Bankers & Banking

I am really annoyed & frustrated. 

I spent ages yesterday & today trying to speak to a person at Santander bank. An hour on the security phone line yesterday listening to repetitive music guaranteed to send you insane & 57 mins on the website Chat - No response to either. Today 28 mins on the phone before someone answered & actually cancelled the debit card, plus 20 mins on Chat simultaneously - no response. 

The thing is that it was quite serious - I had an email from a company I deal with saying there had been a "third-party service provider used during (their) payment authentication process (who) experienced unauthorised access to its systems. We have established that your full card number, expiry date and card security code (CVV) were included in the information accessed". 

Santander say "you can easily manage your current accounts" and "The easiest way to get the answers you need is to ask our digital assistant, available 24/7" and "We aim to be an inclusive and accessible bank. We want to be there for the moments that matter" and "​​You matter to us"

Fine words not backed up by actions. 

• I couldn't find anywhere to register that my card had been compromised unless there had been suspicious transactions on it - which there hadn't. 
• I couldn't find anywhere to make a formal complaint about my experience on the website & phone.
• There is no form to fill in or email address to do that.
• No phone call back facility if they are busy

I discovered today that there had been some problem at Santander yesterday. No idea what it was other than it was a major outage & Santander were aware. But why weren't customers told when they tried to contact the bank so that they didn't waste time trying to get through. Surely there could be a recorded message on the phone lines? I did get into my computer website so why wasn't there a message on the home page?

If they were aware, surely the first thing they should do is notify their customers? According to Which? Santander is at the top of the list for bank outages. Their systems are very clunky & basic. Santander UK reported pre tax profits of £202 million for the first quarter of 2026. Ana Botin, the exec Chair of Santander, 2025 pay rose by 34.6% to €18.54m. Surely some of that could have been spent improving customer service.

I have now made a formal complaint on a Chat & to the person I finally got to speak to on the phone. It will be really interesting to see what their response is. I doubt it will be anything other that an apology & maybe a few quid. But that isn't what customers want. 

 

We want very well paid bankers & shareholders to do their jobs properly & provide a really good customer experience. Some do, but not Santander.