Alliance & Leicester - Losing Applications

ajharris

BMan wrote: »

I applied for a Santander Zero card before christmas, after receiving an application form and a letter stating that I was automatically eligible as an A&L customer. I completed the form and posted it back. Midway through January I phoned Santander to find out what was happening with my application, they said it had been approved and the credit agreement sent in the post for me to sign on 29th December. After telling them it hadn't arrived they gave me a phone number to call to ask for it to be resent. When I called this number, they gave me another number to call. I also found out that my application had been entered onto the system as including payment protection insurance, I would NEVER take out PPI on a credit card and so either they entered that wrong on the system or the application form wasn't clear enough but I was told that when my card came through I would have to call to opt out of the PPI. I finally got through to someone who could arrange for the credit agreement to be sent out again but low and behold, it never arrived, so I called back. I was asked to confirm my address a couple of times which is when they realised that my address had been copied down incorrectly from the application form onto the system so lord knows who has 2 of my credit agreements now! I was told that the only way I could amend this was to go into a branch and ask them to change my adress on their system...WHY?? And when i'm an A&L customer too, they have my address in their system ok. Needless to say, I don't need a credit card that badly and promptly cancelled my application - like i'd want to deal with an organisation that can't even get basic data entry right! Funnily enough there is a letter from Santander sitting in the communal post area of our flats that hasn't been claimed as it does not belong to anyone in our block - I did check but it's definitely not mine!! So Beware, if you bank with Santander your post could end up anywhere!

Sorry to hear of your troubles but your post made me laugh. Can these people get anything right? They have arguably compromised your security too. I have read many stories about A+L/Santander but yours is the morst interesting. I describe these people as clowns.

gurnardnipper

I hate to see that so many of us are having the same issues with santander - i also applied for a card before christmas and have phoned back many many times. Sometimes telling me that my card will be delivered in the next 7 days and sometimes being told that i need to re apply. I did my application originally online and through a branch of the Abbey. On 2 occassions the people on the phone desk hung up on me - when i tried to complain they just fobbed me off saying they would call back - never happened.
I dont think santander deserve our business and i would ask Martin not to promote their product due to the difficulties experienced by the moneysaving fans

Very dissappointing

rb10

gurnardnipper wrote: »

I dont think santander deserve our business and i would ask Martin not to promote their product due to the difficulties experienced by the moneysaving fans

This is very difficult to do, as it's a very grey area.

If they do it for one, and remove Santander accounts from their 'best buy' lists, then they will be inundated with requests for other banks to be removed.

So, for example, Natwest's customer service leaves quite a lot to be desired when compared to other banks. Do we remove all Natwest accounts as well?

And if Joe Bloggs has a problem with HSBC, do we take them out too?

Although I agree with you that there is clearly a problem here, I don't see what Martin Lewis can do, as it is entirely subjective. Any opinion is based on an individual's experience, and so if people want to find out about the quality of service from a bank, it's places like this forum that can give them an idea (although even that needs to be taken with a pinch of salt!).

It's the same as if I want to buy a new camera, I will look up others' experiences with that model, and gauge from that whether I trust it enough to buy it.

MoodyBlues

A&L strike again! They failed to sort out the direct debit to my cable company. If I hadn't read posts by many of you I probably would have assumed it would be paid (I had after all received a letter saying it had been set up from both the cable company and A&L). Low and behold I call the cable company and they tell me the payments not been made and the direct debit wont be set up properly til March. Not sure exactly who to blame but A&L are high on the list...just glad I wont be hit by a late payment fee.

Thank you everyone for saving me cash!

Sgt_Oddball

Thanks for the replies.

I phoned up again checking the status of the application. Got the same reply - saying they have no record of the application etc. I was then put through to the underwriters; unfortunately the person who answered also couldn't find any record. To rub salt into the wound, she was pretty rude as well! "A glitch in the system, now p*ss off!" (to paraphrase)

I have taken heed of other users and applied for a First Direct account. Although I have only had limited contact so far they seem a much more professional outfit.

Oddball