Dormant Account - Abbey National

MattS1976

boingy said:

Email the CEO's office. Explain the problem, describe the unhelpful experience with the Santander phone call and ask them to look into the missing account. If that doesn't work make a formal complaint. 

Thanks i'll try calling them again today and hope that i can speak to someone more helpful but if not i'll give this a go.

TheBanker said:

MalMonroe said:

A few years ago a friend of mine who had opened a savings account when she started working for the NHS at the age of 24, paid a couple of sums into it and then forgot about it, received notification that the account was now worth a sum of £18,560. She had moved address and had just retired from the NHS but they found her. She didn't even have to chase the money - didn't even remember she had the account.

So I think it is definitely worth chasing and trying to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. (Who doesn't use emails?!)

A letter to the big cheese (as my old boss was always saying!) wouldn't go amiss either. 

I think it's appalling that some organisations just won't try to help customers, be they 'old' or not. 

Good luck. It's a shame that you're going to have to dig a bit deeper but it could be worthwhile. 

A bank won't use email to discuss a dormant account. How on earth would they verify they're talking to the right person? 

The OP hasn't said how long this account has been dormant for, but they said it was an Abbey National account so that's at least 13 years (Abbey National was re-branded as Santander in 2010). Abbey or Santander will have written to the customer before making their account dormant, but presumably the customer didn't receive the letter due to having moved and not told them.

As I mentioned above, the account has likely been closed and the balance paid over to the Dormant Assets Scheme. The account won't exist on their live systems any more. Given Abbey accounts were migrated to Santander's systems, maybe it has never existed in Santander's systems. Even if it did, they wouldn't be able to deal with this by telephone as they wouldn't be able to confirm the customer's identity.

The customer needs to go to a branch, as they've been advised to do. They need to take ID with them to prove who they are. Then this can be sorted out. They can try writing a letter, but the reply is likely to tell them to go to a branch with ID because they won't send account details or a cheque for the balance to an unknown address. 

Maybe the customer service agent could have explained things better, but in this case the customer has not really helped themselves by letting their account go dormant, and not keeping their contact details up to date. 

Thanks for your response, i did say in my original post that it was around 25/30 years ago, i've moved home about 6 times since i first opened this account so it's probably likely they did try to contact me about it but i never got it.

The letter i received was directly from Santander advising that they had found a dormant account in my name so they definitely have a record of it.

The letter also stated 'For security details we cannot give specific details in this letter, however if you go into your nearest Santander branch with this letter, or call us on the number at the top of this letter, we can reactivate the account and give you more information'. If its not something they can deal with over the phone then they shouldn't be stating this on their letter surely?

Maybe i haven't helped myself by letting the account go dormant and not updating my contact details however this account was my first account after leaving school and i'd stopped using it by the time i was around 20 so perhaps i was just young and naive. 

Rob5342 said:

Regardless of the reasons behind the account becoming dormant, it's sheer incompetence if they tell you one thing in a letter but don't know what you are talking about when when you phone the same people that sent the letter.

You could try a branch I suppose but are staff in branches able to do anything these days?

Thanks, this is by biggest issue. The letter (from Santander) clearly stated that a dormant account had been found and that i could either visit a branch or call to reactivate the account and get more information. Only to be told in no uncertain terms when i did phone that there is definitely no account in my name, she refused to take the reference on the letter as it 'won't help her find anything' and that i'd have to go to a branch or write a letter and she can't help any further than that.

If the only option is to go into a branch then they should state this on the letter rather than giving an option of calling them.

MattS1976

Just an update.. called again. Slightly more helpful CS agent however still no further forward. They are unable to search by the letter ref. to call up any information and are unable to look for dormant accounts that aren't linked to my current home address and postcode.

Again was suggested i call into a branch as they 'may' be able to help me more but i'm not even convinced i'd get any more help that way. 

Frustrating.. just don't understand them sending the letter advising that i call when they seem unable to provide any further information.

eskbanker

Is the phone number on the letter a direct dial to a dedicated dormancy team or simply their standard frontline customer service call centre?

MattS1976

eskbanker said:

Is the phone number on the letter a direct dial to a dedicated dormancy team or simply their standard frontline customer service call centre?

Its just their standard customer service call centre number. I did ask if there was any other numbers i could call and was told no, all calls had to go through their customer sevice number.

boingy

Sadly I think if you take the time and trouble to go to a branch you'll probably end up with someone who has exactly the same computer access as the people on the phone, although you'll be harder to fob off if you are standing their waving their letter at them! Definitely email the CEO. It might be the only way to get past their first line of defence.

MattS1976

boingy said:

Sadly I think if you take the time and trouble to go to a branch you'll probably end up with someone who has exactly the same computer access as the people on the phone, although you'll be harder to fob off if you are standing their waving their letter at them! Definitely email the CEO. It might be the only way to get past their first line of defence.

That's what i'm thinking. Having spoken to them on the phone, i'm not convinced that in branch will be any more helpful.

My next port of call will definitely be to email the CEO's office and then take it from there.

Rob5342

I think you are probably right about the branch, but it's worth a try if you do go near one.

Is the address on the letter a specific dormant accounts one or just their normal address?

I bet if it was an old credit card you owed money on there would be no problem in finding it!

MattS1976

Rob5342 said:

I think you are probably right about the branch, but it's worth a try if you do go near one.

Is the address on the letter a specific dormant accounts one or just their normal address?

I bet if it was an old credit card you owed money on there would be no problem in finding it!

I assume its just their normal address... Santander Banking Operations, Sunderland SR43 $FP.

You're absolutely right, if it was the other way around and i owed them money they'd find whatever information they had about it without any problem at all.

MattS1976

Oh well tried emailing Nathan Bostock but the email bounced back. On checking it appears someone new took the position recently.... a Mike Regnier is now the CEO... tried mike.regnier@santander.co.uk and michael.regnier@santander.co.uk but both also bounced back.....

Back to square one.

Edit... it appears that ceo@santander.co.uk is a valid and working email address so will see what happens now.

boingy

Apologies for giving you a duff CEO contact. I've used that site in the past and it has worked. A different site lists Mike as the CEO and gives his email as ceo@ so maybe try that if you have any enthusiasm left. (Are you feeling picked on yet?)