Santander Kindly Respond to Our 'Iceland' Complaint

Santander responded to our ‘Iceland’ complaint today.

Mr A. placed an order with Iceland for home delivery just after midnight on a Thursday. The payment was approved by the bank at 5:30am in the morning, but Iceland could not deliver till Saturday morning. Iceland only take the money on the day they deliver, in case items were out of stock.   Mr A overspent on Friday, thinking he was better off than he was but the cash was NOT reserved, so come Saturday in the early hours, the order was cancelled and between 8.00am and 10.00am nothing turned up.

A beetroot face for ‘A’ and no goodies in the larder. Worse, still it is easy to overestimate one’s wealth and spend money, then find the funds you need for food till benefit day, have all been spent.

Santander hold reserved money when purchases are not made and then re-credit the money if it is not claimed stated the banks represented. This money was credited back a bit early.

Santander were very generous in their response, but this case did highlight an anomaly.  Internet shopping can present risks for those living on a low income. Especially at the weekend when purchases do not show up till the following week. At ABC HQ we use ledgers in spreadsheets. However, these account ledgers are updated soon after, not in real time.

A special thank you for Santander and their kind response. We ourselves have always found Santander an excellent bank to deal with; very responsive if there is an issue in question, and overall very efficient indeed.

ABC Comment. Are you happy with you bank? Please feel free to add a comment below: