Santander phone line costs.

IamZlatan

People of MSE...

Last month, after recently switching to the 123 Santander account, I had to spend a total of 11mins 32secs on the phone to the Santander fraud department. A litte back story...as said I had switched accounts, I went into my online banking to transfer some funds to another account of mine (TSB account). I transferred the sum yet the next time I went to log into my account it had said that my account had been temporarily blocked and I should phone this number 08456004388. I checked the number out, went into the branch, all seemed legit so I gave them a call. They confirmed that it was indeed myself who made the transaction and thus lifted my login block.

Now Im all for banks protecting against fraud, but this call in total cost me £5.06. My question is, would it be worth my while complaining about this to get a refund for the cost? Has anyone else done the same and received compensation?

I dont think its fair that they use such a costly phone line whenever it is the only way to get the login block lifted.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Zlatan

dr_adidas01

IamZlatan wrote: »

People of MSE...

Last month, after recently switching to the 123 Santander account, I had to spend a total of 11mins 32secs on the phone to the Santander fraud department. A litte back story...as said I had switched accounts, I went into my online banking to transfer some funds to another account of mine (TSB account). I transferred the sum yet the next time I went to log into my account it had said that my account had been temporarily blocked and I should phone this number 08456004388. I checked the number out, went into the branch, all seemed legit so I gave them a call. They confirmed that it was indeed myself who made the transaction and thus lifted my login block.

Now Im all for banks protecting against fraud, but this call in total cost me £5.06. My question is, would it be worth my while complaining about this to get a refund for the cost? Has anyone else done the same and received compensation?

I dont think its fair that they use such a costly phone line whenever it is the only way to get the login block lifted.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Zlatan

Not everything in life is fair, thats just the way life is.

You went into a branch did you not ask to use the telephone service in branch which wouldn't have cost you anything. Calling them isn't the only way to unlock your account, you can also do it in a Santander branch too!!

I'm guessing you used your mobile to call them hence the high cost? You could always try making a complaint via the online messaging service to see if they will refund you the cost.

Moral don't use your mobile to do 0845 calls and check online to see if there is an alternative number available to the 0845 one.

Here's santanders complaint number if you want to give it a go: 0345 600 6014

IamZlatan

dr_adidas01 wrote: »

Not everything in life is fair, thats just the way life is.

You went into a branch did you not ask to use the telephone service in branch which wouldn't have cost you anything. Calling them isn't the only way to unlock your account, you can also do it in a Santander branch too!!

I'm guessing you used your mobile to call them hence the high cost? You could always try making a complaint via the online messaging service to see if they will refund you the cost.

Moral don't use your mobile to do 0845 calls and check online to see if there is an alternative number available to the 0845 one.

Here's santanders complaint number if you want to give it a go: 0345 600 6014

Oh I'm well aware life isnt fair!lol.

You cannot do it in branch, that is why I went in there in the first place, to see if it could be lifted there and then, so you have no choice but to call. I didnt even think to ask to use their phone, but I could only call in on my lunch break and I couldnt spend it all on the blower to their fraud department!

I also did check for an alternative number to ring but again this was the only one that I could find.

Yes I did use my mobile, which I admit probably wasnt the most cost effective choice.

Archi_Bald

You can call the "call from abroad" number on the back of your card. That's a normal landline number and would be included in your free minutes.

Or check saynoto0870.com for a number that suits.

Stuart_W

Personally, I think the company that has ripped you off in this instance is your phone company, and not your bank.

saynoto0870 would have provided you with a geographic number and a freephone number as Archi Bald has already mentioned.

My mobile, which is only a light use PAYG affair, only charges 8p a minute for 0845, which is still more than I'd want to pay but if you're cheesed off about paying over 40p a minute, you could try being cheesed off partly at your phone company and not just your bank. Inclusive landline packages tend to include 0845 calls, as do some mobile packages. I don't have inclusive daytime calls on my landline but use telesave to get 0845 calls at 4.5p/daytime and 1.5p/min evenings with none of this connection fee rubbish the landline phone companies all apply to chargeable calls now.

Aquamania

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You can call the "call from abroad" number on the back of your card. That's a normal landline number and would be included in your free minutes.

Or check saynoto0870.com for a number that suits.

Calls to the number the OP dialled will either be included FREE in a BT calling package, or will cost LESS than dialling the geographic number, or even the 0345 complaints number when using a BT landline where a charge is made.

Calls from other networks may vary, and from mobiles will cost considerably more ... but don't we all know that already?

Archi_Bald

I have 500 minutes/mth of calls to all UK landline numbers included on my £15/mth 4G SIM only package, and I reckon the OP also has a mobile arrangement that includes calls as it's hard to find one without. I didn't talk about a BT or other landline calling package as the OP was talking about mobiles.

Aquamania

I tallked about all eventualities and said

Calls from other networks may vary, and from mobiles will cost considerably more

So it was the OP's choice.


Mind you, if I was in the OP's shoes and went to the branch as claimed, I would have asked to use their phone

TheTracker

See this article for some support. The FCA and Ofcom see it as unfair.

I would complain and ask for a refund.

10pence

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You can call the "call from abroad" number on the back of your card. That's a normal landline number and would be included in your free minutes.

That's the number I always use and recommend to others too. Though most fraud teams are 0845 based numbers. Nothing stopping someone from ringing the landline number and getting transferred to the right team.


Some one mentioned unlocking accounts in branch, most banks for fraud cannot be unlocked by branch staff due to specialist systems in place. There is nothing stopping someone from using the branch phone or even sitting with bank staff for them to make the call to fraud teams; use to do this a lot with customers when working for a bank.

Just ring the bank, see if the will refund the money as gesture of goodwill, failing that complain; premium rate number, no one in branch offered to help - poor service etc. Did this when Barclays blocked my girlfriends card just before she was due to fly of UK, offered £20 GOW and £7 call costs.

Bionic_woman_2

I opened a joint account with my bereaved blind mother to handle her affairs am having to pay a lot of bills for her and am getting these calls all the time. As I work long hours and am really under pressure due to the fact that my parents' affairs were in a real mess, i really can't pop into branch all the time.
Sometimes I have had to make 3 calls to get the block lifted, usually in the street due to fact that I work in an open plan office and have had to take loads of time out to do it. It must be costing me a fortune, apart from the time and difficulty. I think it is becoming really onerous and seems to me to be a' hidden charge' to set against the 123 benefits.
Seems to have been caused because the first big payment there was a computer error, so ended up putting it through twice. Rather rude, a lot of the operators I find - act like its their money, not ours.