Santander eSaver

Take my advise,leave well alone.

Online application is easy but then it all goes wrong. You wait and wait for the passwords and login details for weeks.Then finally when you have access you find that you can't link an external account online. If you want to link an external account to your Santander eSaveryou have to ring them up so that they can send a form.Back to the dark ages, hardly an online account then?

You fill it in, after ringing them again to explain that you can't send them the requested original hard copy of your external bank statement because you do all your banking online and do not recieve paper statements anymore.

They say no problem just send in the Direct debit form an all will be ok. One nweek later you get a letter advising you that they can't link your external bank account without an original of your external bank statement.

From start to finish a total waste of time. Account closed

Up to my maximum limit on ISAs, tempted by the 4% high rate of interest and as a Santander customer of 26 years, I signed up for their Regular Saver Account in May 2011, depositing £250 each month for a year, a total of £3,000. The account matured on July 01, 2012 and has paid out the post 20% tax deducted princely sum of £52.42! This is the problem will all 'trickle fed' accounts in that they start from a kneeling position with regard to the 'pot', only reaching their maximum in the final month but with only that month's interest left to accrue. Complete waste of money and a year of my life!

I currently bank with the Abbey and hacve online banking with them. my son was due to go away with school so I opened an e-saver account online and transferred £1,000.00 across which went fine.

A xouple of weeks later I went to withdraw the fund only to be told that there was a block on my account!!!! Over the course of the next 3 months I have telephoned Abbey and been put through to various people who have promised to "sort this mess out" only it hasnt. I was told I needed to provide ID (strange as I provided this originally when I opened my current account) and I went into a local branch who faxed this accross to them. However weeks and weeks went by with them telling me they hadnt received it only for me to get a letter from them asking for ID and caught up in there letter was the actual fax from branch!!

Again I have provided ID and spent numerous hours on the telephone and I still cannot access my money!!!!

I cannot stress enough how utterly terrible the online banking with Santander bank is. I encountered problem after problem with logging in or changing my details and as result spent hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue. In the end they said they simply could not resolve it and I would have to start all over again with the proccess of openeing the account. Not only this but whilst trying to resolve the issue they told me that the online login only properly works when using internet explorer as a service browser and this cannot be the most current version. As this account is marketed as an online account I think this is beyond ridiculous. I dread to think how much money I have spent on the phone calls to this bank. My advice, if you don't want to end up pulling your hair out, is to avoid this savings account at all costs.

Any dealings with Sandander ebanking is an absolute nightmare when opening new accounts or upgrading to higher interest products, e.g. esaver. Have never successfully managed to do this without encountering major problems or spending hours on the telephone.

Have tried to open an account for over 2 months now! my password was never sent so i asked for another which eventually did arrive over a week later. I then tried to transfer money, 2 weeks later i receive a letter to say i can't do this until i set up a DD so i completed the enclosed form & sent it back to them. Another week later & i've heard nothing so i rang them (put through to India where i find it extremely difficult to understand them!!) they said i need to also notify my current bank. The original letter never said this so i've been sat around for weeks waiting when i could have been doing this!! The worst customer servcie in the world!!!!

I have every faith in the Lady who has just helped me open an Abbey e Saver account on line. No ID needed as I am an existing customer. It seemed very straightforward. Fingers crossed - as I am told it will take a few days to implement.

I sold my house and invested £100,000 with Abbey at 6.5% (reward saver) if I kept it in there for a year. I sent all the docs they requested and received no reply in any form. Concerned, I rang an automated voice service which confirmed the arrival of my cash. Stupidly, I assumed it was in the account to which I had addressed all the forms and I.D. 2 months, and about £500 in lost interest later, I find, more by chance than design, that my funds are in an account I didn't ask for, at a much lower return! That was 3 weeks ago. Much calling and writing since has changed nothing. All I want to do is get my money away from these people and invest elsewhere, but with non existant customer service even that is not easy. I had hoped this was an isolated case but having read the reviews here and elsewhere I'm surprised these people are still being allowed to operate in this manner - can it be legal to treat people this badly?

applied more than three weeks ago for an e saver account and then twice more, by 'phone and by email, the latter which informed me (wrongly) that 'I already have an e saver account!

Still haven't received 'package' which includes application form - yet.

I also tried to open a saving account with Abbey National - I recently got married and needed an account to pay in some wedding cheques in my new married name.

I was told to go home and get some ID - which I did (in my precious hour a week of child free time) only to be told the best account for me would be an e-saver account for which I would need to apply for differently - so didn't need my ID after all. I would need to come back a week later (with ID - fill in some documents and post them). I duly did this and I posted the documents and heard nothing for 4 weeks (slow even considering this period involved a postal strike and Northern Rock crisis). I went back to the branch for a 4th time - they asked if I had my documents with me - I said no and did that matter - they said no as they wouldn't be able to help anyway as it was not a branch matter. A week later the account details came through in the post.

In the meantime I made one call to First Direct - my normal bank - they compared interest rates - which are higher with them (I was surprised as I has assumed the Abbey would have higher interest on savings accounts) and so I opened an e-saver account online that day. In the meantime they had also changed all my accounts to my new married name and re-issued all my documentation - so I had long paid in the cheques to them anyway.

The Abbey stuff will be in the shredder!