Consumer complaint received 2022-05-03
Company: SANTANDER BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised

Complaint:
SUMMARY I received a promotional email from Santander Bank for a bonus of {$450.00} if I opened an eligible business checking account and maintained a {$10000.00} balance for 90 days. Attached is the email. I went to the bank and told them that I wanted to open a business checking account and I wanted to avail of this bonus. I showed them the promotional email on my phone. 

It took them 2 days to open the account ( I was in the bank with them for about 5 hours over 2 days ). I deposited the money on the date of opening, and 120 days later there was no bonus deposited in my account. Customer Service informed me that the wrong kind of business checking account was opened. The banker that opened my account had made a mistake. Please note that both days that I was at the bank, I told them I needed them to use my bonus code and I showed them the bonus email on my phone. They refused to give me the bonus even though the mistake is 100 % theirs. On my part, I maintained the {$10000.00} daily average as required by the promotion terms. 

[ Refer Santander Bank Inquiry XXXX that the manager created. ] DETAILS 1. Opening the account 5 hours over 2 days 2. Discussions with Customer Service 3. Meeting with XXXX.XXXX  are email promotions not valid? 
4. Meeting with XXXX further proof that the bank thought they had opened the correct account for me 5. Email response from the bank 6. Concluding remarks mistakes by the bankers 7. Concluding remarks lack of professionalism of the bankers 1. Opening the account 5 hours over 2 days On XX/XX/XXXX, I got the promotional email from Santander Bank. [ Attached is the promotional email I received. ] On XX/XX/XXXX, I visited Santander Bank in XXXX XXXX, MA. I showed the banker [ XXXX XXXX ] the email on my phone and said I needed a business account for my new business and wanted to avail of this offer. I spent about 3 hours in the bank but she was unable to open the account either due to a software issue or due to her incompetence. In the course of these 3 hours, another banker came and helped her with some things, and she also looked at the promotion on my email on my phone and read the fine print. XXXX XXXX asked me to come again the next business day to finish the process. She said she needed to re-enter information in the application, and she would do it without me there as I had already spent 3 hours at the bank. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I went in and spent about XXXX hours finishing up setting the account. Once again I showed XXXX XXXX my phone with the email, making sure she used the exact code that was in my email. At this point, after I had spent about 5 hours in the bank, she asked me if I had any promotional offer come in the mail ( my physical mailing address ) addressed specifically to me and I said I did not have anything in the mail, and I only had the email offer. The account was successfully opened, and I discussed the rest of the fine print on the promotional email with XXXX XXXX, and proceeded to deposit {$12000.00} in my account because the email said I needed {$10000.00} daily average from the day of account opening. 

I waited 120 days and there was no {$450.00} bonus deposited in my account. 

2. Discussions with Customer Service On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Customer Service and asked about my bonus and they asked me to call back after 3 days. The rep I spoke to said he needed to inquire more about it because it seemed like I had satisfied all criteria. [ Call was made at XXXX pm EST and lasted XXXX minutes ] On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Customer Service again, and they said they looked into it and apparently my business wasnt the right business type. I said that should have been explained to me during account opening. The rep agreed to escalate the issue to the Marketing Team and to call back after a week. [ Call was made at XXXX XXXX  XXXX  and lasted XXXX XXXX  ] On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Customer Service again and was told the wrong kind of business account was opened for me and to resolve the issue with the branch. They transferred me to the branch and I spoke to a banker, who said I could come to the branch and speak in person. [ Call was made at XXXX XXXX  XXXX and lasted XXXX XXXX  ] 3. Meeting with XXXX are email promotions not valid? 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at around XXXX XXXX  I went personally to the branch. The banker I had spoken to on the phone had informed XXXX XXXX about it. As soon as XXXX XXXX saw me, she tried to avoid me and tried to get the other banker to talk to me. The other banker told her, Could you please help her as you had opened the account for her. 

I couldnt communicate to her about the wrong kind of account being opened, because she started talking over me. 

