Santander First Home Saver interest issue

KI2000

I am fuming!

If this post is too long for you, the summary is Santander have messed me about and are saying I have not been receiving the rate they promised and that there are details not listed in the terms and conditions that somehow apply even though I, the customer have not been told about).


And now, the full version with Director's cut:
I expected a phone call yesterday. None came. Today I rang them and they said I'd be guaranteed a call back within half an hour. About an hour later I got one and they let me know the relevant person would call in 10 mins which they actually did.
I checked the number they had for me (gave them on Saturday and requested they read it back to me) and they had the last digit wrong apparently so were calling the wrong number.

Anyway, guy had gone through account and agreed it was clearly wrong, saying that the initial deposit alone should have created more interest and that I hadn't broken any terms as I'd paid in within each month. He gave me the number of the complaints department and said to relay the case as they're really good and noone has had reason to come back to him again. That was during my lunch break and the number he gave was a 0845 number so I waited until I got back and looked for a cheaper alternative. (The verified number was tempoarily unavailable so had to ring another which turned out to be general services though they passed me onto complaints).

Anyway, preamble over.
Guy looked at my account and said I'd been receiving 0.1 for the last 3 months of the previous year and that was the rate I have been receiving afterwards. Apparently ALL accounts at Santander (unless specified fixed for a specified time) drop down at the year mark. Why mine dropped earlier he was unable to determine. I was definitely not told this on account opening so am really annoyed. Also, I was supposed to ring them up each year to state I wanted to be kept at the higher rate. Again, this is not what I was told obviously. Apparently I have received interest quarterly but if this is the case, it certainly hasn't appeared on my statements. No interest was paid until the anniversary which was exactly what I was told and is in my terms and conditions. He said the terms and conditions mentioned the drop after a year but they definitely do not as I have them to hand. I told him but he said I should have been told at account opening.

I asked him if he was looking at my actually account or looking at account types with the same name. He assured me he was looking at the account.

So, he says he'll speak to his manager to check. Before doing so, he asks me what a reasonable offer from them would be to resolve the issue. I said nothing less that the 5% through and backdated so I don't lose out at all.

Comes back and says the account is no longer open to new customers so I would not have the option to "upgrade" back to 5%! He had previously said that by opening the account I would have been told I could.

As a "goodwill gesture" (I was annoyed at this phrase but he talked past it so I was unable to say anything about it), he would credit my account with the £65 lost interest and pass me over to the sales team so that I could switch to an account paying more that 0.1%, nevermind that the payments made in the meantime would be still at this ridiculous rate. Needless to say I declined that offer.

A "specialist team" will look at my case and I should get a letter within 5 working days. If I'm unhappy with that I can escalate to "stage 2" (not sure what this is but hoping to not have to reach it though I will if they don't pay as promised). After that is the Ombudsman.

I am annoyed because I have heard the things he said to me in other posts such as the rate drops and the switching to another account. I certainly didn't want to do that as I would lose out to what they have promised to give me. Even after this mess started, I opened a Santander e-Saver account as I want to put my savings into it (other account has a year-long rate (I look out for these things!) that is coming to an end. I have yet to deposit money into it. I think I might close it and find another.

Very sorry for the rant.

beefturnmail

KI2000 - this is rubbish. The rate does not drop after a year. It is a variable rate (currently at 5%) and there is nothing in the t&c to say it drops after a year. Other people have been told similar lies see this thread (the last few pages) https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2196865

Being paid the 5% due is not an 'offer' Santander are negotiating with you - it is what they are contracted to pay you. Stick to your guns and do not agree to transfer your money to another account as none will pay as much as 5%.

You have been messed around enough - e-mail the CEO. It is the only way Santander get the message

KI2000

I think an email to the CEO would have more validity if I allow them to process the complaint first. I know, I know.... part of me feels naive for allowing them more time, but I'd imagine the CEO would let it run naturally at this stage. If it is not resolved within 5 working days, I will definitely email the CEO.

beefturnmail

Sure - I missed the bit about getting a letter in 5 days.

