MSE News: Santander still worst bank for customer service

Paulgonnabedebtfree

yappycat wrote: »

Santander have caused me piles of trouble by 'rebranding' their cards - reissuing new cards with a Santander logo instead of Abbey. 'This card is identical to your old one' they said...except it wasn't as the start/expiry dates were different, ofc it wasn't until payment rejections started coming in from subscription services I realised I had to change my card details with each company involved. I couldn't top up my mobile phone as the providers website kept insisting I was trying to register the 'same' card and yet could not use it to take a payment all the same. I have to wait for a refund from Sky via a cheque because they can't credit my new and 'different' card with the money I am owed.
So busy thinking about getting a new logo on the cards that they didn't think it prudent just to wait and send out rebranded cards when the older cards actually expired >.<
No wonder they're getting such a bad rap atm - they deserve it!

They do indeed deserve the flak that they get.
My main issues with them have been of the niggly kind rather than the inability to access accounts. However, it is still grossly irritating that I have had to start using another banks business account just so that I can see the references for incoming BACS payments (you know, the very unimportant bit that tells me which customer has made the payment). This turned out to be a blessing in disguise because as the money is separated at the point I receive it, I am finding it a bit easier to leave the BACS money untouched and view it as a van maintenance/tax bill fund. I still deposit cash and cheques with Santander though. That is their one saving grace IMO (for me anyway) inasmuch that I can deposit cash and cheques 24/7 by ATM free of charge. It's actually the ONLY reason I still do any business with them. They never send (unless prompted) the "statement of interest" summaries that I need for my tax returns. Not quite true. They do send them for business accounts but not for the personal ones. Weird or what? They even went through a phase of not returning bounced cheques - leaving me to guess which customer had bounced a cheque on me. They did eventually manage to read out the names on the cheques over the phone - after much gnashing of teeth from myself. They have since rectified this though (as has my dentist ).

kazzl100

I was with Alliance and leicester and always had good customer service, but since moving to santander it's been the most apalling service ever. I have 9 complaints outstanding with them at the moment. I am planning on moving accounts.

PhylPho

yappycat wrote: »

Santander have caused me piles of trouble by 'rebranding' their cards - reissuing new cards with a Santander logo instead of Abbey. 'This card is identical to your old one' they said...except it wasn't as the start/expiry dates were different, ofc it wasn't until payment rejections started coming in from subscription services I realised I had to change my card details with each company involved. I couldn't top up my mobile phone as the providers website kept insisting I was trying to register the 'same' card and yet could not use it to take a payment all the same. I have to wait for a refund from Sky via a cheque because they can't credit my new and 'different' card with the money I am owed.
So busy thinking about getting a new logo on the cards that they didn't think it prudent just to wait and send out rebranded cards when the older cards actually expired >.<
No wonder they're getting such a bad rap atm - they deserve it!

Hey yappycat, I had that letter as well. It also included my posh new card with the posh new logo. Very impressive. Only thing is, I'm not a customer of Santander nor any bank or building society Santander has snapped up at a bargain price.

I did reply to the letter writer pointing this out, but for some unfathomable reason, have never received even an acknowledgment.

Anyway. If you like, I can send you this posh new card with its mightily impressive logo. It's of no use to me but in your case, well, you never know: it might have been for your account in the first place.

Santander. The bank that likes to say. . . Nothing.

AnonymousForObviousReason

PhylPho wrote: »

Hey yappycat, I had that letter as well. It also included my posh new card with the posh new logo. Very impressive. Only thing is, I'm not a customer of Santander nor any bank or building society Santander has snapped up at a bargain price.

I did reply to the letter writer pointing this out, but for some unfathomable reason, have never received even an acknowledgment.

Anyway. If you like, I can send you this posh new card with its mightily impressive logo. It's of no use to me but in your case, well, you never know: it might have been for your account in the first place.

Santander. The bank that likes to say. . . Nothing.

Were you ever a customer of the banks that were taken over? They have been causing people stress by reopening closed accounts. Congratulations on being their newest member... you may want to check your credit report to see.:p

PhylPho

AnonymousForObviousReason wrote: »

Were you ever a customer of the banks that were taken over? They have been causing people stress by reopening closed accounts. Congratulations on being their newest member... you may want to check your credit report to see.:p

No. We weren't. Royal Bank of Scotland for our bank accounts, Skipton Building Society for what passed as our savings accounts. Obviously we weren't too bright in the choice of either but then again, neither of 'em are in the hands of a foreign bank yet -- whoops, just realised, they've started serving sangria at our RBS branch.

ellie43

Yes, I was with A&L for years and never had any problems. I found the call centre staff helpful and it was easy to get through.

But once Santander took over it became a nightmare. Endless menus and choices when I rang. If you weren't careful you ended up in a cul de sac which told you to look at the website and cut you off. Well, I was ringing because I couldn't find the info I needed on the website.

I complained when I did get through but there was no interest at all - I said 'you don't care do you' and again there was no interest.

I wanted to close my current account, couldn't find any info on the website, so I sent a secure message. No reply at all. I rang and was told that the info wasn't available on the website because they didn't want customers to close their accounts!!!

