Closing Santander account.

DizzleUK

I am on the phone to A&L/Santander to close my account. I've been on hold for 10 minutes already, so here's a mini blog of the process to pass the time. :cool:

DizzleUK

Through to a very Scottish guy called John.

On hold again....

DizzleUK

Call ended.

He didn't ask why I wanted to close the account at all. He only asked what I wanted to do with the 6p in the account (did I want a cheque? LMAO) so I said put it in the joint account.

He said the account would be closed within 3 working days and I would get confirmation in writing.

Somehow I'm a little disappointed they didn't want to fight for my custom (Considering it's a Premier account).

MrsP1

Good luck - I have been on the phone for 1 hr 40 mins trying to close an online saver account which has all my savings in and has disappeared. This is after 40 mins first thing and being told to ring back at 9am (and being told there were no queues!). And no they won't ring me back if my phone battery packs up - I will have to start again from the beginning - all I can say is good luck - I am losing the will to live ...

DizzleUK

I just can't believe they're not fighting to keep their customers- just throwing money at trying to get new ones!

blueberrypie

DizzleUK wrote: »

I just can't believe they're not fighting to keep their customers- just throwing money at trying to get new ones!

The current customers already know what the service is like - they'd need far greater incentives to make them stay!

bmwboi99

hi , i was in the day trying to close my santander(abbey) account to be told i had to make an appointment! it was only going to take a few minutes but i had to hav an appointment OMG ther only was 27p in the account , i mean i could hav filled out the forms there myself , wat the hell did i need an appointment

premierfella

bmwboi99 wrote: »

hi , i was in the day trying to close my santander(abbey) account to be told i had to make an appointment! it was only going to take a few minutes but i had to hav an appointment OMG ther only was 27p in the account , i mean i could hav filled out the forms there myself , wat the hell did i need an appointment

Possibilities I can think of off the top of my head:
1. Poor computer systems mean it takes longer than you might expect to close the account;
2. They might want to do a proper "closing interview" type thing where they check that they don't have some other account that better meets your needs;
3. They don't want you having an embarrassingly long wait to see an advisor to close the account;
4. They hope you give up and just keep the account open;
5. (most likely IMO) Staff are so ridiculously busy that they have to book appointment times otherwise their back office work never gets done.

I think there is an address you can write to (but obviously this would eat into your 27p as I don't think its freepost).

LittleVoice

bmwboi99 wrote: »

hi , i was in the day trying to close my santander(abbey) account to be told i had to make an appointment! it was only going to take a few minutes but i had to hav an appointment OMG ther only was 27p in the account , i mean i could hav filled out the forms there myself , wat the hell did i need an appointment

Been there too - and for a couple of accounts each with a zero balance.

It was a Saturday morning and they had no appointment times available on a Saturday for at least two weeks. (They claimed to be the business branch in the country - any guesses which one that would be?). I refused to make an appointment for other than a Saturday and eventually they gave in and said I could join the (unusually) short queue to reach the regular tellers.

The closing paperwork includes a space to record the reason for the closure - but it was presented to me for signature with that page not showing. I turned back and completed that section, to explain why I no longer wanted to have an account with such an institution.

glennc1981

blueberrypie wrote: »

The current customers already know what the service is like - they'd need far greater incentives to make them stay!

Reminds me all too much of the Mark Benton Nationwide advert when the nice things were for "brand new customers only". Says it all about Santander. :wall:

sezla

Account Closures
PO Box 297
Bradford
BD1 4YR

Include account number(s), where you would like any funds to be credited (chq issued or tran to another Santander account), contact telephone number, and confirmation you have destroyed any stationary for the account. (Full info on Santander.co.uk under the 'How Do I?' section.