Santander free forever bank account changes

HumpFree

I have been unable to locate the original terms and conditions, or any advertisement, relating to Abbey’s “free account for life” offer. Could you advise on how significant this information is in supporting a complaint or in challenging the change to a fee-charging account?

born_again

amyfairweather said:

There was a report that Santander had told someone it wouldn’t now start charging until Nov 1st.

Just thinking aloud, I think they’ve been taken aback somewhat by the level of complaints and amount of account closures.

It’s why they’ve done everything possible to procrastinate and push back/slow down the whole process.  Everything, that is, bar keeping their original promise of free forever.

Perhaps they’re waiting for some idea of the FOS inclination one way or the other before proceeding?  As it stands, they can still row back fairly easily, but once they start charging that presumably sets in motion a different series of events?

They would also, no doubt, have to deal with multiple “unauthorised payment” complaints every month at that point until the FOS decide which way to go.  Would those be able to generate additional complaint(s) with FOS?

For me, the FOS is only the beginning of this process, not the end.  There is still the small claims court and Advertising Standards Authority yet to come.

That would be a simple std letter & complaint closed explaining why.
Could also result in anyone doing it more than once receiving a 60 day notice of closure for abuse of complaints procedure or other reason they may choose.

neilsedaka

HumpFree - Lots of that type of information has been posted to the Files menu of the Santander Free Banking Forever group on Facebook.

amyfairweather

Section62 said:

Smurrfmo said:

As soon as they start charging I'm starting litigating.  I never believed the FOS would resolve this satisfactorily.  Santander haven't actually breached our contract yet, just threatened to do so but the minute they charge for our free forever account this will change.  Court will be a very different challenge for Santander as they will have a core entrenched term to overcome.

For a start, does anyone know if the decision big_ste apparently has is an ombudsman one, or is it an investigator/adjudicator?

Without prejudice, unfortunately the said poster has been extremely vague and not really been forthcoming with a lot of information - other than it was because of the T&C.  

For comparison, if I receive a response tomorrow one way or the other, I'd be giving chapter and verse here in order to help others form an opinion as to how things are progressing, not just giving a one sentence 'FOS turned me down and it was due to terms'.

It raises more questions than it answers.

If that's how they had submitted their complaint to FOS, with very little substance and information, then it's not really surprising that it has not succeeded.

If this was just an investigator/adjudicator, then they need to request that the case be reviewed by an actual ombudsman. The ombudsman will then conduct a fresh and detailed investigation of the complaint.

HumpFree

neilsedaka Thank you for the information. By the way, I searched for the group and joined it. I managed to download three files/documents onto my computer. However, when I tried to download more documents, I noticed that I could no longer find the group. I couldn’t access it again, nor could I see it among the groups I have joined. Does anyone know the reason for this, or has anyone else experienced the same issue?

HumpFree

neilsedaka said:

HumpFree - Lots of that type of information has been posted to the Files menu of the Santander Free Banking Forever group on Facebook.

Thank you for the information. By the way, I searched for the group and joined it. I managed to download three files/documents onto my computer. However, when I tried to download more documents, I noticed that I could no longer find the group. I couldn’t access it again, nor could I see it among the groups I have joined. Does anyone know the reason for this, or has anyone else experienced the same issue?

eskbanker

Section62 said:
For a start, does anyone know if the decision big_ste apparently has is an ombudsman one, or is it an investigator/adjudicator?

It does seem unlikely to me that the very first reported news of an FOS outcome (in the context of all the complaints escalated to them) would be one that's been through all the steps, so I'd bet heavily on this not having reached the final ombudsman decision step yet, although obviously, as above, more detail would help!

neilsedaka

HumpFree said:

neilsedaka said:

HumpFree - Lots of that type of information has been posted to the Files menu of the Santander Free Banking Forever group on Facebook.

Thank you for the information. By the way, I searched for the group and joined it. I managed to download three files/documents onto my computer. However, when I tried to download more documents, I noticed that I could no longer find the group. I couldn’t access it again, nor could I see it among the groups I have joined. Does anyone know the reason for this, or has anyone else experienced the same issue?

Try these possible solutions.

• Check your emails for any confirmations of joining the group
• Close then reopen your browser
• Try a different browser
• Restart (not shutdown) your computer

eskbanker

neilsedaka said:

HumpFree said:

neilsedaka said:

HumpFree - Lots of that type of information has been posted to the Files menu of the Santander Free Banking Forever group on Facebook.

Thank you for the information. By the way, I searched for the group and joined it. I managed to download three files/documents onto my computer. However, when I tried to download more documents, I noticed that I could no longer find the group. I couldn’t access it again, nor could I see it among the groups I have joined. Does anyone know the reason for this, or has anyone else experienced the same issue?

Try these possible solutions.

• Check your emails for any confirmations of joining the group
• Close then reopen your browser
• Try a different browser
• Restart (not shutdown) your computer

Or just accessing it directly?

SANTANDER | Free banking forever, means forever..... | Facebook

robatwork

Just been through the evidence as I don't have a horse in this game. It seems very clear. Subject to some terms regarding govt. tax or a change in law which there haven't been, it says Free Forever. "Not one year or two years like other banks. Forever". As a layperson I wonder if  they will try to welch on some of the claims as most of the paperwork was "Abbey/Abbey National".  I hope the case, when presented in court, will at least spell "evidence" correctly unlike the facebook group. 

I also idly wonder whether "forever" has any legal concept different to what I understand. I know "lifetime" has been tested legally and it can be argued that it's not for the lifetime of the user but that of the product/service, but forever seems more clearcut.