Is it time to end "Santander Bashing"?

masonic

Looking at what Santander had to contend with, particularly at Abbey and A&L when it took over, it's hardly surprising it's in such a bad state. Nobody should forget who bore the brunt of the vitriol in the years before Santander. Much of the extra problems caused by Santander's takeover will be the direct result of it dragging all those archaic banking systems and practices kicking and screaming into modern times (at least I hope that's what they did). Give it a few years for the dust to settle and Santander will surely become better than its constituent parts. Perhaps this thread was started just a touch too soon.

7sefton

ses6jwg wrote: »

I can honestly say that Santander are well aware of the bashing they receive and I can honestly say that they are working damn hard "on the other side of the fence" to improve their systems, training and processes and provide a better customer experience.

The amount of changes and streamlining of process I've personally seen in the last 3-6 months has been staggering, and the amount of importance attached to service has to be experience to be believed.

We should remember they are fairly new to the UK banking system, and didn't exactly take on companies renowned for their customer service in the disintegrating and demoralised (Sh)Abbey, Alliance and Leicester (online & telephone bank), and Bradford and Bingley (Gentleman's Club with dodgy mortgage lending policies).

You can say whatever you like about the customer service, but take that out of the equation and they provide some of the best banking products availiable on the high street, and consistently. Yeah Barclays might come out with their Golden ISA from time to time, or Lloyds with their Vantage, but apart from dare I say, Halifax, I feel that there are very few other High Street banking institutions that provide such a competitive mix of products.

If they really can sort the Service with the branch network they've got now I think they will be a stronger force in UK banking than they are now.

I agree that Santander's intentions are right: I doubt anyone would disagree that based on rates alone they are the most impressive bank by far. I'd love to move all my banking to them to take advantage of their pricing, but unfortunately I've just had bad experience after bad experience and simply don't have the confidence to trust them with my most important accounts (bank account, ISA and credit card).

I'm not even talking about major problems (like money disappearing or accounts being blocked), just general courtesy and attention to detail. Maybe I'm fussy, but I expect to be treated as a valued customer if I'm letting an institution look after my money - not an inconvenience. No offence intended, but all the staff I've encountered in various branches and on the phone have been well below the standard at the other banks I deal with (NatWest, Barclays and Halifax). Maybe they're being let down by poor systems or training, but they genuinely don't seem to understand how basic banking works nor do they understand Santander's products in any amount of detail (1st Home Saver being a particular stumbling block for them - I still don't know if deposits need to be received between a certain time window). Different members of staff contradict each other at every stage of an enquiry. I know this might sound rude, but it's the only way I can put it: the majority of customer-facing staff seem to be slightly chavvy, straight out of school and quite ignorant if you ask them to do anything other than 'please pay this cheque into my account.' Sorry, but that's just my honest experience.

Moreover, Santander's processes are way behind the rest of the industry and cause busy customers significant inconvenience. A lot of basic admin seems to require a branch visit, their security is taken to bizarrely extreme levels for even basic transactions, staff stick to scripts and don't seem to have any authority to show flexibility, faster payments (or rather lack of) are beyond a joke, still no option to receive electronic statements, and complaint handling is poor and relies on annoying letter templates (which probably explains why they claim to close most complaints within 48 hours - they just send out a standard response containing a load of waffle... when will they LISTEN and LEARN from their customers?!).

It's all very well Santander having the desire to improve customer service, but customers simply don't see any evidence on the front line yet. The whole customer experience just feels shoddy and done on the cheap - the financial equivalent of Ryanair.

Out of interest, what are the extraordinary lengths that management go to in an attempt to improve customer service? Is it all done on mystery shopping visits, or something else?

pmduk

It almost appears as though their processes are designed to make customers' give up complaints.

It's often said here that phone banking will instruct customers to visit branches as the problem can only be solved in branch, then in turn, the branch staff will tell them the problem can only be solved by phone banking. So many people are claiming to have had this experience that it can only be explained by appalling internal systems, inadequate training or lack of desire to provide decent customer service.

I don't know which it is, but they've had long enough to solve it.

jambosans

There is definitely a drive to improve at Santander, but I don't think they are there yet, so the bashing will still continue. The below article is an interesting read:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/savings-and-banking/article.html?in_article_id=530457&in_page_id=7#ixzz1KU0uqPyD

The most interesting (and telling part) IMO is quoted below:

thisismoney.co.uk wrote:

Last year, Santander spent 39p to make every £1 of profit; most banks spend 55p to make £1. That enabled it to offer better rates - the 3.5% Flexible Isa in March 2010, for example.

