swift transfer did not arrive, can you get compensation when left stranded ?

[goldenbolls]

if you send a swift transfer from uk ( santander ) to another country to your own bank it usually takes 24-48hrs max right, well i waited for 4 weeks for the money to arrive, this was a couple of months ago. basically i was expecting the cash within 24 hrs it didnt arrive and what little money i had soon went in 2 days. was left stranded and penninless. phoned santander everyday and they promised the funds had left, calls alone cost me a lot of money, one night i was actually left homeless and didnt have money for hotel untill my brother sent me a western union for £1,000 at a cost of £48 to send. i sent 5 emails to complaints dept at santander within 3 weeks , not one reply from them, santander manager told me funds would arrive soon , this happened everyday, meanwhile my own bank told me the funds arrived but were sent back as santander did not include my name on the swift form (only my account number) went to santander and they said the swift form was correct and it was the fault of lloyds the holding bank ( lies !! ) i know this because the guy at santander who filled the swift form in took 2 hours to do it, ive done swifts before and it usually takes 5-10 mins to complete (easy) also i got a parking ticket while this fool took 2 hrs to complete form, he didnt even know how to fill it in. can i claim against santander? they have refunded me the swift charge money but i feel angry i was left homeless and stranded when i should of been enjoying myself

[dzug2]

You can always claim - whether it's successful or not is another matter.

Put a claim in - if it's refused or the offer is not good enough then you can take it to the Ombudsman if you have followed the right procedures.

[KARL]

Sadly, this strikes me as yet another failure by Santander - I have experience of repeatedly pointing out systemic failures in their organisation at branch/counter level and each time they say they will correct these globally within Santander.

Again in my experience, Swift transfers do tend to take longer if a UK bank is involved (sending or receiving) and in general world wide the sending bank seems not to know what happens after the transfer is set in motion (no auto-feedback or monitoring facility and definitely no "completed" signal at the receiving end - you would think this easy to arrange). The first thing to mention is that you will need good records and also as much evidence (paper, e-mail logs, records of events and times etc., etc.) to maximise the strength of any claim so if you have not done so already make a "report" of your own now because you will eventually have to do this for the Ombudsman (also the bank) and you should not wait for memory to fade and items of record going missing. Secondly, you will have to "exhaust" efforts in claiming from the bank before you turn to the Ombudsman. In practice this means either receiving an unsatisfactory final reply from the bank or none at all - if the latter you must make certain that you send the bank a letter saying you want a reply within two weeks and if none arrives then go with that to the Ombudsman. By all means contact them now and log the issue with them and they will tell you the conditions for them turning it into a formal complaint - you will be given a case reference so be ready to write it down.

Do not leave any costs out, including "pain and suffering" but be careful not to overdo it. According to my experience with Barclaycard (obvious attempt to avoid the implications of the Consumer Credit Act) the bank is likely to take your complaint very seriously once they know the Ombudsman is coming into the frame.

Good luc

[KARL]

...k. This is not the first time my answer had been cut off through the "avalaible space" guillotine, but it is the first where I exceeded by a single character (plus the full stop).

[goldenbolls]

i have allready wrote a long leter to ombudsman yesterday. the only reciept i have is for my brother sending me a western union, no reciept of phone calls etc to uk/ santander. will check for the sent emails today. what can i claim for pain and sufferring ? after all my supposedley 4 week holiday was turned into a month of pure hell. i was due to fly back to uk on 9-5-11 but didnt even have the money for bus or taxi to take me the 400 kilometres to the airport so missed my flight, eva air were very good and only charged me £75 to change flights to uk. eva air excellent i must give them absolute credit for their help but santander? if i were you i wouldnt touch this bank with a bargepole, its not the first time they have scorched me and their customer service haha is a joke !!!

[dzug2]

There's not a lot of point writing to the Ombudsman until you have exhausted Santander's compaints process.

[goldenbolls]

santander doesnt seem to have a complaints process as ive allready sent 4-5 emails to their complaints dept without even 1 email in return.

[bednobs]

how long ago did you send the emails? Did you use their "contact us" form for doing it? as your emails either don't seem to be getting through or not being read (or not answered as quickly as you would like) then you need now to either write (by actual post) or ring their complaints dept.
The ombudsman wont look untill at least 8 weeks have passed since your first contact