Halifax to Santander ISA transfer problem

Biskit

Thanks Enforcer - see that's what I originally thought. So why would Santander refuse the transfer on the original post on this thread on the basis that "About two weeks later I got a letter back saying that they could not accept it as I had contributed to the other ISA this tax year (ie. 2012/2013)", even though he hadn't. It's all so damn confusing & complicated lol

ylesia

Looks like my saga is coming to an end!

Summary for anyone interested lol!

Friday 13th April - Opened Fixed 1 Year ISA online

Monday 16th April - Printed off and posted transfer form

Friday 20th April - called santander and told they "didn't know" if they had my form!

Tuesday 24th April - called santander and told that they did not have my transfer form but I could raise a customer query that would take 7 working days to resolve or hand another form into branch - I hung up and applied for BM 2 year fix!

Thursday 26 April - my funds have dissapeared from Halifax ISA!!
- called Halifax, they received request on the 24th April and account was closed today.
- called Santander, apparantely there are two systems and my form had been scanned onto the "old" system (on the 18th April) and that is why the 2 previous advisors did not see it!!
- told "not to worry" and that "everything was fine" and my money would show online within 15 working days and that interest was being paid from today.

I have to laugh or I would cry that I have entrusted these people with my money - never again!

Mikeyorks

ylesia wrote: »

Friday 20th April - called santander and told they "didn't know" if they had my form!

So - in essence your whole problem revolves around that call? Had you not made it - all would have worked - as it did! Why 'phone people at such a busy time for transfers etc and ask if they have something you've just sent them! Just let the system work. Hand the paperwork in at a Branch if you're that mistrustful of Royal Mail.

It's like people who 'phone HMRC on the 31st Jan to ask if a payment sent the day before has been received. With 0.75M payments in process on the day ..... 'don't know' is the politest you would get.

The_Enforcer

Biskit wrote: »

So why would Santander refuse the transfer on the original post on this thread.

Overworked and undertrained staff, a common occurrence that keeps Santander propping up the bottom of the MSE customer service survey.

innovate

ylesia wrote: »

Looks like my saga is coming to an end!

To be fair, Santander have processed your transfer request quite quickly. The industry standard for ISA transfer completion is max 15 working days. There have been no more than 9 working days in your case so far for them to act on your request. In fact, it looks as if you will get the Santander interest from April 26, 8 working days from the earliest they could reasonably have received your transfer request form. That is good going for any ISA transfer from one provider to another.

I appreciate there is a bit of a hole in the process, in that it's not necessarily easy for us customers to know whether the provider has received the request. That's why I handed my form in at a Branch and got them to give me a receipted copy. I could have posted it as recorded delivery instead. All you need to have is proof they have the form, then sit back and relax for a few weeks and let the provider get on with their job for the next 15 working days.

You could, of course, argue that the entire process should be faster / slicker / more transparent etc etc - but that would be something to take up with not just the whole industry but also with the HMRC and the FSA. No single ISA provider can instrumentally do much else than operate within the industry standard because by the very nature, other providers as well as the HMRC are involved, and FSA guidelines have to be obeyed.

Given that we want to transfer ISAs only every now and then, rarely more than once a year, I think we as customers get an acceptable deal under the "15 working days" rule now. I'd much rather they stick with the processes as they are now and offer us half-decent interest rates, instead of spending "our" interest money on coming up and implementing yet another new approach.

The_Enforcer wrote: »

Overworked and undertrained staff, a common occurrence that keeps Santander propping up the bottom of the MSE customer service survey.

Santander don't IMO compare unfavourably, or favourably, with any of the other banks. They are all much of a muchness in my experience (I have, or have had, accounts with quite a few of them). Where humans are involved, mistakes do happen. The important thing is that mistakes and resulting issues get corrected. I have had reason for a big complaint at Santander myself - it was majorly annoying but they handled it swiftly and professionally, rectified the issue, and paid me compensation. No different to any other reputable bank or other large company.

There seems to be a heck of a lot of Santander bashing for the sake of it going on at MSE, very often from people who have inflated expectations, or who know someone who said they had problems with Santander . Often people just simply don't seem to have informed themselves. For instance, had people read up about ISA transfers in detail before they decided they want to transfer theirs, most of the "my transfer has gone wrong" posts would have been wholly unnecessary.

Eponym

Eponym wrote: »

The results of my phone call were interesting. I was told that the ISA team have put a letter in the post saying they have never received a transfer form, which is patently untrue as otherwise they wouldn't request the money from Halifax!

They are sending me a new transfer form I was advised to fill a new one in. I said I would be writing to make a complaint and was offered £40 compensation which I accepted and has been paid into my current account today. I was also assured that the interest will be backdated - I've also had a letter from Halifax today to say that they have added the money back into the Halifax ISA and they've added the interest to cover the time when it was out. I'm not entirely sure why but I'm not complaining!

The Santander staff member I spoke to on the phone was very helpful and apologetic but it seems that everyone who's dealt with the transfer is incompetent. Error upon error.

Well, I've sent off my second transfer form with a letter explaining their litany of errors and a copy of their first letter, which alerted me to the problem. I've asked if, in the circumstances, the transfer could be expedited and also for written confirmation that I will get interest backdated to the date of the first transfer attempt, as I have been assured I will.

We'll see. (This was the first of two !!!!-ups Santander have made with my accounts in the last few weeks.)

innovate

Fingers etc xed, Eponym!

Beighton

Interesting correspondence. My experience for what it's worth:

Applied online to open 1-year fixed rate ISA with Santander on 7 April - deposit to be transfer of existing ISA from Saga

Account set up next day

Completed transfer form and sent to Santander on 10 April (no stamp!)

No response/action by 1 May so called Santander to enquire about progress. Person answering call couldn't help but promised to refer to ISA dept and said I'd get a response within 48 hours. Received auto email acknowledging my communication and giving me a ref number

No response by 4 May so called again. Same thing - person answering call couldn't help but said she'd refer it to ISA dept. Have no idea whether they have received my transfer form, have lost it or are actually processing it. Am gearing myself up for another call this week ...

Frankly I'd like to cancel the whole thing and start again with another provider, but presumably if I do so I'd be effectively closing this year's ISA?

I've moved ISAs around a lot over the last 10 years and have never had any problems. Santander's performance to date does not inspire confidence.

t0rt0ise

The phone number for Santander's ISA department is

0845 6000 181

If you call that you will speak to someone who can immediately check whether the form has been received and on which dates each step of the process has happened.

What do you mean by 'no stamp'?

Beighton

Thanks for that. By "no stamp" I meant that I assumed that the address was Freepost - not that that would have prevented the transfer form from getting there ...