Is Santander a good move?

bargainbetty

My best mate has a personal and a business account with Santander.

So far, they have:

Initially rejected the personal account but opened the business one, then acknowledged the error and opened the personal one too. For some reason they then froze the business one. He asked for ATM/Debit cards for both. One was sent in the wrong name to his business partner's address (not the business address), they failed to send the PINS out at all, and then refused to let him take cash out over the counter, telling him business banking had to be done on the phone or at the ATM, despite confirming they hadn't sent out the PIN or his telephone banking security details.

He has had three complaints escalate to the point where they have acknowledged the error and paid compensation and one where even the staff in branch told him his best bet was the financial ombudsman.

It took them three goes to send out his online banking details and then they were wrong when it all arrived.

Seriously, STAY AWAY.

thatsean

I've just moved from the Cov BS to Santander, and haven't had any issues. I know lots of people on here have, but I can't say how many see a nice bandwagon to jump on, and how many are genuine. From my own experience, they opened the account, sent cards and did the transfer. Call centre is overseas but they seem ok - no worse that Barclays outsourced centre. I've had my £100 paid so I see nothing to complain about.

Rochdale_Pioneers

Santander are death. Best avoided!

[Deleted User]

DeltaHotel wrote: »

I'm currently with RBS for all my accounts but they give me rubbish intrest on my saving and nothing on my current accounts. Santander seem to be a good bank to switch to with their intrest on ISAs and current account plus the bonus for switching. However, looking around the forum Santander seem to be more hassle than they're worth!

Is it worth the money to get an apparently appaling service?

AVOID them, they have been nothing but trouble for me!, RBS/ Halifax all the way!. :-)

jon_boy75

in no uncertain terms, NO!

the other 30 million customers should all leave too

useless shower of ......

tellmeitsfriday

I used to be with A&L (Now scamtander) They are appalling. If you want to retain any element of sanity DO NOT DO IT.

interscope

I also used to be with A&L.....now Santander, honestly worst bank ever in my 25 years with other banks.
On the very small chance everything goes without a problem (which is unlikely) you may just be OK. But if anything goes wrong (which is very likely) it is impossible to speak to people who can make decision, and even when they say they will call you or retify a problem, THEY DON'T. AVOID
Moving to First Direct now, they have a good reputation for customer service.

IrishGypsy

It's a real shame so many people have issues, because when you pop into a branch and get someone who actually knows the ins and the outs (and has been there a while - like me ) you'll find it's not a problem.

With the right advice at the start, it can all be opened smoothly from day 1. Stick in the £2,500 at the start, get the 5% straightaway, it then doesn't matter when the DD's all come over as there should easily be enough cash in both current accounts.

The PBA should advise you when YOUR interest-calculating month is, then make the most of the loyalty products (6% monthly saver, 3.3% ISA, Zero Account if applicable) and so on.

Online banking set up, OTP details ready (I give my customers my personal work mobile number for questions/switcher progress), ensure customer knows how the cards work, when they should arrive etc.

I'm not going to comment on the telephone team as that's not fair, but from a branches perspective, there's also plenty of people who have no issues, get paid for it and make a decent return for themselves (certainly compared to what they were getting).

No bank is perfect (in fact no company is), but in all honesty the work going on in the background to improve all the areas is immense.

I have loads of customers who've followed me as I've moved branches as I've always delivered the quality of customer service I'd expect myself. I appreciate not everyone is of the same mindset, but alas you'll find such people in all walks of life (unfortunately).