“Worst bank ever I've been hacked. So they have blocked my card. And won't refund me.i have no money for food even when my card comes back. As they will have charged me for going into an an unaranged overdraft”
“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).”
“Santander employee acting like a fraudster:
A person recently phoned me, who claimed to be Santander employee and asked me to state my Date of Birth "to pass security".
At that point I had no way of knowing, whether this really was a Santander employee calling me, or a fraudster fishing for my personal information.
Guess my surprise, when a few weeks later, I learned that this really was a genuine Santander employee !?
I complained to Santander about this practice, but they have the audacity to defend their practice, and do not want to change their security policy.
This sets a dangerous precedent. If Santander acts in a way, that customers can not distinguish a genuine Santander employee from a fraudster, this is exactly what the fraudsters want, because it helps them to clear out people's bank accounts.”
“I am trying to close my account with this usless bank, first they ask for all security details on the phone. Then they send paperwork to my old address, another call and they ask for a copy of my Passport to be sent by mail and witness by a lawyer, then you hear nothing for months.
Try doing all this from overseas .
Absolutely usless bank, non existent customer service, cannot do anything per Email everything by post or telephone
Invest elsewhere”
“I recently transferred from 20 years with Nationwide to Santander and the difference is remarkable. There are far fewer interfering and unnecessary 'security' checks which is a big relief. The courtesy and help of the staff on the telephone and the simplicity of Santander's online banking is a joy and far less tiring (and aggravating) - my 90 year old arthritic fingers make a lot of typing errors resulting in a lot of phone calls for help! I would give all the staff bonuses if I could but here is a big THANKYOU for your help and patience!”
“Horrendous bank. I deal with all my elderly fathers affairs as he is Reg.Blind. Trying to get Santander to recognise that fact and offer any help is useless, I don't think they have any policies in place to help the aged, disabled, blind etc!
My father lives alone 60plus miles from me, so I set up an online account for him and operate it myself for him. Anytime he needs to do anything or know whats in his account I do it for him. Couple of years ago he needed to make a large payment via the solicitor for a house purchase. Brought him down to my area, took him into a Santander with every possible proof they could ask for including the solicitors letter requesting the amount. OUTRIGHT FLAT REFUSAL TO HELP. Sent us home to do it online.
Now, once again, he is selling his home which will takes months as usual but meantime wishes to buy a mobile home he's seen. I have tried to transfer £25k to my account and hoped to do three times, which I would then add another £40K of my own money to pay for this until he gets his house money through. BLOCKED! I have meantime sent everything through to prove LPA that I have , again they are putting every single obstacle in my way instead of helping and accepting. They send emails out that you aren't able to reply to, so have absolutely no chance of explaining the situation to them. FIVE DAYS NOW, AND STILL THEY HAVEN'T OK'ED IT. MEANTIME WE WILL LOSE THE HOME HE HAS SET HIS HEART ON.
FIRST CHANCE I GET I WILL MOVE HIS ACCOUNT TO ANOTHER BANK.
If I have sent the letter of LPA through, along with my passport etc it should be dealt with immediately!”
“Omg if you value your peace of mind your confidence in a bank and your money then please stay away from Santander. Staff have no training they have no idea how to "investigate" even the smallest question not to mention the "higher" staff ! I wish I knew what they did but all enquiries have failed. The details of their banks addresses and phone numbers are outdated and no effort has been made to update them. No consideration for their customer care no respect no thought to your welfare and they're "one of them" who are always right that is the mindset of Santander unfortunately. They take no responsibility for issues that go wrong it's your fault never ever theirs and that is the crux of the many problems customers experience. I truly believe they will have to close their offices here in UK customers are beginning to wise up to them thank god. Stay away....”
