@santanderbankgb Santander say they have spoken to me; they haven't...

[hermit]

I've had a long running complaint with Santander now since November. I was involved in a car accident in October and lost a lot of work as a result, which meant I was struggling. I wrote to them and asked for assistance, despite several letters I received no response to my letters, however I received an increasing number of threatening letters from them, and eventually my account was defaulted in February. Anyway, I'm dealing with that, prior to my accident my accounts were in credit, however a couple of missed payments lead to over £600 in charges between November and February. I initially wrote and asked if these could be refunded. If the missed payments had gone out I would have been £5 and £14 in the red. Anyway, I was told that no refund would be offered.

 

I also wrote to them asking for the default to be removed as I had attempted to contact them throughout the process that lead up to the default registering and this complaint is still bouncing back and forward, every time they bring up the request for the charges to be repaid and refuse to deal with the fact that they are incompetent.

 

Anyway, today I have just received a letter from them... thanking me for a telephone call on the 9th August 2011 regarding my recent complaint. Now I know for a fact that I never made that call! Again they go on to bring up the charges, and how they can't refund them.

 

I am writing back, expressing my deep concern regarding this alleged telephone call and asking for further details along with any recording that might have been made. Details of what was discussed, etc. Is there anything else I can throw at them? On this particular point?

[citizenB]

I think you are doing the right thing asking them for evidence of the conversation they say they have had with you.

 

You could point out that your own telephone records will prove that you DIDNT !

 

I would make this letter an official complaint and bullet point all your concerns

[rebel11]

When Customer Service doesn't work, write to the boss,

 

Ana Patricia Botin, Chief Executive

 

ceo@santander.co.uk

 

Some tips:- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1242161/How--write-letter-complaint.html

[Discontented]

I've written to Ana @ Santander and even she doesn't reply to my correspondence. I've written to them 9 times over the last year and had one reply stating they have no record of my letters, even when my last letter attached proof of delivery of my previous 7 letters, they still denied receiving them. I feel they ignore customers correspondence to rack up these huge bank charges.

[citizenB]

I think you now need to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. You can download a complaint form off the FOS website. HTH

[Discontented]

Thanks citizenB have lodged acomplaint to FOS to which Santander has replied that they've marked my credit file and have handed the matter over for collection, even tho the FOS hasn't ruled on the matter.

[Discontented]

For info I took my complaint to the Ombudsman about Santander not replying to my correspondence and even a letter recorded delivery to Ms Ana Botin, which I have proof of delivery from Royal Mail that it was delivered in September and to date I've not received a reply.

The reply " I have also considered whether Santander has failed to respond to your correspondence. I

agree that it had not addressed your concerns, and perhaps, it could have responded to

your query. However, I also consider that your continued response to Santander, referring

it to your letter of XX April 2011, was unlikely to have improved the situation with it.

 

I am unable to recommend that your complaint should be upheld. I appreciate that this is

likely to come as a disappointment to you. I know that this is not the outcome you were

hoping for. But I hope that my explanation has been helpful in setting out clearly why I have

taken this view."

 

So in other words although Santander has not responded to 15 letters I sent to them, that in the Ombudsman's eyes is quite acceptable.

[silverfox1961]

I think there is another way here. BCoBS

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/content.php?827-Examples-of-unfair-treament

[phoenix11]

Was this the ruling of an ombudsman or just the adjudicator?

 

We've just had some success from the ombudsman over the failure of Santander to log, keep and action clear instructions from us, ignoring correspondence and continuing with the harassment/ defaulting twice etc.

 

We didn't win on the other claims which I know is wrong because it's to do with entrapment and failure to ensure charges were transparent and clear, but then it's not my account as such.

 

Compensation has been awarded - which has to be paid and not set against the original debt. It took nearly 18 months to get there.

[Discontented]

This is the ruling of the Ombudsman and not the adjudicator. My initial letter with instruction was dated April 18, 2011 and I enclosed cheques for the settlement of my account and requesting closure; after receiving a threatening letter from them I wrote to Santander in June and attached a copy of my April 18 letter. In October 17, 2011 I received a letter stating they have no knowledge of my letters to them. In the meantime, they have racked up nearly £800 in unauthorised overdraft fees and have put a marker on my credit file. The Ombudsman stated that Santander was in their right to take so long to reply to my letter and to ignore written instructions from me for the management of my account and also that the fault lay with me as I had stipulated that my preferred method of communication was to be by letter.

[Discontented]

Am trying to make head or tailof the BCOS guidelines, find them very confusing I must say

[citizenB]

This is the ruling of the Ombudsman and not the adjudicator.

 

My initial letter with instruction was dated April 18, 2011 and I enclosed cheques for the settlement of my account and requesting closure;

 

after receiving a threatening letter from them I wrote to Santander in June and attached a copy of my April 18 letter.

 

In October 17, 2011 I received a letter stating they have no knowledge of my letters to them.

 

In the meantime, they have racked up nearly £800 in unauthorised overdraft fees and have put a marker on my credit file.

