Store cards can be tempting, they're convenient and offer a host of benefits, interest free credit, money off purchases to name a few.... But if your store card is managed by Santander - and they are by far the largest supplier of store cards in the UK - you might want to check your bills.
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Santander' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Such as their late payment charges.
Michelle from Reading is concerned about her monthly account statements for her Debenhams card. She was charged a late payment fee in January even though she had paid on time and her account was in credit. When Michelle contacted Santander they did cancel the charge, but after so many years as a loyal cardholder, she's starting to lose faith in their ability to handle her store card.
'I am concerned as to what I am going to receive on a month by month basis and I'm worried that it will happen again,' she says.
She's right to be concerned. Kerrie from Bolsover also has a Debenhams store card, which she took out to buy a wedding outfit. Now she wishes she hadn't; since she got the card she's had three late payment charges. Santander say she was paying late, but they did refund the late payment fees.
'When Santander tell me it's not going to happen again to be honest I don't believe them. Doesn't make you trust them at all. I won't be using my Debenhams store card again, I've had far too many problems with it and to be honest it's not worth the hassle,' Kerrie says.
And the Santander late payment fee issue is not exclusive to Debenhams store cards. Alison Murphy was issued with two late payment fees for her Evans store card and although Alison eventually got them removed and received some compensation, it wasn't without the effort of having to write and make several costly phone calls to Santander.
But don't think all the complaints Watchdog has received concerning Santander store cards are about late payment fees.
William Dickson wrote in about an unexplained transaction that had appeared on his Dorothy Perkins store card even though he had stopped using his card months before. He told us that when he disputed the debit Santander sent him a copy of the transaction receipt, which clearly showed a different card had been used and even a different signature.
But that didn't stop Santander increasing the debt to over £100 and sending him debt collector letters.
And then there's Lynne from County Durham, she has also has a Dorothy Perkins store card with Santander. She paid over £50 on her November statement but was told nearly six months later that Santander had credited her account wrongly and she would have to pay again.
After questioning their findings and offering Santander proof she'd paid with a payment reference number they told her the reference number wasn't good enough and they'd have to look into it further.
'I've spent loads of money on the phone trying to sort this out. They promised to call be back last week and they haven't, I got so fed up I sent all my documentation off to customer services but still haven't heard anything.
I just don't know how this can have happened,' Lynne says.
Santander say William Dickson has now had his account settled and closed, and the error on Lynne Knowles's account has been corrected.
SANTANDER CARD UK's RESPONSE:
Providing good customer service has always been as important to Santander as it is to our customers. We believe that in the vast majority of cases that is what we deliver. We are always disappointed when one of our customers feels the need to complain. But where we have made a mistake we will take appropriate action to ensure the customer isn't out of pocket and, of course, say sorry. To that end, we have set up a dedicated email address for store card customers who have experienced problems - we would invite customers to contact us at storecards@santandercards.co.uk.
Santander Cards has almost 7 million customers and relationships with many leading retailers in the UK. We are by far the largest supplier of store cards in the UK, and so, whilst it is inevitable that we will get a greater volume of complaints than our competitors, we work hard to deliver the best service we can.
Watchdog also raised the issue of dormancy fees. We can confirm that we have never charged a dormancy fee and have no plans to do so.
We have spoken to all of the customers featured by Watchdog and reassured them that their credit record is not impacted by any errors on our part.
Kerrie Lang
Kerrie Lang was charged late fees because she made late payments to her account. It is clearly stated on every statement that if paying by debit card, customers must allow two days for funds to clear. As a good-will gesture, we refunded Karrie the late fees, but we would urge all customers to ensure they are making their payments on time.
Michelle Talmer
As soon as Michelle Talmer made us aware of the error on her account we refunded the £12 penalty fee. We have apologised for the error.
William Dickson
When William Dickson brought the unknown transaction to our attention, we sent him a declaration of fraud letter for him to complete and sign - this is standard procedure throughout the industry. We didn't receive this form back from Mr Dickson, and therefore assumed that he was happy with the transaction. We accept we should have checked this with him during subsequent phone calls. We have apologised, paid compensation for the inconvenience caused, and ensured that his records at the Credit Bureau are correct. Santander Cards have also settled and closed his account as requested.
Lynne Knowles
Ms Knowles contacted us a week ago and we were dealing with this before Watchdog became involved. Our investigation has revealed a clerical error resulted in a payment to Ms Knowles' account being reversed. We have corrected the error and contacted Ms Knowles to offer our apology and compensation for any inconvenience caused.
Craig and Alison Murphy
An error was made in the processing of a payment from the customer which led to the late payment fees being applied. All charges have been refunded and we have contacted the customer to offer our apology and compensation for any inconvenience caused.
