Santander Decieved me

sambo3D

2 months ago, using a link on this very site I tried to apply for Santander account. A very tempting 0% overdraft was offered for balance transfers. The lack of fees was to help me speed up my plan to become completely debt free.

I immediately recieved all the relevant paperwork, including an automated service to transfer my standing orders/direct debits. I also recieved a request to send in bank statements proving my current overdraft of £1000.

I obligingly went to the nearest branch, they faxed copies of my bank statements.

Days turned into weeks and I never got any response. Twice I called customer services, both times the operator said they would call me back personally the next day to let me know what was happening. Interestingly, the second operator stated that you can't open an account online that is eligble for an overdraft (whaaaa!!!!!). She said she would have the credit people tswitch my account to another type of account and then apply for the overdraft. Did I mention they never called me back?

Now I have an account that never should have existed. It happens that I didn't cancel my standing orders in time, so as well as them not getting paid, I got fees. I now have a Santander account that I have never taken a single penny from, that I owe £215 on.

I registered a complaint to them, and recieved a very nice, completely generic letter that explained Santander's policies are transparent, and that they would knock off a £35 fee as an act of goodwill. No single reference was made to the situation, it really seemed like the person I dealt with just requested the system print out a letter and automatically send it to me.

I am currently waiting on a letter to the financial ombudsman, though I suspect he'll say, "you tried to switch to Santander? Have you not heard about their customer service?" :mad: