A & L migration to Santander

A question about : A & L migration to Santander

I moved my bank account from Abbey to Alliance & L'ter a few years ago because of Abbey's dreadful customer service. I now find that with Santander having taken over A & L, their service has also plummeted. The latest is that I have been without internet access to my A & L accounts for 5 days now- because they are having problems migrating some accounts. I get platitudes and scripted apologies when I telephone- and still no indication of when this will be sorted. I do all my banking on-line...I live in rural Scotland and it's the best way. I shall be moving my account away from Santander as soon as I can. Be warned! All these come to us goodies that Santander are offering will seem as nothing if you move to them.

Simon Wheeler

Best answers:

• I have the same problem, I have been very patient up to now, but after several more phone calls and being passed from pillar to post I too have decided to take my business elsewhere
• Hi Simon,
  I think that you should express your displeasure by moving banks!
  Can I suggest two alternative banks you may wish to move to:-
  I had a smile account and found the service to be first class.
  I only recently moved to First Direct to take advantage of the free Ј100 that they were offering, however I have found First Direct to be equally as good from a customer services point of view.
  Best of luck!
• I applied for a Santander account the other day, sucked in by their Ј100 offer and free overdraft. After reading the posts on this forum about them and their atrocious customer service etc I decided that I wanted to cancel my application (which they havent emailed me yet to advise acceptance/rejectance). After having to redial twice because they passed me round from pillar to post I eventually got through to a charming young man who told me that in order to cancel my application I had to go into a branch. I said that I applied online and he said it didnt matter. I said that I could not believe that I had to go to a branch to do it and I should be able to cancel this over the phone with customer services and he said very aggressively "are you calling me a liar?". I was gob smacked and said "I beg your pardon?" and he repeatedly asked me if I was calling him a liar. Unbelievable! When I worked in customer services there was no way we would ever be allowed to speak to a customer/potential customer like that.
  It looks like I had a lucky escape - good riddance to them! I have now applied with First Direct and they have been extremely polite, helpful and pleasant on the phone.
• ...and I've just snail-mailed a letter to the complaints dept. The words "breath" and "don't hold" spring to mind...but time will tell...
• There are good reasons that Abbey and A&L virtually pay people to open accounts.
• Isn't there a saying about something like "beware Greeks bearing gifts"? When I changed from Abbey I chose A & L cos they had a good reputation and were recommended by many such as Which? And things were OK..till Santander came along. At least these days switching is (relatively) straight forward- though maybe too much customer inertia and short-sightedness (apart from those who use this site, of course!) means large institutions such as banks can be complacent: until more of us vote with our feet, so it will remain.
• Mid afternoon I find I can now access my account; 6 days later.
  The "migration" seems to have been completed- although I have had to "tidy up" because some of the transfer process has not left my account as I left it- the lists of regular payees are as they were 3 years ago....
  still, at least that's some progress.
  But I am still moving my account....
• Do they give warning before they migrate your account? I might just take all my money until until they get their s&*t together...
• All sort code, log-in etc numbers remain the same. No warnings about any possible problems; no indication that they were migrating my account at that time- basically what sounds typical of them....no real thought about their existing customers and giving reasonable service.
• I hate the young ones straight out of uni think they know all about money.
  This snooty young guy in an expensive suit was trying to talk me into his investment products.
  At first I politely declined then he was very pushy about how its a good time to get into the stock market while its down.
  I said well all the smart investors are getting out and training people like you to talk others to get in.
  Customer service is going down big time.
• HUH! Have just tried to pay bills from my bank account- it doesn't work. I suppose at least I can now see my statements on-line...but isn't one of the main points of internet banking also to be able to pay your bills on-line? I rang "Customer Service for Internet Banking" who told me he would pass on the details to "Technical Support"; and he had no idea how long this would take to resolve. No doubt "Technical Support" will pass it on to "Migration Problems" who will pass it on to...oh...they've all migrated...
  Frustration, anger, bitterness, helplessness----this is my money that I entrusted to their care. Never again....