SANTANDER PART 2

It never ceases to amaze me that some big businesses do not seem to have a sense of humour. I am referring specifically to my new Bank, Santander. I think they must have a sense of humour to charge me £25 for a very minor mishap with my bank accounting, not once but twice. I thought, therefore, that Santander would be game for a laugh so I sent them a poem which was quite obviously very tongue in cheek. This is on a previous blog “Santander Saturday 24th September 2011”. I received a response today. This response was from the Complaints Department. I did not send my e-mail as a complaint; I sent it as “general feedback and other enquiries”.

It also amazes me that there is so much unemployment when companies set aside a whole department just to deal with complaints. With this in mind I may even write to the Financial Ombudsman Service as suggested in Santander’s letter. They also sent me a leaflet “how to complain, we are serious about resolving your complaint”. As they have gone to so much trouble in encouraging me to make a complaint, I feel duty bound now to do so. I am pleased to think I am playing a part in keeping these banking officials in gainful employment. I do believe that if I complain I will still not receive the £100 I first requested, but I will be helping in my own small way to support my Bank, who does seem to be a little bit strapped for cash. This is my response to their response to my poem:-

SANTANDER PART 2

I have received a letter from you today
And I’m so shocked I can hardly speak
That you’ve taken the time to write to me
Re my poem that was quite tongue in cheek.
It would have been rather nice
If you had credited my account
Considering there’s no money in there
I’m overdrawn by a considerable amount.
I do, however think, that cos of what you did
Adding charges twice to my account
When I was overdrawn by only 4 quid.
I don’t know how you can justify
Charges of twenty five pounds
And how you come up with this figure
Tell me please, what are the grounds?
I would like to draw your attention
To “ my facilities and benefits remained intact”
I’m afraid I have to disagree
Cos this is not the fact.
With my faster payments service
You were sadly not on the ball
And the tenner that I sent to my son
He did not receive faster at all.
So although your letter is well written
Very articulately
You may think you raise some valid points
But sadly you don’t convince me.
Although my e-mail is not a complaint
Just an observation
I still think you should give me a hundred quid
Go on, go on, go on!!

I am confident that Santander will deal with this in the same professional way they dealt with my last “complaint”.

I look forward to hearing from them in due course.

IS THIS A RHETORICAL QUESTION?

My son came home yesterday to get all the stuff he left here over the summer. I’m putting him on my car insurance for 24 hours so he can drive to Manchester and to the various friends’ houses where he has the rest of his belongings scattered/stored.

It was a record breaking hot sunny 1^st October. We took the dogs for a walk through the woods, the woods where there is a pub at the end and had a pint in the beer garden.

I am not quite sure how this happened, but we ended up in the chippy. We both had a mini rissole, chips, peas and curry sauce. It was only three quid for both of us and no cooking or washing up. We ate them in the car. Then we dashed up to Morrison’s with my “get a free bottle of Encona chilli sauce” voucher. They’d sold out.

Driving back in the car we got to talking about how I am turning into my Mum. My lovely dear old Mum who, in the nicest possible way, used to talk absolute rubbish. She would ask pointless rhetorical questions such as “where are they going?”, “what are they doing?” about total strangers. The sort of things a toddler would say. My dear old Mum, who’d raised a family, held down a full time job, had one or two good wins on the bingo and went cold turkey to get herself off the tranquilisers the docs used to put so many women on in the 1970’s. My Mum who was so easily loved and adored by so many people. My Mum who had managed to hold everything together for so many years, was talking shite.

The thing is, I don’t really feel old. And it is only after the words have bypassed my brain and come out of my mouth that I realise how stupid they are. I understand why my son gets frustrated with me like I used to get frustrated with my Mum.

Its 6 years at the end of this month since my Mum died. What I wouldn’t give to hear one more rubbish, stupid, daft rhetorical question.

Where are you Mum and why aren’t you here now? I’ve got a rotten cold and I want my Mum. So what if I am nearly 55? Although this may sound like a rhetorical question, it is, in fact a statement.