How to open a Savings account with Santander online?

[QUOTESantander is one of the worst banks out there tbh :([/QUOTE]

100000000000% agreed, I was screwed by them for going over drawn by £3.00p, charged for a letter, overdrawn charges,etc, can't remember the exact amount.
Had it happen twice, second one they paid a standing order early, then charge me for going overdrawn.

My advice is change, it's easy to do, your an idiot if you stay with them.
 
[QUOTESantander is one of the worst banks out there tbh :([/QUOTE]

100000000000% agreed, I was screwed by them for going over drawn by £3.00p, charged for a letter, overdrawn charges,etc, can't remember the exact amount.
Had it happen twice, second one they paid a standing order early, then charge me for going overdrawn, & I couldn't get a refund on either occassion.

My advice is change, it's easy to do.
 
What is it thats wrong with Santander? Is it just the fact they sting you if you're on the wrong side of your overdraft?

I'm with Santander and I've never had a problem. Are they just not as good as other banks? or do they genuinely fail somewhere(Keeping in mind its not santanders fault if you go overdrawn and face charges)
 
mysticsniper said:
Do you know something we don't?

Santander is one of the worst banks out there tbh :(
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Nightglow said:
100000000000% agreed, I was screwed by them for going over drawn by £3.00p, charged for a letter, overdrawn charges,etc, can't remember the exact amount.
Had it happen twice, second one they paid a standing order early, then charge me for going overdrawn.

My advice is change, it's easy to do, your an idiot if you stay with them.
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And my advice is to ignore these people.

There are many reasons to choose Santander - whilst it might be true that the customer service is 'awful' (Though I have never had an issue) they offer several market leading products.

In the case of the OP the eSaver Issue 4 is amongst the best instant access savings accounts on the high street - 3.1% APR with unlimited withdrawls and absolutely no interest penalties. It's about as good as you'll get, and if your current account is with them, its convenient as well.

If you've got £10k or more in savings with them you are eligable for a Zero Current Account as well which is hugely useful as there are no transaction fees for overseas usage.

There are irritating aspects to them but they are known in advance. I find it frustrating for example that they only do Faster Payments for amounts of up to £100, but frankly its a small price to pay for some of the products they offer.

There seems to be a trend that those who whinge the most about a banks 'customer service' are those who are always skirting the edge of an overdraft and are therefore invariably hit by the fees they agreed to when they signed up to the account anyway. For people who have a grip on their finances, customer service from your bank should be very low down your list of priorities because you will almost never, ever need to use it.

I've had cause to call customers once - when I made a mistake and forgot my Ebay account was linked to an old, empty current account and was charged 50p a day for going overdrawn by 61p. I called them up, explained how though I agreed to the terms and conditions I felt it was somewhat harsh to charge me £3.50 for going overdrawn by 61p for 5 days when it was clearly a mistake given the lack of activity on the account compared with my other and...

... they just refunded it. Not much to grumble about really.
 
[TW]Fox;20528569 said:
And my advice is to ignore these people.
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And my advice would be don't ignore them.

They have been voted the worst Financial service provider 2 years in a row on Moneywise (receiving more than 3 times the next worst) for a reason. As well as numerous others....MoneysavingExpert (almost 18,000 respondants), JP Power - Even the FSA.....I could go on.

And even more of a worry, is that the initial problems were blamed on their amalgamation of various business parts.... yet in 2011, they still came out bottom by a long shot - and all the surveys stated there had been absolutely no improvement in their customer service.

And there is a reason they offer the best deals at the moment (ie Instant interest on 3 year bonds http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...cess-This-new-bond-pays-instant-interest.html , or £100 to open a current account).....

It's because most customers with any ounce of common sense are leaving them in droves ;)
 
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Heliospherez said:
And my advice would be don't ignore them.

They have been voted the worst Financial service provider 2 years in a row on Moneywise (receiving more than 3 times the next worst) for a reason. As well as numerous others....MoneysavingExpert (almost 18,000 respondants), JP Power - Even the FSA.....I could go on.

