Santander - Major C***-up - Poor service.

DrSyn

1. As you are identical twins,using common sense to begin with would have prevented this problem I expect.

So why did you two not each chose " different good banks!" e.g Co-op Bank and First Direct?


2. When mistakes started to happen without them being corrected straight away, why did you not write a formal letter of complaint to the banks "chief executive" at the London head office, asking for compensation?

:j

ERICS_MUM

DrSyn wrote: »

1. As you are identical twins,using common sense to begin with would have prevented this problem I expect.

So why did you two not each chose " different good banks!" e.g Co-op Bank and First Direct?


2. When mistakes started to happen without them being corrected straight away, why did you not write a formal letter of complaint to the banks "chief executive" at the London head office, asking for compensation?

:j

20/20 hindsight is a marvellous invention !

Cmdr_Bond

DrSyn wrote: »

1. As you are identical twins,using common sense to begin with would have prevented this problem I expect.

So why did you two not each chose " different good banks!" e.g Co-op Bank and First Direct?

We have had some of these accounts for over 15 years - this is the first time we have ever received bad service from Santander, in fact under the Abbey National and Abbey brands we have had nothing but excellent service. Bear in mind that when these accounts were originally opened, Not only did we have the same surname, initials (albeit one reversed) and date of birth, we also had the same address. And we have NEVER had any issues like this in the past.

Can you tell me what the best bank account for someone just starting work - on a salary of less than 12000 a year, was 15 years ago? I can't! And we started our bank accounts there because we already had savings accounts with them that our parents had opened when we were kids - so it was much easier to open our first bank account with them.

It may be that like now Abbey National then topped the charts as Santander is currently now - yes their service recently has been far from perfect, but they still offer some of the best basic bank and savings accounts.

DrSyn wrote: »

2. When mistakes started to happen without them being corrected straight away, why did you not write a formal letter of complaint to the banks "chief executive" at the London head office, asking for compensation?

:j

If you read through, you will realise that we thought it had been settled, I received a statement in the correct name after we had sorted it out for the first time. It was only when we payed our cheques in after Christmas we realised it was still not sorted. These are details that are not visible to us via online banking. That is when we went into branch and started a formal complaint there and then.

When this has been sorted out, we will be discussing compensation - and if it is no more than a token gesture then I will be re-assessing my options, including writing to the ombudsman.

BlueC

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

I am so on the verge of dropping them, just waiting to see what compensation they offer me.

It doesn't help that although their service is currently !!!!!!, this is the first time in nearly 20 years I have had any issue with them. In fact in the past as "Abbey" they have been incredibly helpful. It also doesn't help that they currently have some of the better deals in the market place for both savings and current accounts.

Abbey, B&B, Alliance & Leicester etc all had good products and decent customer service but now they are all Santander who are hopeless - their customer service is shockingly bad and their internal processes are clearly broken.

This week I closed my Santander Current Account (previously A&L, which was great) in protest at their gross incompetence and put my money elsewhere. I'm also moving my Santander (previously B&B) cash ISA's elsewhere too. I've tried closing my Santander Zero credit card too but its like banging my head against a brick wall.

I've never dealt with a bank anywhere near as bad as Santander. It is a wonder they have any customers left. Natwest, First Direct and Co-Operative are all light years ahead of Santander for customer service.

Take your custom elsewhere, they don't deserve any loyalty.

Mikeyorks

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

I just needed to vent.

I've known submarines do it quicker!


One of you move Banks. The loser keeps Santander!

ERICS_MUM

DrSyn wrote: »

1. As you are identical twins,using common sense to begin with would have prevented this problem I expect.

So why did you two not each chose " different good banks!" e.g Co-op Bank and First Direct?


2. When mistakes started to happen without them being corrected straight away, why did you not write a formal letter of complaint to the banks "chief executive" at the London head office, asking for compensation?

:j

I don't think this is a valid argument. How do the Smiths and Joneses get on ? Our family has a distinctive foreign surname and yet Nat West have managed nearly 20 of our accounts over the years without this sort of mishap.

I believe the root of "Abbey's" probs started when their business was migrated to Santander's computer systems. No idea as to the whys, hows, whos and whens but it's just not up to the job.

pauljoecoe

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

Today has been the first day in which I have seen a light at the end of the tunnel.

Let me explain. I am an identical twin, to make matters worse (or more confusing for some) mine and my brothers names are swapped round (I am ABC, he is BAC).

We both opened bank accounts with Abbey National many many years ago, between us we now have 4 bank accounts and 2 savings accounts with them (1 of my bank accounts is a joint account with my wife).