Debenhams have told us:
- We would like to thank Watchdog from bringing this to our attention.
- Customers have had issues with the Debenhams cards operated by Santander and this is simply not acceptable. We apologise to the customers concerned.
- As such we have made it our top priority and raised the complaints with Santander and have been given assurances that both issues have been resolved.
- The dormancy fee was never going to be charged to our customers and as such Santander have indicated that no Debenhams customers have or ever will be charged this fee.
Watchdog Viewers' Responses:
I have also had many problems with my Dorothy Perkins card in the recent months.
I have had my card for approximately 12 years without problems until santander took over and I have had 3 late payment fee although payments were made on time and showing on my statements.
Very long phone calls to get them credited.
Mrs Claire Neill, Devon
I took out a Debenhams store card in December 2010 and used it once to get 10% discount. I bought 3 shirts, one for each of my sons for Christmas and when the bill arrived, I paid everything off.
My next statement from Debenhams showed a late payment charge of £12, which I queried and was told there had been some errors and I should not have been charged so this was cleared.
My next statement showed I owed nothing, but had incurred another £12 late payment fee! Needless to say, I contacted the company explained my concerns as I couldn't be charged £12 late payment fees when there was no payment to be made. I have cancelled this store card, I cannot afford all of the late payment fees!!
Jayne Adams
I was charged late payment 6 times with Dorothy Perkins. My payment on my statement had gone out on time but the late payment charges showed up 4 days after. Numerous phone calls ended up with me going to the store and getting them to phone Santander. Customer service very rude and would not refund me until I asked to be put through to complaints department. Refunded me straight away
Louise, Malvern
I too got a debenhams store card, and missed a couple of payments so it went to santander themselves and they kept on calling me every other day demanding payment for the debt, they said they will send me the forms to set up a direct debit but never did in the end I got a final demand through the post and they said they will be taking me to court unless I pay off the full amount asap, even though I explained that I cannot pay off the amounts they were demanding they still persisted, i have ended up paying £100 per month, which when I am the only person in a family of four that works (earning little money i might add) it is a massive chunk out of the kitty for food and basic living needs! NOT IMPRESSED!!
Mr Luke Povey, Chatham, Kent
(Santan) Dare to get a store card?
(Do you have something to say about this story? Tell us what you think by emailing us here. Don't forget to include 'Santander' in the subject line. Watchdog will publish a selection of viewers' comments underneath each story, both throughout and after the programme is on air. Please remember to include your name as you would like to see it published).
Such as their late payment charges.
Michelle from Reading is concerned about her monthly account statements for her Debenhams card. She was charged a late payment fee in January even though she had paid on time and her account was in credit. When Michelle contacted Santander they did cancel the charge, but after so many years as a loyal cardholder, she's starting to lose faith in their ability to handle her store card.
'I am concerned as to what I am going to receive on a month by month basis and I'm worried that it will happen again,' she says.
She's right to be concerned. Kerrie from Bolsover also has a Debenhams store card, which she took out to buy a wedding outfit. Now she wishes she hadn't; since she got the card she's had three late payment charges. Santander say she was paying late, but they did refund the late payment fees.
'When Santander tell me it's not going to happen again to be honest I don't believe them. Doesn't make you trust them at all. I won't be using my Debenhams store card again, I've had far too many problems with it and to be honest it's not worth the hassle,' Kerrie says.
And the Santander late payment fee issue is not exclusive to Debenhams store cards. Alison Murphy was issued with two late payment fees for her Evans store card and although Alison eventually got them removed and received some compensation, it wasn't without the effort of having to write and make several costly phone calls to Santander.
But don't think all the complaints Watchdog has received concerning Santander store cards are about late payment fees.
William Dickson wrote in about an unexplained transaction that had appeared on his Dorothy Perkins store card even though he had stopped using his card months before. He told us that when he disputed the debit Santander sent him a copy of the transaction receipt, which clearly showed a different card had been used and even a different signature.
But that didn't stop Santander increasing the debt to over £100 and sending him debt collector letters.
And then there's Lynne from County Durham, she has also has a Dorothy Perkins store card with Santander. She paid over £50 on her November statement but was told nearly six months later that Santander had credited her account wrongly and she would have to pay again.
After questioning their findings and offering Santander proof she'd paid with a payment reference number they told her the reference number wasn't good enough and they'd have to look into it further.
'I've spent loads of money on the phone trying to sort this out. They promised to call be back last week and they haven't, I got so fed up I sent all my documentation off to customer services but still haven't heard anything.
I just don't know how this can have happened,' Lynne says.
