Transfer Returned Unpaid (ING to Santander)

velouria_2

I'm in the middle of a very frustrating situation and am curious to know if anyone else has experienced anything similar and what, if anything, they found they could do about it.

Back in June 2012 I was expecting some money to be transfered into my Santander account from ING. The money didn't show up and ING said it had been returned unpaid, while Santander denied any such transaction having been attempted.

The transfer was attempted another 3 times with the same outcome.

At one point ING informed me that there was a glitch within Santander's system concerning payments incoming from international banks. Santander denied this to me.

So, more recently the transfer was re-attempted with the payment coming from ING in Leicester, to bypass this possible glitch and once again, according to ING, the transfer has been returned unpaid by Santander, whilst Santander "assure" me there are no restrictions on my account and that no transfers have been attempted.

The amount is a good few months' money for me and as a result of this mess I have incurred a large amount of charges.

Has anyone had a similar experience with either of these banks?
I'm at a bit of a loss as to which one to believe.

ponbeam

Are you trying to move it into a bank account?
Is it a new account or an ex a&l account?

velouria_2

It's an ex A&L current account.

pmduk

Sometimes, making a formal complaint will ensure that the issue is examined by someone with better trained eyes. At the very least, you'd receive a proper explanation of what has gone wrong.

velouria_2

Very true; I'll do that next.
The furthest I've got so far is to speak to a Transactions Manager who couldn't shed any more light on the situation than Customer Services.

pmduk

And at least making the complaint formal means you can escalate it to the FOS in 8 weeks.

ponbeam

Are you using you old sort code, Your sort code has changed with Santander.

velouria_2

Good point, but no, I'm using my new sort code.

jonesMUFCforever

Not an answer to the question asked but if the money is still in the ING bank can you not ask them to send you a cheque so at least you have the funds?
If it was me I would not have a Santander account by now.

velouria_2

We went for the cheque option at one point and it was lost in the post!

But yes, that is the sensible and simple solution and I will be asking them to send another (which will not be going in a Santander account).

I'm mainly posting in the hope that someone may be able to shed some light on why this keeps happening.
As PMDUK said, hopefully a formal complaint will throw up some answers.

Believe me I'm outta Santander asap, but want to have some answers from them before I close the account as I'm imagining things will be even more laborious once I'm no longer a customer.

Dr_Cuckoo3

When you change a nominated account at ING , they require a cheque from the new account

I wonder whether the change of sort code from A&L to Santander has caused a problem as presumably you have not sent a cheque with the new sort code and I assume the sort code was amended as a result of the direct debit being in place

Isn't the daily withdrawal limit £500 ?

I would set up a new linked account if you have another chequebook account and/or attempt a £1 withdrawal to the A&L account