Last year (2010), around July/August my bro moved house. Around September/October he sorted out his change of address with Santander (yes, he should of done it sooner). The next statement I received said Mr BBC (remember I am ABC and he is BAC).

I logged on to my on-line banking, only to find I cannot change my personal details. Made the long distance call to India, to be told I had to go into a branch. So I dutifully made the journey into a branch to correct my name details on the account.

Within a week, me and my wife were round my brothers, and my wife noticed his latest statement also read Mr. BBC. We suggested he went into the same branch that I did to get this sorted. For some reason he did not. He went into his local branch, whose computers were down, so he went into a Santander Agency across the road.

He provided them with identification and details of his accounts. To make things absolutely clear I went into the same Agency the following day (with my wife), spoke to the same person my brother did, and also provided her with details of our accounts and our identification. (These included screen-shots from both mine and my brothers on-line banking log ons to show whose accounts belonged where).

This was November last year (2010). I have since received statements in the correct name, so thought it was all sorted - how wrong could I be.

In January this year (2011), I paid a cheque into my account (Xmas present). Whilst I paid mine in through a machine, my brother paid his in over the counter. It was here we found out all was still not well, as they had put all 6 accounts under his name. Yet we could still only manage our own accounts on-line.

I was now on the warpath, went phoned up the main branch that I originally went into, and demanded an appointment with the manager. I ended up with an appointment with an advisor (as they apparently have more access to the systems than a manager - a bit backwards if you ask me). I have to say, that I cannot fault the advisor one bit, in fact she has been VERY helpful.

She upscaled the issue to a full on complaint, advised me of the complaint's procedure blah blah blah. This was on the 14th of January (2011).

I received a confirmation letter from her (as did my brother), within a couple working of days, that this was now an official complaint, and it basically repeated what she had told me in the branch.

On the 18th or 19th of January (2011), I forget which, I was going through my statements on-line. I clicked to go to the next page and got a "this service is temporarily unavailable" message. I thought OK, technical glitch, these things happen and thought no more of it. Until yesterday (31st January (2011)) that is.

I tried logging on yesterday, and although the system accepted my credentials - under e-banking it still said that the service was unavailable. I phoned my brother, who checked his account, and was able to log in without issue and only his accounts were visible.

It was then I had a brain-ripple. I had TWO e-banking log ons. One for my first bank account and one for my joint account. I only ever used the joint one for the last few years as they had merged all my accounts so that I could see them from one login.

So I tried my other login - It worked - kind of. I had logged in and could see bank accounts - but they were not my accounts. Another phone call to my brother confirmed that under TWO SEPARATE LOGINS we could both see and worse transact on HIS accounts.

I had had enough, I phoned the branch at about 16:30 and asked to speak to either the advisor who had been dealing with this or the manager. The advisor was not in and the manager was nowhere to be found, but the person who answered the phone promised me that she would find the manager and get her to call me back before the branch closed (half an hour). At 16:55, I phoned back and got a different person, he went to get the manager and then came back to me and referred me to the complaints department saying that the manager had said that they (complaints department) had picked up the case on the 17th of January (2011). It was obvious to me that I was not going to get to speak to the manager, so I asked for the phone number for the complaints department, which I received, and asked if there was any reference or case number required, I was told no. BUT the complaint might be registered under my brothers name, because although it affected both of us, only his profile was available at the time the complaint was raised.

I was particularly furious now, as I had found out the complaints department had officially, even if not actually, been working on this case for 2 weeks - and yet neither myself or my brother had received any contact from them to say the matters were being resolved. I was also interested in the time scale, because this was either the day or two days before I lost my internet banking, which by the process of deduction led me to believe they actually HAD done SOMETHING.

I tested the phone number to make sure the department was still open, then phone my brother just in case they needed to speak to him. He was worried I might be on hold for a while, so told me to call back straight away and he would be over as soon as possible.

I phoned the complaints department, dealt with the automated robots and was on hold for a very short time before I got through to someone. I went through the security checks for my account only to be told there were no complaints listed against my account. I explained that it may be under my brothers account and that he was on his way. A minute or 2 later he came through the door and I handed him the phone. After he went through the security checks he was told he had FAILED, and that he would get a call back on his number (luckily a mobile) within 2 hours. By 21:00, this had not happened, so we resolved to march on the branch the following day (Today, 1st of February (2011)) as we were both fuming that we got failed on security when they had screwed up our data in the first place (so that the CORRECT answers as far as we were concerned, may not be what they have listed).

