Santander Excelling at Poor Customer Service?

Fatgeordieb

We recently transferred to Santander after many happy years with A&L. We really did not believe all the bad reports about poor customer service at Santander until we moved our current account onto the new 123 account. Our account was frozen by Santander after they failed to collect some further/new information from us. An apology & explanation has still failed to materialise after six months despite numerous letters/phone calls & after contacting the banking ombudsman.

ses6jwg

try visiting a branch to sort it out

pmduk

Best just to close it now and find a better bank. Any company can make mistakes, but Santander excel in not solving problems of their own making.

YorkshireBoy

ses6jwg wrote: »

try visiting a branch to sort it out

I'd be impressed if a branch could do what Head Office Complaints and the FOS couldn't!

You think it's possible?

pmduk

The norm would be for the branch to say there's nothing they can do, the customer must phone the call centre.

Gromitt

I call troll. Santander troll. No question, no request for advice, and first post.

BobQ

Fatgeordieb wrote: »

We recently transferred to Santander after many happy years with A&L. We really did not believe all the bad reports about poor customer service at Santander until we moved our current account onto the new 123 account. Our account was frozen by Santander after they failed to collect some further/new information from us. An apology & explanation has still failed to materialise after six months despite numerous letters/phone calls & after contacting the banking ombudsman.

Well the last two happy years with A&L have been under the management of Santander so Santander must have been doing something right.

Santander are not perfect but have the advantage of offerring some really good deals. Inevitably there is a trade off in that they could provide better service and less good products.

My transfer from an A&L account to a Santander one was not impressive from the customer care viewpoint but you do get a better service at a branch and complaining very loudly does seem to lead to compensation payments. However, if you have reached the Banking Ombudsman I can see you are having difficulties. But surely this means the BO is the cause of the current delay?

Also I have to say that when I moved from a Reward Account to a 123 Account it was a totally smooth experience.

dalesrider

Fatgeordieb wrote: »

until we moved our current account onto the new 123 account. Our account was frozen by Santander after they failed to collect some further/new information from us. An apology & explanation has still failed to materialise after six months despite numerous letters/phone calls & after contacting the banking ombudsman.

So what new information did they require on a simple transfer of a account?

Sorry but with FOS involded it would be resolved one way or the other in that time frame, or Santander would be getting fined big style.
£500 a throw for it to be taken to FOS. So for Santander to let it go to them, they are 100% sure they are going to win.

ses6jwg

I dont understand what extra information they would have required.

It is very simple to upgrade one current account to another.

You need to elaborate.

ses6jwg

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

I'd be impressed if a branch could do what Head Office Complaints and the FOS couldn't!

You think it's possible?

I wouldn't.

I've had customers in the past during integration of A&L come into the branch asking us to perform simple tasks that they were unable to perform over the telephone after several requests.

societys_child

We recently transferred to Santander after many happy years with A&L

Yeah right, nobody "recently" transferred to Santander from A&L