I have been with Abbey for over 20 years. They were always relatively progressive for a small bank. You could pay money in or take money out without paper way before any other bank. Good statements and reasonable e banking. Now what is going on. Computer says manyna!

I had to cancel my debit card. So Santander sent the card but not the new pin. 7 days for the card plus another 7 for the pin. I cant speak to them on the phone until I get my tel banking number which they forgot to reissue and have only just got that ordered. Now wheres my ebanking details. Sorry you have to wait 15 day for that. WHAT!!!! Does the Santander ebanking facility have a siesta??

The irony of sponsoring F1…..Lewis what happened last year….bit slower….could it have been the sponsorship slowing you down.

Soon Santander it will be “Adios amigos”. Loving my new HSBC business account and personal account manager. Looks like Barclays or Natwest will get my current account.

These nice people that used to work for Abbey National, just don’t seem to have the necessary discretion/authority/ability any more to sort anything out, nor access to anyone who has.
You can see and feel their frustration, at not being able to offer any more than platitudes, which wind their customer up yet further.

To get anything sorted out usually has to be done by telephone, ‘though you can never speak to the person ‘dealing’ with your complaint until they call you (or rather write to you telling you how you weren’t available when they called ) and that nevertheless they hope you feel that they have done all they can to deal with your enquiry effectively, having still Done Nothing to actually resolve the problem. Very good at talking to customers, while not able to Do anything to actually solve the problem(s).
… And now the last remnant of that once proud & ever so efficient institution, the name itself, is set to dissappear…. Which is probably just as well, so that we no longer hold on to that illusion, of still having what they once were.

What I think happened was that I transferred �x out one day, then the next day I was checking to see if it had left and the balance was still the same. I tried the transfer again, leading to the �32 fee plus a �15 overdraft fee caused by the �32.

I already knew their website is seriously basic and out of date (News on login is from 2 years ago) but the fact that it lets you go ahead with a transfer request when you don’t have the money seems mad. Why is there no message saying “You have insufficient funds”? Every ATM machine already does this.

A similar thing happened the other day. Again it’s not clear what triggered the fee, but it looks like I tried to transfer money out (from my displayed Current Balance) but a card payment had already taken some money out behind the scenes, reducing my Available Balance. Why do they show “Current Balance” if it’s not actually correct?

Since I’ve been told they’ll not be offering any more good will, it looks like Abbey’s “free business account” actually costs �32 at unknown intervals. Time to look for an alternative I think.

I too travel and am in Spain at present, but get paid from a UK firm. On moving to Spain I asked at my branch how I could go about opening a Santander bank account and transferring my money accross to a branch in Barcelona. I was told that this was impossible by the Leeds city centre branch Manager. I spoke to Santander in London who advised they just needed some details from my bank. I asked for these details and was actually asked to leave the bank -”we have told you before we do not give out this information!” I made a formal complaint but received no letters of apology nothing, despite admitting they were wrong (though the female bank manager in question was not around that day and left me with a mortgage adviser, who gave me the details needed to open an account overseas – I recommend Deuctche bank to everyone they are brilliant!)
Now in Barcelona my overdraft was stopped and reduced by 100 GBP each month, because I told them I was in Spain when transferring money – even though I told them this was happening in advance and despite my salary going into the Abbey account each month. Fine I think as soon I can rid myself of these usless idiots. But alas my nightmare continues as every month I call to transfer money (a regular bill payment) but because my Visa card was stopped and I was issued with a rubbish standard card I often fail security. Today the Indian call centre shouted at me “shut up Miss G and listen to me!”, when I tried to explain the new card situation and said they had blocked my account and I had to walk to a branch to unblock it – walk accross water I can not! The next Indian call centre man was even ruder and after taking my card details agreed that I had passed the security but hung up on me. I had asked to speak with the Manager, to which I was told – “dont waste my time, I will not bother my manager as he will say the same as me” arrhhhh!!! Finally got through to English call centre – think its in Scotland – great no worries transferred cash in 2 minutes! Oh and the guy was lying, my account was not blocked at all.
Call this number to get through to the Scottish office call centre who are much better 0845 7654321!