“Section 75 claim for faulty goods.
Please don't trust Santander if you need to use their Section 75 for refunds on credit card purchases. I have not had a penny back even though they say that I am owed the money
I bought a car on my credit card on 4th September 2023 from a Car company that I found was both unsafe and unfit to drive so I applied to Santander bank to get my money back as is my right.
My claim went through and case closed but I still haven't had been repaid which means that I am still paying interest on that sum. I have been told (I didn't need to be) that it was tough and had "terms and conditions" quoted at me.
Now this is not the main problem. What is infuriating is that to get the money back, the person at Santander Section 75 said 5ha5 I needed to return the car to the car company. The man said that if I paid for a car transporter, Santander (not the car company) would refund me for the transportation. This has not been paid either which meant that due to not having the money that was promised to me, a direct debit was refused and I had to take more money from my credit card to pay it. This means that I am paying even more interest on my credit card..
They will not e-mail me. They will only speak on the 'phone or write on my mobile account messages.”
“I had an extremely disappointing experience with Santander's customer service. After receiving suspicious email and text regarding a new account, I contacted Santander for clarification. Despite their assurances that no account application had been made, I later discovered that an unknown mobile number and email address had been added to my account. The customer service team failed to confirm the legitimacy of the emails and texts I received, leaving me feeling vulnerable and unsure. Despite my efforts they still allowed opening an account and authorising an overdraft.
To address the issue, I lodged a complaint few times, which has been ongoing for a staggering 44 days without any resolution. During this time, my access to my accounts was blocked twice- first time with my knowledge and new access information sent to me and the second time a month later without any notification or new login details sent out. Despite my repeated attempts, including numerous phone call and emails over the past two weeks, to chase up the complaint and regain access, I have received no valid response or assistance from the customer service team.
This lack of communication and support from Santander has been highly frustrating and has caused significant inconvenience. As a result, I have been unable to carry out essential banking activities and have experienced financial and personal disruption.
Overall, my experience with Santander's customer service has been highly unsatisfactory. Very weak security, the prolonged complaint process, lack of communication, and the blocking of account access without notice demonstrate a severe lack of care and professionalism. I strongly advise against using Santander's services based on my personal experience.”
“Used to be excellent. Now it's rubbish. I need to contact them about a technical issue. The online chat Sandi is completely useless, except to tell me to phone. I phoned instead, only to be told they know of no issue. I told them there is an issue, I'm telling you about it now - response, "well we don't know of any issues". Pathetic beyond words. I'm off to Halifax, way better customer care.”
“They blocked my account FOR A MONTH without notifying me
I went there twice to resolve it and they keep saying something different each time.
Terrible service. Useless agents. I had a lot of money there and I will never recommend anyone to open an account there.”
“Possibly the worst bank I have dealt with. Blocked my account over two weeks ago, I was told to take proof of the transfer into the branch finally after 2 weeks, which I did. They said they would unblock the account in the branch, instead they said it's going to be blocked another 14 days, one month in total for little reason. Get no help when you ring helpline, they just say they don't know when it'll get unblocked. Absolutely dreadful frustrating service. Another customer that will be leaving!”
“Terrible service ! Tried to withdraw 55 k for an urgent purchase.. went through all security .. it’s money to my OWN account elsewhere where I have transferred before ..
Account locked! Can’t speak to anyone have to wait until someone calls me ( although they had already called me on my registered phone!) so no completion of purchase .. it’s goodbye Santander you are no good for my requirements..”
“My mother was withdrawing cash from the ATM located inside the cricklewood branch. Someone took the cash as it sat in the machine without my mothers knowledge, once my mother discovered this, she notified the staff that her money had been stolen to which she was greeted with no assistance what so ever, no one came out to talk to my mother, no one called the police, no one reviewed any CCTV to see what happened. My mum is over pension age, and is a vulnerable individual and it sickens me that no one offered to help or assist in this matter when someone is quite clearly in distress. The only people offering my mother comfort were other customers. This is an absolute joke.”
“Even though the amount that I lost was not very huge, 360FORENSIC.com help me recover it. In about 3 months after signing up with them, my recovered amount was transferred to my bank account. Also, the bunch of scammers were brought to justice. Very much satisfied with their service.”
“Customer service is very poor, spend hours on the phone try to get through to someone rather then automated machine.
When finally I got through, I gave explicit instructions about my account which they ignored and it's left me with no money or food till they send a new card.
Welcome to rubbish banking.”
“Made a transaction to pay for something. They asked me to verify it was me. I did now they have blocked my account for 72 hours leaving me with no money with children. Asked for a manager to call me and was told 3pm and still waiting.
What is the point of verifying you made the made, when they can put your account with your money on hold and stop you from accessing it.
I am also disable and do not know how I going to feed myself and my children for 72 hours
Service is bad and the staff are rude, but they want you to be respectfully to them
Bad service”
“Santander UK profiteering by withholding my money
I have been a loyal customer at Santander UK for around 20 years. I felt betrayed by them from the following event.
On 3 July I received a large sum of money from my pension fund into my current account with Santander UK. I called them to transfer some to my saving account with another bank I had opened and deposited from Santander already. They carried out a number of checks with me to prevent fraud, and also asked me to call the bank to make sure the account is genuine and protected by FSCS, which I did. However, I was told that they would withhold my fund for up to 72 hours for further review (did not specify what exactly).
