Santander Zero card. Below zero organisation

vernon

Good, fair recomendation from MSE. Attractive card for worldwide spending. Getting one is a story to bore any unwanted guests so much they up and leave.
Applied early September to cover a trip to Brazil in October. A letter arrived early November with a PIN and to date no sign of a card! My fault and ignorance. Did not realise that Santander were working to 2010 dates. Sarcasm apart, for a huge bank they have a totally chaotic structure. Recommendation. Open a Nationwide FlexAccount with a few quid and get their debit and credit cards. If you are going abroad then pop some extra money into the account and use the debit card to withdraw cash from an ATM. I have found Nationwide to be very reliable. If you manage to get a Santander Zero card then use that for purchases. After all this frustration I'm going to try money belts with cash. Waist money belt, around the neck cash purse and a shoulder/armpit money strap (with deodorant).

exel1966

Shame you didn't read these forums before applying because If you did you would have quickly realised that ShAbbey (Santander) are very well known for their hopeless customer service/organisation.

NickX

exel1966 wrote: »

Shame you didn't read these forums before applying because If you did you would have quickly realised that ShAbbey (Santander) are very well known for their hopeless customer service/organisation.

But their are benefits. I have profited from 2 no-fee 0% Balance Transfer deals and saved on trips abroad by the no fee feature of Abbey Zero.

Although we got off to a bad start, I have been pleased with this card as a money saving tool.

INT1

Never had any problems with them apart from enrolling online to view the account.
Also one call to the UK based call centre resolved this.

As NickX said, it's a good card that can work in your favour :cool:

blue_monkey_2

NickX wrote: »

But their are benefits. I have profited from 2 no-fee 0% Balance Transfer deals and saved on trips abroad by the no fee feature of Abbey Zero.

Although we got off to a bad start, I have been pleased with this card as a money saving tool.

This is no longer, they told me at the counter it was 0% BT but when the balance was transfered and my statement arrived they had charged me 3%. I was told to go into Abbey and tell the counter staff they would refund the charge - they wouldn't, I should have read the T&C. Apparently the fact the told me that I would get 0% BT is irrelevant as I should have read the T&C (a copy of which I received in the post a few days after I had signed their forms and I did not get on the day).

They are a joke. I use it now for paying my supplier invoices and then paying off, to stretch my cashflow for a month as I am on deferred terms with my Merchant Account and I'd have to pay interest from day 1 on a Business Credit Card and Barclays said I could have access to my money - for a fee (overdraft which you have to pay for whether I use it or not). I will not use it for anything else.

After the hassle with the BT I actually paid off the balance with my Abbey account but the balanace did not reflect in my account so I called them and they told me that no payment had been set up and I should make it again. So this time I went into the branch and paid it by cheque. I looked on my bank account 2 weeks later to find I was OD and then noticed the bank payment on there and that the cheque I had used to pay the CC had cleared on the same day.

I asked CC for my £2,400 back, they said no, I asked bank account for my money back, they said no. Chap on the CC line gave me some good advice 'try not to overpay the credit card' :mad: One passed me to and from the other so in the end I went via complaints and they got me my money back. Not without me having incurred some charges for being overdrawn in the meantime. Worst thing I ever did was getting this card, it has cost me £100 so far for the incompetance of Shabby staff and there is naff all I can do about it. Avoid at all costs I would say!!

Don't even get me started on actually getting money out of an Abbey account, my husband transferred some money into his current account to pay for our new car, we went to pay for it but the card was declined, he called from the garage to ask why and they said that they could not accept a payment of that amount..... when my husband said 'why, it is my money' the lady on the phone said 'yes, it might be your money but it is our card'. And that is their attitude!!

exel1966

NickX wrote: »

But their are benefits. I have profited from 2 no-fee 0% Balance Transfer deals and saved on trips abroad by the no fee feature of Abbey Zero.

Me too Nick, I currently have my 2nd BT 0% deal to help the stoozing pot, BUT when dealing with them you NEED to be fully aware of just what you're letting yourself in for seeing as they are prone to more customer service issues than just about any other bank I'm aware of. The FSA/FOS can easily back that up.
It's common knowledge that their application process is appalling/flawed with many applications going astray/cards missing etc etc

To use a little highly appropriate latin - Forewarned is Forearmed - Never has a saying been so true than when dealing with Santander !

withnell

blue_monkey, while I feel your pain, there;s not a lot Abbey can do if your bank doesn't make the payment to them. The fact you went overdrawn is because the cheque was presented, which is what anyone would expect them to do, and the BACS was received - they don't have access to your current account balance

blue_monkey_2

Withnell, I would like to agree with you had I been banking with any other bank but..... I bank with Abbey/Santander - I was paying a Santander Credit Card!!!

I would have thought that if I had made a payment for £2400 by setting up a 'bill payment' from an Abbey Current Account to Santander Credit card then it would be showing on the account 6 days after I had set the payment up (it wasn't).

I would have also thought that the details would be in my 'bill payments' screen 6 days after I had made the payment (it wasn't).

You might also think the 'available balance' would be affected (it wasn't).

You might also think that when I called Abbey and said 'where is the payment I made, it is not showing on my account' they would be able to see that it had been made and not tell me that no such payment existed when it cleared the day after. They didn't they told me that the payment had not been made and to make the payment again. Abbey told me to pay again.

I made the enquiry because the payment was 'missing' from my transactions and I did not want the payment to be late, this is also why I went into branch and paid by cheque over the counter.

Moreso as the cheque I presented to come from Abbey to pay Santander cleared the day after it was presented.

Pay by Abbey to Santander online bill payment it takes 7 days, pay by Abbey cheque to Santander it takes 1 day.

Can you really tell me that their is no organisation within this company?? I have really not known anything like it.

vernon

exel1966 wrote: »

Shame you didn't read these forums before applying because If you did you would have quickly realised that ShAbbey (Santander) are very well known for their hopeless customer service/organisation.

excel1996 is totally right. Many thanks, now aware, and confirming their 'customer service' conversations amount mostly to SPAM. Received the Zero card and called to activate it (Don't use the 0845 number, 0800 9152205 gets through for free). Card activated but followed by dire warnings from an enthusiastic man reading from a script who wanted me to take out various card protection policies. Wow! the pressure and refusal makes you feel guilty for even applying for the card apart from using it.

Ignore ShAbbey/Santander.