'Which is the worst customer service bank?' poll discussion

puddlepuss

Doc_N wrote: »

I used to use cahoot for most of my banking, keeping my long-standing First Direct account as a backup because of its poor interest rates.

That all changed, though, once Santander got their sticky fingers on cahoot, since which time it's got worse and worse. They've done exactly the same with Alliance and Leicester, which used to be OK and is now absolutely awful.

Every aspect of Santander-owned banks is just dreadful. The customer service is non-existent, they don't answer the questions you ask them, and they clearly couldn't care less about customers. Faster Payments still hasn't been properly brought in, despite having been introduced by proper banks more than 2 years ago. That means it takes days rather than seconds to get money into or out of your account.

First Direct now has all my banking back, and Santander has lost the lot (including the savings, which have gone elsewhere). Santander don't seem to be capable of running a sweet shop - let alone a bank. If you're in any way tempted by one of their accounts, do not be taken in by them. You will soon regret it, and I think that's a very commonly shared view, according to posts on here and elsewhere. If you thought British-owned banks were bad, try one of these Spanish-owned banks and you'll see just how bad banking can really be!

Hi. I totally agree that Santander have an absolutely abysmal attitude towards their customers, especially the ones like me who were left helplessly 'marooned' aboard one of it's earlier 'conquests'...yes, poor old Cahoot (AKA Abbey National)! These Spanish 'pirates' have set sail on the high seas of the British banking world and are obviously intent on absorbing as many 'plundered' banking vessels into their 'armada' as possible, a 'full-broadside' being aimed at the good ship RBS as we speak (Prepare to abandon ship if you can me' hearties!).

Nautical references aside, I am having one 'hell of a battle' with Santander at the moment, trying to settle my former Cahoot 'Flexi-loan' account (now known as a not-so-flexible fixed loan account). Unbelievably, Santander have no facility to accept a debit card payment over the phone to pay off my loan. I was originaly asked to send them a cheque but as I don't have a cheque book, that idea sank (sorry, nautical stuff again!). Then it was suggested I obtain a banker's draft & send that...alas, I wasn't prepared to actually spend 'more' money on fees just to pay off a loan. Next, I was asked if it were possible for me to visit one of Santander's treasure-chests...sorry, I meant 'branches', and pay in cash over the counter?? I explained that I wasn't in the habit of drawing out nearly £7000 from my 'online' current a/c and then wandering up the high street (As if I would, or could even).
Finally, a sensible suggestion at last...they (Santander) could utilize the existing loan pmt direct-debit mandate from my Cahoot current a/c and take one final amount in full settlement of the loan. "Shiver-me-timbers" I thought, I can get off this damn phone now & get on with my life...or so I thought. Yes..."there's more" as the comedian Jimmy Cricket once said!

All this was over two weeks ago, since then Santander (Run by more comedians methinks) have 'deleted' the said direct-debit from my a/c, NOT taken any payment of course, then sent me an abrupt letter informing me that they had been unable to collect payment & to please contact their debt recovery dept ASAP, in order to prevent further 'action' being taken??? After verification with Cahoot, who told me that the DD had been cancelled by Santander, I reluctantly called their 'helpline' (???) and eventually got through to an advisor.

Some 15 mins later, after having to explain the whole sorry debacle, it was apologetically explained to me 'I' would have to fill out a new DD mandate form which would be sent to me for signing (Can't be done over the phone for 'security' reasons don't-you-know). I accepted defeat gracefully and said "OK...whatever", then hung up the phone feeling stunned.

That was 2 days ago. Today, I have just been on-line checking my Cahoot current a/c and guess what?? Yes! You guessed it, the disappearing direct-debit has mysteriously reappeared (It must have fallen overboard & been rescued by Spanish pirates...)! Still no payment taken yet though so watch this space.

