Under-fire Santander creates 400 call centre jobs
Santander, the financial services firm under fire for poor customer service, intends to create 400 call centre jobs in the UK.
The new positions based at its facilities in Glasgow, Leicester and Liverpool.
”The new roles are required to meet this growth in the business and to ensure the bank continues to improve its service,” remarked the banking organisation.
It is not the first time this year the savings accounts provider has announced plans for job creations. In July it stated 600 new branch-based employment opportunities would be appearing in the UK. According to Santander, the bank has enjoyed three years of sustained growth, in terms of the number of branches available as well as the products it offers consumers.
But the Spanish bank, that has absorbed both Alliance and Leicester and Bradford & Bingley has showed a poor performance in terms of customer satisfaction and a few more (albeit English speaking) call centre staff are not by themselves going to fix the problem.
The Which? Report earlier this year scored Santander the worst for customer service in the specific area of savings accounts.
It said: ‘While it [Santander] may have a reputation for great service in Spain, it’s a very different story in the UK where it continues to rank as one of the worst brands in all our customer satisfaction surveys.’
These findings follow equally damning customer service analysis by personal finance magazine Moneywise.
So is Santander doing little more than paying lip service when it states its intention of improving customer service and listening to criticism?
Merging three disparate groups, particularly as this involved a move to a new technology platform cannot have been an easy task, but salt was rubbed in the wounds of disgruntled customers with its ill thought through advertising campaign that offered a £100 cash incentives to those moving their current accounts.
No mention of service, welcome or services. Just money.
Recognising the value of customer loyalty
It is fair to say that Santander does recognize the value of customer loyalty and consumer satisfaction in terms of incentivising specific products.
Earlier this month it launched new issues of its competitive Loyalty Tracker Bond (Issue 2) and Tracker Bond (Issue 2), now paying 3.25% and 3.00% gross AER respectively. The accounts track any changes in the Bank of England base rate until 1 October 2011, meaning that if interest rates start to rise over the next 12 months, customers will benefit from the increase.
Loyalty Tracker Bond pays an enhanced rate available to customers that have their main current account, mortgage or investment account with Santander or switch their current account to Santander using the Account Transfer Service.
Both accounts are available for savings from £10,000 up to a maximum of £100,000. No withdrawals are allowed during the term of the product.
Since 1 January 2010, Santander has rewarded customer loyalty in the following ways:
– Launched the Santander Zero Current Account – for customers with an Abbey or Santander Mortgage who have or open their primary current account with Santander;
– Made all 4,300 Santander ATMs in Spain free to use for all of Santander UK’s current account customers;
– Waived the 3 per cent balance transfer fee on the Zero Credit Card for all existing customers with a mortgage, current account or investment product with Santander or Alliance & Leicester;
– Waived booking fees on mortgages for primary current account holders;
– Extended the Zero Current Account availability to include all customers who have an investment product with Santander – meaning 2.5 million people are now eligible
Introduced a 0 per cent balance transfer period of 13 months with no balance transfer fee for existing Santander current account, mortgage and investment account holders;
– Kept Flexible ISA on sale at the end of the Tax Year campaign for customers who have their main current account with Santander;
– A Super Tracker Bond (Issue 2) with a higher rate of 4.50 per cent gross AER is also available for those who pay in the same amount or more in a qualifying investment product.
Loyalty with new mortgages
Mortgage holders who want to move house but stay with Santander can benefit from the Loyal Mover range of mortgage deals.
The no-fee two-year agreements are available up to 75 per cent loan to value (LTV), with interest rate standing at 2.99 per cent for the tracker mortgage and 4.24 per cent for the fixed-rate product.
The goal of the product is to persuade people they don’t need to change mortgage provider when they move house.
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