Praise for Santander!!

flossy_splodge

NO praise - see later post! Yes really!
On advice from another bank I went to my local branch of Santander to get help with a problem.
Now without going into details I had found a cheque from them which is now over 2 years old and made out to my trading name from when I was self employed.
I explained it was entirely my stupidity that has caused the problem but can they help me get my money.
First the guy on the counter explained as it was business banking and an out of date cheque, they wouldn't be able to help in branch but he gave me the phone number and then suggested I might like to use their phone so as not to incur cost!!
I duly phoned and suffice to say was again dealt with by an extremely courteous, knowledgeable and helpful guy and the outcome is I should get my money back in the next couple of days.
The money is good news of course but it is a long time since I've experienced such excellent customer service.
Well done Santander.:T

I_Love_Shoes

Ive got a savings account with them and I find they are the most polite of all the banks I am with (barclays and natwest).
People seem to HATE them but ive never had a problem!

Dave101t

they have done alot in the last year to improve, worth a go now.

ses6jwg

A lot of your experience with any bank or indeed big company will depend on the knowledge and character of the people you deal with either in branch or on the phone.

flossy_splodge

Beginning to wonder if I praised them too soon..... no return phone call as promised and no money yet.... watch this space. Words come easy, hope its backed up by actions.:o

flossy_splodge

Yes I really did praise them way way too soon!:o
Look at the date of this posting folks and to date I've spoken to 4 different members of staff including a manager and still no money forthcoming.
What a shower.
I have just phoned them again and told them I shall escalate my complaint about their lousy service myself if I don't see action today.
Each time they say 'will definitely happen today, will definitely call you back, so sorry etc etc'.:mad:
Actions count, NOT empty words.
Beware Santander and their trite and meaningless reassurances.:eek:

flossy_splodge

Well by dint of patience and perseverance I have eventually resolved this issue but what a battle to get here.
There is ONE member of staff who knows what he's doing but it was sheer chance ending up talking to him.
They have offered compensation which I've accepted to acknowledge their poor service but how much better it would have been not to suffer in the first place.:o
What is wrong with customer service in this country!:eek:

coldcazzie

I found Santander to be exactly as you say. Sound great, but never follow up on anything.

BaldacchinoR

Customer service in this country, overall, must be the worse its ever been. A lot of it is because many organisations do not employ enough people to give decent customer service. That's why you have to wait for ages on the phone to speak to someone.

I sent an e-mail to Samsung last month via their website about the TV I bought - no sign of a reply after nearly a month! Panasonic took about 3 weeks to reply to my e-mail asking one question about the blu-ray player I bought.

I used to bank with Santander; overall I found them pretty good. I still have 2 credit cards with them - one is the zero card with no charges for foreign currency transactions - you only pay interest on cash drawn abroad; unfortunately its no longer available to new customers. Santander made a few errors on my bank account but got them sorted quickly enough. I only changed to the Co-Op because they were offering 200quid at the time. I had to chase the Co-op for the 200quid and have put a complaint in about that to the Financial Ombudsman.

Tesco are pretty good for sorting out problems; they usually respond within a couple of days but they do make mistakes sometimes but then rectify them quite promptly, once brought to their attention.

pmduk

I think customers have to accept some of the blame for that by only buying on price, not customer service. If companies believed that poor customer service will directly affect their bottom line, either it'll concentrate their mind or they'll go the way of woolworths and comet.

melbell

How is this Santanders fault? I'd say it was your fault and the bank are being generous wanting to help.