I had a ISA with Abbey and wanted to find out the interest rate. Info no-where to be found. When I finally managed to speak to a person I was told the info was on the website (see a theme here?). Well the info was on the website, but they had changed the name of my ISA so I had no way of identifying it. They took a month to transfer the funds to another ISA. No excuse whatsoever for this kind of delay.

Have since moved to First Direct. An of course Santander messed up the transfer of the direct debits.

Worth the hassle though as FD are so much better. No menu's when you ring. Knowledgeable staff. Helpful and friendly. I don't dread ringing up my bank like I used to.

AnonymousForObviousReason

PhylPho wrote: »

No. We weren't. Royal Bank of Scotland for our bank accounts, Skipton Building Society for what passed as our savings accounts. Obviously we weren't too bright in the choice of either but then again, neither of 'em are in the hands of a foreign bank yet -- whoops, just realised, they've started serving sangria at our RBS branch.

I'd be a little worried about how they got your name then, maybe they are the ones that picked up the laptop from that Skipton employee.:D

onceuponatim

Ive had a nightmare with Santander. Im quite happy to take the blame where Im at fault however ive never had so many problems in such a short space of time. I can relate to almost everything said before as Ive been a long standing B&B customer.
My recent nightmare started in July ish. Id recently got an additional basic santander account as my old B&B didnt allow internet access. I didnt want an overdraft and wanted the "control" a debit card would bring.

I was caught out in July when a number of purchases were authorised when the funds were not in my account (due to a delay in another autonomous transfer)

It was first brought to my attention by apparent fraudulent transfers in canada??? Once that was resolved, I had the issue of approx £180 unauthorised overdraft and subsequent charges. I asked for an overdraft in the short term to cover it as I didnt have access to other accounts to transfer in..... They couldnt do it as my account couldnt have an authorised overdraft???????

A long conversation ensued where i found out about shop authorisations on certain limits etc which totally blows my reasoning of having a debit card that will only authorise what I have in my account (I know that this is not purely a Santander issue)

After clearing the matter with a superior, the assistant agreed to refund my overdraft charge and I paid in what I rightly owed on the overdraft (that i hadnt asked for)

I did not use the card again!!! However, what ensued was a process up until last week where I had an account that had accrued pennies in interest on my unauthorised overdraft and then subsequently and monthly £25 charge for the unauthorised overdraft. Each time I called the staff got the whole story and agreed to refund the charge.... What I missed until recently was the pennies interest. I did not ask the correct questions.

I have had to ensure that a) the account is zero'd b) any pending charges are stopped c) any subsequent charges are stopped d) there is a couple of quid sitting in the account for any interest that may be looming???? Somehow the advisor couldnt tell me if there was any due???

I hope that ramble makes sense. It may be de rigour for some but this silly error really caught me out and based on the banking practices ive experienced, Im sure there are a few being caught out.
Santanders only comment was that it was my responsibility to check what I had in my account before making a purchase and they stood by everthing they did.

siwilks

Not at all surprised based on our experience of them. We had an application accepted on their flexible offset mortgage, then tinkered slightly with the amounts, at which point they decided that as we were also selling a house independently of our purchase, we were likely to make a deposit in our offset savings pot - ie. we were going to use an offset mortgage exactly as it is designed to be used. We have plans to extend the house, so it isn't just short-term borrowing as they claimed. They'd already assessed us as having a perfect credit history, and scored the mortgage parameters as being affordable for us. So basically they penalised us for being "good" borrowers.

Interestingly, many of my family have been Abbey customers for years, but have recently switched after a number of them were identity theft victims - the frauds on each occasion being traced to Spain!

funkymartin

I used to have an A&L current account for a short time some years ago and ditched it after I suddenly incurred bank charges. I also got disgruntled with a female telephone representative of theirs who sounded like she may have attended numerous customer care courses but still couldn't change her attitude.

Earlier this year, with the current economic climate and my former current account provider, Citibank, upsetting me by suddenly withdrawing a long standing overdraft, I gave A&L another chance. Their £100 new customer carrot had me enticed.

Back in May 2010 I called their telephone banking to pay off five credit cards and was all pleased with myself until I suddenly received another Sainsbury's card statement with a balance of over £3000. After calling A&L back I was advised the operator had mis-eyed this particular card account number, omitting one digit. Since June I have been waiting for some resolution to this issue, following their letter dated 22 June 2010 offering me a £25 resolution credit. The final paragraph stated that my complaint would be left open for eight weeks and if they didn't hear from me by then they would regard my complaint as closed! (I've been really busy lately and must admit to just recently reading that part.)

Suffice to say, meantime, Sainsbury's card statements have continued to arrive with the high balance showing, and me having to continue to meet minimum payments. I have recently written back to Santander as I'm really angry this had taken so long to deal with and I've also written to the Financial Ombudsman in desperation. I'm quite concerned what has happened to my £3129.71 designed to pay off this card months ago. Hopefully I will get a positive result very soon, plus ample compensation. (They also caused me grieve with my former direct debit transfers and I've just received an official notice from TV Licensing as their payments had ceased unbeknown to me!)

Anyone else had a worse Santander experience? If there was a better bank out there and the transfer process was stress-free I'd likely move again but I just cannot face the potential fiascos and turmoil again.