Santander just tried to bribe my husband £25 not to complain!!

CandleFan

Possibly the worst experience ever with customer service we've had today - an hour or more's worth of being passed from pillar to post - then complaints dept. offered to compensate as would have to go to the branch, only to withdraw when we refused to close off the complaint! I can't believe a bank, regulated by the FSA, would try and do this.:mad:

Nine_Lives

What exactly was said?
What is the background to it all?

pinkdalek

Sounds like they are offering your some form of redress as settlement of your complaint. Hence why they've offered you £25. They are not bribing you to stop complaining by throwing money at you, they are more than likely offering you this money as a gesture for the inconvenience caused. If you are happy with the £25 then they have to ask if they can close the complaint ie your complaint has been fully resolved.

If you are not happy with this then take the complaint further through the correct procedures.

opinions4u

CandleFan wrote: »

Possibly the worst experience ever with customer service we've had today - an hour or more's worth of being passed from pillar to post - then complaints dept. offered to compensate as would have to go to the branch, only to withdraw when we refused to close off the complaint! I can't believe a bank, regulated by the FSA, would try and do this.:mad:

Why would they give you £25 and leave the complaint open?

If you are happy that £25 is adequate reimbursement for the situation then accept it.

If you are unhappy, tell them what you want them to do to put things right (perhaps correcting the problem and compensation of £50?).

It would seem pointless for them to leave the offer open if you aren't happy with it.

Naf

To be able to offer you ANY form of compensation/redress the complaint is already set up and open on their systems.
They offered £25 (pretty standard to be honest; branch max. out at £50 before they have to get it authorised by area management) as reimbursement/redress/goodwill, whatever. If you want more then you can't have your cake and eat it.

CandleFan

No they offered the £25 as compensation for having to travel to a branch 30 miles away - which my husband accepted. When he wanted to keep a complaint going they withdrew this offer. It wasn't offered to resolve the complaint.
The background is that he opened this account (the 12months 0% o/d one, with £100 payment) had all direct debits switched over etc. , provided proof of o/d etc. but they didn't advise they weren't going to match his o/d. He'd had loads of correspondence as well, but nothing about this. Only when he phoned (and it took an hour on the phone being passed from pillar to post) did he find this out. I know there's no guarantees with o/d's as they are loans, but telling him much earlier would have saved a lot of time and hassle - now may need to switch everything back over. Their literature makes it sound very much like you are very likely to be accepted with a current o/d, not the other way round - 'we'll go all out to match your o/d...' My husband has no credit problems either.

olly300

CandleFan wrote: »

No they offered the £25 as compensation for having to travel to a branch 30 miles away - which my husband accepted. When he wanted to keep a complaint going they withdrew this offer. It wasn't offered to resolve the complaint.

It's normal for banks and building societies to offer you compensation if they think they have fixed your complaint.

In your case you both decided they haven't so they withdrew the offer - nothing strange there. This is because if they later offer you further compensation it will be to cover everything that you complained aboutcovering a particular incident.

CandleFan wrote: »

The background is that he opened this account (the 12months 0% o/d one, with £100 payment) had all direct debits switched over etc. , provided proof of o/d etc. but they didn't advise they weren't going to match his o/d. He'd had loads of correspondence as well, but nothing about this. Only when he phoned (and it took an hour on the phone being passed from pillar to post) did he find this out. I know there's no guarantees with o/d's as they are loans, but telling him much earlier would have saved a lot of time and hassle - now may need to switch everything back over. Their literature makes it sound very much like you are very likely to be accepted with a current o/d, not the other way round - 'we'll go all out to match your o/d...' My husband has no credit problems either.

So what do you want Santander to do to fix the problem?

Realistically work out what they can do to resolve the issue and ask for it. (Put it in writing to them.)

Naf

pcombo wrote: »

would you be here saying Santander tried to bribe my husband with £1000 not to complain!!

Not even that, had £25 covered what you felt was reasonable, or had the offer been higher and you considered it enough, would you still be calling it a 'bribe'? It was simply their offer to compensate you, and in this case you don't consider it enough.

jambosans

Sounds like sour grapes.

Your husband didn't qualify for the overdraft to be matched. Seems more his problem than Santander's (surprisingly). Aside from the service failings in not notifying your husband that he did not qualify, and the subsequent time (on his part) spent finding this out, what have Santander done wrong?

If it's as cut and dry as you suggest, £25 seems fair. It seems the wider issue here (and what you're both angry about) is not having the overdraft matched. However, this, as you've said, is not guaranteed, and I disagree that literature is misleading, to quote their website (link):-

Santander wrote:

We'll go all out to match your overdraft - with no Arranged Overdraft interest or fees for four months.**
[...]
** Overdrafts depend on your circumstances and you must repay any overdraft when we ask in line with our General Terms and Conditions. To qualify for overdraft matching you must be approved for a Visa Debit Card, agree to pay your income into your new account and provide proof of your existing overdraft.

Even the main page (link) states:-

Santander wrote:

A free arranged overdraft for 12 months when you switch, and we will match your previous overdraft amount up to £5,000 (depending on circumstances)