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Santander, worst bank in the world
stephy110288
Posts: 209 Forumite
Hi everyone. I've had a horrific experience with santander and I now totally understand why they have been voted worst for customer service.
I don't want to type out the whole scenario again... so I'm going to copy and paste bits of the letter I have sent them. You will get the jist. If anyone is thinking of changing banks to them, please read this first and you will see that this is how they treat their customers
. A few months ago I received a letter from you telling me that my overdraft would be taken away on 01/09/2011. This was peculiar as I am due to begin the third year of my degree and this is a student overdraft. I went into my local branch to discuss this and saw *****. She told me that on your system it was showing up that I had finished university. I am constantly having this problem even though I have shown the branch a letter from my university stating which year I am in, and how long my course is. I can’t understand why there is constantly confusion regarding which year I am in. She said that she had appealed this decision to the underwriters and that I should call back in after 48 hours. I called in the next week and spoke to a lady on the reception desk with long dark hair and an irish accent. She told me that ***** was busy but that it had been sorted and my overdraft would be increased to £1500 on the 1st September. I asked her if this was definitely correct as I am going on holiday around that date and do not want to be stuck without any money. She assured me that there was no possibility of my overdraft being removed as ***** had heard back from the underwriters and everything was fine.
A few days before I went on holiday I received my wages in the form of a cheque for £516, as I had assurance that the problems with my account had been sorted, I paid this into my Santander account and this was to be used as mine and my partners spending money on holiday. I went on holiday on Friday 2nd September to Tenerife and my cheque was due to clear on Monday 5th September. We were using my partner’s money for the first few days and had only taken cash knowing that I would have my wages. I used online banking on the Sunday afternoon and saw that my overdraft had in fact been removed. I cannot describe the panic that I felt in this instant. We were in a foreign country with only my bank card and my wages that I now wouldn’t be able to access. I called a customer service line as soon as I noticed this and was told there was nothing that could be done as it was a Sunday. This was a lady in the Bootle call centre who was rather blunt and rude. When I hung up the phone I was inconsolable with panic and fear so my partner insisted I try again. When I called this time I spoke to ******* in Bradford. Again he explained that as it was a Sunday and the branch was not open there was nothing he could do, there was no emergency money offered and no other solution offered. By this time I was so distraught I had to put my partner on the phone. We had asked to speak to a manager and after being on hold for approximately half an hour I was told she was too busy and she would call me back before 10pm. That night when I should have been out enjoying myself, I sat in the hotel room staring at my mobile phone waiting for a phone call that never came. In the morning we could not go out for breakfast as Santander had taken our spending money. I called the customer service line again and explained that this manager had not called me back. I was then told that I was wrong, and that she had tried to call me back twice. I assured the advisor that I would not have missed a telephone call as I was staring at my mobile phone all night. She then advised me that the same manager would call me back before 10am. Again, I did not receive a phone call. Later on I called again, and a different advisor told me that she would email the manager who was meant to call, and tell her to call me asap. Again I sat and waited for a phone call that never happened. By this time we had not had anything to eat all day and our holiday was being wasted sat in the hotel room waiting for phone calls. I called yet again and finally was put through to the branch. I spoke to **** at the Allerton branch who told me that my problem had been faxed over to the underwriters and there was no guarantee of when it would be sorted. Upon hearing this I was in tears, at the prospect of another night with no money, no food, and no bottled water. My partner spoke to **** who would not even admit to the mistake within the branch, and attempted to pass the blame on to the underwriters. **** also informed me that he cannot call me back as I was in Tenerife and he could not make international calls from the office. This may have explained why no one called me back from the call centre however if this is the case then why was I constantly promised a call back? I called again at 4pm and **** said he had not heard from the underwriters so it was unlikely that my overdraft would be back on today. We offered him plenty of solutions such as emergency cash into my ESaver account but he said he could not do anything at all. I explained that we had not even eaten and he still could not offer any solution to this problem. He told me to call him back first thing in the morning. Later in the evening both my partner and myself were starving, and had not even had any water all day as Santander still had my money. We had to resort to selling my digital camera so that we could eat. My camera cost £149.99 when new, and the best price I could get in Tenerife was 30 euros. The next morning I called the Santander branch and explained my situation once again, and was told that it was ****’s day off and that ***** was dealing with it. I explained that I had had to sell my camera so that I could eat and still no help was offered. Eventually in the afternoon I spoke to ***** and was informed that my overdraft was now at £1500.
