Alliance & Leicester

Useless bank. Ripping people off on overdraft charges.

Choose another banking option.

The Alliance & Leicester, now Santendair, must be the worst possible bank that is available today. They charge to contact them by phone, leave you waiting for ages then connect you with the most ridiculous automatic answering system I have ever experienced. It is virtually impossible to speak to a real person and even when you do, the person who answers is a low intelligence operative who obviously reads from a computer screen with such moronic terms as '.. and how are you today..' and then gets totally confused if you ask a question that the computer cannot answer.

Transfers out can take anything up to a week, they never answer their own secure online message service and responses to written communications can take weeks.

They do not reply to letters or to emails to their Complaints Department.

We are still without internet access to some of my wife's accounts 4 weeks after the transfer to the Santander system. Several abortive attempts by Customer Services to fix the problem led to a request for us to to visit a branch. We met the Branch Manager for one hour who did not resolve the problem and failed to ring back back as she promised.

Customer Services refuse to pass one on to someone with greater expertise or authority when they cannot resolve an issue.

are ignoring my private secured messages sent to them through online banking, since over two weeks.

Terrible experience. I am moving away for sure.

If all you want to do is draw cash at a Post Office or make simple Debit Card payments, all very well. However, one run-through with their truly dreadful call centre will be enough to set you looking for somewhere else to keep your money. Forget the days when you could deal with friendly Giro staff. The Alliance & Leicester call centre is designed with one end in mind - to keep people waiting for as long as possible so that Alliance & Leicester can milk their customers by means of their 0844 number. Resorting to written correspondence gets you nowhere, because letters are simply ignored.

As a long-term customer I now feel I've had enough and will shortly be closing my account. Recommend to a friend? I wouldn't recommend Alliance and Leicester to my worst enemy.

Simply the worst bank I have had the misfortune of dealing with. I used their "switch" service which failed to switch a number of my direct debits. I was given incorrect advice from a customer service adviser in the Branch about the time it takes for cheques to clear and the Manger of Cross Street Manchester branch does not believe the adviser gave that advice (therefore calling me a liar). BEWARE you cannot complain up the chain - the branch wields all the power. I wouldn't touch these clowns with a barge pole. Closing my account as soon as my cheque finally hits my account some 12 days after I paid it in.

My e-bay and paypal details were hacked. Money went missing from my AL internet account. I got 3 contradictory sets of advice over the 'phone and no helpful response. Beware these guys don't give a monkeys

i am astounded at the poor service. i am in customer service and understand it from both sides.

issues;

agree to port a low rate mortagage, then back out on a technicallity because i paid them back 46hours before i should have done

unable to spaek to anyone in authority

spent the whole day on the phone to people who cant make decision

just the worst bank going.RBS and nat west were kicking the door down to do business. dont use them. i am now closing my saving account and the families accounts and they dont care