Santander customer bemused as bank suggests using branch in another country

03 August 2024 , 07:09

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A Santander customer was struggling to use his local cash machine ( Image: Getty)

He would have to drive for almost two hours to get to the branch

A Santander customer was left perplexed after the bank suggested an alternative branch where he could do his banking - located in another country. The man contacted the bank over X after he had an issue using the cash machine at his local branch.

He asked: "Second time asking. Is the cash point at Santander Weston-Super-Mare accepting cash yet?" The bank said in response: "Apologies for our late reply! We’ve queried this with our ATM management team and as soon as we have an update, we’ll certainly let you know. 

"The next closest Santander branch is: Queen Street, Cardiff, South Glamorgan." The man was bemused with this response saying: "Cardiff is in a different country and much as I love Wales, I’m not driving there for this. Look forward to your update."

Cardiff is almost two hours’ drive from Weston-Super-Mare, including a stretch over the Prince of Wales bridge to cross the Bristol Channel. The bank expressed sympathy that the man didn’t want to make such a long journey to do his banking. 

A representative said: "Appreciate this is a little too far! At the end of my reply, I let you know deposits can be made using the Post Office too, with your Santander card. Hopefully this is more convenient." The man said this would be a much better alternative for him to do his banking.

Santander later replied: "We’re happy to confirm that the branch’s ATMs are up and running again at the Weston-Super-Mare branch." Santander was also recently criticised as a terminally ill customer was struggling to access its services. 

A relative of the customer got in touch over X with the bank inviting them to email [email protected] so their case could be looked into. Santander has several measures to help people in this situation including a Carers Card, a separate account allowing two carers to carry out daily tasks such as food shopping on someone’s behalf.

Emma Davis