Santander free forever bank account changes

MeteredOut

Smurrfmo said:

OrangeBlueGreen said:

Renfrewman said:

OrangeBlueGreen said:

clairec666 said:

In which case, Santander have played a blinder legally, which is what I have suspected for a while.

I agree and it tells you everything you need to know about Santander.

I am really surprised at the poor "quality" of this response and its implications especially with how marketing forms part of a contract seems to have been ignored. I can't remember who said "parroting Santander" but that is how it feels reading this.

I don't have a business account with Santander but am following these events to decide if I still want to bank with them or not, it's a trust thing. I know the bank won't give two hoots about customers closing accounts other than a potential performative "Is there any reason you are closing them" if we happen to speak to anyone, but it is about integrity. I know that when it comes to bank, you could ask if integrity is a thing at all, but it's just about the message it sends and the type of organisation it is, and ultimately if I feel they match with who I am or try to be.

Customers are not asking for free business banking, they are asking for the advertised promise to be kept. Ultimately it may be the same desired result, but the nuance is important.

Would you 'hold your hands up' if you got your weekly shopping at Asda for free by mistake?

you surely must have better things to do with your time than to go through strangers’ post history for a “gotcha” moment. 

He doesn't and he is far from alone in this.  Very strange behaviour in a consumer forum.  There seem to be a bunch of malcontents on here who get a kick out of supporting a untrustworthy bank against a variety of small businesses that are affected.  

They probably work for Santander, or at the very least getting paid by them to post here!

Futuristic

Smurrfmo said:

OrangeBlueGreen said:

Renfrewman said:

OrangeBlueGreen said:

clairec666 said:

In which case, Santander have played a blinder legally, which is what I have suspected for a while.

I agree and it tells you everything you need to know about Santander.

I am really surprised at the poor "quality" of this response and its implications especially with how marketing forms part of a contract seems to have been ignored. I can't remember who said "parroting Santander" but that is how it feels reading this.

I don't have a business account with Santander but am following these events to decide if I still want to bank with them or not, it's a trust thing. I know the bank won't give two hoots about customers closing accounts other than a potential performative "Is there any reason you are closing them" if we happen to speak to anyone, but it is about integrity. I know that when it comes to bank, you could ask if integrity is a thing at all, but it's just about the message it sends and the type of organisation it is, and ultimately if I feel they match with who I am or try to be.

Customers are not asking for free business banking, they are asking for the advertised promise to be kept. Ultimately it may be the same desired result, but the nuance is important.

Would you 'hold your hands up' if you got your weekly shopping at Asda for free by mistake?

you surely must have better things to do with your time than to go through strangers’ post history for a “gotcha” moment. 

He doesn't and he is far from alone in this.  Very strange behaviour in a consumer forum.  There seem to be a bunch of malcontents on here who get a kick out of supporting an untrustworthy bank against a variety of small businesses that are affected.  

That’s pretty funny.

No one is more supportive of an untrustworthy bank than those who still use an untrustworthy bank.  

You’d think most people would’ve switched away from such bank by now.

GeoffTF

Smurrfmo said:

There seem to be a bunch of malcontents on here who get a kick out of supporting a untrustworthy bank against a variety of small businesses that are affected.  

Are you a malcontent? Which banks do you consider to be trustworthy? How much more per month would you be willing to pay to bank with a trustworthy bank rather than an untrustworthy bank?

Renfrewman

#OH IT'S ALL GONE QUIET...do join in!

MeteredOut

Renfrewman said:

#OH IT'S ALL GONE QUIET...do join in!

The facebook group is interesting. Quite a few think the decision in Santander's favour is a complete fabrication even after they have been pointed to this thread showing the evidence; because its not a screenshot, they refuse to believe it. I wonder if Stockholm syndrome is at play here.

GeoffTF

MeteredOut said:

Renfrewman said:

#OH IT'S ALL GONE QUIET...do join in!

The facebook group is interesting. Quite a few think the decision in Santander's favour is a complete fabrication even after they have been pointed to this thread showing the evidence; because its not a screenshot, they refuse to believe it. I wonder if Stockholm syndrome is at play here.

I do not believe so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Wishful thinking on an industrial scale perhaps, but that is not uncommon nowadays.

Beetle63

I follow the facebook group mentioned and it seems the reasons people are suspicious and refuse to believe it is:
The person will not provide a screenshot of the correspondence with the financial ombudsman to back up his statement.
Out of all the hundreds if not thousands of complaints sent to the ombudsman regarding this, he seems to be the only person that has got a reply when many people are still waiting for someone to be assigned to their complaints.
The ombudsman never makes a decision this quickly as they take their time to get the facts from all parties.
I have worked for many large corporations and companies and that have departments that follow their social media profiles and have people who’s job it is to put comments on anything that is considered to have a negative or detrimental impact on them and basically lie and say how great they are.

MeteredOut

Beetle63 said:

I follow the facebook group mentioned and it seems the reasons people are suspicious and refuse to believe it is:
The person will not provide a screenshot of the correspondence with the financial ombudsman to back up his statement.
Out of all the hundreds if not thousands of complaints sent to the ombudsman regarding this, he seems to be the only person that has got a reply when many people are still waiting for someone to be assigned to their complaints.
The ombudsman never makes a decision this quickly as they take their time to get the facts from all parties.
I have worked for many large corporations and companies and that have departments that follow their social media profiles and have people who’s job it is to put comments on anything that is considered to have a negative or detrimental impact on them and basically lie and say how great they are.

The person who posted on FB about the FSO response favouring Santander confirmed in a comment on that thread that the wording of the FSO response was posted here on MSE. They also reported that they raised the case with the FOS as soon as they got a complaint rejection letter from Santander, which was 1 week after they were told about the introduction of the charge. 

Do you believe the wording posted here is a fabrication?

If so, I suggest you (and anyone else that thinks so) reports it, and perhaps the mods will contact the poster to ask for evidence.

Smurrfmo

I think it is unlikely to be a put up job but I would not put it past Santander, so determined are they to renege on the promise.  Suspicious aspects for me, other than it being the only initial decision from hundreds of complaints, is the posting on here after a near 18 year gap and the fact that it was followed by a get on with your lives post.  Exactly what I would expect Santander to be saying. On the face of it the poster is an electrician from the North East but the reality is that nobody knows who anybody is online.    

gt94sss2

Beetle63 said:

The person will not provide a screenshot of the correspondence with the financial ombudsman to back up his statement.
Out of all the hundreds if not thousands of complaints sent to the ombudsman regarding this, he seems to be the only person that has got a reply when many people are still waiting for someone to be assigned to their complaints.
The ombudsman never makes a decision this quickly as they take their time to get the facts from all parties.

It's clear from the post in question, that it is not an Ombudsman decision - and doesn't claim to be - but the view of an initial complaint handler.

The quality of these are variable and we have seen previous cases where their views differ from each other regarding the same issue. 

Only when an Ombudsman rules will you have a more formal ruling