Santander free forever bank account changes

solidpro

flickadee001 said:

I’ve had the same thing happen too – and it’s been a nightmare.

I’ve been with them for over 20 years, and after these letters went out to long-standing “Free Forever” business customers, I decided to close 2 of my 3 accounts out of sheer frustration – my Business Reserve Account and Everyday Personal Account. I left my main Business Account open just to see what would happen with all the backlash.

The customer service was beyond bad – after 30 minutes on the phone I genuinely wondered if the rep was asleep… or drunk. I made it crystal clear that my main Business Account should stay untouched, but somehow she managed to cancel my business debit card without my consent.

I have printed out all the forms to cancel various accounts including my business reserve account, but am holding off submitting them because I too have the expectation that by accident or by design they'll mess up cancelling the right accounts and overlap with some of the stuff I do not want yet cancelled.

ely_ellis

I have also been with Santander over 20 years with the 'Free Forever' account.
I was also unaware they had tried this in 2012 and have never noticed the right of free banking had been removed.
I will hang on until the last minute to see if the decision is reversed but if it hasn't by the end of September I will close not only my 'free forever' business banking account but also all of my savings and current accounts which I hold with Santander.
Reason for waiting is that if the decision is reversed and I have already closed the account, there will be no way back as they would probably refuse to re-instated the old account.
Maybe this is what they are hoping for. They could reverse their descision after most have jumped ship, this way they appear compliant and yet there will be very few left with a free account.
There are a number of other 'free' business accounts available so to be honest, I don't know why I am bothering with them at all. If they reverse their decision, who knows what they will do next anyway!
They won't just be loosing Business customers, but hopefull they will loose all other accounts that business customers have in addition.

amyfairweather

solidpro said:

Things seem to have changed slightly. They have stopped sending out final responses to complaints - perhaps temporarily. Maybe because they're overwhelmed, maybe because they're changing or pausing their position. Maybe it's just the system unable to cope. Maybe they've realised each final response immediately creates an FSO complaint which costs them time, money and reputation.

I'm now aware of three MPs which have raised this matter with Santander who are trying to be favoured in the TSB takeover and currently being challenged everywhere about going back on their word, on a contract with small businesses and therefore being untrustworthy. 

What a silly position to get yourself in. My guess is that some bright spark set up this chain of events in 2015 when they tried to be shifty and change the terms without telling anyone or responding to those which queried their changes, who has likely left the company and this little hangover has detonated whilst people are asleep at the wheel *or* another bright spark with little real world experience or that of recent history just decided 'it would be done' and hopefully will get a lesson in life.

Only if and when the FSO shuts down all the complaints and agrees with Santander will I close my accounts, but if that happens, maybe they'll get that month or two out of me but they will lose the annual interest they gain on a fair selection of balances in a variety of accounts which they pay me naff all in interest, my childrens accounts and various credit cards, along with another business bank account I have with them which I already pay a monthly fee for.

solidpro, how do you know they've stopped sending out letters?

To those thinking of closing / suggesting closing accounts, the reason to stay despite the mistreatment by Santander, is that nowhere else are you going to find a 'free forever' account.  They might be free now, but at some point very soon you'll be back in the same boat.  Best to fight it until the end and then move if necessary than give up without a fight.

solidpro

amyfairweather said:

solidpro, how do you know they've stopped sending out letters?

Several people sharing this-week written responses on facebook are all saying that they are just receiving a placeholder letter now with no reference and a promise of a further response. If anyone else actually received a 'new' (as in not dated 3 weeks ago) final response this week, that would be the first I've seen.

Before these were being reported in the last few days, nobody had reported such a place holder letter and everyone was receiving the same cut-and-paste 3 options response on the basis of their untruths that they do not offer business banking and we all agreed to new 2015 terms.

Those in this 'placeholder letter' situation are now having to follow up with a phone call to get their reference number before going to FSO.

eskbanker

solidpro said:

Those in this 'placeholder letter' situation are now having to follow up with a phone call to get their reference number before going to FSO.

Surely the purpose of the placeholder responses is to buy a bit of time - those receiving them can't escalate to FOS (not FSO!) until they receive the final response, unless the eight week timeout is reached.

amyfairweather

Well I've just submitted my case to the FOS today and the reply came back as "Thank you for submitting your complaint form to the Financial Ombudsman Service.  We’re helping a lot of customers at the moment, so we won’t be able to reply straight away."

So, the system appears to be completely clogged up.  Which, from our point of view, is a good thing.

Smurrfmo

I can see this all blowing up in Santander's face and they fully deserve it.  You would have thought they would have learned from the climbdown in 2012.  There will be a flood of FOS complaints and I can easily see the FOS ruling against them.  Litigation is an option if this doesn't work.  Nobody likes anybody who tries to break a promise, especially where some underhand nonsense is cited as the reason.  I would advise everybody to complain, keep their accounts running and be prepared to take it to the FOS.  Apparently there are 50k accounts still covered by the promise, if a good proportion complain this will be seriously costly for Santander, not to mention the loss of business from disgruntled customers.  Make sure you get a reference number when you complain, this will allow you to go to the FOS.  I already have one, having complained the day I got the letter but Santander are probably panicking a bit now and trying to slow the process a bit.  Be firm and insist on your right to complain.  If they make it hard or try to dismiss or miscategorise complaints that is also a reason for a further complaint.  Who knows if they will buckle but any lawyer who advised they had good grounds for this is in my opinion on very thin legal ice.        

Section62

amyfairweather said:

Well I've just submitted my case to the FOS today and the reply came back as "Thank you for submitting your complaint form to the Financial Ombudsman Service.  We’re helping a lot of customers at the moment, so we won’t be able to reply straight away."

So, the system appears to be completely clogged up.  Which, from our point of view, is a good thing.

This is normal for FOS, they are always very busy.

eskbanker

amyfairweather said:

Well I've just submitted my case to the FOS today and the reply came back as "Thank you for submitting your complaint form to the Financial Ombudsman Service.  We’re helping a lot of customers at the moment, so we won’t be able to reply straight away."

So, the system appears to be completely clogged up.  Which, from our point of view, is a good thing.

I think that's a pretty standard acknowledgement to be honest, in that when I escalated a complaint to them a couple of years ago I got a slightly more apologetic "We’re helping a lot of customers at the moment, so I’m sorry we won’t be able to reply straight away".  They set expectations of "about two to three months for a case to be allocated for investigation" and up to 90 days thereafter, so it's rarely a quick process:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/how-long-it-takes

solidpro

eskbanker said:

Surely the purpose of the placeholder responses is to buy a bit of time - those receiving them can't escalate to FOS (not FSO!) until they receive the final response, unless the eight week timeout is reached.

That was also one of my guesses. Verbal complainents are reporting that they're being told they're "overwhelmed" with complaints. I would presume not only is there the mooted £650 potential cost of each complaint which may sit in the thousands of complaints, how these influx of complaints and their metrics affect other, perhaps automatic flags the bank has to deal with could mean they intentionally create a pause, or maybe it's just 'not enough processing power' or maybe it's re-evaluating, or maybe it's just a big nothing burger.