 

The Ombudsman stated that Santander was in their right to take so long to reply to my letter and to ignore written instructions from me for the management of my account and also that the fault lay with me as I had stipulated that my preferred method of communication was to be by letter.

 

 

How did you send your letters - by a tracked method such as Recorded or Special Delivery?

 

Were the cheques cashed ?

 

The Ombudsman's response is quite disturbing - if a complaint is made and identified as an Official Complaint - the bank has 8 weeks to deal with it.

 

If you had gone to the FOS with no evidence of what you had asked the bank to do.. eg.. just said.. well I phoned them with no record - they would have said that you needed to write to the bank !!

 

Is there any chance you can edit out any personal information and post the Ombudsman's letter up for us to have a look at. If you use the instructions provided by dx100uk, you should have no problems.

 

 

 

 

Dx100 – Instructions on uploading pdfs

scan the required letters/agreements/sheets

as a picture file

remove all pers info inc barcodes etc using paint

but leave all figures and dates.

goto one of the many free online pdf converter websites

convert the image to pdf format.

or ir you have PDF as an installed printer drive use that

open a new msg box here

hit go advanced below the msg box

hit manage attachments below that box

hit the add files button on the top right

hit select files, navigate to your file on your pc

hit upload files

NB:you can set where it goes in the post by hitting insert inline.

the hit reply button

[phoenix11]

This is indeed extremely disturbing.

 

Everyone has the right to insist on all communication being conducted by letter - in fact when there are disputes, defaults are levied etc, it HAS to be in writing!

 

Also, the ombudsman is taking a very long time to review complaints - so this is very odd that they have acted so swiftly on this. The first response usually comes from the adjudicator and that takes at least a few months for them to get around.

[depressed2011]

Hello Hermit

 

first and foremost i m very sorry for all that you have expereicned.

 

first thing - if u have incurred those charges after ur accident which affected you managing ur account, then NO ONE can refute that and prove the charges legitimate ( i have reversed 900 pound worth of charges for a customer whn she presented her medical record)

second - u wud need papers (medical stuff) to prove it. Do not bother mailing Patricia, nothing would happen, phone 0845 600 6014, ask for stage two complaint handler, tell them you are goin to do media complaint with all that proof of letters and now media ( a reporter) woudl contact santander about your complaint.

 

Am not sure how ombudsman work, the way santander complaints team keeps reffering FOS it stinks of lobbying .

 

the only thing that can scare sanatdner and force them to work on ur complaint and resolve it. bank charges in adverse health which affects account management are illegal. i work for a high street bank and i know word for word how to get these banks to work, go to media get a reporter and we will see th results

 

and by the way about ur phone call, subject access request. spend a tenner and bust them, give them all phone numbers u might have used to call them, if possible with copy of bills showing the time and duration and THEY have to find records of calls what so ever,

 

i hope this helps.

[Discontented]

Hi CitizenB, I sent the letters recorded and even tho RM state delivery has taken place Santander deny receiving them. They didn't cash the cheques, probably cause I sent them 3 cheques to pay off the account as I couldn't aford to write one out for the full amount.

I complained to Ombudsman in second week October 2011 and have just got a reply from them. Will try to post all docs this evening.

 

On my other account with Santander they have charged unauthorised overdraft fees on an account that has a negative balance, and when I wrote to Ms Botin asking for an explanation, which was sent recorded mail in September and to which I'm still awaiting a reply to my letter.

 

In short, Santander has just ignored all my correspondence and continued charging these unauthorised overdraft fees. An account which had a zero Balance in August 2011 now has meowing Santander close to £200 for unauthorised overdraft fees.

[citizenB]

Did you print off the confirmation of delivery/signature pages from the RM Website. If not do that as soon as you can and keep them with your letters.

 

If you follow the instructions given by dx for pdfs.. you should have no problems.

[depressed2011]

Hello discontended, santander places very high pressure on there call centre staff and so on collections and recoveries, I think if u can tell me what was the transaction that took u over dram in august 2011 and by how much? and also if u have an arranged on on that account or not, let me know i m sure this 200 pounds will be eligible for refund, sorry to say but i dun mean it otherwise, 200 pounds from aug 2011 dsnt seems like a huge amount from santander point of view and hence i m assuming th transaction was nominal and u r just geting trapped here for lack of information. Pls go back to ur statment and send me th details and i wud reply here) and i will try my best to help

 

cheers

Edited January 19, 2012 by depressed2011

[silverfox1961]

Can I ask that no dealings be carried on via Private Message. If anyone is unsure about what to post, contact a member of the site team who will be able to advise

[Discontented]

On the £200 there were no transactions, the account was dormant with a nil balance and one month it showed unauthorised overdraft you owe the bankmoney.

[depressed2011]

If the account was dormant ( had a dormancy block on their as per bank) no transaction can take place on that account what so ever.

Even if th account had nil balance on Aug 2011, sanatdner owes u an explanation for how th charegs came on ur account.

Again as per the charges policy if u were less than 10 pound overdrawn, u r entitled to get charegs back from sanatnder. Give them a call you wud get them back, I'd suggest to phone ASAP to avoid furtehr unauthrised tranche of 100 quids

cheers