really you adding the new payment. You can setup texts about your balance too, eg mini statement, only have x amount of money left etc.

I *touch wood* haven't had any problems and have been with them 2 years or so. No bank is completely free of computer glitches, or human error when you call their support lines. They all have the same level of savings protection. It all depends what features are most useful to you, eg the 123 benefits, or different interest rates with other banks. Do you want an easy to use website, eg I like santander's format more than lloyds or hsbc, do you use phone apps - I don't but I'm sure others could tell you what they are like for interface and reliability. Do you want local branches or do you never pay in cheques or have need to go into a branch.

When I was with lloyds they used to phone me every couple of months trying to upgrade me to different things, even though I complained about this they kept doing it, which is why I left. Santander have never done similar phone calls to bother me, which I think is a plus.