want to close my bank account

bigblackdog

i opened a bank account with alliance and leicester after seeing a tip on here to get the free £100 , this was about a year ago .
i never got the £100 as i missed the date to pay the minimum £500.00 in within the month .
i have had nothing but greif with it to be honest , charges on top of charges on top of charges ........
i moved to France approx 6 mths ago , and have got the account in credit , have about £35.00 in there , any way 2 months ago i managed to speak to someone on the phone and they told me i would have to go into the branch to shut the account ( weird since the branches always direct you to use the phone for anything important)
anyway after going through some security checks on the phone i finally spoke to a lady who assured me that under the circumstances (me living abroad) and that the account didnt have much money in it , she would arrange for it to be shut and a cheque would be sent to my address in france ......this was about 2 months back .........then i heard nothing , i just assumed it had been shut (the account) and that was the end of it .
anyway i got a letter today (redirected from my uk address) from santander ( seems my account has not been closed and is now with another bank !!) with the usual £5.00 under funding charge , and balance , what a nightmare , the account just wont dissapear ,
this happened a while back , and the account went into overdraft and they then charged me everyday it was overdrawn , it was overdrawn because of there charges and the delay in the post being re directed cost me every day , i also know they list all this on my credit rating as i have looked it up
how can i shut the bank account forever .?
any ideas?
thanks

powerone

Have you written to them.

xyz123

write to them and keep record of letter.

i recently closed an A+L premier direct account over the phone, go through the telephone banking. I also did same with another account 2 years ago. So twice i have closed an account over the phone.

adindas

Me too I managed to close my Premier Direct Account Last Month over the Phone.

But I did not surprise if some people is successful some do not. The reason that is the one behind the phone could quite significant different in Knowledge. We have heard a lot of instances about these in this forum. I think Santander Senior management need to become mystery guess/customer and then test it him selves. The one who make mistake behind the phone should be given more training to lift to up to standard.

Therefore if you could, do it in writing.The problem also with phone banking there is no way that we could use it as evidence if something goes wrong.

xyz123 wrote: »

write to them and keep record of letter.

i recently closed an A+L premier direct account over the phone, go through the telephone banking. I also did same with another account 2 years ago. So twice i have closed an account over the phone.

jen245

I also closed mine over the phone using the telephone banking number, account was closed within 24 hours (unavailable on online banking), and about 9 days later I got my cheque for the closing balance, plus a letter of confirmation the account was closed.