Is it time to end "Santander Bashing"?

pwuk

pmduk wrote: »

Surely the test of any company is how well they deal with any problem that arises? This is usually where Santander fall down. They're able to magnify a minor problem that should take minutes to solve into a months-long saga that is solved only by escalating the problem. Check the money problems column in today's Guardian for an example, although any money problem page in any national newspaper will probably have similar items.

I was an Abbey/Santander customer for years but following a catalogue of errors on their part decided to move on to better alternatives.

Basic requests such as replacing a debit card took months and whilst local branch staff were reasonable, the overall approach to customer service by the group was extremely poor.

It's also worth knowing that I recently upgraded my account to a Reward Current Account in order to benefit from cost savings on an overdraft which I had kept with them; as part of my deciding to terminate my relationship with them I paid off the overdraft and asked to downgrade the account so that I would not have to pay £10 per month for services which I did not need. I was told that this was not possible and the only way to cancel the fee was to close the account :eek:

Whilst I can't stand Santander, I had planned on leaving the account open as a backup, mainly because I have had it for years and its useful for financial applications however, as I do not intend on being stung £10 each month, I have had to close it (probably my fault for not reading the terms in depth).

On a positive note, the inflexibility of Santander caused me to quickly repay the overdraft which probably would have continued to trip on for a few further months otherwise, so perhaps I should be happy with their inadequacies.

phantomwhale

Just got stung for a £5 fee, with nothing to support in in terms and conditions, or any warning issued. This is basic stuff. Banks hold your money, perhaps give you interest, and apply their rules and fees. Getting this elementary stuff wrong is pretty incompetent for any high street bank, esp. one so large. Afraid it's time to continue the Santander bashing, as in my eyes, they have performed poorly in past engagements, but this one trumps them all.

steve1980

phantomwhale wrote: »

Just got stung for a £5 fee, with nothing to support in in terms and conditions, or any warning issued. This is basic stuff. Banks hold your money, perhaps give you interest, and apply their rules and fees. Getting this elementary stuff wrong is pretty incompetent for any high street bank, esp. one so large. Afraid it's time to continue the Santander bashing, as in my eyes, they have performed poorly in past engagements, but this one trumps them all.

But as you didn't pay in £500 per month then you will get charged.

silvercar

I just opened a NatWest current account, to avoid being passed across to Santander.

A catalogue of errors so far, so I'm not convinced that one bank is better than any other.

daveyjp

I have also just taken on a role which involves dealing with Natwest - three visits so far to get a form to add a signature to an account. They are useless - first form wasn't the right one, no forms second time round, 20 minutes to find the right form yesterday.

Gromitt

Don't worry, daveyjp, they have plenty of time to lose the form and request you to fill in another

rb10

silvercar wrote: »

I just opened a NatWest current account, to avoid being passed across to Santander.

A catalogue of errors so far, so I'm not convinced that one bank is better than any other.

Natwest are no better than Santander in my experience. Try a different bank.

phantomwhale

steve1980 wrote: »

But as you didn't pay in £500 per month then you will get charged.

Quite right - I misunderstood the £500 month per month as £500 credit over time. My bad.

I called up and was told I'd had advanced notice, although there was no advance notice either online or on my statements

I offered to send a scanned copy to prove it, but they insisted I had to take a copy into the branch to complain. Bit hard to do this from overseas I explained, to no avail.

+ points to Santander for following one of there rules (£5 charge) but - points for failing to abide by the "giving me 22 days notification" one, with extra - points for assuming they're right, I'm wrong and providing me few channels to prove that I'm not.

Overall, think it's time to shutdown the account anyway, and call it quits.