Oh, I forgot to mention that regrettably, after 10 years loyal service, I'm about to 'jump ship' from Cahoot before it sinks beneath the banking waves for good. I've weighed my anchor in the calm waters of the First Direct 1st Account. By all accounts a much sturdier vessel manned by a loyal, dedicated crew. Bon Voyage my friends...beware those scurvy Spanish sea-dogs...they'll 'ave ee clapped in irons afore long...

redglass_2

SANTANDER.....I've recently had two of my direct debits 'bounce' when there was money in the account to cover them - one of them was Santander's own credit card, paid on a DD from a Santander current account (????????????). The DD has been up and running for years but apparently this last transaction was too much for their system to cope with and they were actually about to charge me fees and interest for their own stunning incompetence. The other was with a utilities company who couldn't get the money out of my bank, despite my having set up the DD, because Santander had changed my old A&L sort code (but were totally unable to cope or do the sensible thing when someone presented who was still using the old one). Naturally, I hadn't had any notification that my sort code had changed. Had a surreal conversation when I phoned Santander to ask what was going on, something like this: Man On Phone: 'You have a new sort code because Santander works differently from A & L so you are now allotted to a particular branch.'
Me: 'Oh, which branch?'
MOP: 'I can't tell you that, the system won't let me. But you can find it out by asking the utilities company, they'll know.'
Me: 'So I can find out the details of my account with you from the gasman, but not from you?'
MOP: 'Yes, that's right.'
When I did phone the gas company they were indeed able to tell me 'my' branch and it's in London. My nearest branch if I actually want to go there is Yeovil, in Somerset. Go figure.

clairecymru

I get really annoyed every month because Santander send me two statements for my current account. One addressed to me and me and one address to me and my husband. I would prefer not to have statements sent to me in the post because I only ever use online banking and for a year they were sending my statements to the wrong address but they say they cannot cancel my postal statements because of security reasons. It drives me insane.

puddlepuss

Hi again, Re: 'PIRATES OF THE SANTANDEREAN'. Just a quick update on my earlier post (See post #52). I forgot to mention that I have sent two separate complaints to Santander's Complaints Dept (Must be a lively place to work???), both about their abysmal handling of my loan settlement request, both of which were acknowledged by 'auto-response' e-mails (AKA: 'when-we-can-be-bothered'). The 1st was over a week ago now...no proper response, no phone call...no nothing :mad:. Oh, and they still haven't taken the agreed final payment amount from my Cahoot account via Direct-Debit...their idea in the first place if you're following my riveting tale! Could it be perhaps that Santander likes the sound of the 'loan interest' clock ticking for me??? I'll keep you all posted...:wall:ZZZ.

angel_islington

puddlepuss wrote: »

Hi again, Re: 'PIRATES OF THE SANTANDEREAN'. Just a quick update on my earlier post (See post #52). I forgot to mention that I have sent two separate complaints to Santander's Complaints Dept (Must be a lively place to work???), both about their abysmal handling of my loan settlement request, both of which were acknowledged by 'auto-response' e-mails (AKA: 'when-we-can-be-bothered'). The 1st was over a week ago now...no proper response, no phone call...no nothing :mad:. Oh, and they still haven't taken the agreed final payment amount from my Cahoot account via Direct-Debit...their idea in the first place if you're following my riveting tale! Could it be perhaps that Santander likes the sound of the 'loan interest' clock ticking for me??? I'll keep you all posted...:wall:ZZZ.

If you have an official complaint, you need to put it in writing and send it by recorded delivery. I highly doubt they will ever reply to an email. Also, one week wait? That's nothing. It took them TEN weeks to reply to my letter and even then, it was a nonsense reply that barely had anything to do with my actual complaint.

angel_islington

clairecymru wrote: »

I get really annoyed every month because Santander send me two statements for my current account. One addressed to me and me and one address to me and my husband. I would prefer not to have statements sent to me in the post because I only ever use online banking and for a year they were sending my statements to the wrong address but they say they cannot cancel my postal statements because of security reasons. It drives me insane.

Speak to the Information Commissioners Office, ask their advice. They are responsible for making sure that our personal data is dealt with in a responsible and legal way. Sending your information to your old address, if you have informed them you've moved, is a breach of the Data Protection Act.

angel_islington

Time_for_some_Truth wrote: »

Hi All - apologies if this may sound ranty but I've had a really frustrating bad day.

Thought I'd share the perspective of an A&L Employee with you all. Having spoken to many many frustrated customers, me and a load of the guys I work wiv are gettin really !!!!ed off too. Basicaly, we are asked to lie to you. no one really knows why things have gone pear shaped or they wont admit to why to guard their own !!!!.

