Do not ever bank with santander

lili2008

Truly dreadful bank. As the recent victim of an online scam, I was reassured by info here and elsewhere that the law was on my side. But does Santander know this? Oh no. They tell you a different story every time you contact them and their disputes staff are WOEFULLY ILL INFORMED. The lack of staff training on matters of the law is tantamount to a scam in itself. Furthermore, they are rude, aggressive and care nothing for customer service. And forget about trying to contact them easily. Even at a supposedly quiet tiMe of the day, it takes them at least 30 minutes to answer a phone call. When calling into a branch today, the surly young man on the front desk heard the nature of my complaint and without consulting any kind of computer, answered at once that the first appointment I could get to discuss it was 18 November. Yes, November. It's April. This was clearly just nonsense he felt like making up. I was then forced to queue for 45 minutes and discuss it all through a perspex screen with someone who told me yet another version of the law, as usual, far wide of what the actual law is. I'd had enough by that point and closed the account.

DO NOT USE THEM!!!!! UTTER UTTER RUBBISH.

Agricolae

So, uh, what was this scam?

lili2008

Doesn't matter. What matters is that Santander staff were ill informed, inconsistent and rude.

Oli.s

I've always found them to be excellent when ever I've had a problem.

bizzybee

Oli.s wrote: »

I've always found them to be excellent when ever I've had a problem.

Have to agree.

grumbler

If you are sure that people "here and elsewhere" are informed much better and are experts in "matters of the law", simply sue Santander via the small claims court (online) instead of wasting your time on dealing with incompetent staff.

Thrugelmir

lili2008 wrote: »

Doesn't matter. What matters is that Santander staff were ill informed, inconsistent and rude.

The nature of the complaint does matter. There's often far more to a story than is initially said. In my experience "customers" can be equally as obnoxious in the way they treat company employees.

Agricolae

Ah, it was one of those "free trial" things.

I will take most of the comments with a pinch of salt. I'm not doubting that Santander can be rubbish, but I'm sure they're not consistently bad.

meer53

I wonder if the "online scam" involved a free trial of some weightloss pills/colon cleansing products/miracle wrinkle cream ?

More details needed before i would make any comments about Santanders customer service. 2 sides to every story and all that

lili2008

The point is, they did not know the law and refused to discuss it. I am not impolite or obnoxious, merely extremely frustrated with the inconsistency and inaccuracy of their information. At no point was I anything other than patient or polite. The only time I encountered outright rudeness from them was the idiot on the door of the branch today telling me the first available appointment was November (an obvious, silly lie), but I have to say, the rest of the time was just the frustration of wildly differing advice. I do not believe it is good practise to refuse to let a customer speak to a manager on the phone either.

From advice I got here and elsewhere, I am fairly sure of the law on these matters now. The problem with Santander is that they are not. Pretty shocking for bank staff.

gb12345

Agricolae wrote: »

Ah, it was one of those "free trial" things.

Banked with Santander (and A&L before that) for years and never had a problem - but then I don't [STRIKE]fall for scams[/STRIKE] sign up for things that I don't understand the T&Cs for.