Switching to Santander, problems with card

simrgrs

thatsean - switching to or from Santander?

Update on this is the card problem and request for the full one still hasn't been responded to by the underwriters (a process which is ridiculous anyway) but this is now a week and a half since complaining about the card to a member of staff in branch, its out of the branch's hands but surely the underwriters ought to respond in a timely fashion! Natwest account still open (downgraded to current plus rather than Advantage Gold) and available to move back to if they dont respond a) before friday b) with the outcome I require which is the issue of a full visa debit rather than the electron they sent originally

simrgrs

Latest development is that the underwriters have upgraded my card on the system to Visa Debit MFC but branch tell me that the unembossed card that they sent is the new version of visa debit cards and that they are phasing out embossed ones!? I don;t know what to beleive.. Is it worth now ordering a new card to see if an embossed full one is issued?

simrgrs

OK - Santander are pathetic, worst decision ever made to switch to them, moving direct debits and salary back to Natwest starting tomorrow, once done, shutting down all sodding Santander accounts, complete waste of time and effort. Advice to everyone is avoid like the plague!!!!!

WhiteHorse

You be switching to Santander? No Sorr, that way lies madness!

simrgrs

indeed it does, dont know what I as thinking

.1xp

Same happened to me, I recently opened one. Card arrived Saturday, clearly an Electronic Use Only card.

I promptly cut the card up, wrote a letter and posted it back to them on Monday to close the account.

They REALLY should advise people what they will be offering, prior to beginning the switching process.

simrgrs

it baffles me, sailed through credit checks, no mention of problems, card arrived and is a complete pile o pants so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and queried it, they appealed the electron card with the underwriters, underwriters came back and said its got a visa debit onlien multi-funciton card on the account what more do you want and wont change it to a full offline card, I know what this electronic use only card is and its a Visa Electron, the representatives in the branch even tried to fob me off and say these are what the full visa debit offline cards are now. Load of crap, its all getting cancelled as soon as I get my Direct debits and salary back to Natwest where they clearly belong! Balls to Santander and their offers to entice people in.

As far as the Visa Electron cards go and their BS saying "its a Visa Debit", you can decorate poo but it will still be poo.

ERICS_MUM

You might find the odd member of Santander staff who knows what they are doing or how their systems work, but don't hold your breath. The phrase "Neither Rhyme Nor Reason" springs to mind.

From personal experience I also believe they have a major internal fraud issue. My sister extended her mortgage with Santander by £20,000 to fund a house extension. On the day the money was credited to her account, and before she could move it out, it was ALL taken out as 8 fraudulent debits.

Now how lucky was that fraudster, to just ""happen across that particular account on that particular date and that early in the morning before sis could move it off ? Insider knowledge ?? :T
Took my sister 6 months to get it all back, plus a paltry £300 in "goodwill" (theirs, my sister had none for them).

She's now with Nat West and is happy.

ses6jwg

They issue the Visa Debit Online cards on the Instant Plus account, or on the other accounts if the customer is deemed too "risky" for a Visa Debit Offline.

I find when opening accounts they can be quite cautious.

For example, when I opened my account I was not allowed any overdraft at all. Same again 3 months later. After 6 months they will allow me £1400.

A Visa Debit Online will work 99% of the time the same way as Offline card. I'm fairly confident after 3 months of using the account and have a behavioural score built up they will allow you to upgrade to an offline MFC.

simrgrs

If I'm deemed too risky, why did I pass the credit check for a Reward Account which is by their own definition a Premier Account. Surely the purpose of that credit check is to ascertain the risk factor of the customer, what it the point of carrying out a credit check if this is what they are doing? They can be cautious all they want if they would have the common courtesy to communicate their concerns but they chose not to inform me and give me the choice of proceeding or not and instead carried on transferring all direct debits and standing orders over, I now face the nightmare of getting the direct debits, standing orders and salary back to Natwest which will have to be a manual process now.