A & L migration to Santander

Simongw

I closed my Abbey account years ago- just after Santander took over- because of the deterioration in service. I moved to A & L. Closed that account a few months ago.
I am still getting mail- from "Santander"...not Abbey or A & L- telling me about terms and conditions on my accounts with them. That I no longer have. Or have had for years. A pain for me...though I do turn junk mail into paper logs for the open fire....but it is costing them (so that means present account holders) each time I get one of these letters.

dvs

Simongw wrote: »

I closed my Abbey account years ago- just after Santander took over- because of the deterioration in service. I moved to A & L. Closed that account a few months ago.
I am still getting mail- from "Santander"...not Abbey or A & L- telling me about terms and conditions on my accounts with them. That I no longer have. Or have had for years. A pain for me...though I do turn junk mail into paper logs for the open fire....but it is costing them (so that means present account holders) each time I get one of these letters.

They may have reopened your account but marked it as dormant (that's dormant on their system and not on your credit file). That is what they did to me. I closed my A&L account in Jan 2009 but recently started receiving Santander terms. I checked my credit file and I am now listed as having a current account with Santander. I went to branch but they said there is a hold on the account and I need to bring in a statement or bank card to close it or open it. Only as there is a hold they won't be sending me statements or a card!!!

Simongw

dvs wrote: »

They may have reopened your account but marked it as dormant (that's dormant on their system and not on your credit file). That is what they did to me. I closed my A&L account in Jan 2009 but recently started receiving Santander terms. I checked my credit file and I am now listed as having a current account with Santander. I went to branch but they said there is a hold on the account and I need to bring in a statement or bank card to close it or open it. Only as there is a hold they won't be sending me statements or a card!!!

Thank you. I actually checked my credit file a few weeks ago to ensure they had done the business. All appeared fine. But I will check again- because I really really don't trust them...
Company name: SANTANDER CURRENT ACCOUNT Account type: Current Account Started: 01/03/2007 Overdraft Balance: Settled

Settled On: 16/08/2010 File Updated for the Period to: 12/09/2010

dvs

Simongw wrote: »

Thank you. I actually checked my credit file a few weeks ago to ensure they had done the business. All appeared fine.

I still have entries for Alliance & Leicester and Santander for the same account.

Annie72

I’ve banked with Alliance & Leicester for many years and been quite happy. Since Santander took over, it’s been an absolute nightmare and the worst thing is, they don’t admit fault, don’t apologise and give no timescale for dealing with complaints. It seems like they’re totally out of control with their systems.

I have 2 complaints registered with Santander of which they seem to have little concern and unless I keep chasing them, they have no contact with me and as far as I can tell seem to be doing nothing. To me, it feels like theft ie, they have my money and they won’t give it back to me!

Complaints registered with Santander:

1. Applied to transfer an ISA to Alliance & Leicester/Santander in March 2010 and following many, many chasings, they’ve still done nothing. Cheque was cashed in March 2010, but Santander are still telling me they can’t locate the money and I’m really struggling to get them to do anything.

2. On checking September 2010 statement, I found two deposits missing. Went into local branch to sort it out and firstly was told to go to the branch where I made the deposit ie, go away I’m not interested in helping you! Told him that they should be able to sort it out at any branch. (It was worse than this, but won’t go into full details.) He said he would send a complaint to head office. He made no apology, gave me no timescale and didn’t really seem bothered. (I think the truth is that he knows what a mess the bank is in and felt completely at a loss as to how he could help!)

He said they firstly had to write to the person who’s account my money had been paid into. This was incase the customer went overdrawn! From my point of view, basic customer service would be: admit the error, apologise and transfer the funds immediately and offer some compensation. If the other customer went overdrawn then they shouldn’t charge them. That would be the end of it and one relatively happy customer. However, it’s still a month later and I’ve heard nothing!

I desperately want to get my money out of Santander and close the accounts, but at the moment I’m stuck in limbo and it’s VERY frustrating! :mad:

pawnbroker_2

Hi,

If you have all the paperwork you in terms of proof of transfers and deposits I would suggest you either write to the lady in the money pages of the Saturday Telegraph or alternatively lodge an on line Court Claim against Santander for all the money involved, or see a Solicitor with a view to filing a claim in your local county court. After all these months I would suggest you need to do something.

Bear in mind when they start on RBS customers the debacle will be even worse than it is now.

tenuissent

Two weeks ago I unwillingly spent an hour in a branch in order to close my fee paying/high interest account and revert to a non fee paying account (a year ago I was assured by A&L/Santander that this could be done by phone, but things changed.....) because interest had dropped to zero and the fee was therefore pointless.

I was very clear about my account being closed, watched the screen, checked the numbers, new account to be opened with no fee and no interest.

Two weeks later, husband very distressed that a cheque from HIS account had been refused. It turned out that Santander had closed HIS account instead of mine! They had transferred £8000 of his money to my new account! They had failed to close my old account, and failed to transfer my money into my new account.

They had cancelled all his direct debits to insurance/energy/all his contacts.

This will take weeks to sort out and a lot of stress.

Only a couple of months ago, I transferred £3,500 to my daughter from my account, but they did a double transfer, one from my account and one from his.....and made a big fuss about not being able to correct this gross error.

So in total, although he obviously will get the money back, £3,500 and £8,008 have disappeared from his account without his authority or mine. How can this happen?

kikboy

After 2-3 months of trying to regain access to online banking my wife got fed up and phoned to complain. Now she is not a confrontational person by nature so I sat with her to support her. Anway the woman from A+L told her to register again for i-net banking. So I asked my wife to allow me permission to speak on her behalf. But the woman refused speak to me at all. So I handed the phone to my wife and advised her to ask for a supervisor to register a complaint. The woman refused to do this stating that my wife was being promted by me and that her account had been compromised as a result. My wife then asked for an address to write into. She refused to give this either and told her the she was terminating the call as the account had now been compromised. UUUMM am I in a different space-time continuam? Is this the UK? Am I awake? At no point were either of us rude, unreasonable or aggresive.

How can they get away with it? I have sent a letter of complaint and asked for a transcript of the call under FOI ( I will publish if I get it).

beanielou

Unbelieviable kitboy.
Or maybe not as its AL/Santander.

Simongw

A reminder to all those having long-term problems with Santander- Citizens Advice Bureaux are free and usually spot-on with advice and support. Use them!!!