Santander's Customer Service - Nightmare Continues

truffler

Thank you for your reply and good wishes! I'll certainly be hoping for some compensation for the delays, once this is sorted, but my main priority of course is to get the money put into my account. I looked at the info about the Ombudsman on this site and it suggests a complaint might take several months and I can't wait that long. So I'm going to the Halifax branch that issued the draft tomorrow and see if they can also investigate from their end, and keep on at Santander also.

Robisere

Use this link: - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

Compile all the information you have regarding the dispute and ask for an appointment with this body.

I have had my own Banking problems in the past, with other UK banks, but I have never experienced or read of anything as bad as the experiences described here. I am so glad to be a Nationwide customer; all my accounts and most of my savings are with NW and I use their Internet banking services with no problem at all. Customer Services are very good. The only problem I have is that I must travel over 20 miles from my rural Lincolnshire home, if I need the nearest Branch. That happened after NW closed all the Estate Agency branches. However, I have another savings account with another Mutual nearby, so any cheques, etc can be paid int that and transferred electronically.

I wonder if there is any way that affected santander customers, can contact the Spanish HQ? Just a thought, they may not be too impressed with the way their UK operation is upsetting customers.

Hurdler

Wow ... I was looking at liquidating a bunch of shares and slinging them in a savings account while Intry and change my career (extra funds to help a poor church mouse) ... I will NOT be transferring anything to Santander just on the strength of this thread.

@bobwilson - I hope you get things sorted

Stubod

Many thanks for the above thread.....I was just about to open a Santander account to transfer some into from Northern rock as I understand they are now part of Virgin, so 85K limit applies......after reading the above I think I will sacrifice some interest and find a "proper" bank...

bobwilson

I received another call from Faizel, the Glasgow Santander Branch yesterday. He said to go and speak to Sheila at my branch. He said he has explained to her what's going on, and that she will sort it out for me once and for all.

I'm going to call the branch now to make sure Sheila's in.

...

I just called up the branch. A boy answered suspiciously and asked me "Why do you want to speak to Sheila and who are you?!".. after an inane 5 minute conversation where I had to prove I wasn't a criminal, I managed to persuade him I was allowed to speak to Sheila.

Sheila appeared to barely remember speaking to the man at the glasgow branch, she said she was unaware that I had been into the branch before, or that I've spoken to customer service or the fraud department many times. She said I have to come into the branch again with ID. She said although I've already done that 3 times, her colleagues forgot to log it on the system, and she can't personally vouch for it, so I have to go in again.

She said "From my perspective, sir, this is the first time you've contacted us. I can only try my best to help sir, but obviously can't guarantee that I obviously will be able to unblock your account, Sir."

I am on my way in to the branch again now. I'm running up well over 30 hours work with phone calls and branch visits now. I'll have to start keeping records, and it looks like I'll have to devote time to contacting the Legal ombudsman. I'm getting absolutely no where with this. It is a nightmare.

The_Pixi

LilMissEmmylou wrote: »

OH this reminds me of how much I HATE Santander! I had no visa card for 4 months because it wasn't making it to my house.... neither was the pin.... no no they were sending it to my address from 2 YEARS previous which was NOT where my statements etc went to. It took 6 cards to be ordered and not show up and about 10 visits to the branch specifically for this reason (Not to mention the amount of times i visited with ID to lift cash for shopping!) for somebody to notice they had changed my address on all but one section of my account... the one where the new cards and pins are sent to (!!!!!! do they have a seperate address for this?!). This was the time I decided to join NatWest (who I now love!) and use them as my main account for my pay and left only CB, WTC and TC going into Santander.

More recently they decided they wanted to take my £2k overdraft off me in under 30 days! I am now paying my overdraft off in full over the next 7 months and then the bank account will be gone!!! and I wont be one bit sorry! Good luck with your Santander saga, I feel for you!

Exact same thing happened to me a couple of years ago, fortunately I have 2 accounts linked together.

It got to the point where I explained how stupid this was to the woman at the bank and asked her to assure me she had changed the address, she even printed out the 'conformation' screen.

Anyway 2 weeks later I found the same woman and asked her to explain where my card and pin were, holding the screen grab she gave me... her face

one attempt to get them sent to a specific branch failed as they decided to send them not to the branch requested but to the branch I opened the account at 20 years ago.... I don't live there anymore.

In March this card expires again.... I dread what may happen.

(why am i still with them? well I use First Direct now but I keep the Abbey accounts as 1 for joint household Bills and another is my spending account, I use first direct for my personal bills, savings and wages, and I can say absolutely that First Direct have great customer service..... so far)

ChiefGrasscutter

In all seriousness, even if only half the stories we hear on these forums are true, I'm wondering how long before someone writes to the FSA politely suggesting that Santander should no longer be regarded as a fit and proper organisation to be given a banking licence to operate in the UK.

truffler

Quick update: I took the copy of the banker's draft back to the Halifax today and they confirmed that they had paid the money to a Santander sort code and account number. So I took that information round to the local Santander branch, where the counter assistant said he would follow it up for me. Also today I received a letter from Santander complaints, dated 19 December, telling me to get a copy of the banker's draft from the Halifax ... what happens if both Halifax and Santander say they can't help any further? I find this a really frightening prospect.

truffler

Further update - I've got my money back, plus backdated interest and £100 compensation, which I think is fair. The complaints department told me what happened to the deposit and if it's true, I can see why it took so long to sort out. Thanks for your support on here!

Ifts

bobwilson wrote: »

I'm running up well over 30 hours work with phone calls and branch visits now. I'll have to start keeping records, and it looks like I'll have to devote time to contacting the Legal ombudsman. I'm getting absolutely no where with this. It is a nightmare.

It is very important and advisable to keep records in these situations from the outset.

When speaking to them on the phone get a note of the time/date of call, their name and number/department, what action they have agreed to take on your behalf and by what date.
Also the same when you have to go in to branch (when they see you noting down their details it sometimes gets the job done quicker as they know they will be accountable).

This way you have a log of everything you have had to do to be reunited with YOUR money, it is also easier to make a formal complaint and yes do ask for compensation for your wasted time and the stress caused. If you are not happy with their final response to your complaint you can then escalate it and take it to the FOS.

Ive had to complain to Tesco's Bank last year when they upgraded their computer systems. As I could not login to my accounts online, I gave my withdrawal instructions over the telephone, but the money was not paid out and if I had not chased them up the transaction would not have been carried out at all. When I contacted them about the phone call, they tried to deny receiving the call, luckily I had noted the time and date of call (also had it recorded on my own phone), because of this they changed their tune. After a couple of days of not receiving the money via Bacs payment, they sent it to me via Chaps FOC.
For my inconvenience they gave me £300 as a goodwill payment for the hassle caused, but your experience is 10x as bad as what I experienced.

No one wants to complain if they can help it, but what you have been put through is beyond a joke. It might be too late for you but it might just get them to improve their service to other customers in the future, so good luck.

edit: On the phone they tell yo to go in to the branch, in the branch they tell you you have to call them up. Just a thought - Maybe see the branch manager, and if you have to call them, do it from there and then if they tell you to go in to the branch on the phone, pass the phone over to the manager so they realise what they are asking of you.