And even more of a worry, is that the initial problems were blamed on their amalgamation of various business parts.... yet in 2011, they still came out bottom by a long shot - and all the surveys stated there had been absolutely no improvement in their customer service.
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Why are you so focused on customer service? You are buying banking facilities not warm and fluffy telephone voices. Everything is automated, most things are controlled by you. Most people simply do not need to visit a bank (Where I've actually found the staff like ANY other bank - some nice, some not, most average) or phone up the bank on a weekly basis.

Pick the bank with the products and services and you want. If they have great customer service well thats a bonus but by picking a bank with an inferior product offering because it does well in customer service surveys you are in effect paying for that aspect of the service when in reality you will almost never need it.

Why, out of interest, do you find yourself in contact with your bank so often that the level of customer service provided becomes important to you? Wouldn't it be better to find a bank that offers services that suit you well enough that you don't need to be on the phone ringing them up every 30 seconds trying to refund fees for going overdrawn again or whatever it is people constantly need customer service for?

The guy wants a savings account. A place to stash money. Santander will pay 3.1% on an instant access account. I'm struggling to think why you'd EVER want customer service for a savings account! It's just a savings account! Pay money in, take it out... errr thats all you do with it! Why do you need somebody to hold your hand with a product as simple as that?
 
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Heliospherez, why do you care about customer services when using them purely for a saving account? I signed up with them and got more interest in the first month than last year with Halifax.
 
Just last week opened the e-saver Fox speaks of and I've moved my ISA to Northern Rock.

DOUBLE WHAMMY.
 
[TW]Fox;20528569 said:
And my advice is to ignore these people.

There are many reasons to choose Santander [snip]
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+1.

Whilst Santander are rather shoddy on the customer service side of things at times, they do have some great accounts going. They used to have this First Home Saver account which at 6%. Absolutely gleaming.

I can suffer a bit of poor customer service when they're paying me 6% interest on my savings!

As Fox says, you choose a bank for their accounts first and foremost, customer service comes second, imo.
 
Fox is right, been with santander a while, never had any issues and they do offer market leading services.

Regarding faster payments I was looking at this a weekor so ago and according to this the limits have just been put up massively. I think their issues were mainly around having to do a lot of integration and not having the resources to allocate on the control systems required up until now.

http://www.santander.co.uk/csgs/Sat..._GB&pagename=Abbeycom/Page/WC_ACOM_TemplateA1
 
didn't they win an award for most complained about bank?

I left when they took over abbey, screwed up everyone with abbey's internet banking, didn't give a **** when you called up
 
MrMoonX said:
didn't they win an award for most complained about bank?

I left when they took over abbey, screwed up everyone with abbey's internet banking, didn't give a **** when you called up
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Abbey, now there was a bank I had issues with, ****** nightmare bank for me, the worst out of all the banks I did have an account with over 30odd years.
 
Proof You'll get people claiming that bank X is Satan because of reason Y, bit like courier companies, I've been fine with Santander since they changed from Alliance and Leicester, a bit touchy on what gets flagged up when buying online but thats it.
 
[TW]Fox;20528614 said:
Why are you so focused on customer service?
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You must recognise it's important, surely? If you need to call your bank, then you should expect to be dealt with in a warm, friendly and professional way. Any queries should be answered as quickly as possible, with every assistance offered. You should expect to be offered the best products for you, not the ones that generate the most commission for the member of staff.

Customer Service is a huge part of what any bank should provide - it's not all about selling you things. Or it shouldn't be.

Years ago (swing the lantern and pull up a sandbag), banks forged really good, long lasting relationships with customers. Now, it seems like Customer Service has become like so many other aspects of modern society - throw away.
 
When I moved from Alliance and Leicester to Santander, they deleted all my standing orders and direct debits. My sort codes were changed without any notification to myself, so when all the authorisied payments kept failing, guess who got the blame & the extra charges.................... :mad:
 
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