“Many of the customer service representatives who answer 1-877-768-2265 will outright lie to you to get you off the phone or put you on hold and then hang up. I have one simple transaction pending that is taking weeks due to their exceptionally poor communication skills and customer service. I made at least ten phone calls to inquire about the transaction’s status. The last five or six phone calls, including two today, started with “please do not hang up on me.” Despite my pleadings, the representatives hung up on me immediately. Unfortunately, it is impossible to get past them to speak with a supervisor who can help with your problem. The only reason I scored Santander a 1 was because 0 was not an option. I am looking forward to never doing business with Santander again.”
“I have been a customer of the bank for many years and unfortunately I cannot say a good word. The bank’s staff have not only a very low level of service but also a very low level of knowledge , which I have experienced countless times. Even during the difficult Covid period, everything that was connected with this bank only caused problems, not help!
The worth thing is that the bank DOES NOT care about it’s reputation and thus is not comparable to any other bank in England.
It seems that things are not going well for the bank and you can draw your own conclusions- why!”
“After trying to open my first bank account (I recently turned 18 and would need it for my job and college) I decided to try and open a current account at Santander and believe me when I say TRY. I first began by going to the closest branch to my home to try and do it in person because as I have stated above, I have never had to open a bank account before and would need help also I am Portuguese so I knew they would need some extra documents from me than the average UK national. I was promptly told to go home and do it myself online as it would be "easier". What a lie that was. I was asked for my passport, settled status and a letter which could prove that I had lived in the UK for at least 3 years which had both my name and address so I asked my college if they could write and sign a letter to prove that. After that I was constantly emailed saying that this was not sufficient evidence or that my passport was expired or that the letter wasn't enough evidence (Which I found kind of weird that they would need a letter proving that when they had my settled status document which proved that I have lived here for a minimum of 5 years). That kind of worried me as I quickly began to believe that it was a scam. After trying one last time I can now say I have given up on opening an account with Santander and will be opening one at Danske. Santander customer service is awful for new customers and from what I have now heard for their current customers as well. I do not know if this will help anyone, but I just needed to vent my experience with Santander, best of luck to anyone that will try to use them as their bank.”
“Absolutely THE worst company to get a car loan with. You end up paying 3-4 times more than the loan is..after 3 years they reposed mine for being 6 weeks late with the payment & auctioned it (probably back to the dealerships that work with them) almost immediately then said I owed the difference which was almost what my loan original loan was for. Left me w/o a vehicle, ruined my credit & years after this happened they turned this over to lawyers..it never ends. I still don't have any paperwork on this 4% loan the dealership told me they approved me for after repeatedly asking for the contract. Its just so shady & have lost class action suits against them before because of their business practices. I just wish there was a current one going in now so I could be a part of it. BUYER BEWARE. Don't get a loan thru them. You WILL be sorry.”
“Horrendous experience with these charlatans who froze account without warning/reason leaving me without funds for daily essentials, in person branch visits entirely incidental with one hour calls exactly the same.
I’ve been a customer 30+ years during which I’ve had numerous examples of stupidity, dishonesty & even theft.
After recent interaction they had audacity to send me a survey which I completed and was able to explain that thanks to them I had no food or electricity.
Avoid at all costs.”
“Apalling customer service, complaints department are rude and unhelpful. Also make changes without any communication, though the say they do. If only I could give less than one star.”
“Had to transfer parent's funds into my account as BREXIT has meant UK citizens living abroad have had accounts shut with no notice. Put a large amount of funds into a student account, start paying mortgages and obviously note student-type expenses. Have two transfer of 15,000+ pounds into account from unlisted Chinese accounts, no problem. Go to transfer 5000 pounds back to my parents (the accounts have the same surnames and are both British) and everything is blocked. Been on hold for around nine hours over the last ten days speaking to unhelpful call-center worker after call center-worker. I am sick of having to give out my financial information an personal information to random people in call centers who judge you and make assumptions about you. I had one man ask me if I had another account I could use - when I replied that no, I haven't got a spare fifty grand sitting around in another account to use I was met with incredulity. Long story short, I have been lied to, strung along and poked fun at. I have a mortgage to pay, rent to pay, a downpayment for a flat, flights so I can get home to book and a family to look after. I have no way of paying any of this without this account. I also need to transfer more large sums out of this account and am scared to now because what if it gets blocked again and no one can tell me how long to unblock it? Why is there no emergency phone number? Absolutely ridiculous. I'll be putting my money under my floorboards once I can get off hold to shut this damned account. Bank literally anywhere else.”
“I have been a customer of Santander for years without issue but recently their service has been appalling and I am driven by sheer desperation to write this review. I am simply trying to carry out the wishes of a relative who died. I opened a new executor's account with Santander to deal with the assets of the estate. I need to make numerous payments to beneficiaries. Their 'computer' does not understand this and blocks the payments. This means I have to phone after each transaction and wait for up to 45 minutes each time (never less than 30 minutes is my guess) and see if they will unblock it. Sometimes they do, sometimes they do not, but the last time I was told their 'back office' needs to contact me. 4 days later I am still waiting. The account is still blocked. Yesterday I was promised a call back in 4 hours but no call ensued. I have tried different methods of setting up these payments and eventually resorted to phoning them to ask that they set up the transactions while I was on the phone. (Well over an hour I think) One payment went through but the rest were blocked. Staff were powerless to help; one staff member was rude. It is so stressful, unnecessary and immensely time wasting. There seems to be a complete lack of understanding that customers' time is also important, especially at times of stress.”
“My debit card was frozen without any notification causing embarrassment, despite numerous calls and being put on hold on four occasions Saturday 4th July was spent trying to resolve my problem I must have spent at least three waiting disgraceful this is not customer service it's a joke”
“Santander bank, very rude staff name Suleman
My own money blocked My online and blocked card everything
No support no help and was told go to the branch after a 4 hours of hold and at 6pm go to the branch. No funds to use in an emergency”
“Worst bank ever. Please do not use this bank. Look for any other bank you can. Forget online banking as they block every payment and then dont answer the phone to help you”
“New car loan first payment due may 24th. Paid that at end of april. Then paid June’s payment mid May. They have me listed as a month behind on payments and the customer service rep was hateful and would not help me. Asked to speak to someone else he said call back. Destroying my credit and being punished for paying payments early!!! Horrible service.”
“After setting up a standing order, our business account was locked. I spent two and half hours among several calls waiting to be connected to the relevant team. The security team told me they would raise an internal ticket with their back office to unlock the account immediately. That didn't happen. We will now let down our customers who expect payment on time.”
“On line banking is absolutely terrible! Accounts are blocked on every payment transaction. Customer service or technical do not answer for hours! Don't use this bank!!”
“Very bad experience with this bank avoid at all costs closed my account and it’s been 4 weeks loads of phone calls and still not paying my money it’s a joke”
“Been waiting for you to contact me for last week as promised but still no contact, tried calling but despite waiting over an hour still no contact, broken promise’s, long waiting times, no call backs, blocked accounts unbelievably bad customer service with absolutely no interest in trying to resolve. My only recourse is the financial ombudsman.”