If you do e-mail the CEO, keep the e-mail brief (but attach a detailed summary of everything that's happened, plus any correspondence you have received from Santander). Try not to rant to much (tempting as it is), but convey that you are disappointed that the usual complaints procedure has not resolved this simple issue, particularly as you thought Santander was endeavouring to improve it's customer services (they've said this on Watchdog several times)

KI2000

Thanks for your help and support on this issue and for answering my planned question about the CEO email in advance!

KI2000

Just an update on this. Five working days was yesterday. Gave them today as grace for the postal system. Still nothing. Will prepare email for CEO

Gorecki

Hi,

Just to add, coincidentally I went into the Chiswick branch of Santander 2 weeks ago to close my first home saver account as I'd finished a year. The interest was £200 and something which sounded about right.

I asked if I could close it without a mortgage interview as I live in London and am in my 20s so realistically will never own my own house.

They went to check with the manager and said this account does not have the usual restriction of ending after a year and advised me to keep it open as I essentially had a free 5% savings account for life (as long as I follow t&cs and only withdraw at the end of that year's period etc).

I asked them to note this down on my record (which they did), and decided to leave it open. As seems better than most on the market even after tax.

As above, I don't think they're available anymore to open from scratch.

KI2000

Well, I haven't sent that email to the CEO yet and received the letter from them today.

They say they have looked into it and are not doing anything about it.

"My understanding of your complaint is that you are unhappy you were not informed regarding the change of interest on your account.

I can confirm we offered to credit £65.62 to your account to cover the loss of interest you incurred, and further to this we offered for you to speak to our Sales team in order to upgrade your account, however this offer was declined. Please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience this matter has caused you.

I hope I have resolved the issue you raised with us" - You REALLY haven't!

They owe me around £94 for the interest period and also the money put in since will also have a low interest so they owe a lot more than £65 and they should provide me with an account with 5% as that is what their website says.
I can't believe they've actually looked into this and come back with this nonsense. What they have done is illegal and I am NOT HAPPY.

Question is, being a saturday tomorrow do I take the opportunity to go into a branch and talk to real people or email the CEO.

beefturnmail

yep - that's pretty much the fob-off reply I got as well - basically they've simply summarised your conversations with them to date, and not answered your questions or taken any action to rectify the issue.

This is probably the standard 'first-step' in Santander's complaints merry-go-round. This is a war of attrition in which they hope you'll give up trying (a large proportion probably do).

If you write back you may get to the next level in Santander's game, where somebody marginally more senior might spend an additional nanosecond looking at the issue, but probably still not resolve it correctly. At the point you are now at, I wasn't prepared to waste my time playing their games any longer and went to the top.

I doubt anyone in the branch would help - you'll only have a wasted trip.

KI2000

I went in on saturday and even though I went in at 9:30, it was already very busy. A rep initially wanted to me to leave my details and get someone to call me back which I have had enough of, but said I could wait around in case a rep becomes free. I would then have to be continually watching them so I could pounce on a free one and there was no system in place to let them know I was waiting if they were available. Btw, the guy who had told me to try the complaints dept in the previous posts and come back to him if it wasn't resolved ("hardly anyone comes back to me") had said at this point that once it had gone to that level they can no longer do anything about it. I wasn't really happy with this and to be fair though, they did get someone to speak to me about it.

I explained the issue with him, he went away for 20 mins or so and said that I was correct and that I would get around a hundred pound extra which tallies with my calculations (around £94) but he needed to use the system to calculate the actual amount and it was not available on a Saturday. I find this a little strange but there we go, it isn't a working day and it looked like my issue was being resolved. I have explicitly asked that I get a letter confirming the updated interest amount and the ongoing nature of the interest rate. He said he'd call me today. He hasn't.

At least going into the branch means I have an actual human being who gives time to this issue rather than being able to fob me off to another department. I will keep going back until they resolve it though hopefully they will call tomorrow.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the reason for the issue was that I put the money in around the 3rd each month and as I started the account on the 3rd July, it is confusing the system. He did say it was the system's fault as I was complying with the rules but that I should change the date to the 5th to stop this issue in the future. I have heard this before but the outcome being people saying it uses calendar month which contradicts the rep's explanation.