Conquistador vs. (Gr)abbey - reclaiming small sums (<£100)

[conquistador]

Dear all,

First of all, what a great resource - well done everyone!

As I have all my old statements, I have just posted off the preliminary letter to Grabbey, demanding £67 in penalty charges. Given that this is a relatively small sum (there were only 2 charges), I was wondering whether it was more likely that Grabbey would pay up without too much fuss. Probably difficult to say for sure (they might reason that I wouldn't bother pursuing such a sum), but does anyone have any similar experience? I'd be interested to hear how things went...

Many thanks!

Conquistador

[Jane Austen]

Abbey are generally a tough nut to crack. However, if you used the letter from here they may recognise it (must have loads by now) and they may just pay up.
I can't see them letting an amount so small (compared to others), going all the way to a claim.

[conquistador]

One week after the preliminary letter, Grabbey Complaints Department has sent me a generic 'thank you for your complaint' letter, the bulk of which reads as follows:

"One of my team will be responsible for investigating your complaint and I have enclosed our Complaints leaflet, which explains our procedure for doing this. High quality customer service is of great importance to us at Abbey and we will do everything we can to resolve your complaint in a timely and satisfactory manner. I know it is important to you that we resolve your complaint quickly, but we want to do a thorough investigation and sometimes this can take time. If we have not contacted you before then, we will write to you in four weeks to let you know what is happening."

Unfortunately such a leisurely timescale is not acceptable to me. A 'letter before action' will be sent in one week, two weeks after the preliminary letter! Prepare for battle!

[conquistador]

This morning I received a letter from Grabbey Complaints, offering me a GOGW payment of £35, a leaflet from the Financial Ombudsman Service and denying that the charges are unfair. An excerpt follows:

"Having carried out a full investigation, I can assure you the charges do not contravene these [Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999] regulations and therefore I cannot agree to refund all of them. However, as a gesture of goodwill, I am happy to refund £35.
"The regulations say that we must explain our charges in plain language and that we have to act in good fairth, which, according to the OFT, means dealing fairly and openly with customers.
"I therefore reviewed the literature and information you received when you opened your account, including the terms and conditions. This explains that charges will be applied if you do not keep to the terms of this account. Because of this, I believe we have been fair and open in telling you about them. The charges were correct, because you did not have enough money in your account to cover payments requested from it. When I looked at the history for [sic] your account I found that, unfortunately, this was not the first time this has happened [no s**t, that's why I am claiming back TWO charges!!]"

I will be pursuing Grabbey for the full sum of £67, so the letter before action will be going out soon, according to the timetable in the FAQ. My question is: (i) do they automatically credit my account with the GOGW payment? (ii) does it matter what I do with the £35 that they have credited me (given that I will only accept the full £67)? Thanks!

[Karnevil]

goodness me you'd think they would just pay up the 67 woudlnt you. Hopefully they will see sense before you file in court.

Just send the next letter saying thanks for the £35 (check its in your a/c first) I will carry on my claim for the remaining £32 .

[conquistador]

Letter before action went in the post today. Let's see how much trouble they give me in trying to recover the one remaining charge of £32!

[conquistador]

A fortnight after my letter-before-action, Grabbey are not budging over the final £32. They deny that the charges contravene regulations and repeat much of the waffle mentioned in the previous letter. Interestingly, the letter comments that they "appreciate my concern that the Financial Ombudsman Service is an inappropriate forum" when I never raised any such concern. Clearly a standard form letter where even the date of my original letter was given as "12 2006" (?) so not even properly proofread either!

Moneyclaim here I come!!!

[conquistador]

Just filed my claim with Moneyclaim - the tidy sum of £36 including interest!

[conquistador]

My Moneyclaim claim was served on 1 November and Abbey acknowledged the claim on 9 November. How long do Abbey have to mount a defence? Is it 14 days after the acknowledgement OR 28 days after the claim was served?

Thanks!

[conquistador]

Abbey have now sent me their defence of the claim. Interestingly, the defence statement is in error as to the amount of charges debited to my account (they have included the interest within this sum).

Otherwise, it seems that the crux of the defence amounts to the argument that the fees reflect and are proportional to Abbey's administrative expenses incurred due to breach of contract.

In other words - nonsense!

[conquistador]

Merry Xmas all!

Had a nice Xmas present from Abbey this afternoon as the ATM machine swallowed my card! Presumably they have now blocked my account because of impending court action. The deadline for the allocation questionnaire passed last week so there may be a letter waiting for me after the Xmas holidays. Anyway, I'll pop down to the local branch tomorrow morning and see what they say. Enjoy the festivities!

[itsamomentintime]

Originally Posted by conquistador

Merry Xmas all!

Had a nice Xmas present from Abbey this afternoon as the ATM machine swallowed my card! Presumably they have now blocked my account because of impending court action. The deadline for the allocation questionnaire passed last week so there may be a letter waiting for me after the Xmas holidays. Anyway, I'll pop down to the local branch tomorrow morning and see what they say. Enjoy the festivities!

this is disgraceful - tell them that you want in writing a reason for the swallowing of the card. then post it here if you can

[conquistador]

Well, it seems like it was a false alarm. Abbey told me today that it happens occasionally with that particular ATM and they returned my swallowed card to me! Good old Abbey! See them in court!

[conquistador]

Well, after Abbey sent in their AQ in late, I now have a court date - but I have to wait until mid-June! Interestingly they have allocated 3 hours for the hearing!

[conquistador]

Hi all,

I have just delivered my court bundle to Abbey and (by hand) to Exeter County Court. The guy at the court looked over the bundle, asked me if I'd sent it to Abbey (which I had) and said all was fine.

However, do I need also to complete a witness statement form? If so, where can I get this? Is it a problem if I didn't include it with the bundle?

My court date is not until mid-June.

Conquistador

[conquistador]

OK, after searching some more threads, have now sent off witness statements to the Court and to Abbey. Despite my hearing not being until June, the deadline for the documents is very soon. Should I expect a bundle from Abbey???

[conquistador]

Received letter today from Abbey offering full settlement for £67.36 including £30 court fees!!! This was 2 weeks after I submitted my court bundle and witness statement. Luckily they didn't drag it out all the way until the court date!

Cheers everyone for the help - donation to follow!