Rant Santander - if you bank with them, LEAVE NOW!

Santander is the one bank I hear unilaterally slated. They suck. With a capital s. And I don't even bank with them.

I'm spread across barclays, lloyds and natwest for the very problems that have been mentioned in this thread. It's good to have options.

 

Why would anyone complain about the NHS? I am on my third operation and yes it takes time, yes it can be slow but it is an awesome system

Nationwide!

 

My local branch of santander are in particular complete pricks, when I used to bank through my savings acc. There seems to be these rules:

1) when no one has come in the branch for hours on end have 2 staff on,
2) when the branch is packed to the doors have one member of staff on cashier
3) if rule two applies please do not man the spare casheir(even though that is your job title) in a poorly airconditioned cramped back instead get two collegues that have been chatting whilst almost purposefully holding up a customer service enquiry for the past hour and join conversation.
4) If rule two applies the only cashier should at all times chat for as long as possible to customers they see reguarly.
5) amendment: infact even in the case of rule 1 do alll of the above if you choose.
6)watch as OAPs filter in and enjoy as they struggle to cope with the wait after the bank has removed the 2 seats that were in the bank
7) In accordance with these rules all employees must be genitally intact as the majority of your job description involves scratching these areas.

I switched to natwest since they always have 2-4 cashiers open and the customer service member of staff was exceptionally helpful in aiding me set up a current account after santander closed mine with no warning. When I went to my santander they made no effort in helping me create a new account with the little ID Ihave where natwest actively searched for other methods of Identification (electoral register, my benifits statements and actually accepting my birth certificate).

I just don't get how an entire branch of staff can all be so simultaniously incompetant

 

Hrmm, I've had incompetence from them (like setting the overdraft on my Student Account to £1 instead of £1000), but I've managed to keep myself relatively sane, as I've always gone into the branch and asked to see the manager, without raising my problem until I get to speak to them.

Sure, it makes me seem like a *******, but being assertive usually works. I suppose it also helps that I'm a student. I plan on ceasing my services with them if I find a better deal, but I've not had an experience that's particularly bad.

 

Seriously? When they started appearing here, I just thought "Santander? Wtf?"... doesn't sound legit and from what I read around the net I'm glad I was never tempted to fall for their bulls***...

 

Lol.. no

Far worse than the NHS

 

I'm with Bupa.

 

Had nothing but woe with santander... best of the lot was when i phoned them to transfer/withdraw my savings for house deposit, who told me i'd need various ID and go to nearest branch.

The branch then kindly told me the call centre was wrong and I'd need to open a current account (+5 working days) with them and then they'd be able to transfer to that. All the while I was on the phone with the call centre supervisor who was telling me the branch manager was wrong and I can transfer to whoever I wanted provided I had the right docs!

The best bit of advice came from a elderly gent who overheard most of this ridiculous situation and kindly informed me I could simply close my account and take a cashier's cheque over the counter!

 

you never told us you are going going to India, when are you back?

 

That is really bad. I am with HSBC, can't recommend them enough tbh.

 

I think travelers cheques work well in India (somebody feel free to correct me), and if you lose them they will get a replacement to you anywhere in world within a set amount of time (was 48 hours when I was in Africa).

And on the bank front, I have nothing but praise for Barclays! Have served me well over the last 15 years, and whenever I have had an issue i.e. cancelling a card, they went the extra mile to make sure that things were sorted.

Plus their call centre is up North, who doesn't like comforting words from a Northerner when you're freaking about losing your card?

 

I must say, that is rather poor. When I lost my paying-in book, and latterly a machine swallowed my card for no reason, Barclays were ultra-quick on both counts. Visited the branch, let them know, and I had replacements within the week.

Also have a Co-operative account, who seem good so far. They've managed to send cards out on time and such.

 

Wow, that is going above and beyond pathetic. :\
...and to think, Santander is buying out my bank so I'll have to think about switching in the next 10 months.

 

surprised to read that, I had nothing but problems with them when I used them while I was a student. Had silly things like they call me up because I'm almost a the limit of my overdraft and they are asking me to put some money is so it doesn't go overdrawn when they can see that I had put a cheque in a few days ago and am waiting for it to clear.

Another one they liked doing was not extending the overdraft even after you have gone into the bank and called them about it, only for them to call you a few days later to say I'm overdrawn again.

Plus there Internet banking rubbish, I've just left me accounts open with nothing in so it costs them money to send me statements every month.

So glad that I moved all my money back to Nationwide can't fault them at all only changed because HSBC had a better deal on a student account.

 

I use HSBC as well and have never had any problems, haven't used my overdraft so don't know about that but the internet banking does everything I expect it to do and the local branch has always been helpful.

Had my card blocked once after buying a new computer from scan but they phoned me 5 minutes after I had placed the order and it was all sorted out straight away, it was an unusual amount for me to spend so it's quite reassuring that they do check it.

 

I purposely ignored that comment to avoid this happening While I agree with nexxo, I'm taking his soap box before it gets out of hand

 

I have, you're just not on the server enough, I'll be back roughly 3 weeks today (having not left yet and going for 2 and half weeks ish).

 

I think the moral of this story is that you never know what problems may arise until they do. I'm with HSBC at the moment simply because their mortgage rate (which may be discontinued for new customers) is second to none. However, they have a habit of barring payments to certain organisations, seemingly at random.

I recently ordered a hotel room, an event ticket and a train ticket online. The payments for the event and hotel went through okay, the train ticket was refused, even though I had more than enough money. Previously they have rejected payments to online poker, to Blizzard, to Scan... I could go on.

If it weren't for the mortgage rate, I'd move in a heartbeat, probably to Santander, pick up £100 as I passed Go, and then to Halifax.

 

Wow, Santander sounds awful.

A point of note: If you're a bright young Londoner (less than 25) with decent future earning potential, as I'm sure many are on these forums, you'd be surprised how willing the so called 'private' banks are to tender your custom. C. Hoare & Co, Drummonds, UBS, Cater Allen, and perhaps most notably Coutts are all more than happy to take on young new clients who don't yet meet their published eligibility criteria.

I'm 22, make next to no money, have no savings, no car and flatshare as it would be impossible for me to afford rent, the various services charges and ground rent on my own. Basically, the worst possible candidate (this is how broke I am).

However, the gods were kind, and I now have a "Friday night at the bar golddiggers account". Hell, I was even offered credit!



It's only been a few months now, but I run it alongside my HSBC current account (which I've had since I was 10, never with a single problem) and the service has been sublime!

So, broke or not, give it a go!

Alternatively, if you live way out in the sticks HSBC is without fault!



/bait

TSB

 

Interesting that some of the noteable private banks are willing, never even considered them. Do Coutts not charge you some horrible monthly fee? I'll never pay to bank!

Other than the bragging rights I'm not sure I'd be overly interested in one of the private banks.