Good NatWest experience with fraud check

glennc1981

I recently helped my brother out by getting some stuff online for him (football tickets, something from a website and a Paypal transaction for an eBay purchase). In addition I order my shopping online via Asda.

Understandably this may've rang alarm bells. I've used my NatWest Visa debit online before and I'm all signed up for Verified by Visa etc. Anyways on my way to work I bought a drink in Somerfield, paid for with my card. No problems. When I was at work though I had a call from the NatWest fraud department to verify that the recent transactions from the preceding night were genuine. It was all via a computerised system but in the end all was well. It appears they did put a safety block on there, but I didn't have any disruption and to be honest I feel more trustworthy of NatWest knowing that they were looking after my money. :T

The point of my post here was to praise NatWest, but condemn... wait for it... Santander!

At the start of the weekend of the first May Bank Holiday I was looking on eBay and found something I wanted to buy. No problems with the eBay. Anyhow I went to pay with my Paypal (which had my Santander Visa Electron card details on, so as you can imagine I've used the card no problem before), and the card declined. I tried again and it declined again. :mad:

The next day (Saturday) I tried to get some cash from an ATM. Once again it declined, so I went into a branch to find out what had happened. I was served by a new cashier who tried to find out what was wrong. He checked with his (I suppose) mentor and she didn't notice anything wrong, so they said there was nothing wrong so told me not to worry.

At about 3.55pm that day I went into Tesco to buy something, and my card declined, so I paid with what cash I had left. The Santander branch was literally a minute's walk so I tried to whisk there before they shut at 4pm. They were closed when I got there.:mad:

In the end I called Santander and the Indian lady on the other end was as helpful as a chocolate teapot so I decided to wait until the Tuesday to go into branch to fly at somebody. To cut a long story short they put a "sticky referral" on because of suspicious fraudulent activity (that previously mentioned Paypal payment DESPITE me using the card on there before!). I guess it would've been nice to have received a call to check instead of taking such drastic action. Luckily had it not been for supportive family members my bank holiday weekend would've been very dreary.

I stopped using Santander and I joined NatWest in July. It just goes to show how two different banks have different methods to look after customers. In my three months with NatWest I've been more impressed than my whole time with Santander. Of course NatWest isn't the perfect bank, but I was impressed and they get a thumbs up from me for looking out for me whilst not inconveniencing me. :money:I wonder what would've happened if it were Santander! :wall:

rb10

Nice to read that you've had a good experience with Natwest - a lot of people have problems with them as they have a habit of messing things up, so long may your good run continue!

glennc1981

Thanks. I really hope it will continue. I know it's goofy but I want to see for myself that NatWest stand up to their customer charter. I hope I can maintain some continuity and stay with them for a long time. I'll let you know this time next year. :beer:

AnonymousForObviousReason

I have a new theory about Santander. I think they've been created by all the other banks so we'll stop complaining about them, no bank could truly be this bad.

Toe-Jam

Your card gets blocked quite easily with Santander. Mine was blocked last week when I made 2 small purchases to the same place within 24 hours. But they have an automated fraud line. Usually a day or 2 after you get a phone call from +8453512275, and its an automated voice, you just confirm your date of birth and the transactions that were referred and it releases your card again.

Obviously if you miss the call or don't answer it will stay blocked, but they call a few times.

HarveyGal

I had a phone call about six months ago, purporting to be Santander checking on a possible fraudulent use of my Zero card. I would not verify anything as they wanted me to quote my security info and I could not be sure who 'they' were....so I called Santander using a phone number I knew to be genuine. I was put through to various departments - they could not confirm that anyone from their company had called me and eventually their fraud department suggested I cancel the card as it looked like someone was trying to obtain security info. I cancelled it but have never replaced it (partly cos I don't need it and partly cos of the appalling service the company sometimes gives).

I have banked with NatWest for a long time and have almost always had brilliant service. They have queried some activities on my card - though I would not confirm security details again and rang them on a known number to check what was happening. I am very satisfied with the service from NatWest, so much that I will not change banks cos the incentives available do not seem worth it compared to the potential hassle I know some friends have had when switching.

glennc1981

Toe-Jam wrote: »

Your card gets blocked quite easily with Santander. Mine was blocked last week when I made 2 small purchases to the same place within 24 hours. But they have an automated fraud line. Usually a day or 2 after you get a phone call from +8453512275, and its an automated voice, you just confirm your date of birth and the transactions that were referred and it releases your card again.

Obviously if you miss the call or don't answer it will stay blocked, but they call a few times.

I never had any kind of call like that, and I didn't get into the branch until the Tuesday afternoon (I had to leave work early to get the problem resolved). NatWest called me on my mobile but I had it on silent (as I was at work) and I missed it when I went to get some water. However I called up the number and they went through it all and no problems after that. I do wonder why Santander have to be so bad. My mum is with them and I think given my trouble with them she's considering getting out of there. She's been alright with them.... thus far!

ERICS_MUM

My sister had a nightmare with Santander. They paid £20,000 into her account as a loan draw-down to pay for building materials (new extension). On the same day, the whole £20,000 was whisked off in several fraudulent transactions :mad:. it took 6 months to get everything back and wring some costs and compo from them. To me it smacked of an inside job but obviously we will never find out for sure...

She moved to Nat West last year and finds them very good so far, especially their on-line banking, and their UK call centres.