A & L migration to Santander

mandyclaire

I've been with Abbey National for about 40 years. I switched my works pension to a private pension with them in the '80s. All was fine till Scamtander took over.

Suddenly the annual interest on my pension has gone from over £100 to under £10. No explanation and no reply to my letters.

Have contacted Daily Mail's Money Matters and the Pensions Advisory Service.

Will be switching both my pension and savings to somewhere else.

OmegaUk_2

I've registered on the forums (long time lurker to be honest..) purely to post my opinion here.

Alliance and Leicester/Santander = Absolutely bloody useless!!

A couple of weeks ago I kept getting pre-recorded phone calls (12 in one day) warning me about my A&L account and a possible fraudulent transaction, from a number that after I googled it, was found to be based in Vietnam.



I rang A&L customer services and found that there was a £2 charge on there I didn’t recognise, even though it didn’t actually show in my online statement???. The fraud dept canceled the card anyway and said they were issuing a new card. No problems I thought, it will be here soon in the post and ill be able to draw cash out/pay by card again…


Not so.


It took nearly three weeks for them to send a new card, which is of the Santander variety and I’m still without the new PIN. So, I cant actually access my cash unless I go into a branch with ID! Called customer services to complain and they said all they can do is issue a new PIN WHICH TAKES ANOTHER 9-10 DAYS!!!!


I have a current account with them, a savings account, a Zero credit card and a Cahoot loan. Ill be paying off the loan this month and moving all my accounts somewhere else.


Not even First Direct was this bad (who incidentally im moving back to after seeing they've bucked up in customer service, I was with them four years ago...).


PEOPLE PLEASE HEED THIS WARNING! STAY AWAY FROM SANTANDER/A&L!! PATHETIC SERVICE.

dvs

Just an update to a previous post -

I closed my A&L account in Jan 2009. When the accounts were migrated to the Santander systems it re-opened but was marked dormant. Now both accounts appear on my credit files - both with the same opening date (although the Santander entry has only been updating since September 2010 and the A&L stopped updating since Jan 2009). I went into a Santander branch amd was told that I needed to get a statement in order to close the account - even though I already closed the account (they reopened it). I also have to get a statement although they won't be sending one as the account is dormant.

For those who had A&L accounts that were closed, you might want to check that they haven't re-opened them. For those who had active accounts that were migrated, you might want to check that you don't have two entries on your credit files for the same account.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

ses6jwg wrote: »

Santander currently holding massive internal employee opinion survey with a view to improving service. Incentives for branches who improve service score and sanctions for those that don't.

My own observations (an admittedly very tiny sample) are that the problems do not lie with the branches but with the systems that are in place.

AnonymousForObviousReason

ses6jwg wrote: »

This is the key point which is emerging from the EOS I can assure you.

Along with the poor training of call centre staff.

Of course the employees are going to blame the computers, other staff and lack of training. Not saying they don't have a point here but hardly the shock of the year.

Why not ask the customer? I had a query with Amex about a payment not clearing turned out not on system dealt with in usual good way. A few days later I had a follow-up email with a link to a few questions about: the service I received, was everything done to my satisfaction and any improvements (may have been longer if had any problems I guess).

The issue is that banks have pushed its customers towards automatic services from ATMs, Online accounts and online services like applying for overdrafts. This is not a bad thing for many, I would be happy never having to deal with another human again with my banking.

Unfortunately when the systems go wrong - and they are completely screwed in Santander at the moment - the staff you're forced to speak to have been hired as extensions of the computer - to read out what the computer has already said and done. They don't need to hire these literate monkeys but employees with the power to make decisions, or recognise when a human may need to interject and push that decision up. Other banks seem to have recognised and done this with varying degrees of success.

One final point - far too little, far too late. Anyone with an account with these incompetent idiots should run as quickly as they can.

carsten_2

Hi people, probably not posting this in the right place, but please forgive me. I, like half of Britain it seems, have an issue with "the Spanish Bank"
My issue is with the online banking, I do all my banking online, and had no problems with A+L.
However, since Satan-der took over, I keep going over my overdraft. Essentially the A+L online account shoes transactions straight away in the available balance section, so I knew exactly what there was left in my account. Now however Satan-der seem to have let this slip.
When buying from Ebay, if there were not enough money in my current account, A+L would refuse the payment, paypal would then take the payment from my credit card. Satan-der however, made a payment last weekend while there was not enough money in my account, but didnt reflect it in my available balance, they still let me withdraw cash from the account too, until Suddenly on Wednesday I was £240 over my limit.
Is anyone else finding the way online banking has changed to be causing them issues? Have you complianed? I cant get any sense from them on the phone, I am trying to arrange a face to face meeting with them at a branch this week

bobo16

'They don't need to hire these literate monkeys'

i think the above quote is out of order!!! the staff i have had dealings with have all be very polite, professional and helpful. they are trying to do a job in a society where sitting around doing nothing but popping out babies pays more but they have made the choice to work for what they get.

try treating them with some respect

scott_lithgows

ses6jwg wrote: »

Santander currently holding massive internal employee opinion survey with a view to improving service. Incentives for branches who improve service score and sanctions for those that don't.

Once they get their paws on the old TSB,leaving them with up to 5 branches per town those sanctions will prob mean closure of those branches.

AnonymousForObviousReason

bobo16 wrote: »

'They don't need to hire these literate monkeys'

i think the above quote is out of order!!! the staff i have had dealings with have all be very polite, professional and helpful. they are trying to do a job in a society where sitting around doing nothing but popping out babies pays more but they have made the choice to work for what they get.

try treating them with some respect

The point was that the current employees just read and repeat what's on the computer and don't have the ability to do anything other than read the script (due to indifference or because they are not allowed to), it wasn't a personal attack on the actual staff but the organisational culture.

BUT as you raise the point, my experience of branch staff has been dismal, I don't show them disrespect but am always resigned to the fact I'm unlikely to be anything but annoyed. They will get my respect when they earn it by having some level of competence and don't actually resort to lying rather than investigating problems. I felt using 'literate' was a compliment above what they deserved.

Glad you had luck with them but I'm sure your time will come as it does to us all.

And please try quoting me in context in future.

macalloa

We've been with Alliance & Leicester for a long time, having joined National Girobank years ago before A&L took it over.

The free Europe wide travel insurance (with their current account) was a nice bonus. We've had cause to claim once, which was settled in double quick time with no dramas.

I've just discovered that Santander will be charging either £10 or £20 monthly for this benefit (it's not clear which fee applies) although I believe cover will be worldwide.

Not that Santander have advised us yet - I found out by chance.

In the recent (ish) past they've have managed to mess up straightforward ISA transactions and replacement of debit cards on time.

I've come to the conclusion it's time to go elsewhere.

BTW - the only problems we've had with A&L have been since Santander bought them over - draw your own conclusions.