Having been a loyal customer to Bank of Scotland for five years after getting fed up with their support I decided to open a new bank account with another bank. I decided on Santander as they seemed respectable. I was so wrong! Where my inter-bank transfer through BOS takes up to two hours, Santander is guaranteed to take at least three days, but more often, four days. That is manageable though once you realise the limitations on your account.
Then there's their transaction limit. Now, I understand why one cannot withdraw more than £300 from an ATM but can you please explain to me why my bank would not even allow to me buy a purchase of £250 because my total transactions for that day with the addition of that purchase would have exceed my daily limit of £300?! It was so embarrassing having my transaction denied when I knew I had more than enough in my bank account.
To add the final frustration, they only have 0800 numbers which makes contacting them almost impossible for students without going into the branch.
If you want a bank that is hard to reach, has a bad user interface design and has so many limitations then Santander is for you. If not, I highly recommend you don't register a bank account with them!