@santanderbankgb Current account Overdraft withdrawn without any notice ***Resolved With CEO's Office***

[Jonnie Reclaim]

Following online advice from Santander, I visited my local branch today to add my wife to my current account. It had previously been solely in my name and from inception had a £1000 overdraft. We completed some forms and were informed that the account was now in joint names, and my wife would shortly receive a debit card for the account. I specifically asked if my debit card would be valid, or if a new one would be issued. I was told that my card would function as normal, and nothing concerning the account would change.

 

About half an hour later, I tried to use my Santander debit card for a small purchase in a local shop. There should have been £800+ available credit in the account at this point. My card was declined twice. I returned to my branch to find out what was wrong. They were unable to tell me, but could say that no overdraft was now available on my account. They were also unable to contact the Underwriters who would assess if the overdraft could be re-applied to my account !!

 

After several hours of telephone calls to the Santander Call centre and their complaints dept, I was getting nowhere so emailed the CEO of Santander at [email protected]. Some interesting articles in the Guardian and Daily Mail today re. Santander. It appears that Santander are withdrawing overdrafts either with, or without notice, so anyone with a Santander overdraft needs to be aware of their tactics. Branch have promised to phone me tomorrow, so we'll see !!!

[BankFodder]

Please keep us informed. This is a breach of their duty to treat customers fairly and to communicate with you fairly.

We can help you with some tough action if it is not resolved

[ims21]

Hi

 

I think BF's post says it all.

 

Just wondered if you had some links to the Guardian and DM articles?

 

ims

[Jonnie Reclaim]

Some links .....

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/feb/26/santander-britains-worst-bank

 

Just google 'Santander complaints' and take your pick !!

[ims21]

Hi

 

I get a 404 error (page not found?)

 

ims

[Jonnie Reclaim]

My email to [email protected] did the job !

 

I received a phone call from the ceo's office at 10am yesterday promising and explanation and further phone call by 11am which happened. The outcome was that epting a staff member had made an input error (one of several) while adding my wifes details to my account, and had not ticked a box to show that my wife required the same overdraft ! The computer then 'thought' that no o/d was required on the account and so it 'fell off''. When the o/d was re-applied for, the request was forwarded to underwriters who make all lending decisions.

 

One standing order was stopped and then re-presented. The overdraft was re-instated yesterday and the s/o paid. Santander wrote to the creditor informing of their error and accepting responsibilty for any charges.

 

To be fair, once the ceo's office was involved, this matter was dealt with very quickly and efficiently.

 

I must say however, that the service from the Branch staff and call centre was ineffective. They seem to be severely restricted in what they can do, and who they are allowed to contact. The call centre staff refused to allow me to speak to their supervisors and I was told that the underwriters could not be contacted by call centre staff or customers. The complaints manager was also unavailable and was not 'customer facing' and I was blocked at every stage.

 

The contact procedure seems to be dealt with in two stages : Stage one is customer call centre and Stage two is the complaints dept. The operators in both departments both seem to be trained to record problems and provide advice, but cannot actually solve and issues.

 

The other issue is the '0844...' rate phone contact line. If you're on the phone for long periods, this will quickly become expensive.

 

Advice - contact [email protected] for a prompt solution.

 

I got the impression that there are problems within this large organisation and that senior management do really care and are trying to improve things - they do have their work cut out !

 

I was offered £200 compensation and 6 bottles of wine which I duly accepted. Still waiting for my phone bill !!

 

Thanks to all at Cag for your support.

[BankFodder]

Is it Spanish wine?

 

Well done - so where's the party?

[ims21]

Excellent Stuff

 

Glad its all resolved for you

 

I'll change the title of this thread to reflect the resolution of this matter

 

Regards

 

ims

[Jonnie Reclaim]

Your not the first to ask this question (lol)...... If not Spanish then Aldi/Lidl or M&S/Waitrose !!! we'll see. I did wonder how Santander would be effected if the Euro collapsed.

[Jonnie Reclaim]

Thanks.