She said, I told you that email codes do not work. Only codes that come directly to your physical mailing address work. I told her that she was lying and if she had told me the code wouldnt work, I wouldnt have opened the account. [ This implies that one has to receive a physical code in the mail and an email code for the code to work, although this is not whats stated in the fine print of the email promotion. ] She said, You are calling me a liar? How dare you? I did you a favor and worked on your application after you left and you are calling me a liar? [ Huh? I had spent XXXX hrs on day XXXX and XXXX hours on day 2 in her office. This is her job, it is not a favor she is doing. ] She then said, I opened the account in XXXX, why are you coming now after so many months for the bonus? [ Huh? I had to wait for XXXX days to pass, but I didnt even bother responding to this ridiculous question. ] And, Why did you contact Customer Service when I am your banker? I said I had an issue and so I naturally contacted Customer Service. Did I not phone you after creating your account asking if you got your debit card? I did everything I was supposed to do as your banker and not even one day did you stop by and discuss with me how your experience is with the service and now you go and complain to Customer Service? [ I am very busy and do not have time to come by and chit-chat with the banker if there is no need for it. Also, in this day and age, this is not a normal thing to do. ] It was clear that it was impossible to have a rational conversation with XXXX XXXX, and I told her I needed to speak to her manager. She asked me to come the following week. 

4. Meeting with XXXX further proof that the bank thought they had opened the correct account for me On XX/XX/XXXX, I went to the branch to discuss with XXXX XXXX manager XXXX XXXX XXXX. I explained to her that Customer Service said the wrong account was opened. XXXX XXXX asked me for the email promotion I was referring to, and I forwarded it to her email address right there in her office through my phone. She looked at the email, and looked through my account and said No, the correct account was opened. Everything looks fine so I will have to submit an internal inquiry. [ Refer Santander Bank Inquiry XXXX ] [ Even though I had specifically told her the wrong account type was opened, she could not spot then and there that it was the wrong type of account. So you can imagine that on XX/XX/XXXX the bankers didnt read the fine print on the email promotion correctly. ] XXXX. Email response from the bank XXXX XXXX got back to me after I reached out to her for an update. You can see the email exchange attached. In her first email she says I did not give XXXX XXXX a print out of the promotion. I responded saying the fine print in the promotion did not mention I needed a print out. She then followed up claiming that I did not present the full promotional offer. I responded saying I had my phone with me the 2 days I was there opening the account and on both days I showed the promotional email on my phone and two bankers even read the fine print right in front of me. 

Instead of taking ownership of their mistakes, they are trying to turn around and claim that I never presented the full promotional offer. In XXXX XXXX email, she claims that I gave XXXX XXXX the code but did not show her the promotion details. That is an absolutely crazy assertion. I showed them the email on my phone, are they implying I somehow hid the bottom portion of the email that had the promotion fine print?! Additionally, supposing I did that, XXXX XXXX is still not making a valid argument because the promotion says Simply bring your promotion code to an open branch and use it when you apply. 

6. Concluding remarks mistakes by the bankers It is clear that the banker XXXX XXXX made an error and opened the wrong account for me. It is also clear that the bankers manager XXXX XXXX too did not realize the error, because she saw the promotional email on XX/XX/XXXX and told me No, the correct account was opened. 

XXXX XXXX second mistake is that after account opening she did not tell me the code does not work. She made me feel that everything went fine, and I discussed the rest of the fine print with her and immediately deposited {$12000.00} because the fine print said I needed {$10000.00} daily average and I didnt want to delay depositing. She was possibly tired and frustrated because she had spent 5-6 hours on the application and just decided to kick the can down the road. 

7. Concluding remarks lack of professionalism of the bankers XXXX XXXX, instead of discussing with me how to make it right or arrive at a compromise, says absolutely ridiculous things like I refused to present the promotion details, and also that they went above and beyond creating an account for me. 

They spent 5+ hours opening an account for me and they think they did me a favor and went above and beyond they need to understand that it is their job to open accounts and if it takes 5+ hours to open an account then it is something they should apologize to the customer for, not act like the bank is doing the customer a favor. Also, understanding that I had already spent considerable time with the bankers and customer service, there should have been some urgency in resolving the issue. I had to contact customer service multiple times ( instead of them taking any sort of initiative ) and had to reach out to XXXX XXXX for an update when I hadnt heard back from her she responded on XX/XX/XXXX after I reached out for an update and the inquiry was created on XX/XX/XXXX. I wonder if she would have ever gotten back to me had I not contacted her. The bank needs to review how they deal with the customer as there were multiple failures in this case.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation