Santander £100 switch - Null & Void !

sparkyman2

Hi All,

Just wanted to make everybody aware that Santaders' £100 switch incentive of 2010 (Ended Sept 10) had a term imposed regarding switching of Direct Debits.

Santander have told me today that, because I failed to use their DD switching service and set up my own DD's on my new Santander account, I am no longer eligible for the £100 payment as I have breached their terms & conditions....

....trouble is, I've scoured the paperwork I was given when I left the branch on the day I signed up - no mention of this ????

Whilst I was in branch today, waiting to tak about this, another person was tacking the teller with exactly the same issue ?

Seems I'm not alone here - seems also that Santander are exploiting this loophole as the reply to the other persons question was iimediate and forthright "because you failed to use our dedicated switching service and decided to set up your own direct debits, you are not eligible for the £100 payment".

I also notice that their new 2011 £100 swicth incentive posters have the "dedicated switching service" term very clearly stated after the main advert............I don't recall this term being shown on the 2010 advert i responded to, nor was I advised of it when signing up, nor was it notified on any paperwork given to me by the branch when I signed up, not have I received any indication of such in way of letters ????????

Do I have a case to get the Ombudsman to investigate further - I feel I've been cheated. When I intially spoke to Santader reagrding the "missing" £100 payment I was told it wouldn't be paid until the new account had been operated with at least £1000 a month deposit and at least 2 direct debits per month executed, for a period of 3 months from date of account becoming active..........now I'm told I'm not eligible because the 2 DD's on the account were not set up by Santander.

I visted the Branch today to complain and presented the paperwork that was issued to me on the day of signing up. I asked him to show me this particular term & condition that I appeared to have fallen foul of. He sat and read through the paperwork and confimed that the term & condition was not shown. He left the office to talk with his supervisor. On his return, he acknowledged a "mis-communication" had occured and the branch were willing to offer me £25 as a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience........I declined as I believe I have foundation to take this further with the FSA ?

The other customer with the same issue, and the immediate question/reply is also too much of a coincidence - especially with the new wording of the 2011 advertising posters in branch.........seems Santander may have a number of similar complaints to deal with and have altered there advert accordingly ?

Any comments gratefully received

Thanks

noh

It always was a condition for receiving the £100 incentive.
It was stated on their web site. Can't comment on the printed literature as I have never seen it.

Here is a thread from round about the time you opened your account.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2633207

ses6jwg

You're wrong, sorry.

noh

ses6jwg wrote: »

You're wrong, sorry.

Who's wrong?

Wasteofspace

It was a switching incentive, not an open a new account incentive. If you didn't use the switching team you wont qualify for the switching incentive. Normal branch and phone advisors will not be able to hand you £100 so it may be worth writing a letter to Santander explaining that you did not feel this was made clear.

freemoneyrocks

I'm with noh. It was quite clear that you had to switch to get the £100.

ses6jwg

noh wrote: »

Who's wrong?

The original poster.

pqrdef

The website was badly worded. It was necessary to understand that it was written by marketroids and copywriters and didn't necessarily say what it was supposed to mean.

"You get the bonus if you use the switching service" states a sufficient condition. It doesn't make it at all clear that this is supposed to be a necessary condition, i.e.. "if" is supposed to mean "only if".

BigAndy_79

Why is it that so much banking literature is so badly worded ?!

thatsean

I opened my account online, and was aware of the reuirement to use the switching team in order to qualify for the payment. Can't comment on the branch marketing material, but can't see why it would have been any more ambiguous. Pop a letter off to them, and see how they are feeling. The amount of £100 cheques they've got to cut due to their statement balls up - I can't see how yours will make a difference.

TommyL_2

I just received the same letter as the original poster...I am a customer of the aforementioned bank.

I deposited the required amount each month
I set up new direct debits
I applied for the account during the switcher offer period
I have kept my new account open
I used the Account Transfer Service.


Now I am writing to the aforementioned bank to kindly request my £100. If I do not receive the money then legal action will be taken. I will update this thread to let others know how I got on.

To the smug posters who have a 'nothing in this life is free' attitude I say that you need to get wise to contract law. It is not good enough.

That is all.