Santander sending me text messages that I cannot identify as Genuine

2e0arr

Santander sent me a text message asking did i still want paper statements every 3 months? they went on to say i'll get another text from 88255 for me to repl1y a simple '1' to. and lo and behold they sent it.
The thing is i set up alerts with Santander to text me an alert about balance limits and not admin about my account.
It spooked me cos i thought it was an Id fraud situation and I am unable to differentiate that the texts to me are genuine.
I also believe they are mis-using my data under principle 2 of r the DPA by using my data for another purpose than they had permission to do so.
When i called them they said they would get someone from complaints team to reply to me. In the meantime i contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service and they have sent a complaint on my behalf to Santander

mgdavid

2e0arr wrote: »

......... In the meantime i contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service and they have sent a complaint on my behalf to Santander

I didn't know the FOS worked like this...

jonesMUFCforever

Wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to tell Santander that you wanted to keep paper statements instead of being a timewaster.?

Really; you contacted the ombudsman over this??

[Deleted User]

Maybe it was a 'panic moment' for the OP.
I know that sometimes I'd do things differently if I thought first!

meer53

Bit of an overreaction ? I would have just ignored it.

2e0arr

The FO said Santander have 8 weeks for final response to me . i can then ask FO for an adjudication , if my complaint is upheld or not costs Santander £500 plus

2e0arr

mgdavid wrote: »

I didn't know the FOS worked like this...

According to Citizens advice Companies always respond better to a complaint started on your behalf by the FO. Usually the incoming complaint from the FO goes to the companies legal team. They understand to avoid it getting to an adjudication as far as cost to them win or lose and the adjudication result getting into the public domain.

2e0arr

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Wouldn't it have been a lot easier just to tell Santander that you wanted to keep paper statements instead of being a timewaster.?

Really; you contacted the ombudsman over this??

According to Citizens advice Santander may have breached Principle 2 of the DPA.Using and processing my data for an unpermitted purpose ? This could be a reportable
(to the ICO) breach

Ben8282

This is a gross overreaction to nothing. Consulting the Citizens Advice Bureau and the FOS because you received a text from your bank asking if you wanted to continue to receive paper statements. Furthermore, you were asked only to reply with a figure 1 not give out personal details that would be of use to a fraudster.
Stop complaining about nothing and wasting everybody's time including your own. Forget it and get on with your life.

2e0arr

Ben8282 wrote: »

This is a gross overreaction to nothing. Consulting the Citizens Advice Bureau and the FOS because you received a text from your bank asking if you wanted to continue to receive paper statements. Furthermore, you were asked only to reply with a figure 1 not give out personal details that would be of use to a fraudster.
Stop complaining about nothing and wasting everybody's time including your own. Forget it and get on with your life.

im glad you said this so that i can respond. my text alerts are setup up purely for account balance issues and not for general communications. Texting for other reasons breaches the DPA. How do i recognise whether the text i was not expecting was a genuine text and not ID fraud?

Steve_xx

2e0arr wrote: »

im glad you said this so that i can respond. my text alerts are setup up purely for account balance issues and not for general communications. Texting for other reasons breaches the DPA. How do i recognise whether the text i was not expecting was a genuine text and not ID fraud?

Surely, the point is, that you expected that this text message may not have been from Santander, ie you thought it may be fraudulent.

Once you had contacted the bank to ascertain the staus of the text, and thus found it to be legitimate, then you could have simply mentioned to santander that you thought that there may have been some breach in their policy that may well need rectifying going forward.

If everyone causes the banks grief in the way that you clearly have, by forcing them to pay a £500 charge to the FOS, then guess what? This will surely impact further on the already derisory interest rates that the banks pay.