FOS Awarded me a WIN against Santander, but compensation is low...

Cheesedoodles

Hi all,

I've not had access to my Alliance & Leicester (now Santander) account on line since June......And I have spent A LOT of time phoning them writing letters etc. to no avail.

Santander insisted everything was OK with my account, but it wasn't. After I finally got Santanders "final response" I took the matter to the FOS in October.

Today I received a letter where the FOS is agreeing with me and told Santander to compensate me.

The offer is for £110..... and by accepting that is the end of this..

However....I STILL do not have access to my accounts online. AND i have spent countless hours on the phone to them and in the end I had to change bank account, with all associated direct debts, standing orders etc. This takes a LOT of time.

I still have the A&L/Santander account but I don't use it. I DO however, check my balance "IN BRANCH" once a week to ensure everything is ok... I did not want to close it until I had the final response from FOS.


Now...I have 2 options from the FOS:

1. I accept the offer of £110 and that is the end of it.
2. I decline the offer and ask for a review. It says I MAY lose the initial offer all together.

I don't feel £110 is enough....considering the above facts.

Is anyone else in the same situation? What is "normal" compensation for these situations?

All help and advice will be accepted with open arms

Cheesedoodles

PS! Can any mods please change the spelling of Santader in the topic? I misspelt it

jen245

TBH, if it was me, Id take the money, close the account and be done with them. They are a nightmare, and as you have now changed your account, you have no reason to keep the account any longer, or have anything to do with them. Well done in winning your complaint though :beer:

opinions4u

You need to quantify two things.

1) How much you are out of pocket by (e.g. phone calls, interest lost by being unable to move funds to better account, £10 an hour for your time, stamps, paper, printer ink). You should expect to get all of this reimbursed.

2) State an amount that you think is reasonable by way of apology. It sounds like a complete nightmare to me and I'd expect it to be in excess of £100 and perhaps towards £250. In addition to the amount in (1).

You should also state that as the problem hasn't been resolved it isn't yet appropriate to accept in "full and final settlement".

Your complaint remains open until they solve the problem and improve their offer.

(Jen245 makes a very good point though!)

PS! Can any mods please change the spelling of Santader in the topic? I misspelt it

Click on <edit> and <go advanced> and you can do it yourself.

Cheesedoodles

Thanks for your responses...

I might actually sit down later tonight and do some calculations... I have all the letters and correspondence from Santander...but I can't remember how many times I've phoned them...I'll have to make an educated guess! Even though I've now moved everything away from Santander, I do go to branch once a week to get a balance figure to ensure everything is ok and that they haven't screwed anything up. I've done this since July...I do that in my lunch hour and it takes me roughly 30 minutes. So that's 12 1/2 hours just doing that!

Seeing as I've already moved most of my money out of the accounts and transferred Standing orders and direct debits to my new bank account (first direct) it's no longer a headache as such...more like an itch.

However, I'm just angry that they are completely oblivious to the fact that I after 7 months (SEVEN) STILL have no access to my accounts online. In addition the've made no real attempts at solving this, their customer service is a shambles and they've treated with with contempt.

I'd rather put it through all the way to cause as much annoyance to Santander as I can....if anything making their complaints statistics with the FOS look worse.

It's more of a personal vendetta now. They treated me with absolute contempt and I don't think they deserve to get away with a simple "here's £110....now get lost"

thatsean

My thoughts - there's more to life than this. Take the £110, make a purchase for yourself, someone you care for, or a cause that matters to you, and get on with your life. This is a company you no longer deal with, and the FOS say you were right. Don't sink more of your time into this than you have to - for what, an extra hundred pounds?

PNPSUKNET

I would take it, the fos would of said a higher amount if warranted. If greedy it may cost you, ie no compensation

sharpy2010

thatsean wrote: »

My thoughts - there's more to life than this. Take the £110, make a purchase for yourself, someone you care for, or a cause that matters to you, and get on with your life. This is a company you no longer deal with, and the FOS say you were right. Don't sink more of your time into this than you have to - for what, an extra hundred pounds?

I think you are right Sean, this is an example of how greedy and petty some people have become :-(

Cheesedoodles

sharpy2010 wrote: »

I think you are right Sean, this is an example of how greedy and petty some people have become :-(

I do see your point about greed...but those who know me would say I'm the least greedy person there is...at times I'm too generous!!

This is whole different ballgame.....if you perceive me to be greedy, what are the banks???

I did some calculations yesterday and I've spent roughly 30 hours so far sorting this mess out...and it is still not fixed.

I just don't think it's fair that they banks can just "run over me" like that. If everyone just gave up at the first hurdle, then the banks win... I know Santander will never go away, and I know banks will always treat customers like dirt, but someone needs to stand up against these guys.

Let's flip the coin....The banks do not think twice about charging people for the smallest thing. If someone is being greedy....it's the banks! Look at the bank charges trial......and look at some of those stories of people being charged charges on charges on charges for the silliest things..

So this isn't only about me wanting a bit more compensation from Santader (although that would be nice) it's more of a principal thing than anything else...If I lose the £110 i'm not going to cry over it..... at least I've caused a minute amount of work for Santander...and that costs them money.

johnmoney05

Come on, don't take it. Sue them! Complain to MP. Protest on the street. Do whatever you can. Don't let it rest. £110 for your 30 hours...what a joke!

xyz123

Cheesedoodles wrote: »

So this isn't only about me wanting a bit more compensation from Santader (although that would be nice) it's more of a principal thing than anything else...If I lose the £110 i'm not going to cry over it..... at least I've caused a minute amount of work for Santander...and that costs them money.

if it's not about money, so would you give this to charity?

take £110 and sod santander. they are just completely useless and without doubt the worst bank in UK. their customer service is completely dreadful.