The worst bank in the 21st century! My daughter and my mother are getting the most appalling service and ineptitude ever witnessed in the shortest space of time! My poor daughter has had her overdraft cancelled without authorisation and my elderly mother who has been waiting for birthday money from abroad has been told it has been lost. When it was Abbey there were never any problems and now we have to go to Ludgate Hill with the hope that the money will be traced. All their operatives are in India and cannot be understood. READ THIS SANTANDER, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER OR LOSE CUSTOMERS - ALL CUSTOMERS WILL HAVE TO VOTE WITH THEIR FEET!!!!...

Hmmm. Unfortunately I agree with the accounts here. It took four weeks for Santander to come back and tell me they were not going to give me an account, despite being in a good job, having zero debt and being very healthily in credit in too banks outside England... When I asked why they told me they couldnt tell me and when I asked for a contact number they never came back to me. I opened an account with a competitor. Quite disappointing as they trade relatively strongly which made me think that they may be well run. Wrong ...

Nearly eight weeks ago we transferred money from an existing Bradford & Bingley account to a Santander ISA account and that is the last we have seen of it. We phone to progress the transfer, we have E Mailed, from those activities we receive fob off\'s or silence. There are no words of reassurance or we know where your money is and it will be sorted in \"X\" days etc. In all my life dealing with banks these are the worst ever...

DONT TOUCH SANTANDER WITH A BARGE POLE! ive had isa\'s for a number of years with nationwide, BM, and barclays. All no problems at all. i decided to change isa provider as rates were very low to ABBEY (part of santander) last august 2009, they offered me 3% with direct isa issue 3.annual interest.gr8 i thought, followed my a/c online. During Nov/Dec 2009 had small booklet announcing Abbey was changing name to Santander and also several accounts would be changing name too,and interest rates changing. MY a/c was not listed to be changed so i did nothing. I checked my a/c on interest anniversary date and found my interest added -OH YES - but at a rate of 0.10%???? and my a/c changed to EASY ISA. OK i may not have been that vigilant. So i rang santander to sort it out. They said they could not sort it over the phone? doh! this was an internet/phone account. So i trekked into town and formed an orderly queue in santander branch. Eventually spoke to reception person who told me they were busy so had to wait 30 minutes (fine). Then called into little booth and spoke to a SAMANTHA DODGE. She seemed to totally understand my problem and PROMISED that head office (IN SPAIN) would reimburse my 3% interest backdated to when i opened account. PLUS she would transfer my account to a higher 2.75% isa account. She told me to wait 2 weeks for this to happen. After 2 weeks NOTHING. so i rang her and complained. She said it may take longer ??/well how long you know!! she promised to get information and ring me the following SATURDAY (NO PHONE CALL). My a/c is still the same after wasting 3 weeks when i could transfer elsewhere, (which im in process of doing). NEVER HAVE I HAD SUCH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE....

Since Bradford and Bingley (Leicester) got taken over by Santander, the only positive thing has been a change of decoration. The service level is appalling, the staff at the branch are rude and the Indian cashiers are anti to their own kind! The level of service and customer care at this branck is absolutely rubbish. I will not complain to the branch or head office, though I have verbally made my point to these \'people\' (as if they care), but rather, coolly take my money else where. Dont complain but walk away with your investments....

hello all, i am not going to mention my name as i used to work for Santander credit card services. I worked for them for just over a year and found that the general attitude from management was we don\'t care about our customers and are only concerned with making money. I had also spoken to a number of higher management staff and found this attitude was only confirmed by them. I had a number of accounts with abbey before the take over and have closed down all accounts. I have found that with regards to fraud, I was amazed the amount of fraud which takes place on customers accounts not only by external people but also by internal staff. My advice to anybody with accounts or any products from Santander is to close these products and find a more secure bank which actually cares about their customers. I don\'t expect people just to believe me so I will confirm that I got the job through and agency called Temping direct which is basd in leighton Buzzard and I worked in Milton keynes Central offices !!....