So it was nearly 3 days until they actually sorted out their admin mistake. I don't want people lecturing me telling me I should have taken cash on holiday etc as beleive me I have learnt my lesson. I just want people to see how awful they are, and how little they care about their customers. Our holiday was totally ruined by them
I don't want to type out the whole scenario again... so I'm going to copy and paste bits of the letter I have sent them. You will get the jist. If anyone is thinking of changing banks to them, please read this first and you will see that this is how they treat their customers
. A few months ago I received a letter from you telling me that my overdraft would be taken away on 01/09/2011. This was peculiar as I am due to begin the third year of my degree and this is a student overdraft. I went into my local branch to discuss this and saw *****. She told me that on your system it was showing up that I had finished university. I am constantly having this problem even though I have shown the branch a letter from my university stating which year I am in, and how long my course is. I can’t understand why there is constantly confusion regarding which year I am in. She said that she had appealed this decision to the underwriters and that I should call back in after 48 hours. I called in the next week and spoke to a lady on the reception desk with long dark hair and an irish accent. She told me that ***** was busy but that it had been sorted and my overdraft would be increased to £1500 on the 1st September. I asked her if this was definitely correct as I am going on holiday around that date and do not want to be stuck without any money. She assured me that there was no possibility of my overdraft being removed as ***** had heard back from the underwriters and everything was fine.
A few days before I went on holiday I received my wages in the form of a cheque for £516, as I had assurance that the problems with my account had been sorted, I paid this into my Santander account and this was to be used as mine and my partners spending money on holiday. I went on holiday on Friday 2nd September to Tenerife and my cheque was due to clear on Monday 5th September. We were using my partner’s money for the first few days and had only taken cash knowing that I would have my wages. I used online banking on the Sunday afternoon and saw that my overdraft had in fact been removed. I cannot describe the panic that I felt in this instant. We were in a foreign country with only my bank card and my wages that I now wouldn’t be able to access. I called a customer service line as soon as I noticed this and was told there was nothing that could be done as it was a Sunday. This was a lady in the Bootle call centre who was rather blunt and rude. When I hung up the phone I was inconsolable with panic and fear so my partner insisted I try again. When I called this time I spoke to ******* in Bradford. Again he explained that as it was a Sunday and the branch was not open there was nothing he could do, there was no emergency money offered and no other solution offered. By this time I was so distraught I had to put my partner on the phone. We had asked to speak to a manager and after being on hold for approximately half an hour I was told she was too busy and she would call me back before 10pm. That night when I should have been out enjoying myself, I sat in the hotel room staring at my mobile phone waiting for a phone call that never came. In the morning we could not go out for breakfast as Santander had taken our spending money. I called the customer service line again and explained that this manager had not called me back. I was then told that I was wrong, and that she had tried to call me back twice. I assured the advisor that I would not have missed a telephone call as I was staring at my mobile phone all night. She then advised me that the same manager would call me back before 10am. Again, I did not receive a phone call. Later on I called again, and a different advisor told me that she would email the manager who was meant to call, and tell her to call me asap. Again I sat and waited for a phone call that never happened. By this time we had not had anything to eat all day and our holiday was being wasted sat in the hotel room waiting for phone calls. I called yet again and finally was put through to the branch. I spoke to **** at the Allerton branch who told me that my problem had been faxed over to the underwriters and there was no guarantee of when it would be sorted. Upon hearing this I was in tears, at the prospect of another night with no money, no food, and no bottled water. My partner spoke to **** who would not even admit to the mistake within the branch, and attempted to pass the blame on to the underwriters. **** also informed me that he cannot call me back as I was in Tenerife and he could not make international calls from the office. This may have explained why no one called me back from the call centre however if this is the case then why was I constantly promised a call back? I called again at 4pm and **** said he had not heard from the underwriters so it was unlikely that my overdraft would be back on today. We offered him plenty of solutions such as emergency cash into my ESaver account but he said he could not do anything at all. I explained that we had not even eaten and he still could not offer any solution to this problem. He told me to call him back first thing in the morning. Later in the evening both my partner and myself were starving, and had not even had any water all day as Santander still had my money. We had to resort to selling my digital camera so that we could eat. My camera cost £149.99 when new, and the best price I could get in Tenerife was 30 euros. The next morning I called the Santander branch and explained my situation once again, and was told that it was ****’s day off and that ***** was dealing with it. I explained that I had had to sell my camera so that I could eat and still no help was offered. Eventually in the afternoon I spoke to ***** and was informed that my overdraft was now at £1500.
