If Santander Is SO Bad...

ses6jwg

samizdat wrote: »

I just spent an hour in a Santander branch trying, but failing, to close my current account. The account was formerly an Alliance & Leicester Premier Current Account, but has been switched over to Santander.

The cashier was unable to explain why the account couldn't be closed. His advice was to travel several miles to a Santander branch that used to be part of Alliance & Leicester, on the grounds that the staff might know what to do.

I had tried to close the account over the phone yesterday. The first CS person said he could do this, but half way through the process I was cut off. The second CS person said this couldn't be done - I had to go into a branch.

I despair really.

It is all to do with the linked PlusSaver account, and again poor communication between Santander and their staff at branch level.

bufflebear

Probably just the staff being awkward. Sometimes they need to be reminded of their job titles i.e. CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSISTANT!

chambta

I've never read any poster on here admit to working for Santander...

Wonder why that is.

karatedragon

chambta wrote: »

I've never read any poster on here admit to working for Santander...

Wonder why that is.

A colleague of mine worked for them in a branch and said it was the worst place they have ever worked.

stclair

karatedragon wrote: »

A colleague of mine worked for them in a branch and said it was the worst place they have ever worked.

My mate whos an ex branch manager for rbs is now a branch manager for santander and he claims to be treated better by santander than what he was by rbs.

I do agree with your post above though if your unhappy with something then do something about it......

pmduk

dzug1 wrote: »

Maybe because other banks aren't THAT much better.

And maybe because MOST of their customers don't experience the problems that are posted on here

Bit like flying Ryanair possibly?

Look at the survey on this site of their very own customers. There are very many of their own customers who want to get away. But several months after legal requests have been served on santander they are still holding onto customer's money which, by then is NOT theirs.,

chambta

stclair wrote: »

My mate whos an ex branch manager for rbs is now a branch manager for santander and he claims to be treated better by santander than what he was by rbs.

I do agree with your post above though if your unhappy with something then do something about it......

At this stage I don't plan to stay around to find out.

I aim to move across to Natwest in the next year.

kerri_gt

I seem to be in the minority and totally sympathise with people who have had problems with Santander, loss of online access, random charges applied to their accounts, etc etc but I have to say the transfer of my A&L account to Santander has gone without a hitch. Had a weekend of not being able to use my online access when the migration took place but apart from that it's been fine. Plus, now I have a branch in my home town (which I can get served at far quicker than the H'Fax I previously had to use) since there wasn't an A&L account in town.

I did have some intial frustrations setting up online banking when I opened my account a year ago, and tbh the Santander Credit Card online banking isn't perfect by any means, but again I'm not sure that makes other banks better...no scrap that, First Direct was super easy to set up. But overall, I'm pretty happy with Santander....so far.....

pmduk

JacksterD wrote: »

I'm doing my bit - I won't be opening a Santander account until MSE is filled with threads on how excellent Santander are

Like you I'm doing my bit. I've insisted that RBS transfer my account to one of their Scottish branches. If Santander can't cope with the accounts they already have why add to their burden? (particularly at my own inconvenience).

Mark_In_Hampshire

Most peoples interaction with a bank is a bit like interaction with computer software. In a decade, for personal accounts, I have probably called a bank maybe three times and visited a branch twice. Therefore I'd imagine many people think that all banks are much the same.

And that's probably true up to a point. It's the moment you need a human being to help you, to rectify an error, or similar, that you then begin to run into problems.

The analogy about Talk Talk is a good one; BT are the same - "it's just phone line rental". Yes, it is, until something goes wrong or you need an answer which isn't on the script card in front of the call centre operator. That's where the frustration begins and goes on and on and on.