Santander Sales Department FAIL

Psychonaut

The following is a rough transcript of my call to Santander's main sales line (0800 80 80 80) today. I think it speaks for itself. Note that I don't blame the individual customer service agent whom I dealt with, but rather whatever boneheaded sales policy required her to act in such a manner.

Santander call centre agent: Hello, welcome to Santander. May I please take your name?
[here occurs about three patience-testing minutes of identification checks and quality control questions]
Thank you, Mr. Psychonaut. And how may I help you today?
Me: I already have a Santander First Home Saver account with you, and now I would like to open a Santander Bank Account. Can I do that over the phone or do I have to go to a branch?
Santander call centre agent: It's no problem; you can do that with me. Just a moment, please.
[three minutes of being on hold for no given reason]
Thank you for holding, Mr. Psychonaut. You said you currently have a savings account with us?
Me: Yes.
Santander call centre agent: And do you have a bank account?
Me: Yes, but not with Santander. I'd like to open one of your Santander Bank Account current accounts—the ones with 6% interest.
Santander call centre agent: Fine, Mr. Psychonaut. First I need to ask you some questions to help determine which of our products and services are best suited to your needs.
Me: There's no need for that; I know which product I want. I want the Santander Bank Account.
Santander call centre agent: But it's necessary to answer a few questions so that we can find out which…
Me: I don't need to pick from a list of your accounts. I already know exactly which one I want.
Santander call centre agent: It's not a list, Mr. Psychonaut. We just need to ask you a few questions to find out which of our products best match your needs.
Me: Can't we just skip that?
Santander call centre agent: I'm sorry, but this step is compulsory. We can't proceed with this call otherwise.
Me: Well, then, I guess this call is at an end. Goodbye.
Santander call centre agent: Goodbye, Mr. Psychonaut.

spurs_nut

Psychonaut wrote: »

The following is a rough transcript of my call to Santander's main sales line (0800 80 80 80) today. I think it speaks for itself. Note that I don't blame the individual customer service agent whom I dealt with, but rather whatever boneheaded sales policy required her to act in such a manner.

Santander call centre agent: Hello, welcome to Santander. May I please take your name?
[here occurs about three patience-testing minutes of identification checks and quality control questions]
Thank you, Mr. Psychonaut. And how may I help you today?
Me: I already have a Santander First Home Saver account with you, and now I would like to open a Santander Bank Account. Can I do that over the phone or do I have to go to a branch?
Santander call centre agent: It's no problem; you can do that with me. Just a moment, please.
[three minutes of being on hold for no given reason]
Thank you for holding, Mr. Psychonaut. You said you currently have a savings account with us?
Me: Yes.
Santander call centre agent: And do you have a bank account?
Me: Yes, but not with Santander. I'd like to open one of your Santander Bank Account current accounts—the ones with 6% interest.
Santander call centre agent: Fine, Mr. Psychonaut. First I need to ask you some questions to help determine which of our products and services are best suited to your needs.
Me: There's no need for that; I know which product I want. I want the Santander Bank Account.
Santander call centre agent: But it's necessary to answer a few questions so that we can find out which…
Me: I don't need to pick from a list of your accounts. I already know exactly which one I want.
Santander call centre agent: It's not a list, Mr. Psychonaut. We just need to ask you a few questions to find out which of our products best match your needs.
Me: Can't we just skip that?
Santander call centre agent: I'm sorry, but this step is compulsory. We can't proceed with this call otherwise.
Me: Well, then, I guess this call is at an end. Goodbye.
Santander call centre agent: Goodbye, Mr. Psychonaut.

Seeing as santander have three different bank account with 6% interest, It looks like you were the bonehead.

So um.......which account did you want then?

Or is that to many questions to deal with all at once?

choc_mouse

Might sound racist/stereotyping but did anyone else read the "Santander call centre agent" with an Indian accent?

I find that when I have to call a call centre, I just follow their script otherwise you won't get anywhere. Especially if it's sales, they can be reading something for 2 minutes and I'm not paying any attention. Sometimes I'll just say "yes" and they will sound surprised because they weren't expecting it so only then I ask to repeat the question!! I always prefer doing something on the internet or in person. Phones are horrible. At least you got through to a person and didn't get lost in their phone menu.

Psychonaut

spurs_nut wrote: »

Seeing as santander have three different bank account with 6% interest, It looks like you were the bonehead.

That's not what I was told when I was in my branch last week. They gave me a brochure with details of the specific bank account I wanted. According to the brochure it is called the "Santander Bank Account" and there is only one of them. Now, if they've got three different accounts by the same name, then that's a whole 'nother kind of fail, and besides, you'd think the sales rep would have mentioned that to me as soon as I told her the specific name of the account I wanted (e.g, "I'm sorry, sir, but we have three accounts by that name. Let me tell you about them so you can tell me which one you're interested in.")

But I don't think that's why she wanted to ask me questions at all. Judging from the other posts I've read here about people trying to open accounts at Santander, their purpose in asking questions is to upsell other products besides the one you originally called to apply for. For example, someone in the First Home Savings thread related how, when he tried to open that account (and that one only), they delayed him with questions about his travelling habits in a bid to sell him travel insurance.

Psychonaut

choc_mouse wrote: »

Might sound racist/stereotyping but did anyone else read the "Santander call centre agent" with an Indian accent?

Well, FWIW, she was Scottish.

spurs_nut

Psychonaut wrote: »

Well, FWIW, she was Scottish.

Why don't you take a look on there website and choose from there, then phone with the exact current account you are after. They won't ask any questions then.

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?appID=abbey.internet.Abbeycom&c=Page&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210607874479&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FPage%2FWC_ACOM_TemplateG

on further inspection it looks like your after the in credit 6% account

When I phoned they asked if I knew which product I wanted of should I answer some questions to find out which account would suite best. I wanted the zero account and they got straight on with the application.


And of they try and sell you insurance, you can say no.

opinions4u

The FSA have been keen for donkeys years to ensure that bank staff sell products appropriately to customers (either through specifically advising or giving the customer an informed choice).

Recent changes to regulations mean that they have to be able to prove that they've done this.

This means that bank staff have to follow a sales process that allows them to document exactly why the customer has bought a specific product, which in itself requires a range of questions to be asked and answers documented.

My view? It's a pain in the rear that nanny's adults who should be able to make their own decisions on a bank or savings account.

The bank's view? They have to do it because the regulator makes them.

By the way, I wouldn't move to Abbey for 60%, let alone 6%!

Inactive

opinions4u wrote: »

The bank's view? They have to do it because the regulator makes them.

Of course they could just drop the big sales pitch all together..

apt

If you want to deal with Abbey/Santander (and some of its products are good if not the bank are good) then the best thing to do is to research the product yourself and apply at your local branch where some of the staff are good and you may be lucky enough to get one. If you get a dud you can stick the details of the product under their nose. Applying for anything centrally with Abbey means that you are very likely to enter a morass of delay and frustration.

Psychonaut

apt wrote: »

If you want to deal with Abbey/Santander (and some of its products are good if not the bank are good) then the best thing to do is to research the product yourself and apply at your local branch where some of the staff are good and you may be lucky enough to get one.

Yeah, I am rather quickly learning this…

daveyjp

It is not Santander - it's the FSA - you would get the saem treatment at all banks.

You have to have been told which accounts are available to you so that if you decide, make a mistake then try and blame them they can say you were advised which accounts you were offered. Play the game, let them do the legal stuff then tell them what you want.

It's the same when you buy a car now - you will always get a spiel about GAP insurance, even if you don't want it.