Alliance & Leicester - preliminary e-mail sent

[Penny-Wise]

I have started pestering A&L, to repay £50 bank charges they took last year.

(I know £50 is not much but I have been through my statements for 4 bank accounts & 2 cards and all in all the charges add up to £410 so I plan to try and get them all back!).

Sent them an e-mail yesterday evening (28th March) as follows:



“I have been reviewing my bank statements online and am disappointed to note that you have levied two charges against my account, relating to the same period. The first went out on 16th September 2005 in the sum of £25 and the second charge of £25 left my account on 24th October 2005. I believe that £50 is not a true reflection of your costs and is punitive in nature. I understand that such charges are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations and am writing to ask that these be refunded as soon as is practicable. The £50 will of course go some way to paying off my current authorised overdraft.

I look forward to hearing from you within 14 days, letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. If I do not hear from you I will take further action to recover these fees.”





Received a standard reply at 4:30am 29th March





“Thank you for your e-mail
Having checked your account. I can confirm that the charges you are referring to have been raised correctly on your account.

The charges fall in line with our charging tariff. Which is stated clearly both in the terms and conditions of your account and on the reverse of your monthly Premier account statement.


Regards,
Alliance & Leicester Plc”





I sent them a further e-mail today:




“Thank you for your prompt reply.

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters.

It is my opinion, and that of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), that these charges are punitive in nature, not a genuine pre-estimate of cost and not intended to reimburse your losses for a breach of contract occurring. Further to the 1999 Consumer Credit Regulations quoted by the OFT, there are numerous cases in law that prove that punitive charges in contracts are unenforceable at English law.

Murray v Leisureplay (2004)
Dunlop Tyre Company v New Garage and Motor Co. (1915)
Bridge v. Campbell Discount Co. Ltd. (1962)

Further to these cases, I also believe these charges to be a direct breach of the Unfair Contracts Terms Act 1977 which require that contract terms be reasonable. I do not believe these charges are reasonable as outlined in the aforementioned Act.

With this in mind, I respectfully request that you return to me the charges made on this account within 14 days of receipt of my e-mail of 28th March (i.e. 11th April 2006). If you choose not to do so, I will start proceedings for recovery in the County Courts, as I believe that legally I am entitled to this money back. By doing so, you will be liable for our court costs and for an extra 8% APR as allowed by the County Courts Act (1984). This money would be used in some way to clear my overdraft on this account.”





No reply yet. If they don’t reply before 11th April I will send them the Letter Before Action.

Just wanted to thank you for setting up this site & thank everyone (in advance) for their support.

Penny-Wise

[richardc]

Well done and welcome. Keep us posted.

[Penny-Wise]

They have replied now - another standard response just saying they have passed my 'query' to customer services & someone will be in contact.


They're just trying to delay the inevitable

[Janet-M]

yes they are just delaying , you just set the pace and stick to your time limits

[Sinned666]

Hi, have you got a contact email address for A&L they have levied over £200 in charges against my account since december various £25's...

Also if i were to ask for me my money back which i am, do i just request my money from my own devised letter (email) or use the prelim letter from the library...

Thanks

[Neo]

If everyone uses the same letter in the library then i think we will have more luck and the banks will know there we are a group force, as it were

[Penny-Wise]

I use their internet banking and so just logged on and went to the ‘contact us’ bit. It’s probably best to do it this way then you don’t have to put your personal details in an e-mail?

Took me a while to actually find out how to e-mail them so I’ll post it.

Type your e-mail.

Log in to internet banking.

Click on ‘help’ at the top right of the page

Click on ‘view accounts’

Click on ‘contact details’

Click on ‘other ways to contact us’

Click on ‘send us an e-mail’

Then paste in your e-mail that you typed before. If you type it into the box it you will be timed out and will lose your e-mail

Hope that helps.

[Penny-Wise]

No reply as yet from Customer Services.

Sending off LBA today:



I now understand that the regime of 'fees' which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I calculate that you have taken £50 and require repayment in full of this money. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus my costs and without further notice.



Will be scrutinising all docs in the library and will know everything as well as the back of my hand well before the next two weeks are up (26th April).

[Sinned666]

Yep well i received my letter back from Alliance & Leicester stating they will not refund me as there charges are quite clearly shown?

They have said i can take if further if i wish, to the financial ombudsman.
Furthermore i will be sending the Letter before action today.

As they have since my last post incurred more charges on my account.