A & L migration to Santander

Acremead

WideWall wrote: »

....I was told to visit the local branch and they would close the account ( taking indentification etc with me). But I have a 100 mile trip to do that - I do not have a car and I need a companion with me to assist me. On top of all that the roads are not safe (weatherwise)for travelling on if the journey is not really necessary....

I'd be very wary of following any instructions to 'go to a branch'. Do ring the branch first and check that they'll deal with your problem as I suspect very often this is just a way of getting you off the line and passing the buck. When you turn up at the branch there's a good chance they'll refer you back to the phone or internet. When I turned up at a branch they said I'd have to make an appointment to speak to a specialist the next day. When I said that was not convenient the manager responded with barely disguised contempt. She seemed unable to see what might be inconvenient about 'popping back next day' (Despite her branch being on a high street notorious for parking problems and where the street in front of her front door was being ripped up for major reconstruction work).

ses6jwg

Acremead wrote: »

I'd be very wary of following any instructions to 'go to a branch'. Do ring the branch first and check that they'll deal with your problem as I suspect very often this is just a way of getting you off the line and passing the buck. When you turn up at the branch there's a good chance they'll refer you back to the phone or internet. When I turned up at a branch they said I'd have to make an appointment to speak to a specialist the next day. When I said that was not convenient the manager responded with barely disguised contempt. She seemed unable to see what might be inconvenient about 'popping back next day' (Despite her branch being on a high street notorious for parking problems and where the street in front of her front door was being ripped up for major reconstruction work).

Depends what its for.

Most banks now use an appointment based system. It's only the smaller building societies that don't now.

As in most places, staff and resources are limited.

If you wanted to close all of your accounts, it can take up to 10 minutes per account (we have to cancel the cards etc first). In some smaller branches with only 2 counter positions this is not feasible so complex servicing is carried out on an appointment basis.

Would you expect to walk into a dentists or an opticians and be seen there and then for anything other than a query/ routine transaction?

silverchair

I recently tried to log into my A&L/Santander account now I have a bit of time to look into moving accounts & check my money is still there after statements being sent to the wrong address fiasco. However, its asking me to log on using my 8 digit customer number. The number I have is 9 digits. Im going to phone them tomorrow as they are closed today, but am dreading it.

Surely they would have sent my new details in the post. I very much want to change/close the account (online saver issue 4), but Im worried that I wont be able to add a new outside bank account to transfer the money to & they will send me a cheque through the post. Id be worried sick that the cheque gets lost in the post or stolen (I posted eralier about my post being stolen in my block of flats). Cant wait to leave.

Thanks

WideWall

[ However, its asking me to log on using my 8 digit customer number. The number I have is 9 digits. Im going to phone them tomorrow as they are closed today, but am dreading it.
________________________________________________________

Hi Silverchair,
I sympathise with you - I am/had a lot of trouble trying to simply close ALL my accounts with them. (4 online savers & 1 current ).
However, I think all are now closed but they WILL NOT reply to my request for a confirmation of that.

With regard to your customer number - it should be an 8 digit one make sure you are NOT confusing the customer ID No with your account number which is 9 digits. I got confused when I started my closing of accounts requests/procedures.

Let us know how you get on.
Regards, Widewall

silverchair

Thanks for that Widewall. I was being very dopey & looking at the other orange coloured bank's info: ING.

I really hope that they dont send my money via a cheque through the post. Im going to phone up tomorrow to close the account

djuk

My 91 year old Mother-in-Law was treated very badly by Santander, who I think are a bunch of crooks. It took her 3 months to get the proceeds of a savings bond out of them and she has been trying for the past 4 months to get the proceeds of a second savings bond out of them, just because she is unable to get to a branch they are making her jump through hoops before they will let her have her money, they took it off her pretty quickly but it's taking months to get it back. She has written to them, telephoned them. At one point I visited a branch on her behalf when she was told that I could take an account closure form signed by her and supporting identity documents and close the account for her but on the second visit they said the rules had changed and then when she finally got them to respond to a letter in which she enclosed several documents proving her identity and address they sent a letter for her to sign to confirm her address, all these delaying tactics are designed so that they can hang on to the money as long as possible. This has cost her lost interest, wasted time and postage she shouldn’t have to pay. She had to send her letters by recorded delivery before they would respond and when they sent her a letter to sign to confirm her address it had no stamp on the reply envelope. Anybody who trusts their money with then needs their head testing. I certainly will not let them have a penny of my money and will take every opportunity to spread the word around about how bad they are.