I found my debit/bank card stopped for no reason. Tried to call Santander, and went through the most frustrating telephone system before I got to speak to anyone, who then asked me exactly the same questions as the automated system did (several times as I was cut off on my first attempt). Gave up and went down to my local branch to try and sort it out, but they could see no blocks on my account. Called Paypal, and they confirmed that the account had indeed been blocked, so got on the phone to waste another 10 minutes to try and get through to some sort of intelligent life form. Eventually got through to a young lady that informed me that the card was stopped as I had used it overseas. So I replied, my job as a pilot takes me out of the country, as it has done so for the last 7 years with the current company that I work for, so what has changed, as I have used the account without any hitch all this time! Furthermore if they were going to change the terms and conditions of the account, I asked if it would be a good idea not to inform the CUSTOMER? I was told that this had been in place for at least 2 years now, to which it clearly hasnt, as this is the first time I my card had been stopped. It was even more confusing as it was only blocked with Paypal, and I could still withdraw cash at the ATM and purchase goods at teh supermarket etc (work that one out...if it blocked then surely it means you cant use the card?) Anyways, spoke to a supervisor who informs me that every time that I go to work I have to call them to tell them what country I am going to! (Lets hope that I dont have any last minute changes!) On this crazy basis I asked for a direct telephone number, read back the number over the phone, and....yep you guessed it, it comes up with a \"number not recognised\" recording! What levels of stupidity will banks stoop to with thier customers? Surely Santander have more than one customer who\'s work involves lots of travel out of the UK?...

Probably the only bank in UK where online transaction still take 4days... they don\'t know when they can match other banks in online services... today morning 09thmay 2010 their online log in has crashed and now their call centre server.. when confronted they blame visa but i have visa service with other bank hallifax which is experienceing no such diffculties... horrible waiting times on phone.. ...

I have been with Alliance & Leicester for a while I went in last week to to open an ISA as advertised - good rates etc. after queing for about 15 mins and still three people in front of me I decided to come back on a week day. I went in on Friday and was told that this ISA had finished - I had the leaflet from the previous week and said that nothing was on it about it being finishing. Apparently it had been taken \'off\' the previous day. I was offered anothr \'Product\' at a much lower interest rate, I declined. then the young woman asked if I had an account there I told her yes, oh in that case you can have one at 3.2% interest fixed for two years, not bad - I said I would have one. She said just as long as you pay in £1000 a month. Well I dont earn that much so I said why do you have to give the best deals to those who earn more what is it with this country that wants the higher paid people to get more and us ledsser earners get sod all!!! I am my lower earnings to a bank that deserves my money....

DON\'T GO ANYWHERE NEAR SANTANDER FOR BANKING - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!! I have the misfortune of having a number of accounts with them and I\'ve had no end of problems. The latest was when I tried to make a time-critical pension payment electronically and they stopped it without telling me so I missed being able to contribute in the appropriate year. Their telephone people are dismissive, the process governs all operations not the customer, and the \'team managers\' are a complete waste of time, getting argumentative and making no attempt to solve the problem - or even offer solutions ... the answer is always, this is how we do things!! You can then disappear into their \'Dissatisfaction\' process where you are given a number - which of course is how you\'ve felt all along anyway! I\'m so frustrated now, and so certain that this won\'t be the end of my problems (as I\'ve had different ones over the last 3 months, all to do with their systems, not my financial viability) that I\'ll have to move despite the hassle. Whatever you do, AVOID AVOID AVOID!...

I went into Banco Santander in Sevenoaks or open an ISA account as they are paying by far the best interest of anyone. However, the lady was very rude to me and told me that there was nobody to help me and I would have to come back and even then, she could not guarantee that there would be someone to help and that the rate quoted for the ISA is ending on Saturday so I need to open it quick. Would not now touch them with a bargepole and after reading all the other reviews will go somewhere where they appreciate the money, even if the interest is not quite as good....

After reading the reviews about your bank, I was very disappointed and shocked to learn about its lack of customer care and service and theft, I have decided to get some advice from am experienced person before changing my bank account. Obviously, I do not want to go from the frying pan into the fire!!!!...

Its a joke this bank no one should use it, all atempts to spend my own money failed, when coming across this problem i went to the branch and asked to speak to a manager, the way the manager was dressed, i thought that i was speaking to the cleaner, I asked this alleged manager for a card, and got a A4 size paper with Maria Farbrace written on in pen, no number, she had no interest in my problem and we have closed our accounts, I got the impression its spanish attitude on a British high st. is not acceptable here, none of the banks are brilliant but this one should not be on our high streets....

