Treated like !!!! by Santander: what's my best revenge?

cashferret

Essex123 wrote: »

Well here is some bad news... looks like Santander is set to get bigger again through the acquisition of over 300 RBS branches outside Scotland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/rbs/7923442/RBS-to-sell-318-branches-to-Santander.html

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!

angel_islington

cashferret wrote: »

Hi angel - I disagree - I think having a major effect is the point! I think we agree that we don't want Santander to get away with it, but they are getting away with it if what we do doesn't have any real impact on them. If what we do makes us feel better but doesn't really hurt them, it's not a productive outcome for the future. Though I must say that having a rant has made me feel cleansed!

I don't have a Facebook account but I bet you got lots of people signing up who do! Perhaps you will break some sort of record on there!

I still like the idea of a change in the law/giving the FOS more teeth to slam bad banks with hefty fines for each customer complaint upheld. Have I made this idea up in my own head or did I see it mentioned somewhere? I'm wondering if there's a petition I can sign up to or whether I should write to my MP or something.

I didn't really pay any attention to making sense in that post :rotfl:

What I meant to say what that even if the effect was only minor then it is still worth doing. For example, one single complaint to the FOS will not make much, if any, difference to Santander but it should still be done. If everyone thought that one action won't make any difference, nobody would complain and it wouldn't have any effect. If everyone realised that it is worth doing, there would be thousands of complaints and that most certainly will make a difference.

cashferret

angel_islington wrote: »

I didn't really pay any attention to making sense in that post :rotfl:

What I meant to say what that even if the effect was only minor then it is still worth doing. For example, one single complaint to the FOS will not make much, if any, difference to Santander but it should still be done. If everyone thought that one action won't make any difference, nobody would complain and it wouldn't have any effect. If everyone realised that it is worth doing, there would be thousands of complaints and that most certainly will make a difference.

Hi Angel - I think only about one in ten of my posts make sense so you're ahead of the game!

I think the big question is, do thousands of complaints make a difference to an organisation like Santander? They announced 8.9 billion euros in profits last year. Even if 10,000 of us complain and manage to cost them £100 each in time and compensation, that's still "only" £1 million to them and a huge amount of effort, time and aggro on our part. I really think they can lose a million and not feel a thing.

But imagine if, for every upheld customer complaint lodged with the ombudsman, they were smacked with a £5,000 fine. Suddenly those 10,000 complaints would have cost them £50 million. Now we're talking! And more and more people would come forward to complain if they could see that their complaints really hurt an incompetent bank.

It's hard to mobilise thousands of people to take individual action and I think that's why we need a change in the law towards punitive fines. I agree with you that we should act, as individuals - but I don't think that we have even enough collective clout to have an impact on organisations that only care about the bottom line and not their reputations.

pressuredrop_2

Santander have purchased Abbey, A&L, B&B, and RBS branches in the UK.

Plainly, the UK government, past and present, is involved in a love affair with Santander.

Any banking assets that need to be sold? Not a problem, call Santander.

As a result, Santander can do what they want in the UK, and do.

Who's going to stop them?

The government? No.

The customers? No.

A business in a country with a friendly government where as little as possible needs to be spent on staff or customers.

The only thing that matters is profit. Staff? Who cares. Customers? Who cares.

Are Santander any different from any other bank? In my experience, no, not markedly. Hardly surprising though, when five banks in the UK have such a large share of the retail market.

Competition? Staff training? Customer service? All long gone.

Oh well....

cashferret

I've just written to my MP requesting he proposes a change in the law/how it is applied so that banks and other service providers (internet etc.) get slamming fines of thousands for each customer complaint upheld by the relevant ombudsman.

I said they could use the money to help pay off the national debt! If that doesn't motivate the govt, I don't know what will!

Grrrrrr!

juicyjude

Went passed A & L branch today in our local town, and had to laugh to myself. The customer service desk had a notice on it saying "Sorry Closed"!!!!!

scott_lithgows

pressuredrop wrote: »

Santander have purchased Abbey, A&L, B&B, and RBS branches in the UK.

Plainly, the UK government, past and present, is involved in a love affair with Santander.

Any banking assets that need to be sold? Not a problem, call Santander.

As a result, Santander can do what they want in the UK, and do.

Who's going to stop them?

The government? No.

The customers? No.

A business in a country with a friendly government where as little as possible needs to be spent on staff or customers.

The only thing that matters is profit. Staff? Who cares. Customers? Who cares.

Are Santander any different from any other bank? In my experience, no, not markedly. Hardly surprising though, when five banks in the UK have such a large share of the retail market.

Competition? Staff training? Customer service? All long gone.

Oh well....

Customers ? Yes-close your Abbey/Santander accounts

neilh12

I have a Santander credit card (previously an Abbey one), only reason I have it still is because I got a deal on a balance transfer.

This was applied for online and is managed online, I've never been into an Abbey/Santander branch in my life.

I recently moved house so obviously needed to update my address. Logged into the website, not possible to do there but no indication of how to do. Spent 15 mins on hold to customer services to be told no, you have to go into a branch to change your address, because of "security", excuse me? When I asked to be put through to the complaints dept I was told it wasn't possible for them to transfer me.

So having to take half a day off work to go into the branch, 10 mins in the queue and then 20 mins while the guy fills out a form in front of me which he then typed into the computer in front of me! Again when I queried the ridiculousness of having to come into a the branch he said it was policy, no way round it. When I asked what if I lived in Stornaway and my nearest branch is in Inverness, 93 miles away (it is, I checked on their website), would I still need to come into the branch, answer, yes!!

Which century are they living in? I'll be closing the acct as soon as the offer is finished and making sure they never get any of my business again.

fairtrade

Essex123 wrote: »

Well here is some bad news... looks like Santander is set to get bigger again through the acquisition of over 300 RBS branches outside Scotland.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/rbs/7923442/RBS-to-sell-318-branches-to-Santander.html

I'm glad I don't have any accounts with RBS!!

I may have missed something here. RBS has to sell these branches to comply with EU competition rules. How is it that these rules do not apply to Santander who will gain yet more branches on the High Street and will therefore restrict competition further?:huh:

Essex123

fairtrade wrote: »

I may have missed something here. RBS has to sell these branches to comply with EU competition rules. How is it that these rules do not apply to Santander who will gain yet more branches on the High Street and will therefore restrict competition further?:huh:

I think it was the scale of state aid that both RBS and Lloyds received that is forcing disposals, rather than competition concerns.

In terms of branch presence, Santander will be about 4th after the RBS deal closes. At some stage I reckon there will be some pretty major branch closures, as in many towns there will be 3 or 4 Santander branches in a row!

I see Citigroup may be selling Egg... I wonder who might buy that!!!