Alliance & Leicester Reviews

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Alliance & Leicester
★☆☆☆☆
1.2
17.0% of users recommend this
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  • Ease of Use

  • Customer Service

  • Value For Money

Summary

Alliance and Leicester is now part of the Santander group and will soon be changing it's name to Santander. A&L offer current accounts, savings & ISA's, loans, mortgages, credit cards plus insurance, investments and offshore accounts.

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Latest Reviews

“Useless bank. Ripping people off on overdraft charges. ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 21/03/2011

Useless bank. Ripping people off on overdraft charges.

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“Choose another banking option.”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 27/01/2011

Choose another banking option.

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“The Alliance & Leicester, now Santendair, must be the...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 23/09/2010

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.



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“They do not reply to letters or to emails to their...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 24/08/2010

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.

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“are ignoring my private secured messages sent to them...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 5h on 12/08/2010

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

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“Terrible experience. I am moving away for sure. ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Kreizde on 30/07/2010

Terrible experience. I am moving away for sure.

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“If all you want to do is draw cash at a Post Office or...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 26/07/2010

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.

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“Simply the worst bank I have had the misfortune of...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 13/05/2010

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.

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“My e-bay and paypal details were hacked. Money went...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 08/05/2010

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

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“i am astounded at the poor service. i am in customer...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 30/04/2010

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

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“had business account with a&l for over a year - opened...”

★★★★★

written by on 14/12/2009

had business account with a&l for over a year - opened it very easily - never had any issues - staff always very helpful, anything ive needed they have sorted

wouldnt want to change my account apart from the fact i dont want to bank with santander

will change account when they get rid of the a&l name

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“i've just moved to a&l. i have nothing but bad things...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 08/12/2009

i've just moved to a&l. i have nothing but bad things to say about them and deeply regret moving to them already. I'm writing this with my phone sat next to me on loudspeaker whilst i've been on hold for 15 minutes trying to get through to the switching 'service' they offer.

i wrote them a letter a few weeks ago applying to switch banks, as i'd used the online service and had been offered £100 for switching. as i'm travelling abroad i also wanted to take advantage of their santander zero credit card.

I received a letter advising me that my account has successfully been opened, HOWEVER,

1. no advice about the £100 i'd get.
2. no advice on the credit card (though previously i was advised i was eligible)
3. overdraft has not been matched as promised (should be 1K not a measly £160)
4. Direct debits have not been switched
5. I was not supplied with either my 8 digit ID number or 5 digit pin to access online banking or use telephone banking
6. When i did request my pin they didn't send it.
7. I still havn't received a debit card.

I hate this bank and am very worried i've deposited £500 into it, hope i get it back, because there is no way i'm using them not even for their credit card. I'd rather just put up with charges from HSBC everytime i spend abroad. Atleast they answer the phone when you call them.

Stay well away, Santander would fuc k up a cup of coffee.

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“I've operated a business account with Alliance &...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 11/11/2009

I've operated a business account with Alliance & Leicester for only 3 months now. The whole account opening procedure was a real pain & took over a month to complete. Once open the Internet Banking facility did not operate & I was unable to make payments online, Great.

The account has operated in credit to the tune of oner £50,000.00 and has no borrowing, yet A&L wrote to me two weeks ago to advise me that as part of a business review they are to close my account!! Why??? No explanation, the account has operated PERFECTLY. I've since spoken to another high street bank who are happy to have my business. I would NEVER NEVER EVER use Alliance & Leicester again nor recommend them to anyone.

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“Started to struggle with repaying my overdraft so...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 04/11/2009

Started to struggle with repaying my overdraft so arranged a payment plan with this lot. The amount I was paying meant the payment period was too long to be dealt with by one department, and as such would be passed on to another recovery team. What they didn't say was that I would be charged for this privilege - ended up being charged the equivalent of two months repayments. Still waiting for a representative to tell me where in the terms and conditions this is stipulated. Thanks for your help in my time of need Alliance and Leicester!

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“Appauling ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 23/10/2009

Appauling

Account never went overdrawn.
A&L charged me £80 in fees regardless.
Customers services was a joke, no option to speak to anyone in authority, just the same old people who can't help you.

Will never ever use them (or santander) again.

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“Alliance & Leicester get 0/10. However, if what you're...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 27/08/2009

Alliance & Leicester get 0/10. However, if what you're looking for is a bank that will screw you over by unfairly charging you and has a poor customer service then this is the one for you. Good luck!

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“ I never really had any problems with Alliance &...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 25/07/2009

I never really had any problems with Alliance & Leicester until I tried to close my account. Their terms and conditions said I was to be charged £5 per month if I didn't pay in a minimum of £500 every month so I decided, since I had no need to pay in that amount of money, that I would close it.

Maybe I've just been unlucky but whenever I've phoned up Alliance and Leicester I find their call centre staff quite patronising and rude and this time was no exception. Once I'd asked to close my account I was told to expect a phone call the next day to confirm the transfer of the remaining balance to my other bank.

After I didn't recieve any phone call I called them up and was told I would be called the following day, or my request was still in the system. This went on for 3 weeks by which time I'd been in my local branch several times to try and sort this out to no avail until eventually I recieved the phonecall.

I hindsight, I wished I'd transfered most of it to my other bank before asking to close it as during this 3 week period I couldn't access any of my money.

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“I hate alliance and leicester. I must pay £100 in...”

★☆☆☆☆

written by adamfairclough on 23/05/2009

I hate alliance and leicester. I must pay £100 in charges per month because payments in are not accepted instantly. If a payment is made out of the account and i then put money in out of my business account i still get charged! Everything takes an age and i have so many numbers to remember if might need to transfer some money in a few days. My girlfriend also has an alliance and leicester account and if i transfer anything over £250 to her it takes three days!!! you can only make one instant payment per day and it must be less than £250!!! WHY? Trying to work out how much money is you have from the internet banking can be an impossible task if there has been alot of activity on the account the figuers there can seem like random numbers just being displayed to confuse you i have to use excel to see how much money i have.

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“Wakefiel Branch West Yorkshire has to be the worst...”

☆☆☆☆☆

written by frankcawthron on 11/02/2009

Wakefiel Branch West Yorkshire has to be the worst bank on the planet for customer relations. We are treated like dog turds under youe feet!
The branch seems to be staffed by insolent 12 yr olds who do not care or cannot be arsed to help customers.
My blind 92 year old mother who has the misfortune to have a current account with A&L and has been in a care home for the last 12 months still has statements, replaement cards etc sent to her old address(now reoccupied) despite change of address forms been completed months ago and contacting the branch on an almost weekly basis. Noone at the local branch wants to help or even cares and now to cap it all the account has been frozen and mum cannot get access to her money!1
Avoid like the plauge!!

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“We have been with Alliance And Leicester since 1974...”

☆☆☆☆☆

written by on 06/12/2008

We have been with Alliance And Leicester since 1974 when it was girobank, it used to be great could not fault it, but now it makes my blood boil. I get upset at the thought of phoning to even get a balance on the account having being locked out so many times after using pin numbers sent by them to me and then being told they are invalid. I wish they would get their act together. We never had any trouble till this latest takeover. I suppose its called progress! would have reccomended in passed but not anymore.

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