I was under the impression that only the amount of money I intend to transfer out was withheld, so I moved more money into this account the next day in order to transfer out to my other saving accounts by myself. To my dismay, I could not move out any money at all from this account (very conveniently, I could pay in). Nobody told me this! As a resuly, I had more fund stuck in this account. I called them the next day and was told again the fund would be released and I would be able to transfer money out within the next two days. After 72 hours (on 6 July), I called them again because the fund was still in my current account without earning any interest. I was told that the "up to 72 hours" promise was a mistake and the truth was that there was no timescale for the fund release because my case was in a queue for the back office to process (for further checks) and there was absolutely nothing they could do to make this process faster. They would not let me know what they had done for the last 72 hours and what checks would be needed that had not been done with me already. I felt hopeless, betrayed and distressed because of the uncertainty. I was told the back office would contact me if needed. Nobody from Santander did call me.
I was on holiday abroad from 30 June and came back home on Sunday 9 July. Having not received any call from Santander and having a large sum of money stuck in the current account, I called them on Monday 10 July. I was told at first the same old story about the queue and no timescale. I told them that I felt they were making excessive and unfair profit by deliberately withholding my money at the expense of my interest and that I would contact the press with my story and make a complaint to Financial Ombudsman Service. All out of a sudden, the queue at the back office disappeared and the reviews were no longer needed, they transferred my money out and I could move out money myself although the pay-in window for some of my accounts was closed. I asked them why my account was suddenly unblocked but did not get a straight answer. I strongly believe that there was no queue and no reviews were conducted for the seven days, and Santander was profiteering by withholding my money. If I had not made the call to push them, the fund would be stuck in my current account with Santander for a long time.”
“Card is declined randomly .13 pounds for drinks at test match.declined when trying to book train tickets. Declined when trying to book a.taxi transfer. ALL IN THE SPACE.OF TWO WEEKS.HAD.ENOUGH
CLOSING THE ACCOUNT”
“How can I complain and get compensation for what you done with Me? You freeze my account without telling me now I can't pay my bills ..how can I survive this? You want be happy when your bank will close your account one day...”
“Camden Branch. London.
£200 missing from sealed cash bag.
I withdrew £1,000 cash from Camden branch,. They gave me cash in sealed bag,. When I deposited the cash, still in sealed bag, into another bank 1 hour later I was informed there was only £800 in sealed bag,.
Santander said they checked their accounts and found no discrepancies, Said 2 people had counted the cash,. Said their complaint team will investigate,.
After 1 hour of dealing with this in branch, I did not see any checks performed,. No verification of any checks performed,. I was not told what is supposed to happen in these situations,
After losing £200 I walked out of branch with a only a complaint reference number, 11956245, and no further proof or evidence of what had happened.
I filed a police report, got Crime Reference Number, BECAUSE MONEY HAD GONE Missing,. And santander investigating their own mistakes, likely finding in their own favor,. is NOT an independent investigation
How could this happen?”
“Usless if you need to go branch take a day off as they got usless opening hours 9 to 3
atms outsode banks dont work says contact ur issuer lol when they are the isuers
Will be changing bank”
“Only given 1 star as I would have given zero, but you can't. Transferred money between my own accounts to use zero card abroad to save on transactions & was charged 3%. Whats the point of having a zero credit card with no overseas charges if you're charged 3% . Also, customer service is the worst I have ever come across. Speak to our robot, what a joke. I don't know what school the robot went to but absolutely useless & impossible to contact them any other way. They do say, telephone our help line, which is manned by another recorded voice.”
“Me and my family have had many bad experiences with Santander and will move our accounts. Nothing but negative experiences with them. No wonder they have only 1 and a half review score and thats only because you have to give a 1 star minimum”
“Please don't ever make the same mistake I made. Lost thousands following their 'financial advice' about their investment ISAs. The most horrendous company ever. Talk to them on live chat? You'd be lucky, they just hang up. Please go elsewhere and avoid this vile excuse of a company.”
“Not the sharpest tools in the shed. Anti fraud measures cost me as much as they potentially save eg: booking.com advance booking, hotel tries to take payment on the date but can't so cancels booking. Now have to pay last minute 5x price!
App. poor to use to follow your finances, can only see the little bit on screen and cant screenshot, other person can happily photograph
Random card refusals.
Admin that gets your address wrong after you fill in your change of address form.
New snazzy looking card, that has all numbers on rear including 3 digit security. One picture and they have all your details.
Yuk.”
“Have spent hours, literally hours, over the past two weeks on the phone trying to get an international wire set up and initiated. Ex-Brit living in the US for 20+ years. Had UK Santander account (previously Girobank) for 35+ years. When a small transfer was actioned last week they could not even follow the instructions and converted the requested amount of GBPs incorrectly despite the instructions being VERY clear to convert the amount in GBP to USD and then send. Have been unable to locate anyone who is willing to discuss why they did this in this way. Eventually have written to them to complain. This week trying to do a larger amount and it's been 4 days since my request (which after an hour long call they confirmed I could email to them - first I heard you could do this) and so far, no action on their behalf.
And if you think Santander UK are poor, you should try working with Santander International in the IOM - just terrible, everything has to be done in writing (result was 2 months of back and forth just to close an account).”
