Mediaboss Marketing

By James Coney

PUBLISHED: 20:24 EST, 6 November 2012 | UPDATED: 05:03 EST, 7 November 2012

Ever since it took over Abbey in 2004 Santander has been fighting a desperate battle to improve the banks diabolical customer service.

Time and again in those eight years, the Spanish bank looks to have got on top of years of this terrible reputation. But though Abbey is gone, its spirit will not rest in peace. And yet again the ghost of Shabby Abbey seems to have returned to haunt Santander.

It always seemed likely to us that the stories of the readers we printed last week who had tried to get money from old passbook accounts only to be told the cash was missing were just the tip of the iceberg.

The name has been changed: But the innocent do not seem to be protected from a savings shamble at Santander.

But we were shocked by the number of letters and emails we have already received. They were still arriving as we went to press.

It now seems clear that, up and down the country, staff in Santander branches have been turning away customers who came in to withdraw money from accounts they were certain had money in them.

When the computer said no, these loyal savers were simply sent away. Are all these customers chancers and cheats? Are they all chronically forgetful? Or is it more likely that they are the victims of a bank which does not know what it is doing?

In most cases Santander has not proved that these customers have withdrawn their cash.And you have to wonder why other banks and building societies all of whom issued millions of passbook accounts dont also have this difficulty.

Original post:
THE LAST WORD: An Abbey shambles