Abbey / Santander Customer Service

Lakeuk

A family member went into an empty Abbey branch to draw out a cheque (£200) to pay an annual bill, cashier said they couldn't and handed a leaflet which read:-

Reducing queues and improving customer satisfaction are important to us.

From Monday 30 November 2009 the following services will no longer be offered:

• Cash withdrawals of £30 or less
• Counter cheque withdrawals of £1000 or less.

Abbey - More ideas for your money

Doesn't exactly convey good customer service being handed it when there are no queues. Words 'vote' and 'feet' come to mind

anamenottaken

Yes - avoid any account with a Santander connection. Abbey was bad enough before the takeover but since the Santander computer system is running the show they are twenty times worse. A&L sadly are going the same way.

Myrmidon_J

I do genuinely believe that Abbey (Santander) is the worst in the UK for customer service.

I used to work for a company that was owned by Santander; shortly after the takeover, when the company really began to enforce its corporate policy in the workplace, they stopped providing toilet roll in the staff toilets.

I mean... come on.
Thankfully, I got out!

cottager

Presumably they're pushing people towards the ATMs with this, but what are people supposed to do if they need several hundred pounds they would previously have got a cheque for -- walk around with wads of cash? Not very helpful or security-conscious is it? Not very useful either, if the cheque would have been posted off elsewhere to pay a bill or whatever.

Once again this is a measure which just smacks of dismissively pushing out the 'less easy' clients in the drive to make everything as automated as possible to suit them. I feel for older clients who only know and are still only comfortable with the 'traditional' and personal branch counter method of conducting their affairs, quite likely to be exclusively passbook account-holders and maybe with no bank account, who wouldn't find it easy at all to change.

We remember how it was in the older building society days too, but haven't had any problem adapting to 'technology' -- there are many others who, very bewildered, Abbey will now be pushing out of the door and leaving to worry about what they do.

With one thing and another, it really seems Abbey would prefer not to have to bother with customers at all!

RayWolfe

Ah, I do so agree. On the other hand I want to continue not to pay bank charges.

isofa

Concur with all this, they have, without doubt, Abbey have worst customer service I have ever experienced, compare with other banks, shops and companies, in over 30 years of banking.

I've complained on numerous occasions, and finally withdrew all my accounts, and my family members did the same several years ago after they screwed up simple transactions, and deeply offended a family member who had just lost her husband. Utterly unforgivable.

They are shocking, and even if they offered a very high interest rate, I'd never recommend, nor go back.

Take your money to quality companies, like some of the smaller private banks, which offer fantastic rates and amazing levels of service.

Gymgenius

Here is a raft of reports of dreadful service from Shabbey.

I wouldn't bank with this shower if they offered me £100 a month.

galba

Gymgenius wrote: »

Here is a raft of reports of dreadful service from Shabbey.

I wouldn't bank with this shower if they offered me £100 a month.

Interesting site, - read the opinions there of most of the banks and none of them got anything like a glowing report. The whole sector seems to have abandoned any pretense of customer service.

We have A&L and Abbey accounts but do all our transactions on line. Haven't had any problems in the last ten years.

withnell

I'm sure I've raised this point in a number of other threads - no one else pays the rate of interest Abbey do on their current accounts, and you therefore have to accept slower customer service and other cost reduction measures (like getting people to use machines rather than the counter). If you don't want to get the interest, you go elsewhere

Its the way it always has been - people say great things about HSBC/firest direct, but good luck getting a market leading interest rate on any of their savings products!

rb10

galba wrote: »

Interesting site, - read the opinions there of most of the banks and none of them got anything like a glowing report. The whole sector seems to have abandoned any pretense of customer service.

People who post a review on that site are doing so because they want to make known that they have been badly treated. Those who are happy customers are far less likely to make a thing about it - they just get on with it.

withnell wrote: »

I'm sure I've raised this point in a number of other threads - no one else pays the rate of interest Abbey do on their current accounts, and you therefore have to accept slower customer service and other cost reduction measures (like getting people to use machines rather than the counter). If you don't want to get the interest, you go elsewhere

Its the way it always has been - people say great things about HSBC/firest direct, but good luck getting a market leading interest rate on any of their savings products!

Halifax pays high 'interest' on their current account, and good (for a high street bank) rates on their savings, but their service is generally good. So I don't know that what you are saying is necessarily true.

cottager

Gymgenius wrote: »

Here is a raft of reports of dreadful service from Shabbey.

Read the lot from top to bottom, which took some time -- it held a horrible fascination! Shocking, absolutely appalling. But at the same time very sad for what was one of our high street institutions.

How do they get away with it? No I'm deadly serious, I'd really like to know how.

Three from among the most telling at that link, and particularly this brave one:
I couldn't agree more with most of the comments re incompetence and lack of basic customer service. I have a somewhat unique view in that I work for them!! and when trying to apply for staff products you get the same treatment, or lack of as the general public. It really is unbelievable, they haven't got a clue what they are doing.

2.
[they] have yet to manage to not be able to astonish me with their incompetence.

3.
I try not to phone these creatures as I end up swearing and shrieking down the phone like a banshee. I'm appalled at how primal I become but unless you are a customer of Abbey's you cannot possibly understand the depths you can sink to in dealing with this tribe - they are truly a breed apart.

Then you spot the very occasional ones (sprinkled in among the horror stories and bitter complaints) which extol Abbey's virtues with fulsome praise and 5 stars... they look 'planted', but if so it's a vain attempt to hold the line in what is quite possibly the longest litany of shame and disgrace, failure and incompetence, woe and strife I think I've ever seen concentrated all in one place.

We did our walking last week, finally getting around to closing or putting it in hand on 7 savings accounts in all between us. Only bits in most of them, and some had just been mouldering half-forgotten. Mortgage also just matured. So a continuous link is being severed which goes back almost 40 yrs through Abbey National and National & Provincial, and Burnley BS even earlier, when we saved for our first house. We're thankful not to have opened a current account with Abbey, judging by some of the experiences.