Santander say William Dickson has now had his account settled and closed, and the error on Lynne Knowles's account has been corrected.
SANTANDER CARD UK's RESPONSE:
Providing good customer service has always been as important to Santander as it is to our customers. We believe that in the vast majority of cases that is what we deliver. We are always disappointed when one of our customers feels the need to complain. But where we have made a mistake we will take appropriate action to ensure the customer isn't out of pocket and, of course, say sorry. To that end, we have set up a dedicated email address for store card customers who have experienced problems - we would invite customers to contact us at storecards@santandercards.co.uk.
Santander Cards has almost 7 million customers and relationships with many leading retailers in the UK. We are by far the largest supplier of store cards in the UK, and so, whilst it is inevitable that we will get a greater volume of complaints than our competitors, we work hard to deliver the best service we can.
Watchdog also raised the issue of dormancy fees. We can confirm that we have never charged a dormancy fee and have no plans to do so.
We have spoken to all of the customers featured by Watchdog and reassured them that their credit record is not impacted by any errors on our part.
Kerrie Lang
Kerrie Lang was charged late fees because she made late payments to her account. It is clearly stated on every statement that if paying by debit card, customers must allow two days for funds to clear. As a good-will gesture, we refunded Karrie the late fees, but we would urge all customers to ensure they are making their payments on time.
Michelle Talmer
As soon as Michelle Talmer made us aware of the error on her account we refunded the £12 penalty fee. We have apologised for the error.
William Dickson
When William Dickson brought the unknown transaction to our attention, we sent him a declaration of fraud letter for him to complete and sign - this is standard procedure throughout the industry. We didn't receive this form back from Mr Dickson, and therefore assumed that he was happy with the transaction. We accept we should have checked this with him during subsequent phone calls. We have apologised, paid compensation for the inconvenience caused, and ensured that his records at the Credit Bureau are correct. Santander Cards have also settled and closed his account as requested.
Lynne Knowles
Ms Knowles contacted us a week ago and we were dealing with this before Watchdog became involved. Our investigation has revealed a clerical error resulted in a payment to Ms Knowles' account being reversed. We have corrected the error and contacted Ms Knowles to offer our apology and compensation for any inconvenience caused.
Craig and Alison Murphy
An error was made in the processing of a payment from the customer which led to the late payment fees being applied. All charges have been refunded and we have contacted the customer to offer our apology and compensation for any inconvenience caused.
Debenhams have told us:
- We would like to thank Watchdog from bringing this to our attention.
- Customers have had issues with the Debenhams cards operated by Santander and this is simply not acceptable. We apologise to the customers concerned.
- As such we have made it our top priority and raised the complaints with Santander and have been given assurances that both issues have been resolved.
- The dormancy fee was never going to be charged to our customers and as such Santander have indicated that no Debenhams customers have or ever will be charged this fee.
Watchdog Viewers' Responses:
I have also had many problems with my Dorothy Perkins card in the recent months.
I have had my card for approximately 12 years without problems until santander took over and I have had 3 late payment fee although payments were made on time and showing on my statements.
Very long phone calls to get them credited.
Mrs Claire Neill, Devon
I took out a Debenhams store card in December 2010 and used it once to get 10% discount. I bought 3 shirts, one for each of my sons for Christmas and when the bill arrived, I paid everything off.
My next statement from Debenhams showed a late payment charge of £12, which I queried and was told there had been some errors and I should not have been charged so this was cleared.
My next statement showed I owed nothing, but had incurred another £12 late payment fee! Needless to say, I contacted the company explained my concerns as I couldn't be charged £12 late payment fees when there was no payment to be made. I have cancelled this store card, I cannot afford all of the late payment fees!!
Jayne Adams
I was charged late payment 6 times with Dorothy Perkins. My payment on my statement had gone out on time but the late payment charges showed up 4 days after. Numerous phone calls ended up with me going to the store and getting them to phone Santander. Customer service very rude and would not refund me until I asked to be put through to complaints department. Refunded me straight away
Louise, Malvern
I too got a debenhams store card, and missed a couple of payments so it went to santander themselves and they kept on calling me every other day demanding payment for the debt, they said they will send me the forms to set up a direct debit but never did in the end I got a final demand through the post and they said they will be taking me to court unless I pay off the full amount asap, even though I explained that I cannot pay off the amounts they were demanding they still persisted, i have ended up paying £100 per month, which when I am the only person in a family of four that works (earning little money i might add) it is a massive chunk out of the kitty for food and basic living needs! NOT IMPRESSED!!
Mr Luke Povey, Chatham, Kent
(Santan) Dare to get a store card?