So it was nearly 3 days until they actually sorted out their admin mistake. I don't want people lecturing me telling me I should have taken cash on holiday etc as beleive me I have learnt my lesson. I just want people to see how awful they are, and how little they care about their customers. Our holiday was totally ruined by them
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You're one in a very long line of people who have horror stories about dealings with Santander. I had a terrible experience with them and complained, then raised another complaint about their inept handling of my initial complaint. I eventually received a full apology and significant compensation....I took the compo but after all the aggravation swore I'd never deal with them again.Common sense?...There's nothing common about sense!0
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Part of my letter states that i want compensation for my camera, my phone calls, and my holiday being ruined but i very much doubt they will go for that! So i will take it to the financial ombudsman in that case. I don't know how a company can be so completely terrible0
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I can't believe you were so financially unprepared for your holiday?!?I spent 25 years in the mobile industry, from 1994 to 2019. Worked for indies as well as the big networks, in their stores also in contact centres. I also hold a degree in telecoms engineering so I like to think I know what I’m talking about 😂0
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Why don't you get off your high horse and read the part of my post that says "I don't want people lecturing me telling me I should have taken cash on holiday etc as beleive me I have learnt my lesson" I'm simply trying to warn people about Santander's bad service as this is the "Praise, vent and warnings" forum, not the advice forum.
I hardly think you can call going on holiday with the guarentee of your wages clearing in your account on a set day "unprepared"0 -
stephy110288 wrote: »Why don't you get off your high horse and read the part of my post that says "I don't want people lecturing me telling me I should have taken cash on holiday etc as beleive me I have learnt my lesson" I'm simply trying to warn people about Santander's bad service as this is the "Praise, vent and warnings" forum, not the advice forum.
I hardly think you can call going on holiday with the guarentee of your wages clearing in your account on a set day "unprepared"
To be fair you should have had cleared funds in place prior to going away as it shows that you couldnt actualy afford the holiday.0 -
I literally don't know why I bother. Trying to give people advice and all I get in return is judgemental comments.
I obviously could afford the holiday as I had a month's wages clearing in a cheque, and didn't see the need to take my partner's bank card as well and risk losing it. Not that I really need to explain myself0 -
You are on here moaning like an old women surely you know people will comment and if you dont like what you hear then simple answer is do not post in the first place.0
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No. The simple answer is people don't post judgemental, snotty "I know best" remarks in a "Warnings" forum. My post was purely to warn people! Not for smug know-it-alls to comment on how I handle my finances on holiday.0
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I know this isn't what you want to hear but I have to agree with everyone else. I don't think you were financially prepared for your holiday. It appears that you went away knowing there would be no money in your account for a few days, and relying on an overdraft. Then when it all went wrong you blamed the bank for everything. I know that Santander don't have a very good reputation but I don't think the situation you found yourself is very common.0
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