Santander complaint?

peanuts92

Hey,

Well i had a preferred current account with santander as part of the £100 switch incentive, however once they paid me the £100 incentive i decided to leave and close my account. But whats really annoying me was the fact that when i closed my account 2 weeks ago the person who served me in branch to close it was quite rude. She asked me a lot of questions and was like i just used and abused santander for the £100 incentive and now want to leave. Which is essentially true i will admit but she said this outloud in front a few other people which was a bit embarassing and she was quite rude about it. She also when paying out my remaining balance in my account straight away was counting out the cash without even asking me if i would like it in cheque. And when i asked she said no you should have told me earlier, whereas at nationwide where i closed an account at earlier they were kind enough to ask me if i want cash or cheque. So i had no other choice than to take the £200 or so in cash with me, which i felt very uncomfortable about as i had people watching me in the branch and plus had to go back to university soon as was on a small break between lectures. So i immediately dumped it into another one of my accounts as i felt really nervous about carrying that much around as its a lot of money for me.

But my point is can i complain about this at all to Santander despite not being a customer anymore? As its still bugging me how rude she was to me...Also, they made a mess of my standing orders when i asked them to set one up on a specific date every month they put the wrong date down and left me wondering where is money in my other account? But i decided to let them off on this at the time, but now after this i'm not sure. So my question is can i complain about this matter to Santander as i'm no longer a customer?

Thanks for any help

scott_lithgows

You can complain (keep pressing 0 on the telephone helpline when prompted) however I must admit I would have had fun answering her back by admitting you were abusing Santander for the cash,pointing out they made mistakes and then telling her that you will see her soon,the next time you want a free hundred quid!

pmduk

I wouldn't bother complaining. You're free of them now and that's the most important thing.

peanuts92

pmduk wrote: »

I wouldn't bother complaining. You're free of them now and that's the most important thing.

Yh that is true...Its just annoying me lately of how rude that lady was to me in front of everyone. I'm a polite and quiet person so didn't really backtalk against her, also didn't want to attract too much attention as there was a big queue behind me.

I just feel like complaining against her and also could mention when they put the wrong date on my standing order. I could threaten to escalate it to the FOS and make Santander pay the FOS case fee of around £380, and they may even offer me compensation...Its bugging me lately of how i was treated and feel like getting one over on Santander for that....

nadsta1

You shouldnt close down a bank account. It shows as "settled" on your credit file. Its not bad, but it doesnt look nice when you apply for credit.

You could have left the account open with a fiver in it and that would do no harm to you, your credit file or santander.

PS you sure there wasnt no nitty gritty t&c for the £100 account opening offer? There usually can be with such offers.

peanuts92

nadsta1 wrote: »

You shouldnt close down a bank account. It shows as "settled" on your credit file. Its not bad, but it doesnt look nice when you apply for credit.

You could have left the account open with a fiver in it and that would do no harm to you, your credit file or santander.

PS you sure there wasnt no nitty gritty t&c for the £100 account opening offer? There usually can be with such offers.

What! So it shows up on my credit file? But i thought it would only show a credit search on my file as i didn't apply for any credit (no overdraft, no credit card). The only details was that i had to pay in a minimum of £1000 in every month or else theres a £2 underfunding fee.
Also what T&Cs do you exactly mean? Ones for the £100 switch incentive? As i've already been paid the switch incentive, after 13 weeks, as i met all the criteria...

nadsta1

Purchase a credit file from equifax. All closed accounts (most anyway) come up as "settled" green. All open bank accounts come up as well. As well as any bills you pay i.e. internet, mortgage, telephone etc. ALl this is taken in to account when you apply for credit i.e. when do you pay, do you pay late, do you owe anyone any money?

You posted on my thread not long ago, I'll just add here - it said "hsbc default £216" in ugly red writing - thats how I knew hsbc is the cause of my credit rating as being "poor". Soon as they sorted it out it went up to "average".

PS - settled is green. And the £1000 every month is that for the £100 account? You have to put in £1000 in every month?

jen245

nadsta1 wrote: »

You shouldnt close down a bank account. It shows as "settled" on your credit file. Its not bad, but it doesnt look nice when you apply for credit.

You could have left the account open with a fiver in it and that would do no harm to you, your credit file or santander.

PS you sure there wasnt no nitty gritty t&c for the £100 account opening offer? There usually can be with such offers.

Not true. Settled accounts do not affect your credit rating, in fact they are seen as a positive by lenders as it shows that you have closed the account with nothing owing.

And with this particular account the OP is talking about, you can't just leave it open with a fiver in it because there are underfunding fees if you don't pay in £500 every month

YorkshireBoy

peanuts92 wrote: »

I could threaten to escalate it to the FOS and make Santander pay the FOS case fee of around £380, and they may even offer me compensation...

Firstly, the FOS case fee is currently £500 (rumoured to be increasing [to £800?] shortly).

Secondly, the fee is only charged if your complaint can't be dealt with by their frontline staff and has to be passed up the chain to an adjudicator...and a case of alleged "rudeness" (ie, he said.../she said...) is extremely unlikely to need the services of an adjudicator.

pmduk

Santander attract so many complaints because of poor service, I suspect nothing you can do will affect the rude member of staff, If complaints had any effect there'd be no santander staff left.

Could it be that you are just cross with yourself for not being more assertive at the time? If you want a small payout then complain, but be honest with yourself why you are doing it.

innovate

They paid you £100 already for nothing, so just forget it and move on.