Myself, my wife and my brother went into the branch, without making a prior appointment, and stood around looking for an advisor. When one approached us, and asked if she could help I asked to see the manager. We were told that it was the managers day off, so I asked to see the advisor who knew about the case. We were told she was with a customer, I just replied "We''ll wait". We were told she might be some time, I just repeated myself and we found some seats near the entrance and began to wait. The advisor who greeted us, had a quick word with the advisor we wanted to see and came over to tell us that the complaint had been upscaled to the complaints department. I told her that there was an issue with the complaints department and that we would not be leaving the branch until we were satisfied with what was happening. Th advisor we wanted to see broke away from her current customer to acknowledge our presence and I gave her a brief run down of the problems we were having. She informed us that she was with a client and would be about half an hour, she did not mind if we waited but assured us that if we wanted to go and do anything in the mean time, she would see us when we got back. I was happy for this, so we went for a coffee.

Just as we walked out of the branch, my brothers phone rang. This was the call back he should have received last night. He spoke to them, was fobbed off, told he needed to go into branch with ID, he replied that he had already done that, was then told that this call was only to do with failing security, was put on hold while the caller "conferred" with a colleague and after 8 minutes was cut off. More ammunition for when we went back in.

Once we actually got to sit down with the advisor, explained about the phone call we had just received, explained about the problems with the e-banking that had occurred since our last meeting and since complaints had "taken over" and explained about the lack of communication and the fact the manager seemed to be dodging us, she said how angry she was. I told her in no uncertain terms that she could not be as angry as us. She called the complaints department. Spoke to a case handler, then passed the phone to me and my brother in turn so that we could bend his ear a little. The guy on the phone was also quite understanding and helpful, although he did keep saying he understood how inconvenient this was. I reminded him that I was not phoning for sympathy - and that he was lucky that he was dealing with a mix up between family members who trust each other and talk to each other, as there could quite well have been stuff on our accounts we didn't want the other to see and that I had the ability to EMPTY my brothers accounts at will, and if this had been 2 people with the same name at either ends of the country, it would be far more serious than it currently was. My brother also expressed his displeasure and inconvenience at the entire situation, mostly the length of time it is taking and lack of communication that we have received and poor level of service from the complaints department themselves. We further corrected our personal details with him, and I now have to wait another 7 to 10 days for new on-line banking details. Meaning I will not have been able to manage my accounts easily for at least 3-4 weeks.

We did leave the branch feeling like something had been achieved, and we WILL be discussing compensation when it is all finally resolved, but my brother is being a little twitchy just in case he cannot access his on-line accounts when they reset mine.

I don't think I have missed anything here, but it has been such a long arduous process I may well have done.


:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

Sorry can't help, but this is a warning to parents of twins everywhere ...

If you call one (say) Arthur Brian Cooper and the other Brian Arthur Cooper, you really are going to cause them grief.

Was it really nessesay to quote the whole of the OP again for your reply? It was bad enough reading it first time, now i've read it twice:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:

Cmdr_Bond

ERICS_MUM wrote: »

I don't think this is a valid argument. How do the Smiths and Joneses get on ? Our family has a distinctive foreign surname and yet Nat West have managed nearly 20 of our accounts over the years without this sort of mishap.

...

When I read that the first time, I read distinctive as unique. Without wishing to offend, on re-reading I presume you actually mean a more stereotypical type of name. A name that is so commonplace it is often used to refer to an entire race or culture. That would make the fact that this sort of mishap has not happened in 20 years.

Cmdr_Bond

Link added to original post

Interesting turn of events.

Have spoken to the complaints department this morning (we have a direct, geographical, phone number and extension to get through to one person who is handling the case, and the case number).

He has spoken with the e-commerce team and has now escalated this to management.

Interestingly, the e-commerce team cannot understand why I can log in at all, let alone log into my brothers account, as the ONLY e-banking details they can see for me are the new ones raised by the complaints department 2 days ago. My two existing log-ons, whilst still active, are now off the grid it would appear.

Navigate this complaint

URL="http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=40817762&postcount=1"][U][SIZE=1]Original Post[/SIZE][/U][/URL URL="http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=40869092&postcount=20"][U][SIZE=1]Update 01[/SIZE][/U][/URL URL="http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=40889802&postcount=23"][U][SIZE=1]Next Update[/SIZE][/U][/URL

I_know_my_ABC_and_my_CMYK

Cmdr_Bond wrote: »

I appreciate the fact soome may lose the will reading that, I just had to vent - I should have put a long post warning in the title, sorry.

RE: the complaint, the complaint is ongoing, and this was just an account of events up until today. I just needed to vent.

I actually read all of that, sorry you are going through this. I remember once being in HSBC and a guy came in and refused point blank to leave the building unitil his account problem was sorted out. It held me up as I had a meeting with the branch manager and ended up having to re schedule as he was in there in the end for over 2 hours, but they did sort it, eventually.

I wish you luck with this.