A&L had a system. It was great and worked a treat. A&L was bought by Santander and recently have been migrating accounts to a system called Partenon. The old system let us do loads for the callers. Now, we are forced to tell you to go to the branch or pass you on.

Today we were told that the lines were too busy to pass callers onto to staff who can work the new system. So guess what we were told to do. Thinking that you've been on hold for 30 mins to an hour to speak to me, how about I ask you to call back in an hour! Yeah !!!! isnt it.

This is all because some bright spark decided to hurry up the migration of accounts to the new system. It started gradually and worked very well, none of you were holding for more than 10 mins max right/ So what did this bright spark decide? Lets move over 10 times that at a time! An look wot happened!!! And why do you think they wanted to hurry it up? So they could qualify for the bonus they were promised if it was done by 1 Aug. By the way, me and me mates in work are just the plebs (thank you all those who havnt bollocked us when you got thru) and we dont get any bonus unless we jump thru hoops all year, even then its a fraction of wot the !!!!wits get who balls it all up.

Sorry, I'm digressing.

Yeah so thats why you're waiting so long to get through.

As for moving your money, the migration has knackered up doing that online too. Nobaody knows when this will be resolved, I'm reelly sorry I can t help you there either.

I hope its sorted soon meself for my own sanity, and to you all, I say, thanks for not shouting at me and please be patient cos it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

Thank the lord that I don't use a Santander account for my day to day banking anymore. I'm sure your heart is in the right place but your spelling and grammar is unreal!

You have, however, managed to successfully sum up Santander in one post!

sebtomato

Barclays are terrible. I have been with them for 10 years, and everything was fine for the first 8 years. They then introduced their Pinsentry device for online banking (which they didn't have the idea to send me in advance, despite being a keen online user), and their new security monitoring software for suspicious payments. They keep locking my debit card for no reasons (I never had fraud on my account, and card has been locked 7 times in the last 2 years), and the call centre can't even confirm whether it's locked or not. Last letter I sent to complain on this was answered 3 months later, with some standard wordings.

If a bank can't even provide basic means of payments to work, it's time to change.

They keep sending me letters about large pre-approved loans, despite the fact that I have a typical "saver" profile (any idiot looking at my various accounts for 30 seconds would see this). They even applied for a Barclaycard without me asking, and it is showing on my credit reports now.

I went to a branch to a get mortgage advice, and nobody could advise. The "mortgage advisor" was off for two weeks. They never contacted me back (so in summary, they are keen for me to get a loan, but can't be bothered to sell me a mortgage!). I called them to get an agreement in principles, and they said they couldn't give one, despite having my accounts with them for 10 years. After fighting for 30 minutes and talking to a manager, they send me a piece of paper with some hand-written numbers. Looks very professional.

I am now moving to First Direct: all the direct debits have been transfered, so I was expecting a call from Barclays given the cost of acquiring new customers vs. retaining existing ones, but nothing. Surely, you would think getting a request to transfer all direct debits would trigger some processes, and they would get some trainees to go through some listings each week.

Completely clueless up to the end. So far, FD have been great.

John_Pierpoint

angel_islington wrote: »

Speak to the Information Commissioners Office, ask their advice. They are responsible for making sure that our personal data is dealt with in a responsible and legal way. Sending your information to your old address, if you have informed them you've moved, is a breach of the Data Protection Act.

When you try that - I was trying to get my identity, provider by an identity fraudster, taken off a mobile phone provider - I got hived off to some agency; it was more trouble that the mobile phone company.

Government bureaucrats cannot do anything inside a month/6 weeks unless they are trying to extract money from you.

Every keeper of personal data has a named fall guy, but will the Government Information Department tell you who he is? Well they cannot can they. It is just one bureaucracy playing "anus protectus" with another.

John_Pierpoint

I have just received a new PIN number for my "Santander Visa Debit Card".

(I have an A&L visa card with a sensible PIN number that still has time to run)

So what is going on?
Is this number for my existing card or are they cancelling & reissuing.
Do I still have any access to my money?