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Back in 2008, I set up a standing order to cover vehicle storage charges. We were moving into temporary accommodation whilst I completed a load of renovation work on our new home.The rental house did not have a garage big enough to accommodate my daily commuter and the other vehicle. I checked routinely for the first 6-8 months to ensure the regular payment was being made-it was. In late August 2009 we finally moved into our new home but the existing garage was still insufficient to accommodate my daily commuter and the other vehicle so it remained in storage. A quicj check on the statements revealed that the payment was still being made.
In January 2011, the old garage was demolished and I began work on the new replacement. Knowing that I could only work at the weekend when my wife was not at work or I had help from my father-in -law, it would be a slow build!
In early March this year, I got to the point where I could start thinking of a date to bring the vehicle home. Having informed my wife she pulled out the account file to check the payment date each month to see if we could tie it in neatly with that. After a few minutes, she asked when I had transferred the payment to be deducted from my account? I replied that I had not & it was coming from our billing account. After going back through months of statements it transpired that no payment had been made since Dec 2009!
Worrying that my vehicle may have been sold by the storage company to recoup their costs, I spent a sleepless night. The following morning I called them & advised of a possible return date & we discussed various options. I queried what the delivery charge would be & was asked to call again a few days later to confirm this.
In between calling them back I called Santander to find out what had happened to the standing order mandate as I had not contacted them to cancel it either by phone or in writing.
I was informed that since it was more than 2.5 years old, no records would be held as any instructions relating to direct debits & standing orders are only retained for this length of time before being destroyed. However records of transactions are retained for 6 years. I was informed that there was an end date of 01/01/10 on the mandate. I said that this was an error as no end date was specified when the mandate was set -up as it was not known how long the payment would need to have been made. I queried when that end date was set up & they replied that they could not tell as records were only retained for 2.5 years.....etc. Clearly I was unhappy with this and the call was put through to the 'back office team' who would investigate further. Two days later, I get a text message to say the request is complete & to call them with any queries. I called.
'Records on standing order mandates are only retained for 2.5 years before being destroyed. We cannot investigate any further' was the response. I was then offered £50 by way of compensation for the inconvenience caused. I refused & raised this to a formal complaint.
I then spoke again to the storage company to confirm the delivery costs. They made no mention of any outstanding payments.
A number of days passed and another text message was received from Santander: 'We have responded to your complaint reference XXXXXXX. If appropriate a letter will be sent. If you have any queries, please contact us.' this was sent on 22nd March & the letter referred to arrived on Saturday 6th April.
After several more fruitless phone calls, the situation is that there are some 39 months of storage fees unpaid; Santander have no records and are not prepared to do anything more and have said take it to the Ombudsman if you are still unhappy; It is your responsibility to manage your account.
I am of the opinion that the events between Dec 2009 and Jan 01 2010 are the problem-it is too convenient that the end date is 01/01/2010!
In Dec 2009, the bank existed as Abbey National. In Jan 2010, they became Santander. Whatever the process was that closed Abbey accounts to become Santander accounts missed out on this mandate and it was not re-started correctly.
The storage company have finally twigged today(08/04/13) that they have not received payment since Dec 2009!
I have never received any paperwork for any standing order mandate once it has been set up that would confirm the start and or end date (if applicable) Surely this should be good practice? But then this is Santander & good practice completely eludes them.
Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be welcome.
In January 2011, the old garage was demolished and I began work on the new replacement. Knowing that I could only work at the weekend when my wife was not at work or I had help from my father-in -law, it would be a slow build!
In early March this year, I got to the point where I could start thinking of a date to bring the vehicle home. Having informed my wife she pulled out the account file to check the payment date each month to see if we could tie it in neatly with that. After a few minutes, she asked when I had transferred the payment to be deducted from my account? I replied that I had not & it was coming from our billing account. After going back through months of statements it transpired that no payment had been made since Dec 2009!
Worrying that my vehicle may have been sold by the storage company to recoup their costs, I spent a sleepless night. The following morning I called them & advised of a possible return date & we discussed various options. I queried what the delivery charge would be & was asked to call again a few days later to confirm this.
In between calling them back I called Santander to find out what had happened to the standing order mandate as I had not contacted them to cancel it either by phone or in writing.
I was informed that since it was more than 2.5 years old, no records would be held as any instructions relating to direct debits & standing orders are only retained for this length of time before being destroyed. However records of transactions are retained for 6 years. I was informed that there was an end date of 01/01/10 on the mandate. I said that this was an error as no end date was specified when the mandate was set -up as it was not known how long the payment would need to have been made. I queried when that end date was set up & they replied that they could not tell as records were only retained for 2.5 years.....etc. Clearly I was unhappy with this and the call was put through to the 'back office team' who would investigate further. Two days later, I get a text message to say the request is complete & to call them with any queries. I called.
'Records on standing order mandates are only retained for 2.5 years before being destroyed. We cannot investigate any further' was the response. I was then offered £50 by way of compensation for the inconvenience caused. I refused & raised this to a formal complaint.
I then spoke again to the storage company to confirm the delivery costs. They made no mention of any outstanding payments.
A number of days passed and another text message was received from Santander: 'We have responded to your complaint reference XXXXXXX. If appropriate a letter will be sent. If you have any queries, please contact us.' this was sent on 22nd March & the letter referred to arrived on Saturday 6th April.
After several more fruitless phone calls, the situation is that there are some 39 months of storage fees unpaid; Santander have no records and are not prepared to do anything more and have said take it to the Ombudsman if you are still unhappy; It is your responsibility to manage your account.
I am of the opinion that the events between Dec 2009 and Jan 01 2010 are the problem-it is too convenient that the end date is 01/01/2010!
In Dec 2009, the bank existed as Abbey National. In Jan 2010, they became Santander. Whatever the process was that closed Abbey accounts to become Santander accounts missed out on this mandate and it was not re-started correctly.
The storage company have finally twigged today(08/04/13) that they have not received payment since Dec 2009!
I have never received any paperwork for any standing order mandate once it has been set up that would confirm the start and or end date (if applicable) Surely this should be good practice? But then this is Santander & good practice completely eludes them.
Any thoughts, comments or suggestions would be welcome.
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