Santander constantly block our business banking credit card. By constantly I mean 100% of the time. We are unable to get to the bottom of it as we\'re always told \"it\'s an automated system\". A terrible case of \"computer says no\". It\'s clearly in place to protect Santander, not the customer. I know others who have had similar trouble - in one case blocking a transfer to a solicitor during a house purchase, which almost fell through. We\'re moving to another bank for our business. In short, never, ever use them. ...

I am with Allience and Leicester merged with Santander. I tried to speak to a member of staff at Management level after speaking to some young girl in the Call Centre who had no idea what I was talking about and tried to put words into my mouth when I confronted her abhout what she had told me. When I then asked to speak to someone higher than her she told me there was nobody I could speak to and that she had made notes on my file. Well if she had no idea what I was talking about how could she make notes and heaven alone knows what they say. I then DEMANDED to speak with a Manager, she put me on hold for a while and to everyone\'s surprise... Nobody I could talk to. I\'m going into my Branch tomorrow and demand to speak with the Branch Manager, who I\'m guessing is not going to be there... By the way did you know that the new 0844 number has a 10p connection charge then generated 3p a minute for Santander\'s coffers. That\'s why there is so many push button options the longer they keep you on line the more money it generates for Santander. One line run 24 hours a day 7 days a week generates £15,768 a year for Santander if it\'s in constant use and how many lines will they have 100 maybe 200?...

An update! My mortgage from Santander had no minimum rate just .85% over annual 1 year Euribor. So when it came to the annual review I get a call asking if I would like a fix at 4.5% but I had to agree in 48 hours. I pointed out that as I had no mimimum rate this would mean I was paying well over what I have contracted to pay. Eventually they agreed this was the case but didnt feel it necessary to apologise. They then deduct interest payments assuming I had a minimum of 3%. They refused to respond to emails. I went to the Strand branch in London to ask for help. they called the Bank in Fuengirola who said they would have to obtain a copy of my mortgage deed from madrid. I had taken mine in so we faxed it to them. They then started charging the correct amount. I want to raise a formal complaint but they refuse to hear me. I would leave if there wasnt a 1% penalty exit. Alsolute bastards....

Reading the reviews below has worried me enough to get out of Alliance and Leicester, which i have been with for over 20 years, and in to a known Brit Bank. ...

This bank cancelled a direct debit to repay a loan on their books. Now they have registered detrimental financial information against the borrower for non-payment of the direct debit they cancelled. The Customer Service member who we discussed it with says it is our reponsibility to check that payments are being made. How can we make a payment if they wont re-instate the direct debit?Is there a Solicitor who will take on this bank for the damage they have caused to an innocent persons reputation?...

WELL WHAT A SHOCK READING THE REVIEWS OF SANTANDER!!!! I WAS THINKING OF OPENING A SAVINGS ACCOUNT WITH THEM IN UK BUT NO CHANCE AFTER READING REVIEWS!...

My god i\'m not alone i opened a bank account with Abbey in Sept 09 i have never used the account as it\'s active one day and not the next they have sent me three card endless online banking detais. After FOUR AND A HALF HOURS on the phone last week they promised it would be sorted out even upgraded my account So today i went to get a balance the atm took my card...endless calls to india so i phoned the head office only to find out they had blocked my account TOOK THE £10.00 ACCOUNT CHARGE and didn\'t and have refused to put the overdraft on. If anyone gets any problems DEMAND to speak to a manager at their head office 0870 6076000 WORST BANK EVER...

Complete disaster. We moved our current account to Santander Dec 08. Had security problems with using my card, which they never resolved, despite me complaining at least 10 if not 15 times. Bank blamed my mb phone co for top up problems, yet there was no option to top-up at any cashpoint - how can that possibly be the mb phone co\'s fault? Counter service is dreadful. Even in closing our account they did badly. It took them almost 3 weeks to close it, and they ignored our request to transfer the balance to our new account, and sent a cheque to us instead...

Santader/ Abbey National are by far the worst bank i have ever banked with. They never get back to you and they dont make you feel valued in any way at all.They pass you to pillar to posts when you call them. I had some fraud done on my account which was not my fault, it took Abbey 3 weeks to investigate and give me my money back, i closed all my accounts with them after this inccident and they put a block against my name so i couldnt open a new account with any other bank. SHABBY ABBEY HAVE MADE MY LIFE A NIGHTMARE.....PEOPLE OUT THERE YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!!...

