Santander avoids responding to complaints about complaints handling

fjsfjs

I have a Santander 123 Account. I have limited mobility and poor vision. I asked a question about money transfer via the secure email system. Santander CS is mediocre, so I get a boilerplate answer which does not answer the question. From experience I know that phoning them produces the same sort of unhelpful, too general, answer.

I reply to the secure email response.

Here is the nub of the problem, repeated every time.

Santander reply by phone. They phone landline and mobile simultaneously 5 or so times a day for two or three days. I pick the phone up, and there is no one there. These are silent calls.

Santander then send an email closing the episode, stating that they are glad I am satisfied with their service.

I have complained 3 times about this behaviour, and received no response at all.

I have asked for an address for written correspondence, and received no response.

Should I leave, or is there some way of getting some sense out of them?

rb10

Santander are generally pretty good now.

I would suggest posting your question on here - lots of people here bank with Santander, so may know the answer to your question.

Failing that, you can phone 0845 600 6014 (or 01908 680123) between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday or 9am to 4pm on Saturdays.

Or fill out their complaints form at https://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Satellite?c=GSInformacion&canal=CABBEYCOM&cid=1210611410345&empr=Abbeycom&leng=en_GB&pagename=Abbeycom%2FGSInformacion%2FWC_ACOM_FormA

Or email them at Customerservices@santander.co.uk

Or write to them at Complaints, Santander UK PLC, PO Box 1125, Bradford BD1 9PG

Or send a secure message through online banking with 'Complaints' as the subject (this'll be directed to their complaints team who may be better placed to answer your query).

agrinnall

Given that they are clearly not meeting your needs it would seem sensible to switch to another bank. It may be worth asking if other posters have personal experience and recommendations that might be germane to your situation.

Bankers_Bane

Santander is not good at answering complaints. You should get some response if you send a written complaint, headed 'formal complaint', to the Complaints Dept. at Bradford (rb10 has already given the address). They have to respond to you within a couple of weeks, with a final answer within 8 weeks. Don't be surprised if they misunderstand your complaint. It's a Santander thing!

billn

Last time I complained to Santander I sent the letter recorded (to the address already given) and tracked it, I received a phone call within 1 hour of them receiving it and the problem was sorted out.

Having said this it could have been sorted out a lot quicker by the branch but they have to go through exactly the same procedure as a customer.

Be persistent and do put everything in writing.

Milarky

I had this experience recently when trying to 'complain' to Santander over the phone. It became 'a complaint' in the course of the conversation (as we were deadlocked as to the issue/cause for concern/cause of complaint/appropriate remedy)

Although they ended by taking my call as the subject of a [formal] complaint verbally and gave me a reference number accordingly, I simply received a subsequent email 'explaining' that my matter had been resolved as confirmed by the issue of that quoted reference number.

This is a very strange way to go about 'resolution' - unless the system was designed for one thing and was simply being used by staff for another [longer coffee breaks?]

Finally on the third occasion I put my foot down and they dealt with it on the phone [that was what they were saying they had been doing all along] effectively closing the complaint.

rebeccaxoxo

Just a little bit of insight in regards to the email that you received explaining that your issue had been resolved. I believe this is something that happens when Santander are unable to come to a resolution you are happy with. You would normally then receive a letter in the post that allows you to refer it to the fos. Which you can actually do before receiving the letter as they have stalemated the complaint.