But customers complain it's to the detriment of good service. Unlike Horta-Osorio, who was obsessed with driving this ratio lower, Botin [the new boss] is happy for Santander's costs to increase if it means investing in 'what customers really want': good service.

It's a difficult one, as they're in the business to make money, and while good customer service is of value to everyone, there will be those who just want good rates, so won't jump ship purely based on the bad customer service. People (in general) are passive when it comes to banking, unlike those on this board (and MSE at large) Joe Public is happy just to lump average/ poor customer service. Santander are always going to be making money, unless people start flocking away from them in droves. I think the media attention (and sites like MSE) have really forced them to examine their customer service. Lets remember that they've owned Abbey National for seven years now so they've had plenty of time to do it.

On an aside, that article worryingly identifies Horta-Osorio as the culprit (in driving costs down), he's the new boss at Lloyds Banking Group (Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Lloyds TSB), so whilst I'd love even better rates than I'm currently getting, I hope customer service doesn't take a nose dive.

mattcodes

Without Santander, B&B would have gone kaput because of a dodgy mortgage book

Santander only took on the good side of B&B. There were other bidders. The dodgy mortgage book was placed into its own entity. Santander seen this as a growth opportunity, it was not a charity act or a shotgun wedding like HBOS/Lloyds merger.

Without Santander, Alliance and Leicester would have gone to the wall for punting dodgy PPI loans and endowments.

The misselling scandal would not have put this bank to the wall.

Yes they have technically taken on more people but this is likely manipulated in them consuming existing staff from the branches they take over. Its just business at the end of the day, they answer to the shareholders, not to the good of the economy

opinions4u

Originally Posted by thisismoney.co.uk
Last year, Santander spent 39p to make every £1 of profit; most banks spend 55p to make £1. That enabled it to offer better rates - the 3.5% Flexible Isa in March 2010, for example.

to be honest, those figures will be grossly distorted by the credit crunch impact on income levels across banking. Before it hit the fan the retail side of most of the converted building societies were delivering cost income ratios around the 40p mark. Ironically, for many years Abbey were one of the worst performers on this measure as they recovered from the mess that led to their takeover by Santander.

There is also an argument that reducing headcount in head office roles means decisions can be made in a far quicker manner which is usually better for customers. Lloyds strikes me as exceptionally hierarchical in the way it works.

whatyadoinsucka

santander is like all spanish companies. and it would appear the payment systems within the company have a long siesta each and every day. as they certainly can't manage to transfer funds on the same day, like most other banks. That is my key complaint.

the head of UK banking being the daughter of a key player in spain is also a disgrace !

anselld

The absurdity of what Santander have done is striking when you walk down the high street. There are often four (now identically branded) Santanders within a short walk. And this will presumably get worse when the assimilate the English RBS branches. OK, they may have protected some jobs, but in doing so they have simply preserved huge over capacity and inefficiency.

You wonder if they are really a front for a property company wishing to buy up UK retail space (for whatever reason)!

It is similar to the experience of BAA - taken over by a Spanish company who have invested heavily in retail but are unable to run the basics of an airport (de-icing, etc).

ChiefGrasscutter

Santander, and the saga for the BAA/Heathrow chaos with that other Spannish company do have echos in an admission I remember hearing from ING in respect of their savings accounts.........

ING admitted that the way customers behave in the UK and the resulting press/internet attention and comment levelled at ING was different to what they had expected.

This seems to come down to difference in business and personal attitude called the "european model" of doing business vs the "angle saxon model" more common to the USA - and the UK, where you simply cannot fob of the customer with crap service and tell a pack of lies about interest rate promises.
So wheras these companies presumably thought that operating in the UK was going to be much like the rest of Europe - in fact they are finding it rather different.

There are those from the UK who go to France and treat their bank account in the same cavalier fashion in respect of overdrafts as they do here (it's a criminal offense over there) and get a rather sudden shock. So ING then and now Santander are realising that doing business here is rather different.

Management theories go into this concept in some detail including whether to employ locals at executive level to reflect/reassure local customs or to employ head office expats to "sort the company out"

anselld

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/markets/article.html?in_article_id=526457&in_page_id=3

"The new boss of Lloyds Banking Group has hired another senior executive from rival Santander in a bid to tackle the lender's lamentable customer service reputation." :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Perhaps we will all be Lloyds-bashing in the future.