How absolutely terrible are Santander?

[237SJ]

Yesterday I went to make a quite large purchase. I decided to pay with my Santander Zero and move money from my isa to pay for it. After swiping the card, the sales lady said "It`s declined". That was embarassing. We phoned the no. on the card and it turns out I`d got my credit limit wrong. My mistake. Santander asked me a load of security questions which I answered in front of all the other customers. I was assured the transaction would go through next time. Swiped card and it said "phone merchant no". Sales lady phoned the merchant number and I went through all the security questions again. Santander then told us to phone the original number and go through all the questions a 3rd time. We told him we had already spoken to that number. He said we had to do it again. I paid a deposit with my Visa debit and came away without my purchase. Came home and there was a security message on my phone from Santander. I phoned it (pointless after the event anyway). They didn`t answer so I gave up. Tried to move my money from my Santander isa to my Lloyds linked account on internet banking to pay for my purchase. A screen said internet banking wasn`t available. I phoned Santander to be told I could no longer move money myself, I have to phone them. Unfortunately, nobody bothered to tell me the whole way the account is managed had changed. I`ve heard Santander are top of the league for terrible service. Now I know why. Anyone else find them dire?

[rockyracoon]

I have no experience of them but everytime I open a paper on the financial advice pages they are always the ones that people are complaining about. It seems to have been going on for ages and the management just can't get a grip on it.

[Frank97]

Yes, had a similar thing last year, they blocked my card payment for a leather jacket I was buying so I called them as requested to explain that it was a legit transaction only for the payment to be stopped a further three times. Also for some unknown reason they won't allow me to shop at a store I regularly use in Gosport so I have to use Paypal. All most annoying!

[bednobs]

nope, i have never had a problem with them. Is your block on oving money temporary till this is sorted maybe?

[LoftyLottie]

Well, we have just had a similar experience with NatWest who we have banked with for approximately 45 years. Very embarrassing and inconvient it was too. We complained bitterly and they put £20.00 in our bank account!!!

Try complaining and kicking up a fuss, most banks will pay you off!!!

[237SJ]

D97 that sounds exactly like Santander. The right hand doesn`t know what the left hand`s doing. Nobody seems to "own" the problem. The ironic thing is, I never chose Santander. My credit card was Abbey, my ISA was Alliance and Leicester (as was my mortgage) but Santander took them all over and before I knew it, they were in control of all my finances. Last night I applied for a PO card and when that`s approved I`ll be cutting up the Santander one. I`m changing my ISA too. I can`t believe how spectacularly bad they are.

[Frank97]

Oh yea and they took three months to inform me that a fraudulent transaction had been attempted from the US so my card had to be cancelled yet they allowed a direct debit that I no longer wanted to go through 16 months on the cancelled card, a payment that I was never able to recover.

[rowanwitch]

I have found them pretty good... but I know I am in the minority... but maybe its because I jump on problems pretty hard...I think they have a note on my file don't mess with this woman

[237SJ]

You`re right LL. It`s bloody embarassing having someone tell you your card is declined. Bednobs, the ISA is an internet- only one and I can just deposit or withdraw money myself into my Lloyds current account. They have just changed the way the account is run now (for everyone) so it has effectively become a telephone account. They just didn`t bother to tell me.

[Frank97]

''16 months later''

[237SJ]

rowan - I`m going to write and tell them of my experience. I don`t think anyone cares though. There`ll probably just be someone in Customer Services who presses a button and sends me a "sorry we didn`t meet your expectations" type of letter. The guy on the phone apologised and I told him not to as it wasn`t his fault. They`e just going to get a stinker of a letter from me instead. I`m voting with my feet though and taking my money elsewhere. Hitting them in the pocket will be the only way to improve things. Maybe they`re just too big now and can`t co-ordinate their services.

[237SJ]

This is another thing. The ISA guy on the phone asked me if I wanted them to use "Faster Payments" to put the money in my current account. I asked if there was a charge and he said "no". He said that money normally takes 3 to 5 banking days to move across but they can do it faster. If that is the case, why don`t they just do that all the time?

[sunny-dave]

Santander are utterly hopeless - like others I wound up in their clutches after they took over A&L (who had taken over my beloved Girobank).

After one too many cock-ups I baled out and took all my accounts (savings/isa/current/credit card) elsewhere - moving is surprisingly painless these days.

No bank is perfect (I remember the dreadful BCCI credit card disaster when suddenly ALL of my credit cards were invalidated at once) - but Santander are definitely whatever the opposite of the Dog's Bits is (the Rat's @rse?).

[237SJ]

You`re right sunny-dave. I had an internet Bradford and Bingley savings account and I think they took that over as well. I swapped that for an INGDirect account and they are so easy to deal with.

[venator]

It all started when Santander took over Abbey with illegal assistance from the Spanish government, for which they were fined by the EU.

[Davethedog]

I gave up on Santander when I went to ask for a cheque from my account, as they hadn't sent me a cheque book only to be told it would cost me £10.

I know that everyone complains about thier bank, but Santander are appaling.

[Maydup]

There are many to choose from but the Halifax have good rates on ISA tranfers at the moment.

[fbg40]

Hi 237SJ
Not had any problems with Santander ( maybe because I don't use them !) but nearly every week in the financial section of the Mail on Sunday, Tony Hetherington has to sort out a problem with Santander. Why not try writing with your problem to the M0S, he seems to get very good results. Also don't know how Santander manage to trade with all the complaints against them !
FBG40

[237SJ]

Yes, it`ll probably be Halifax I go to because they let you transfer previous ISAs in. Lots of accounts only let you do one year`s worth. At the beginning of the tax year they had one that was 3.10% so I expect in about March they will be offering better rates.

[Old_Geezer]

Getting your card declined is embarrassing and extremely annoying. Best thing to do is cut up the card and go find somewhere else to provide your banking needs. I've not had a credit card for years, ever since a card company chose to embarrass me when I tried to use the replacement card they sent.

[maggiebee]

Have been with Santander (and Abbey before) for donkeys years and have only had a couple of minor hiccoughs in that time. Maybe I've just been lucky.