Switched And Accounts Not Accessible Weeks Later
I switched current account to Santander and immediately lost access to my money.
10-15 years previously I had a savings account with Santander that I believed was closed. For whatever reason it was not closed and I was unable to log in to my new account without my old details and phone number. I was told there was nothing I could do but sit at home and wait for new log in credentials to be posted out. I suspected this would not be the case and went into the branch, but was told again to wait for the credentials.
When the credentials turned up, I was unable to log in as suspected. I rang again and was told to go into a branch.
I made a complaint as I had rang multiple times, been told I could use telephone banking by one person until my account was set up and then told by another that I could not. I had to go into a branch to pay my workmen as I had no access to anything and had no idea if the switch had gone ok. I suspect it initially did not as I was contacted by my pet insurance saying they could not pay out a claim as my latest payment had not gone through. Eventually this was resolved but it was not due to a lack of funds so it must have been some issue with the switch.
The people I spoke to also were unpleasant, the one taking my complaint said in their opinion I didn’t have any grounds to make a complaint, even though I had followed their contrasting instructions and could not access any of my money. I was even told the best way to fund my current account with Santander was to move money from my savings accounts to my old current account and hope it didn’t bounce back. They said because it had only been a few weeks any payments made to the old current account might still move through. As it happens it did, but why is this a workaround instead of just fixing the issue? I was unable to use the online transfer due to the fault/issue with the credentials.
I went into a different branch and was told I had an old account, with old address and phone number and the details needed updating and merging with the new as at the moment they were conflicting with each other. I was told this would take 24 hours and then all would be fine.
After this I was rang about the complaint, they sympathised, listened to the points I made of, if the first, second, third, fourth, fifth person I spoke to, on the phone or in the branch had any slight interest in their customer or any curiosity about the issue I could have had this resolved within a day or so. The person from the complaints team said the conflicting issue was not unheard of and when the person in the branch the second time showed me their screen you could see the two mismatched customer accounts one under the other, surely everyone I spoke to would have seen that?
I was very grateful for the help finally and very grateful that they offered me £150 which I accepted. The whole thing was very stressful particularly part paying and delaying paying my workmen who must have thought I was scamming them.
After finally resolving this all seemed to be fine and I opened a savings account so now I had two accounts showing. A further week or so later I logged in again to transfer some money and was surprised to find two more savings accounts showing. I wondered if there was some condition I had missed about interest being paid to a different account or if I made some mistake setting it up.
It turned out they were dormant records of the old account from 10-15 years ago, somehow regurgitated from the ‘fix’ that took place some weeks previously.
There were a few pennies in each of them paid recently, and I tried to transfer the pence. It wouldn’t allow me so I followed the help bot to close the account. The bot told me the two dormant/ghost records had my old address from 10-15 years ago - it had not been removed from the system. I tried to change my address in settings (it does not show your current address, only gives fields to change it) and it said my current address was not recognised!
I then checked my phone numbers (I hadn’t previously as after the ‘fix’ I had received OTP so knew they had my correct number) In the contact list I found a second number.
I rang up as online it said I need to fill out an address form and go to the branch but as I had already done that once, decided to ring. Online they found the details had not been updated at all (or maybe they had temporarily as for a week it was fine) and they had 2 other phone numbers for me on their system. The person said they had kept them all and had one as my ‘preferred’ number!! It is not a preferred number, it is the only number and the address is the only address but she asked if it had a letterbox like it might be on their system as a garage or a burrow or something.
I now have to go into the branch AGAIN to remove these stupid ghost accounts. If I hadn’t opened a savings account with Santander with a good interest rate I think I might just leave, and I still might.
18. Januar 2026
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