Advice needed ASAP!

agrinnall

Do you have anything that supports your claim of a systemic issue? Have other people posted online about the same problem with this bank? If not I'm inclined to meer's view that it's a one-off human error.

lippy1923

Personally I would say a reasonable soloution is the accounts de-linked, cost of the calls reimbursed and a formal apology would be enough for me. I would then move banks if I felt it was worth the hassle and I couldn't stand the bank anymore.

Lifes to short to dwell. You might not be here tomorrow! As you said yourself, you're an understanding person so try to forgive and forget. Be glad it's all sorted now

bluetopboy

Lippy - that seems reasonable and I would accept that. However, believe it or not, to all you berating me, they have STILL not delinked the account. 3 working days on I still have unrestricted access to the account. Anything to say to that?

PrinceYumil

The reason you are receiving just negative feedback is purely the way you are putting things. The first one was a human error and 100 is a serious amount of money for compensation. You also already knew how this happened so why would you want the person handling the complaint to tell you what you already knew or that the person should have checked the date of birth. Also the complaints handler cannot do much there other than offer money either... You say you're unhappy with the resolution on that case but don't state what would have made you happy.

The second one is again serious but it seems as though it is again human error. It is a DPA breach and if you feel that strongly about this then raise a complaint with the FCA. But again what do you want them to do? They can't change the past so they can only try to rectify he mistake and compensate you for the trouble.

Big banks and things can of course shady but your scenario is not systematic issues or a bank acting in a shady way. It's people who have made mistakes, unfortunately it's happened to you twice, but the most they can do is try to rectify the errors.

I can get why your not happy but at the same time if your not happy with how they are handling your complaint then tell them what would make you happy to resolve the complaint. If it's not about money complain to their regulator.

But I think you need to decide what you want from your complaint before they can reasonably do anything because just now it seems that you wouldn't be happy whatever they said and at the end of the day it is still normal working human beings you are talking to.

EDIT: did they give you a timeframe for unlinking the account? If not ask so you have an expectation of how long it should take them.

bluetopboy

Prince - evidently I'm not being succinct enough.

I'll summarise.

In the 1st case, here's what would have made me happy. "We have spoken to the cashier, this is how the error occurred. We apologise and the relevant feedback has been passed on. Our process in branch, when a customer has lost their card is to....." As I said, errors occur and the above response, to me, says they are taking my complaint and their complacency seriously. Telling me to get lost with £100 without even placing me on hold says, "Get off the phone, please."

In the second case, a systemic issue is not just about computer systems. It is about internal processes and the checks you put in place to ensure the correct actions are carried out. Do you seriously mean to tell me that the ONLY way of de-linking accounts is by human interaction? There are no cross-referencing systems in place that say "This customer number does not share a name with any of the account holders on x account?" That sounds like a reasonable system to you? All I want from my complaint is for someone to take it seriously. Someone to say "this is what happened and this is what we are doing to ensure it does not happen again." In answer to your last question, on Monday the guy said to me the account would be delinked on Tuesday and disappear from my customer number, online banking etc on Wednesday. 2 working days later might not seem like a long time to you but today my wife's monthly BSO for well over £1,000 went into the account. I can still see it, see where it came from and transfer it out to my other account.

Archi_Bald

PrinceYumil wrote: »

It is a DPA breach and if you feel that strongly about this then raise a complaint with the FCA.

There is no process for an individual to complain to the FCA.

You either complain to the FOS or to the Information Commissioner.

gt94sss2

bluetopboy wrote: »

Eventually I was glad my request to be removed was not received/actioned as I changed my mind anyway. Now I'm told that request was received and actioned but the accounts were not "de-linked" from my customer number so I had unrestricted access to an account solely in the wife's name. In the last 3 years I have made £000's (literally) worth of deposits and withdrawals from that account, seen balances etc etc.

I'm confused - either you:

1) changed your mind and were happy that the bank ignored/got your original request wrong; or
2) you knew you shouldn't have access to that account but continued to use it anyway? And then took you 3 years to mention it to the bank..

Regards
Sunil

PrinceYumil

Sorry archi. In bed I'll and got that wrong. You're spot on.

Blue - my confusion on the first one is that you know what happened though. The counter staff has picked the wrong account from the list and not double checked. It's unlikely the specific member of counter staff would remember your brother specifically but it sounds as though they have searched surname and some other piece of info and it has brought your brother and you up.

The process also from your story seems to be to go Into branch with ID to order a new one as your brother did.

If the gentleman said 1 day and it has not been done then certainly call them and add it to your complaint and ask for an explanation of what is going on.

