Letter to Santander, tell me what you think!

CKhalvashi

Mr C* Khalvashi and Miss ** ******
(Add and ph. removed)
Santander UK PLC
2 Triton Square,
Regent's Place,
London,
NW1 3AN Monday 18th July 2011

To whom it may concern,

Following the light of recent inadequacies with the service received by Santander UK PLC following a case of various problems which have been highlighted to the bank, following legal advice I am requesting full payment for the inconvenience and disruption caused by Santander UK PLC. The total stands at £24519.84, and includes time as well as any incidental expenses. This would have been easier for both sides to sort straight away.
Contrary to the opinions of many of your Head Office staff, Santander UK PLC and any other financial institution that is licensed by the Financial Services Authority have a duty to respond adequately to any problems as they may arise, including a customers unknowing involvement in a scam, which will be evidenced by other documentation that is sent along with this invoice and formal complaint. The lengths I have had to go to, bombarded by utter disrespect of a disabled customer has left me with no option but to publicise the facts, so that others can fairly make a decision on the recommendations of another former customer. A bank who cannot get a customers date of birth right, in the opinion of many, should not be in business at all.
Simple procedures have not been followed, such as the recall of a payment that was made in good faith, within 48 hours of the initial request for the payment to be made, which has caused upset to family life. How am I supposed to tell a six year old child there's no money for food? As you will appreciate, this is not a situation that for any parties has sorted itself out overnight, and almost four months on, I am left with uncertainty about my own situation and no satisfactory response from Santander UK PLC on why practices that are clearly stated in my contract with you were not followed, such as full support for customers in these situations, especially those that are vulnerable.
This situation is now at the stage where I will be walking out of a branch today with the money I am owed, or legal action may ensue straight away to recover these funds, and I feel it completely inappropriate that Santander UK PLC will not accept any responsibility for actions that could have caused a lot of damage, due to not following their own written procedures, customers not being able to speak to someone in English, and a general 'we're bigger than you, so don't care' attitude overall.
I do not wish to hear from Santander UK PLC or any company associated with Santander UK PLC after this matter has been resolved, and any such contact may result in court action for harassment. I don't want a credit card, just proper customer service.
If you have and further questions or comments on this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Otherwise, thank you very much for your time.

Many thanks


Mr *** Khalvashi and Miss *** ***

cing0

Well.

I wouldn't post it to them in a letter, I'd email it (let me know if you want a Santander email address by PM). I'd also mention the FOS first as well as court as really, the financial ombudsman should be an option first depending on your situation.
You need a breakdown of the costs etc you are claiming for as they will ask you to justly them if they are not blindingly obvious. I'd avoid talking on the phone and keep it in writing if possible as for such a large sum, you need a record of evidence, not a multimedia submission that will ensue if you use post, email, phone etc.

pmduk

Address it to the chief executive rather than "to whom it may concern" (it's santander, no-one will be concerned!). Her name is Ana Patricia Botin.

Try to make it more of a statement of facts rather than include your feelings. I suggest you itemise the items that make up your compensation figure. Don't ask them questions. it's your complaint, their feelings/opinions are irrelevant.

I disagree with the previous post, email it by all means, but ensure it's sent by post as well. I suggest recorded delivery. Remember to include the cost in your compensation figure.

Best of luck. They really need to be put out of business.

ihateyes

also the rablle was to muh of a rabble. break your complaint down into sections, and as above posters hav said, you need to breakdown your claim....
i wouldnt expect them to say right here you are..... i dont even know why or how your claiming so much. can you shed light on that???
also you hourly rate must be quite high.

paulmcerlean

You really need to take the emotion out of this letter, 'i.e. how the hell am i to tell a child there is no money for food'....

You can express this more powerfully with a professional tone.

Also, you need to justify the amount you are billing them via a breakdown.

oldagetraveller

I'm puzzled as to how you have been able to fork out £24k+ in incidental expenses, disruption, inconvenience etc. and not have any money for food?

ChiefGrasscutter

oldagetraveller wrote: »

I'm puzzled as to how you have been able to fork out £24k+ in incidental expenses, disruption, inconvenience etc. and not have any money for food?

Well according to this post by the OP he/she lives an "interesting life"
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3328056

DrSyn

1. I would expect who every gets this letter will either fall asleep or get board trying to read it and bin it. It is too long! It needs to be shorter.

