 brinkmanship...but a result
I wrote to Abbey complaining of their actions in deduction what amounted to more than £200 in charges on a £13 overdraft - a situation which lasted for just one day. I demanded the money be refunded and gave them 14 days to comply or legal action would follow. The time expired yesterday and I visited the county court at lunchtime to get the forms to begin a claim.
When I got home there was a letter from Abbey. Sent 2nd class it had taken five days to make the journey from Milton Keynes!
The letter appears below and is an almost complete capitulation on their part with all charges refunded to my account.
Dear xxxxxxx etc
Having investigated your complaint, I am now writing to confirm the details of my resolution.
I am sorry we have given you cause to complain in relation to charges totalling £XXX.00, incurred on your Abbey Bank Account, during the period xxx through to xxx 2006.
I have carefully considered the points you have raised, namely that you feel the charges are contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Regulations 1999. We do not feel that Abbey's charges are unfair under these regulations. 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.
The charges in question were prompted by requests for payment against insufficient available funds. As such, they are valid and in line with our Terms and Conditions. Having carefully reviewed the history of your account however, I can see that you have not incurred charges in the recent past. I am therefore satisfied that the charges in question are the result of an oversight on your part.
We do expect our customers to manage their accounts effectively. It is not our intention however to penalise them for one-off lapses. On that basis and as a further gesture of goodwill, I have refunded the charges concerned, totalling £XXX.00.
Ultimately, it is your responsibility to monitor your account and ensure there are sufficient funds in your account at all times, even in exceptional circumstances. Any future charges will therefore have to stand. If you are experiencing financial problems of a longer-term nature, you would need to contact our Debt Management Operations department on 0845 6039035 before further charges are incurred. My colleagues there will be happy to provide you with advice and assistance. Please note that no further charges will be refunded on the account.
This is my final resolution letter. However, if you would like to discuss the content of this letter or have any new points you believe should be taken into account, and which may make a difference to the outcome of the investigation, please contact me within 14 days of this letter on the above number. If I do not hear from you by then, and you have not asked us to extend that deadline for any reason, I will file my papers accordingly.
Should you be dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, I would like to remind you that you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I enclose a booklet explaining how to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and should you wish to do so, there is a time limit of six months from the date of this letter.
Yours sincerely
etc
I take exception to the line about the overdrawn nature of the account being an oversight on my part. It was the fault of the bank not starting to clear a cheque because it was deposited too late in the day.
I also take exception to the comment about future charges having to stand - There won't be any - but I have demanded details of previous charges and those will be repaid!
Thanks to this forum my account is well in credit and the Abbey have lost another claim. | 