But from working in Santander personally and working in complaints departments for other companies you would be surprised how Un-advanced a lot of the systems can be to what you would expect of a bank. Most of hose auto-cross reference style systems do tend to need someone to press a button to start them off. I can see why you're unhappy and it's a definitely a serious complaint and I'm not trying to attack you at all. I'm just throwing my 2 cents in from the information you have given us and there's a few questions that people have raised out of confusion or wanting a little more info.

But for your complaint If that is what you want I would expressly make that clear to them. I hope at that point they would be able to explain what their process is or if they were not 100% sure would find out for you.

Did you ask on the first complaint if feedback would be forwarded. I usually don't bring it up with customers unless they express an annoyance with he specific person. It's still something we pass on internally but I wouldn't normally tell the customer if they didn't ask/make it clear the specific person was what they were unhappy with. What I'm saying is that you've accepted the £100 and said you were happy with that to close the complaint. If you're not then tell them

You might be able to speak to someone about the previous complaint as it should still be on your account and ask these questions to them as a follow up.

As I said mate I'm not trying to attack you or say that you're in the wrong at all and I'm sorry if it comes across that way. Just having a little background in banking and complaints I'm trying to help a little.

bluetopboy

GT - I did change my mind and did not want to be removed. I assumed they had not received my request and therefore it was not actioned. I was fine with that. What I'm not fine with is them receiving the request and half-actioning it. My change of mind does not excuse their incompetence.

Prince - please do not apologise to me. If I am perceiving what you are saying incorrectly then that's my problem and you shouldn't have to apologise for that. I do appreciate the assistance you are trying to offer. If you work in a bank and are telling me the systems/processes are not up to scratch, I believe you, but I also think something needs to be done to change that and, however unlikely, if my single lowly complaint is enough to make them consider a change to avoid it in future, great.

And you're right. I do know what happened on the first one - it just annoyed me how she just wanted to be rid of me. No attempt to do anything about the complaint - just shove an amount of money my way and send me packing. I do see what you mean, though - what else could she have done? The mistake had been made and all you can retrospectively do is apologise. There's no point reopening the complaint, that would really be a waste of everybody's time. Maybe I just have to live with the sour taste of that one.

With the second complaint, what has annoyed me the most - and still does - is their attitude of "well, luckily it's your wife so the money is safe." If the wife and I had split, I had access to a previously-joint account and withdrew money, even if they took me to court for fraud, the judge would side with me as it is their systems that were not up to scratch and them who were negligent in allowing me access to the account and not notifying me I had been removed. The fact that they have still not done anything about it is what's frustrating me more than anything and the "it could be worse" attitude. Like I said, they act with impunity and it shouldn't be allowed to continue. Who am I kidding, though? I'm way too small a fish to be of a concern to them; both as a complainant and as a customer.

PrinceYumil

Definitely it would be better. I remember reading an email from Martin about 10 changes he would make to the uk and a good few were about the banking industry and made sense. I would add to that making the branch/phone processes sync up more or at least make them aware of the other sides process so they know what is going on at he other side. I have a friend who moved to the branch and the differences are silly. Such as the insistence on branches to say the call centre is actually "head office" which sets the wrong expectations etc. it would just make the whole business more efficient.

Yeah it can be a bit of a tightrope with those ones. You know eh money is t what the complaint is about but it's sometimes impossible to fix the problem. Working for a mobile phone network once we would get complaints about not being able to use the phone abroad and it becomes a total guessing game because it's not their network. You know the money doesn't change the fact the customer couldn't use their phone and their holiday is part ruined due to it. But what can you do?

I wouldn't re-open the complaint, but after this one is resolved just mention you have a query about your previous one if they could have a quick look win you. They should be able to do that without having to re-open it.

Haha I had a tesco delivery booked once for between 8-9 on a Sunday one time and when it hit 10 I called to ask what was going on and the guy on the end of line seemed as though he was trying to re-assure me but said all the wrong things. I'm sure at one point he said something like "it would be there Wednesday at the latest, don't worry" and all I could think was I had booked a 1 hour slot and it was taking them over 72 to deliver it.

Yeah if you had cleared the account and spent it then your wife complained they would probably have to pay her the full amount back. I would definitely get back in touch to see why his still isn't sorted and if your not happy with the explanation ask to escalate it internally. There's usually a complaints advisor who has "manager" in the title Incase you ask to speak to a manager. After that it's their team leader/supervisor then they'll have a media and exec office. They can be a mixed bag at times as they have more authority but sometimes play a bit more hardball. Threatening to go to he media usually prompts a response from them. Would your wife want to make a complaint too? It might speed the issue up a little too and they might even take it a little more serious too.