2. You may get back a short computer generated back along the lines:
(a) We are sorry you are unhappy with our service
(b) Your custom is important to us
(c) Its not our fault

3. If you really unhappy, go with another bank as you fight on.

pelirocco

How can anyone comment without knowing what has happened? ............or have I missed something?

welshmoneylover

CKhalvashi wrote: »

Mr C* Khalvashi and Miss ** ******
(Add and ph. removed)
Santander UK PLC
2 Triton Square,
Regent's Place,
London,
NW1 3AN Monday 18th July 2011

To whom it may concern,

Following the light of recent inadequacies with the service received by Santander UK PLC following a case of various problems which have been highlighted to the bank, following legal advice I am requesting full payment for the inconvenience and disruption caused by Santander UK PLC. The total stands at £24519.84, and includes time as well as any incidental expenses. This would have been easier for both sides to sort straight away.
Contrary to the opinions of many of your Head Office staff, Santander UK PLC and any other financial institution that is licensed by the Financial Services Authority have a duty to respond adequately to any problems as they may arise, including a customers unknowing involvement in a scam, which will be evidenced by other documentation that is sent along with this invoice and formal complaint. The lengths I have had to go to, bombarded by utter disrespect of a disabled customer has left me with no option but to publicise the facts, so that others can fairly make a decision on the recommendations of another former customer. A bank who cannot get a customers date of birth right, in the opinion of many, should not be in business at all.
Simple procedures have not been followed, such as the recall of a payment that was made in good faith, within 48 hours of the initial request for the payment to be made, which has caused upset to family life. How am I supposed to tell a six year old child there's no money for food? As you will appreciate, this is not a situation that for any parties has sorted itself out overnight, and almost four months on, I am left with uncertainty about my own situation and no satisfactory response from Santander UK PLC on why practices that are clearly stated in my contract with you were not followed, such as full support for customers in these situations, especially those that are vulnerable.
This situation is now at the stage where I will be walking out of a branch today with the money I am owed, or legal action may ensue straight away to recover these funds, and I feel it completely inappropriate that Santander UK PLC will not accept any responsibility for actions that could have caused a lot of damage, due to not following their own written procedures, customers not being able to speak to someone in English, and a general 'we're bigger than you, so don't care' attitude overall.
I do not wish to hear from Santander UK PLC or any company associated with Santander UK PLC after this matter has been resolved, and any such contact may result in court action for harassment. I don't want a credit card, just proper customer service.
If you have and further questions or comments on this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Otherwise, thank you very much for your time.

Many thanks


Mr *** Khalvashi and Miss *** ***

Either its me but I can't work out what you are on about?

CKhalvashi

Thanks for the replies guys,

Interesting could be one way to describe it, catastrophic at this precise moment would probably be better, however one thing that has become very apparent today is that persistence seems to have paid off!

I've spent parts of the day in branch and other parts on the phone, to the point of which Santander have sent across to HSBC for the account in question to be frozen, having re-opened my account to recall the payment at some time in the near future. May I please also stress that this was thanks to an on-duty police officer in Santander getting her lunch money, who stated that Santander are a knowing party to fraud and after hearing the full story from both sides, that they should have done this 4 months ago. Santander did not want to complete this action at all (!)

It's also brought a lot into perspective to me, in the light that this is perhaps one of the best scams out, meaning that this wasn't someone that had just been met over the internet, this was a case where I had a singer in front of me who had been properly auditioned and vetted, yet I didn't have any vetting in place for her 'guide'. This has prompted full CRB checking of any person that will come into contact with the children that we are working with, which after Vika's repeated phonecalls to the CRB and Musicians Union today, we are entitled to do due to the fraud risk. This will be the case with any person coming onto our books now, as well as past applicants, and phonecalls will begin tomorrow to kick this process off.

I have (supposedly) coming in writing from Santander that the company has agreed to pay the agreed rate if it's found internally, using all the facts, that they could have done more, which is reassuring. It has been confirmed in writing from the branch today that I will be expecting a letter regarding fees from the bank in 5 days, or a further complaint will be made. The fact I have published many of the facts on Money Saving Expert has prompted this to an extent, in my opinion.

Thanks for the help guys, and I will be calling off action until this is resolved, which will hopefully be by the end of next week. I have been given £100 cash in branch today as a goodwill gesture, which I have agreed can be taken from the final settlement. A separate invoice has been drawn up but not posted on this forum, which Santander have also acknowledged receipt of, and I even got a kiss from one of the security guards in town who was about to ticket my car for parking next to the taxi rank (!) The local support, probably due to my position in the community has benefited this.

Separate bank charges to be drawn up as necessary from my other bank!