Santander...Yet again...advice please

welshpolarbear

Hi, I received a letter today to say that I made an ATM withdrawal on 3rd November 2010, but:

"due to technical problems this withdrawal was not posted to your current account at that time"

"In order to correct this, a debit of £30.00 will be made to your account on 1st February 2011"

I have a fantastic memory but I have absolutely no idea if this transaction was made on that exact date, it was nearly 2 months ago!! Im not sure what to do, my instincts are saying phone them and get them to give exact time and location of transaction (and cctv image! Lol) but I know im going to get fobbed off. I can't let it go though, they could well be screwing me over.

In the meantime I am desperately trying to find a new account to transfer to as soon as possible!! The sooner I am free of these guys the better I reckon.

Thanking you in advance for any advice you can give.

chazzee

I'd phone them up, ask them to get the exact location and time. If they can't, then you should claim it wasn't you - I agree, how on earth are you meant to remember!!

toogoodtobetrue_2

welshpolarbear wrote: »

Hi, I received a letter today to say that I made an ATM withdrawal on 3rd November 2010, but:

"due to technical problems this withdrawal was not posted to your current account at that time"

"In order to correct this, a debit of £30.00 will be made to your account on 1st February 2011"

I received the same letter this morning, same dates and amount!
I rang the 0800 number on the letter and was told it was in Petersfield at 14:08, which could well be true but I didn't keep a record so can't dispute it.
Jim

DrSyn

Suggest you change to either Co-op Bank or First Direct.Both banks always come out well in customer satisfaction polls.

Look up the banks annual report,find out the name of the Chief Executive. Send a letter asking for the time, date, amount and where the money was withdrawn. Also what these "technical problems" where exactly.

If you truly disbute what you get back,maybe you might want to take it to the financial ombudsman.

slopemaster

toogoodtobetrue wrote: »

I received the same letter this morning, same dates and amount!
I rang the 0800 number on the letter and was told it was in Petersfield at 14:08, which could well be true but I didn't keep a record so can't dispute it.
Jim

I wd probably dispute it on principle if not sure. Up to them to prove it, not you to disprove, surely?

Degenerate

I'd simply be honest and tell them that you cannot recollect back that far, and due to a proven history of widespread systems failure and incompetence on their part you're not prepared to just take their word for it, as they simply cannot be relied upon to have got it right. You're not disputing at this stage, merely requesting verifying evidence. Exact details of date, time and location plus ATM camera footage should do the trick.

rb10

Degenerate wrote: »

Exact details of date, time and location plus ATM camera footage should do the trick.

Most ATMs do not have CCTV covering them, so there's no chance that you'll get that.

If you want to go to the fuss of checking it out, then I think that a copy of a letter from the ATM owner to Santander would be more than sufficient to confirm that it was indeed you who made the withdrawal.

The ATM owner will still have details of your PAN (the 16-digit number on the front of your card), along with the date, time and amount of the withdrawal.

Wasteofspace

I hear this was a glitch covering ATM withdrawals from Santander accounts during a three hour period a while back.

While this may come across and inconvenient, keep in mind they are letting you know they're going to take the money in advance and explaining they reasons for the delay in processing. They could after all have taken this money today without telling you at all.

Not ideal I agree, but credit due for them actually keeping their customers informed for once!

As to switching, what have you been waiting for? :rotfl:

greggy209

DrSyn wrote: »

Suggest you change to either Co-op Bank or First Direct.Both banks always come out well in customer satisfaction polls.

which one would you recommend please?

DrSyn

Both banks have always come in the top two postions with over 80% customer satisfaction ratings. You should be happy with either.

The Co-op bank can be run via the post office banking service and two of their accounts do not need a minimum amount going in.

First Direct is a division of HSBC, so you can use their branch network for paying in. They give you £100 for joining! You speak to real & polite people. They ask for £1500 a month to go into their 1st account unless you get something else from them like a credit card. If you do not like them, they pay you £100 when you leave. They believe they are the best! I have never heard of anyone leaving due to bad service.

Because of the above, First Direct first, if its not for you then the Co-op bank.

pmduk

Just remember this thread next time there's an ATM error and Santander say their ATMs don't make errors!