Santander appalling service

mikejp

For months now Santander have been getting worse and worse with Customer Service. Now you either wait an hour on the phone (being told how important your call is and that someone will speak to you soon) or you resort to 'Sandi' on the Chat, who appears to be thicker than two short planks. The only way to get off the tramlines of 'boiler-plate' responses is to 'Leave Message' which does eventually produce a response, even if it is equally useless!

I have, in desperation 3 times recently emailed who I think is the ceo to raise a complaint since other attempts have been thwarted by 'contact the ombudsman'.  I have tried  'nathan.bostock@santander.co.uk' and 'ceo@santander.co.uk' but silence was the reply.

I have been with the bank for many years but have never witnessed such a degredation in 'customer care' as I see now. Their so-called 'IT department' appears to be a waste of time.

Am I alone here or is anyone else feeling more than slightly peeved?

Daliah

If you find them unbearable, switch your account.

penners324

If they're that bad move / switch to another bank

enthusiasticsaver

I have banked with Santander for many years but would admit that rarely have I needed to call them so cannot comment on the customer service department. I would say though that the one occasion we did need to phone them due to a fraudulent transaction when my husbands card was compromised in some way they dealt with it quickly and efficiently so not the same experience you have obviously had. 

eskbanker

mikejp said:

For months now Santander have been getting worse and worse with Customer Service.

This suggests that you're contacting them frequently - what is it that you're trying to do that requires such regular contact?  If they're repeatedly falling short in their handling of your issue(s) then have you actually complained formally, which would normally be a more suitable route than leaving feedback or trying to contact the CEO directly?

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

As explained there, if they don't address your complaint adequately, you have the option of escalating to the ombudsman after that....

born_again

Daliah said:

If you find them unbearable, switch your account.

Which was exactly why the CASS was set up, to make it easy to switch accounts. Yet you still see posts like this one on a regular basis. 
Pretty sure many stay as they keep getting bunged a few £££ for each complaint.

Time banks had the power to say to customers, when they have complained a number of times. Clearly you are not happy with our service. Who would you like to move too, & start the process for them 👍

Lost count of the number of times a customer has said they are leaving as there is no way to help them. But they are still a customer months afterwards.

[Deleted User]

born_again said:

Daliah said:

If you find them unbearable, switch your account.

Which was exactly why the CASS was set up, to make it easy to switch accounts. Yet you still see posts like this one on a regular basis. 
Pretty sure many stay as they keep getting bunged a few £££ for each complaint.

Time banks had the power to say to customers, when they have complained a number of times. Clearly you are not happy with our service. Who would you like to move too, & start the process for them 👍

Lost count of the number of times a customer has said they are leaving as there is no way to help them. But they are still a customer months afterwards.

The idea bad customer service should be ignored because people can switch bank accounts is pretty nonsensical. For one, bad customer service by a bank can cost you money if it's something urgent. People clearly have a right to complain if a service isn't up to scratch.

Lightning360

Deleted_User said:

born_again said:

Daliah said:

If you find them unbearable, switch your account.

Which was exactly why the CASS was set up, to make it easy to switch accounts. Yet you still see posts like this one on a regular basis. 
Pretty sure many stay as they keep getting bunged a few £££ for each complaint.

Time banks had the power to say to customers, when they have complained a number of times. Clearly you are not happy with our service. Who would you like to move too, & start the process for them 👍

Lost count of the number of times a customer has said they are leaving as there is no way to help them. But they are still a customer months afterwards.

The idea bad customer service should be ignored because people can switch bank accounts is pretty nonsensical. For one, bad customer service by a bank can cost you money if it's something urgent. People clearly have a right to complain if a service isn't up to scratch.

People aren't saying it should be ignored. People are saying if it is that bad, complain and then switch, rather than complaining time and time again. They clearly aren't happy with Santander so why stay with them?

Lightning360

Deleted_User said:

Lightning360 said:

Deleted_User said:

born_again said:

Daliah said:

If you find them unbearable, switch your account.

Which was exactly why the CASS was set up, to make it easy to switch accounts. Yet you still see posts like this one on a regular basis. 
Pretty sure many stay as they keep getting bunged a few £££ for each complaint.

Time banks had the power to say to customers, when they have complained a number of times. Clearly you are not happy with our service. Who would you like to move too, & start the process for them 👍

Lost count of the number of times a customer has said they are leaving as there is no way to help them. But they are still a customer months afterwards.

The idea bad customer service should be ignored because people can switch bank accounts is pretty nonsensical. For one, bad customer service by a bank can cost you money if it's something urgent. People clearly have a right to complain if a service isn't up to scratch.

People aren't saying it should be ignored. People are saying if it is that bad, complain and then switch, rather than complaining time and time again. They clearly aren't happy with Santander so why stay with them?

The problem here is that the OP still hasn't actually told us what exactly his complaint against Santander is. As regards switching, this forum is full of switch, switch, switch again topics which appear to be used largely as money grabbing opportunities. Maybe the OPs complaint against Santander is that they failed to pay up promptly as part of a switch?

"For months now Santander have been getting worse and worse with Customer Service."

It hardly sounds like a one off issue about a switching bonus.

mikejp

picks - "Maybe the OPs complaint against Santander is that they failed to pay up promptly as part of a switch?" No, but I agree with your sentiments.

"It would be useful if you actually stated what particular issue you are having with Santander which is causing you to complain." :

My basic complaint is that they don't handle complaints properly. I will not give my time to the time-wasters on this thread, but wish to thank 'eskbanker' for his USEFUL post with the web link. I note that that particular means of access does not appear anywhere on my user screens and can only be found by a search engine (or here...)! I rang it today (very quick answer!!) and I THINK I now have some action in progress. Apart from this number there is no easy way to get help on an issue, as secure messaging has gone and 'Chat' is virtually useless in that it appears you need to log in again to see if anyone has replied to the 'Leave Message' query, and if you don't they close the issue!! (Apart from which, of course, 'Sandi' is actually thicker than two....................)

My last major issue was the change in access to payee details - it appears some bright spark in the bank decided (on or before July 29th) to remove the option to amend payee details from its normal place. It took until Dec 30th for a 'complaints manager' to admit it had changed but no-one had told Customer Service who had been giving the wrong information since July 29th! The salt rubbed into the wound was that it was declared not to be 'the bank's fault' (when it obviously was) and that I should take it up with the Ombudsman if I disagreed. I was also told that 'they' had been unable to contact me (2 phone numbers and an email) and when I expressed my concerns about this, heard no more.

Overall what used to be a good bank has been 'managed' into a poor one.

Daliah

mikejp said:

 I will not give my time to the time-wasters on this thread

How to make friends and influence people 

mikejp said:

Overall what used to be a good bank has been 'managed' into a poor one.

So why are you staying with them?