Santander - as bad as the feedback?

caveman38

I'd love to transfer all my ISA's to them but the feedback puts me off. Any experiences of ISA transfers anyone and customer service satisfaction?>

dunstonh

Santander are no better or worse than any other.

refluxer

What type of ISA are you thinking of opening ? If it's a fixed rate then the chances are you'd barely have to deal with them at all beyond the initial application, once you've set up online banking and checked the transfer has gone through. I've recently taken one out and all of those things went smoothly and as expected for me but that won't be the case for everyone. Their fixed rate ISAs default to easy access on maturity so even if there were problems at that point then you could just let it lapse, open a new one elsewhere and transfer away without needing to contact Santander at all.

I you check this thread, you'll see my ISA transfer from the Principality to Santander took 13 days from opening the account online to it showing in online banking. I only needed to post off a paper transfer form because the Principality are not part of the BACS ISA transfer service - if your current provider is (see here for a handy list), then your transfer should be quicker and there should be less chance of it going wrong, hopefully ! I received the £50 reward voucher code via email 9 days later.

The risk with Santander at the moment is that they're topping some of the interest rate tables (with their new eSaver and fixed rate ISAs in particular) so if things do go wrong, contacting them will be difficult as their customer support team will be stretched. I guess account applications can go wrong with any bank though - it's just the luck of the draw.

Silverbird65

My experience was ok. I have my e gift card sent.

steveksullivan

refluxer said:

The risk with Santander at the moment is that they're topping some of the interest rate tables (with their new eSaver and fixed rate ISAs in particular) so if things do go wrong, contacting them will be difficult as their customer support team will be stretched.

It has to be said that as already widely reported , their customer services teams are already beyond 'stretched'. Although they have been my main bank for many years, my last two experiences have been failed payments due to AML checks followed by accounts being locked.

I have absolutely no problem with the additional checks to combat fraud, but what is unacceptable are the wait times to unlock accounts when this happens. it takes typically much more than an hour to even get through to them......

They have acknowledged the problem both times after a complaint  - the first resulted in £60 compensation the second got £150.

It came as some relief when they launched the new easy access as I was just about to need to move several 'account blocking' amounts through Santander and out again, but instead I could just move it all into the easy access .... for the time being.....

savit4l8er

I wouldn't be deterred, you must keep in mind that you will nearly always see far more negative comments than positive so if you like the product, it's not worth missing it.  It's not as if it's a small shop selling goods cheaper than elsewhere.

steveksullivan

savit4l8er said:

I wouldn't be deterred, you must keep in mind that you will nearly always see far more negative comments than positive so if you like the product, it's not worth missing it.  It's not as if it's a small shop selling goods cheaper than elsewhere.

Agree with you  - even after my negative experiences with their CS I've still gone for their market leading product - just a shame  I have to keep complaining !! I would much prefer better service rather than the compensation !! .....

caveman38

Thanks for the info. I had Santander bank accounts in 2017. Although they are closed, the online banking username and password are still active. However they do not allow me access savings for my ISA application. Do you imagine I need to proceed to the generic application page and having set up the account, the info will appear in the online banking page I have. Or do I have to register again for online access for savings purposes?

inspectorperez

Just a general observation having been with Santander for many years following their takeover of A&L Building Society and before that Girobank. I have found them to be an excellent bank and never had any "serious" issues with them whatsoever. Can't even recall any problem which has given rise to a complaint. Certainly the online offering has been most satisfactory and when compared with the performances I have experienced of several other banks over the last few months, they have been superb.

Despite all the financial incentives in switching to another bank, I would never dream of moving away from Santander.

Chickereeeee

caveman38 said:

Thanks for the info. I had Santander bank accounts in 2017. Although they are closed, the online banking username and password are still active. However they do not allow me access savings for my ISA application. Do you imagine I need to proceed to the generic application page and having set up the account, the info will appear in the online banking page I have. Or do I have to register again for online access for savings purposes?

They are absolutely AWFUL to deal with.

I have been trying to register my wife for an instant access savings account, but I cannot register, as it says 'details incorrect'. This, I assume is because she had POA for her mothers account, 7 years ago. This account was closed on her mothers death, 6 years ago. If I put in our old address (we moved house) her details are recognised, but we cant get any further as it needs account details, which a) we no longer have and b) was closed years ago.

CHAT is of course useless, as it is a bot. Typing in 'cannot register for online banking' gives the response 'please first log in, then enter your details'. Entering  'Cannot register for new account' gives me "Sorry to hear of your loss. Please look at the following pages on bereavement"!

No phone number to call, that I can find.

At one stage, it said I had to go to to a branch, and gave me a "Find your nearest Branch" option. Clicking that showed zero branches.

xylophone

No phone number to call,

Have you tried

0330 9 123 123 or 0800 313 4321