'Don't get cross, get cross-stitching': Man gets so fed up waiting for new Santander debit card to arrive he stitches his own

It's really, really good – but might not work at ATMs

Adam Withnall
Wednesday 20 May 2015 19:17 BST
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Londoner Keith Clark cross-stitched his own Santander bank card after the bank took too long to send him a real one
Londoner Keith Clark cross-stitched his own Santander bank card after the bank took too long to send him a real one

A man who grew fed up waiting for Santander to send him a replacement debit card has decided to make his own – of sorts.

Keith Clark, who said he works 15 minutes from Santander’s head office in London and lived within minutes of “a dozen branches”, complained on the bank’s Facebook page that he had been waiting for 19 days and would likely be without a card for another eight to 10.

Describing the service as “completely unacceptable”, the 29-year-old said he had decided to make his own version of the card and send it via recorded post to Santander.

Been waiting for a replacement debit card for 19 days. First guy that said he sent one out, didn't, second one is...

Posted by Keith Clark on Monday, 18 May 2015

“Let’s do an experiment shall we?” he wrote. “I don't know how to make an actual debit card unfortunately. What I am good at though, really, really good at, is cross-stitching. Yes cross-stitching. I'm a cool guy.”

The post – including a picture of the finished stitched card – went viral, featuring on a number of websites and receiving hundreds of likes.

And Mr Clark told the BBC that his creation arrived at Santander’s head office on Wednesday, two days after he posted it. He said: “If I can knock something out and send it within three days, why can’t they?”

It wasn’t all bad for Santander – Mr Clark did praise the bank for flagging up that he needed a replacement card in the first place following a fraud risk. He told the his stitching stunt was “purely to let the customer services guy who wasn’t that interested know it was quite irritating”.

A Santander spokesperson said: "We’ve apologised to Keith for the delay in receiving his replacement card. A new card has been ordered and we’re hoping this will be sewn up for him by the weekend. Excellent customer service is always our top priority and we’re pleased Keith has accepted our apology, along with £50 for the inconvenience caused.

"To applaud Keith on his first class cross-stitch skills, and in recognition of the time and effort he has put in, we’re making a donation to his local scout group."

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