Santander Bank Alerts Not Guaranteed, Apparently . . . . . .

wizzywig27

I had a text alert from Lloyds on Tuesday as I should have, then nothing yesterday when I should have!

Seems no banks are 100% reliable

pochisoldi

Simbad wrote: »

Is that true for email alerts too?

So essentailly the alerts are pointless?!

Not necessarily.

Going off at a tangent...

Anyone who uses alerts as their primary safety net, is like a tightrope walker.
They need to be prepared for the time when the well used safety net fails at some point.

Anyone who uses alerts as a secondary safety net or a backup is like a builder working at the top of a high rise building. They wear a harness and clip on to a security line. The safety net is there below them to catch them when despite their best preparations and intentions something goes wrong.

Translating that into the Santander situation:

Anyone who depends on daily Santander alerts to keep them from going overdrawn/over limit etc, needs to be prepared for when the alerts don't work for some/whatever reason.

The person who uses the alerts as a backup to whatever system they use to manage their finance, is happy to have them, because it stops them getting hit with avoidable fees.

PochiSoldi

daveyjp

wizzywig27 wrote: »

I can understand the comment regarding checking your account daily (I think with app based banking the majority will do this anyway), what I find frustrating is that when you check at say 10am, then the bank let a payment leave midday which leaves you over and dont get a text.

How often throughout the day are you expected to check?

The only balance adjustment I ever get during the day is if I withdraw cash or do a manual transfer or bill payment.

I have never had a dd, debit card or similar payment leave part way through the working day.

jonesMUFCforever

Simbad wrote: »

Is that true for email alerts too?

So essentailly the alerts are pointless?!

For most people they give you a chance of crediting your account to prevent charges or returned items.
Better still if we check there are sufficient funds in our accounts before payments are due?

stehouk

The app takes 8 seconds to load on my phone, (checked it today when i saw this post) why wouldn't you check it daily if it was your'e main account.

badmemory

wizzywig27 wrote: »

Seems no banks are 100% reliable

They are a bank - they make money when we are foolish enough to go over our various limits. It is our responsibilty to make sure that they don't make any of that from us & make their day. It is our responsibilty to ENSURE that we don't have to cough up.


They will tell us 6 months on the run when they are going to charge us a fiver & totally miss telling us the one time they are going to charge us £100. This is not rocket science. It is your money - look after it, no-one else is going to.

wizzywig27

stehouk wrote: »

The app takes 8 seconds to load on my phone, (checked it today when i saw this post) why wouldn't you check it daily if it was your'e main account.

See my post above, ive encountered situations where i have checked it on a morning, then items have debited my account on the afternoon, thus leaving me overdrawn. When I have discussed with the bank they gave the standard response that was quoted in the OP

I ask again, how often are we supposed to check daily?

KxMx

In that case perhaps keeping a manual, off line record would help you not go overdrawn.

18cc

You may not want to change bank but if you truly want instant notification of your transactions - and I mean super instant - then you should consider using starling or monzo you do need to have a smartphone though

Blue88

Yes, the alerts should be treated as a help and guidance tool, not something that should be 100% relied upon, and I accept that the bank can't be held liable for failures of technology it doesn't control.

However, both email and text alerts from Santander are frequently late and arrive at different times, if at all. If they're running an automated process, these should come through at exactly the same time. Also, OK, email and mobile services will occasionally fail for various reasons, but they don't fail that often. It is rare for a properly addressed text or email to fail or even be delayed (assuming good signals, which most of the UK has).

If Santander's rationale is their alert service is completely unreliable and the onus is entirely on the customer, why offer it?

Santander are hiding behind the excuse of technology failures that occur only a tiny part of the time.