WideWall

djuk wrote: »

My 91 year old Mother-in-Law was treated very badly by Santander, who I think are a bunch of crooks. It took her 3 months to get the proceeds of a savings bond out of them and she has been trying for the past 4 months to get the proceeds of a second savings bond out of them, just because she is unable to get to a branch they are making her jump through hoops before they will let her have her money, they took it off her pretty quickly but it's taking months to get it back. She has written to them, telephoned them. At one point I visited a branch on her behalf when she was told that I could take an account closure form signed by her and supporting identity documents and close the account for her but on the second visit they said the rules had changed and then when she finally got them to respond to a letter in which she enclosed several documents proving her identity and address they sent a letter for her to sign to confirm her address, all these delaying tactics are designed so that they can hang on to the money as long as possible. This has cost her lost interest, wasted time and postage she shouldn’t have to pay. She had to send her letters by recorded delivery before they would respond and when they sent her a letter to sign to confirm her address it had no stamp on the reply envelope. Anybody who trusts their money with then needs their head testing. I certainly will not let them have a penny of my money and will take every opportunity to spread the word around about how bad they are.

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Hi All................ All is now closed with Santander, finally got my tax certs and last interests plus cheques & without asking for it, another cheque for £35 as compensation.
If they think that will appease me then they have another think comimg 'cos I am DEFINITELY NOT EVER going back to them.

Djuk ..... I had virually the same troubles as your M-in-L but they relented when I stoutly refused to go to 'my local branch'. They obviously need some Geography lessons. They had my address and age etc., so should have made concessions. They don't know their customers ( now EX ) needs!! and don't to want to.
I started to prepare for closure and trans to another bank last Oct, ( ONLY THREE MONTHS ) and its supposed to be quicker online banking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

However, my new bank ( Co-op ) has been faultless, efficient and suits my circumstances geographically & financially - so I am now very happy.:T:T

Wide Wall

gem31

My alliance lecicester account was automatically transferred to santander a few months ago. I recieved a letter from my home insurance company that both the direct debits had been cancelled ( home and buildings) and i was in arrears, i paid the arrears along with with the £12 per account charge. I emailed A&L/santander and they said they did't know why it has been cancelled and that the switch was effecting a 'minimum ammount' of customers. They refunded the £24 charge and assured the DD would be reset. They did as it was shown on my account but 6 weeks later recieved another letter from AA stating the payment hadn't been made again, when lookig on my account the AA Direct debits were there but with no payment ammount or payment date. Due to this my Insurance had been cancelled so i have had to pay 50% more to get new insurance cover let alone the fact i was uninsured for two weeks. I had noticed that there was no ammount and date on so i had emailed them and recieved an email on 31 Dec to say they were looking into it and i havn't heard anything since. I have now contacted them on them via the santander website to let them know that due to their lack of communication my insurance had been cancelled website so am waiting a response but looking at the forum it looks like ill be waiting a while. :-(

Bryanpayne365

Sorry to hear about your problems with your change-over.
I too had the mis-fortune to be changed to the Santander server in September 2010, together with my mother's account over which I have power of attorney.
Firstly, they removed my mother's savings account from her internet banking which I operate. This took a full month to restore.
I then noticed that when I log in to my accounts, it welcomed me as Mrs Payne (My mother).
About 8 weeks ago my name was removed from my wife and I's joint account and then we started receiving statements addressed to my mother and my wife.
I knew it would need sorting out but feared to contact them in case they made matters worse through their incompetence.
They of course did, as about a month ago they suspended access to my internet banking on my account, and would not deal with me as my name was not on the account..
Despite phone calls and complaints on a daily basis I was ignored.
I visited the branch and learned that they had put all my accounts in my mother's name and all my mother's accounts in my name.
I have got nowhere and not a thing has changed.
Their so called customer service is non-existant and have no way of getting anything done.
I have tried the Financial Ombudsman and they will not get involved until the current complaint has been running for 8 weeks.
I have contacted BBC watchdog today so will see if they can help but if anyone has any ideas of who else to contact please I would be very grateful.
Bryan Payne (Girobank, Alliance & Leicester and Santander account holder for 41 years).

pawnbroker_2

As an ex RBS England (now RBS Scotland) customer I have no doubt that when the Spanish cowboy bank starts the transfer of RBS customers threads of horror stories will abound.

My advice and that of many others is get away from them as soon as you can.

There is no limit on how much hassle and incompetence you can get for £100.