Santander Secure Message

colsten

sheramber said:

Maybe they don't have enough staff to deal with it in the present circumstances.

That would indeed be a valid reason. However, I would expect them to tell me that before, rather than after I had used the facility.

That's what anyone could rightfully expect in normal times. We are not in normal times now.

robatwork

This makes no sense. If you're running a company that supports clients via various methods, a secure message system (ie. email) is absolutely the easiest to manage with workers from home. It doesn't require an instant response like chat, phone or in branch. They would be better advised to close the online chat.

My company has moved almost entirely to email support for its clients, with a tiny proportion of very urgent calls still being done by phone. Working well so far. 

Delmar

I've emptied my 123 account and want to ask them to now close the account down so I won't continue to be charged the monthly £5 fee.They recommend you use their online Chat facility as they've taken down the secure messaging but I've been looking each day to see if I can find it (apparently on the top righthand side of each webpage) but there's nothing there. Can't get through via telephone. I don't have a phone app for them, neither do I want one, so maybe I shall have to revert to snail mail. 

colsten

Delmar said:

I've emptied my 123 account and want to ask them to now close the account down so I won't continue to be charged the monthly £5 fee.They recommend you use their online Chat facility as they've taken down the secure messaging but I've been looking each day to see if I can find it (apparently on the top righthand side of each webpage) but there's nothing there. Can't get through via telephone. I don't have a phone app for them, neither do I want one, so maybe I shall have to revert to snail mail. 

"Upgrade" it to an Everyday current account - you should be able to do this online. Switching to another bank is also normally an option but I don't know whether banks are processing switches as per normal atm.

colsten

Delmar said:

They recommend you use their online Chat facility as they've taken down the secure messaging but I've been looking each day to see if I can find it (apparently on the top righthand side of each webpage) but there's nothing there. 

There's a big fat Chat button on their homepage. I don't know whether it's working, but see my earlier post, you might not need their help.

Speedbird676

Every time I have tried the chat function, even before the COVID-19 crisis, it tells me there are no agents available.

The secure message functionality was far better. As someone else has said it doesn't require staff to be monitoring real time and messages can then be worked through in priority order 24/7. I usually got a response within 48 hours which was perfectly fine for non-urgent queries and anything else I'd call.

Speedbird676

colsten said:

Delmar said:

I've emptied my 123 account and want to ask them to now close the account down so I won't continue to be charged the monthly £5 fee.They recommend you use their online Chat facility as they've taken down the secure messaging but I've been looking each day to see if I can find it (apparently on the top righthand side of each webpage) but there's nothing there. Can't get through via telephone. I don't have a phone app for them, neither do I want one, so maybe I shall have to revert to snail mail. 

"Upgrade" it to an Everyday current account - you should be able to do this online. Switching to another bank is also normally an option but I don't know whether banks are processing switches as per normal atm.

This should work unless trying to downgrade from a Select account.

Gummomarx

Got them on the phone eventually (downgrade from 123 to Everyday).  More reassuring for me to do it over the phone.
Thanks for all you comments.

colsten

Santander have once more appealed to people to limit their calls. Email received today reads:

crues

Martin some months ago discussed the Santander123 account in light of interest rates changing and converting a 123 account to an Everyday account and keeping same account number etc
has there been any update on this