Santander yay or nay?

wannabie

I see this forum seems to be anti Santander?

Are they actually good for anything? I am thinking of moving my bank account

smartiedriver_2

They have a reasonable offer to attract new current a/c customers. They also offer semi-decent savings rates (ISA, e-Saver) for the first 12months if you want to put your savings somewhere with a high street presence.

But the customer service is APPALLING.

ButterflyBee

My account has only been active for 2 weeks and the switch was smooth without hicup. At the moment I am not sure if I will stay with them once I receive my £100 incentive, that depends on the customer service I may or may not receive.

Only time will tell:money:but it was worth the switch.

mr_fishbulb

I have a first home saver account with them, but I'd be a little weary getting a current account with them.

purplehearts066

Santander have an appalling record for customer satisfaction. They've also been slow to implement a lot of services such as faster payments. Have a look here for more info about the 'league table' of customer satisfaction for banks (Santander are bottom by the way!)
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1700104/Santander-fails-customer-satisfaction-test.html
First Direct and Co-op are top two.

also: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/dec/04/santander-customers-least-satisfied

ses6jwg

If you can find a good branch to do business with you can't go wrong.

If you rely on telephone banking I'd give it a 2nd thought.

mrsmac247

Just be aware that with faster payments, the first payment you make out of the account to someone else may go through the 3 day service but the next time should be faster payments. Also bare in mind that their limit on faster payments is £300 per day which caused havoc for me and my OH when transferring to a joint account for bills.

mrs_T

~~~yay~~~~

I have current a/c (switched no problem), isa and credit card and have not experienced any problems. People keep quoting poor league table position but not personal experience.

jjblondie

I too have generally had good customer experiences with Santander (way better than my local Natwest branch of hell) and am happy to have 4 accounts with them.

rb10

I think they have improved significantly in recent months.

I'd say that customer service is reasonable, and their product range is excellent.

I'd feel happier banking with Santander than I would with Natwest, who are truly awful.