Abbey National's reply

[shnooky]

This is a copy of the letter I received from Abbey after sending them the first request letter :-


Dear Miss


Thank you for your letter dated 11 March 2006, I apologise for the delay in coming back to you.

With regard to your request for a refund under Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations, we don’t believe that Abbey’s charges are unfair under these.

When you opened the account with Abbey, you were provided with Terms and Conditions that detailed the charges that become applicable should you breach the terms of the account. Abbey is up front and transparent about all its banking charges as set out in the tariff of charges.

Abbey’s bank account is good value and our charges compare fairly with other banks. For most people, banking is free and they don’t incur penalty charges.

If the complaint escalates into a claim in the County Court, we will review each case individually, and if we feel that our relationship with our customer has broken down completely, we may decide to give notice to close the account under the Terms and Conditions.

An investigation of all the charges relating to your complaint has been carried out. As they’ve all been applied in line with our current tariff of charges and haven’t arisen as a result of proven Abbey error, no further refunds will be applied.

Please be assured I’ve carried out a full investigation for you and I hope you feel I’ve offered a fair response to all of the issues you’ve raised. I’ll keep your file open for the next eight weeks and if I don’t hear from you within that time, I’ll assume that everything is resolved and will close your file.


It's quite funny actually, especailly the part about giving notice to close the account, because the account has already been closed for a least 2 years now, so that just goes to show how much of a ' full investigation' they have carried out.

My next step is a letter informing them that they have 7 days before I take it to court.

I'll keep you posted.
[/i]

[comanche]

Yes, you know what to do.

[Natasha]

thats the standard letter they send out to everyone!

best wishes

[nickmack]

Originally Posted by shnooky

If the complaint escalates into a claim in the County Court, we will review each case individually, and if we feel that our relationship with our customer has broken down completely, we may decide to give notice to close the account under the Terms and Conditions.


It's quite funny actually, especailly the part about giving notice to close the account, because the account has already been closed for a least 2 years now, so that just goes to show how much of a ' full investigation' they have carried out.

Exactly, it shows they don't even bother to look at each case, hoping you might go away after they've made their standard threat. I would remind them in your follow up letter that you are disappointed with their version of a 'full investigation' and they are not taking your claim seriously.

[Robertxc]

Interesting that they refer to it as a 'penalty charge'. Make sure you keep this letter as evidence.

Why would you bother writing a follow up to this letter? Presumably your first letter told them what will happen if they don't give you your money back, so if I were you I'd just go straight to the court.

[BankFodder]

Can we have a scan of this letter please. i have pm'd you.

Research@bankactiongroup. co.uk