We have been with Santander since moving to Spain 5 years ago. No problems, no charges despite going overdrawn a couple of times. Sending money to the UK fast and efficient. Lloyds rips us off with bad rate AND charges. Would reccommend my branch in Baena without hesitation....

they took over ge money,left no contact number,no details so that we could pay our loan off,its been very,very,very annoying,not the bank for me EVER....

I thought that now Alliance & Leicester was part of Santander I would be able to draw funds from a Santander ATM at no charge. Hohoho....

I have opened an account with Santander on 2007 and I had the account, I had my daily transactions with it\'s debit mastercard, after that I requested for issuance of a Platinum Visa Card and they told me as I am a non-resident, I must have a security margin with amount of 5000 EUR, I let them to deduct my account with this amount but after 1 month they decided to close my account! When I asked why you want to do this, they told me this is an internal reason and we don\'t have to provide a reason! They told me that we will send your money free to any account you provide, after I sent my Italian account details, they sent the amount to this account but there were a 25 EUR fee that was taken from my full amount!!! Don\'t go near them!! I suggest la Caixa bank as it is an ideal bank!...

THE LINK BETWEEN THE ABBEY NAT AND THE BANCO SANTANDER IS A LIE .JUST TRY TO TRANSER FROM ONE TO THE OTHER. FORGET IT! ...

I opened an account with Banco SANTANDER about EIGHT years ago through my Bank (RBS)in order to save over my working years for a retirement place in Spain. I opened the account with £300 and then RBS pulled out of the deal with Banco Santander within weeks. I had no means of getting at my money or adding to that deposited. Earlier this month, and after 8 years, I received an account statement from them. With no transactions in or out for 8 years, this bank has screwed me 3+ euros a month \"maintainance\" charges. My initial investment after 8 years with this outfit are worth a third of what I put in, about 120 euros. Phone calls to this non English speaking business are costly and fruitless. The worst BANK on the planet, avoid at all costs. ...

I opened my account with Santander at Haymarket in London and they organised the account to be opened in Fuengirola. All worked out fine till they introduced the requirement to have a Spanish mobile to receive a text message to allow you to transfer funds out of your account. As I had no Sp mobile I was asked to send in certfied copies of passport to effect a transaction. Eventually they dropped the text to a spanish mobile requirment. The Scottish guy manning the International desk in Fuengirola was thrown in at the deep end with no Spanish language and he was an absolute star, but he left. I have funds in a sterling account which I want converted back to Euros. I had to send a handwritten instruction to the branch which they say they didnt receive. They have since asked for it to be resent and acknowledged receipt. But the funds have still not been transferred causing massive financial difficulty. I understand all Spanish banks are bad but this is the pits. I would never recommed anyone to go near them....

I have held an account with Banco Santander in Salamanca since 2005. In 2007 for reasons of convenience I decided to move this account to their branch in Calahonda. I called at the branch in March 2007 where I was advised to transfer 100 euros from Salamanca to Calahonda to open the account, which I did. Since that date I have been trying without success to close the Salamanca account and tranfer the money. How do you get this shower to respond to communications??? PS Have you tried to take advantage of the link between Abbey and Santander? Don\'t bother!...

I am a Santander shareholder, In the PR mag sent out , there was an offer to open a bank account, with a free Lewis Hamilton baseball hat. I applied and after sending two lots of I.D. 2 months ago I still havent had my application approved, and worst still, I have not received my free baseball hat ! What an absolute totally incompetent shower. The few grand I had has gone elsewhere....

This is not a review, but a srtong complaint. I have two accounts in your Velez Malaga branch in southern Spain and have been trying since 3rd December 2007 to get the funds in this account transferred to an account i the UK. I telephoned and wrote on two occasions to an English employee at the bank who has since moved on, but nothing happened. I subsequenlty contacted Veronica Adoni at your Strand ofice and filled in the apprpriate forms to confirm the transfer. She later telephoned me to contact the Director in Velez and he would arrange everything, this was 10 days ago and still nothing. On top of this one of the accounts should have been placed in a deposit account in May 2007at 2.5%, but instead I have had bank charges deducted. I am getting desperate, keeping my money like this is tantamount to theft. If I get no response I will be forced to contact the banking Ombudsman(or whoever is the appropriate Person). ...