[dave0123]

Those of you are with Alliance and Leicester will have just noticed its fully changed over to Santander now.

People who used abbey that were getting paid by customers via transfer or bacs now there is no reference that shows details so you know which customer has paid you what did you do? have you moved bank.

[scud]

   I did initially move bank, but the charges were going to be silly.

   I just had all customers email me the first time they paid by BACS, I then logged their surname and can work it from that, occassionally I get 2 Smiths or such like pay the same amount at the same time, but can usually work it out.

[david wood]

santander /abbey uses there sir name for ref so its a case of asking customers there name when setting up online banking

[Rogue Trader]

i am ex alliance and leicester santander customer and they said today that if i used my new sort code then the payments will show a reference - the only problem with that is i just got 20,000 invoices printed with my old sort code and account number

[Steve_c]

All my on line customers names still appear by there payment, Bacs transfers still say the company name.

[mike2102]

I was also told to use new sort code to see reference details which i did and it made no difference at all.

[Steve_c]

I haven't been given a new sort code ?

[dave0123]

what new sort code's is this?

[matthewprice]

got a letter today saying soon the statments and online will show new sort code ect.

[dave0123]

oh right, first ive heard

[Paul Coleman]

Those of you are with Alliance and Leicester will have just noticed its fully changed over to Santander now.

People who used abbey that were getting paid by customers via transfer or bacs now there is no reference that shows details so you know which customer has paid you what did you do? have you moved bank.

I hammered away at Santander for ages about this one.
I made a formal complaint to them.
The reply I got seemed to come close to saying "Tough.  We are aware of it.  We might sort it out one day but we can't be arsed and don't give a damn."  Well it was nothing like that of course but they made it clear that is was very low priority.  They used to show the reference.  Then they stopped.
I opened a separate business account with Co-op - specially for the bank transfers.  The account is free but the FSB membership that helps it remain free costs me £100 a year (the perks are worth it).
Cheques and cash now go to Santander (easy deposit 24/7 via ATM nearby).  The bank transfers go to Co-op - who DO show the references.
Taxman is fine about having two accounts for one business.  Just be open about it in case it's misinterpreted as trying to hide some money.

[Paul Coleman]

As an addition to this, the only reason I do any business with Santander is the easy depositing for cash and cheques out of hours.  Were it not for that, I would be doing nothing with them.  I am a customer who has been with them 30+ years in their incarnations of Abbey National then Abbey.  Such is my level of dissatisfaction that just one bit of convenience keeps me with them by a thread.
Other things have gone wrong at times which I can't be bothered to go into now.  Nothing major.  Just a series of niggles that get resolved and then return later.
I've suffered less than many but I do feel that the management in their IT department needs a major shake up.
As for using surnames as references, how about three Smiths (for example) all paying £20 and all paying by transfer?  I suppose I could price each job uniquely to identify it but I really should not be needing to do this in order to enable a bank to continue being incompetent, half brained, twits (I altered that last word as it would have been changed by the software).

[dave0123]

i agree paul,


it may not be so important in a personal account or savings, but as a business bank a account i think its a must for any business. its really made me think i may have to move my account the only reason i was with them is because its only 5.00 a month i really don't want the fees  with the likes of lloyds tsb.

as above though people have said you need a new sort code for the reference to work which is news to me but have to wait and see.

[Paul Coleman]

i agree paul,


it may not be so important in a personal account or savings, but as a business bank a account i think its a must for any business. its really made me think i may have to move my account the only reason i was with them is because its only 5.00 a month i really don't want the fees  with the likes of lloyds tsb.

as above though people have said you need a new sort code for the reference to work which is news to me but have to wait and see.

I doubt the new sort code would cause it to work.  A staff member recently told me that the flaw is caused by them being unable to cope with the "faster payments" system.  Co-op manage OK though.  If you try to explain this issue over the phone, I have discovered that many of the call centre staff don't even understand what I am referring to.  Many think that the surname IS the reference. I even offered to pay my credit card by BACS using my surname rather than the 16 digit number.