Last week I had my first "bad" experience related to my Santander Rio bank account.
My Visa payment was due no later than Tuesday, October 2nd. I waited until the morning of the second to initiate a transfer in the amount of just under $13,000 pesos using Transferwise.
I expected the funds to arrive "in about three hours" and had received all previous transfers were credited to my Santander Rio account within three hours. Within wto hours of instantiating the transfer I received an email indicating that Transferwise had the funds and would send them shortly.
Late in the afternoon I saw a message in my Transferwise account that the funds would arrive "later." I called customer service and I was told that because I asked for the funds to be sent from my bank account (as opposed to using my debit card) the transfer could take form one to three business days. All of my previous transfers were funds withdrawn from my bank account and all but the first one arrived within three hours. (I furnished the wrong CBU the first time.
The $13,000 transfer was credited about 11 AM the following morning and I made another payment to Visa in the amount of $8000. That left a balance of just under $5000 in my account, more than enough to cover all my expenses for which I would use a debit card until the end of October.
On Friday evening at about 7 PM I checked the balance in my Santander Rio account. Imagine how surprised I was to see the balance was $00.00.
In the recent account activity I could see a debit of just under $5000 made on Friday the fifth for a credit card payment from the sucursal in Bahia Blanca where I have my savings account. (The Visa account is in Capital Federal). I was not at the bank in Bahia Blanca on Friday and I did not make an on line payment. I checked my visa account and there was no payment credited on Friday.
I made a quick trip to one of the grocery stores in the nearby village to see if my card had been cancelled, but a $100 peso charge was approved.
When I returned home I checked my email and found one from the bank that was sent about five AM on Friday telling me to pay the $8000 or my card would be suspended. I tried calling the Santander Rio 24 hour customer service line but couldn't get through.
To top it all, the bank's website was down all weekend for maintenance. When I was finally able to log in on Monday morning I could see the $5000 debit had been credited to my Visa account.
Yesterday I returned to the same grocery store where I made the $100 charge on Friday evening. I had told the owner (who had been surprised to see me there in the evening as as i always shop at about 11 AM to get a fresh loaf of whole grain bread) what happened regarding my Visa and bank accounts.
He told me I should go to the office of consumer defense to ask if the bank has some liability for taking the money from my account on the second day after I made the payment, especially if I "suffered" any "inconvenience" as a result.
I told him I was not able to go to a bigger grocery store early Saturday morning in Punta Alta to purchase items he does not stock and also not be able to get cash to pay the mechanic for a brake job, and, as I was too close to the credit limit of my Visa card, I would not be able to buy medicine I need to take on a daily basis, or buy nafta for my car to get home from Punta .Alta after I got there.
When he heard this he repeated the suggestion to make a denuncia. It will be interesting to learn if the bank has any liability for the $5000 debit.
cheers
