Santander Bank Branch — Local services in Manchester

If I could give this bank a negative star I would. The unprofessional customer service here is disgraceful. Can’t expect much more from a Spanish bank run by a bunch of holes! My elderly father went to use his debit card at his grocery store and they told him it was not working….imagine his surprise since this what he uses to pay for everything😳 He proceeded to his local bank branch and they told him the card was canceled because it had not been used for 6 months. He went home and called me all confused since this was not a fact, he used that card on a regular basis. He said he wanted to go back to the bank and call me while there so I could make heads or tails out of what they were telling him. My call started out with 1 unprofessional that could not explain why this happened and then proceeded to ask another unprofessional. Now I had 2 unprofessional people that call themselves woman, get on the phone with me and my dad, the first response was it was because he had not used the card in soo long - in which I debated that it had been used and not sure why they are saying that. They went on to say that they are just going to send him a new card because their system is showing that his card needed to be replaced and they have never seen this before, although they would send him a new card. I told them I needed to know what they were looking at because it was not factual what they were saying and that I think someone canceled the account in error, and to please look into it because everyone has an employee # and should be able to see who canceled it - this is where they proceeded to continuously talk over me. They were covering up an error and would not admit it. Sooo damn rude!!! I’m sure another bank will be delighted to take his lifetime of savings and will def check out reviews to be sure he is provided with respectful service going forward. See...

The bank itself seems dead...like the moment we walk in until the moment we walk out. I've not had the opportunity to work with the same banker more than once, and the one banker I did work with wore a very big ribbon that says In training. I don't know about you, but I want someone knowledgeable handling my banking needs. Yes, we have to start somewhere, but if he's in training then where is the person training him? That is not his fault, but the fault of Santander manager of this location. At the end of it all, we ended up going to another Santander branch where the atmosphere was more inviting, upbeat, and the help was very knowledgeable. They offered me immediately solutions to my problem after reviewing the situation I was in. I don't mind taking time off from work to do something they suggested to help me with my situation, but I do mind taking off work because my In training person did not fill out the paperwork properly the day before and need us to come back. Suggestion to Manchester branch location, always have a trained staff member oversee the work of a person in training. Also, liven up the place a bit. Make people feel confident about coming into that bank. Even the lone balloon was deflated and tired. That does not make a good impression. So now, I'm going to do my banking at the...

Personable enough, I suppose. I'm not a fan of Santander's approach to transactions, but it works, sometimes. Central Phone support is non-existent, who has the time to wait for hours on hold when they don't tell you how long before you might get serviced.

However, after I gave up on the phone support, I went in to S. Willow branch to resolve overdraft charges that were errantly charged to my checking account after I already had overdraft protection enabled from my savings account. The clerk was questioning the validity of my claim at first, but then acquiesced when she looked and realized I had plenty of funds to cover the overdraft and the automatic deduction was setup and should have deducted from my savings. She went to talk to a branch manager, who continued to be skeptical, wouldn't even offer the respect to come and talk to me even though I could hear them talking in her office, and she gutlessly slid back and hid behind her computer screen while she told the clerk to contact corporate to resolve the issue instead of crediting me the overdraft fees right then. Clerk took my contact information and told me she would take care of that within a day....it's been 4 days and no word from them and no refund of the fees that I shouldn't have been charged in the first...