matt-man v A & L

[matt-man]

Hi

I've already sent a few letters off to A & L requesting refund of charges etc however i never knew this site existed so i haven't followed the tried and tested letter formats. I hope this hasn't screwed up my chances of recovering the charges they have imposed!!!
You'll see the letters i sent cut and pasted below and i'll also put there responses so far. A bit of background first though, i worked in a branch of A & L and they won't pay you unless you have an account with them to pay it into so i had no choice but to open an account with A & L!!! Not sure but will this affect my claim?

Anyway, letter number 1 i sent on 8th Nov 2006

Dear Alliance & Leicester

I wish to make a complaint about the excessive bank charges I have been charged by yourselves since I opened my account in February 2003.

As you will see, I was required to open an account with Alliance & Leicester because I became an employee. I was advised at the time that I had no choice to open an account as you would only pay my salary into an Alliance & Leicester account, even if I objected to your terms & conditions. As a new employee I didn’t wish to rock the boat with my new employers, so I opened the account that was instructed upon me.

Since I have had my account with you, I have had an extremely large amount of bank charges enforced upon me, I do not have full records, however I estimate these charges to be in the region of £4000 over this period.

On occasions you have taken charges from my account causing direct debits or cheques to be returned then charged me again for being overdrawn and returning the direct debit or the cheque. To add insult you have also requested the issuer to represent the cheque raising another charge when you would have been able to see that my salary wasn’t due to be credited until a certain date.

I am extremely disappointed with this service and I would like you to firstly, advise me of what the exact figure of charges is over this period and secondly, let me know what course of action you intend to take about this matter.

I look forward to a speedily response.


They didn't respond to this letter but did send me a form to fill in requesting access to personal data held on there systems about me. I didn't fill it in or send it back.
Now they didn't actually acknowledge my complaint at this time what so ever!

The next letter i sent wasn't until 5th Feb 2007:

Dear Alliance & Leicester

I wrote to you on 8th November 2006 informing you I would like to make a complaint about excessive bank charges I have incurred since I have had my bank account with you.

To date I have still not had even an acknowledgement of the complaint from you.

I know that you have received my letter of complaint as one thing you did do was send me a form to fill in requesting all information you have on file about me under the data protection act, even though I did not request this.

All you have done since my complaint is close my account with yourselves.

As you can imagine I am upset about the fact that my complaint wasn’t taken seriously and that you couldn’t even acknowledge my complaint. I understand this is in breach of the FSA’s rules so I am shocked that a bank that I once worked for acts in such a manner.

I would like my complaint to be finalised by 12th February 2007 otherwise I will have no choice but to pursue my complaint through the Financial Ombudsman and inform the FSA of the fact my complaint wasn’t even acknowledged.

Please find enclosed a copy of the original letter of complaint.

I look forward to a speedily reply.


Now they did reply to this and it goes as follows:

Dear Matt-man

You contacted us recently regarding charges made on your account.
I have now had an oppertunity to review why these charges were raised and have also considered your comments. I can now confirm that the charges have been applied correctly in line with the terms and conditions of your account and as such i regret i am unable to agree a refund on this occasion.

It then goes on to give me a guide of bank charges and making sure you have enough money in your account etc etc.

I then sent them another letter on the 14th Feb 2007 as follows:

Dear Alliance & Leicester


Thank you for your recent letter regarding charges applied to my account.


I have acknowledged your response, however, while theses charges may be in line with your terms and conditions of this account I consider these to be excessive.


I do not dispute why the charges were applied to my account, what I do dispute is the excessive nature of them.

I would like to remind you once again that I had no choice in opening this account due to becoming a member of staff.

I would like you to reconsider your decision of not to refund the charges.

I will be pursuing legal action if this matter is not satisfactorily settled within a week as this complaint has been dragging on since early November 2006 already and so far I have only received one letter in acknowledgement despite this being my third letter you.

I look forward to a speedy response


There response to this was:

Dear Matt-man

Thankyou for your recent enquiry in respect of charges.
I have carefully considered the circumstances in which the charges were raised and can confirm they are correct to your account. I am therefore unable to alter our original decision.
I am sorry that on this occasion i cannot be of any further assistance.

Now this is where i'm at now. I still don't know the exact figure i should be claiming so today i am going to send a cheque for £10 asking for the exact amout and then i want to apply the 8% interest on it but what should be next move? Do i go online and start court proceedings staright after i know the exact figure?

By the way i no longer work for A & L!

Matt

[matt-man]

Right that's my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) in the post so by my reckoning they have until 2nd April to get my statements to me, cricky seems ages away!!!
Do they normally leave it till the last moment before sending them?

[jansus]

See my thread - I have just recd questionaire. Having read other threads the time taken to send statements varies a lot - sometimes quite quick.

As the next stage moves quickly it is a good chance to read up all FAQs and threads from other forums as well as they contain lots of good info.

Best of luck

jansus

[pamandal]

Hi and welcome to the forum, yes A&L do vary quite a bit, hopefully you may get your statements fairly quickly, I was just unfortunate and was messed around but thats not always the case. Anyway best of luck with your claim and Keep posting, so we can follow your progress.

[matt-man]

Cheers guys, will keep you informed of what happens and good luck on your own plight!

[matt-man]

I've been looking on other threads and one guy how was reclaiming his charges from Halifax managed to get the fax number for the department that sends out the statements. When he was able to see they had signed for it he then faxed a copy of the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to them and they sent out his statements within a week!!! Does anyone have such a fax number for A & L?

[redgemini]

Hi Matt, i'm not sure but it may just be the main Bootle fax number addressing your fax to the Customer Contact Centre? This number is 0151 966 2009 - or you could phone them & ask - the main Bootle telephone number is 0151 928 8181 & the main Carlton Park (leicester) phone number is 0116 201 1000 (fax number 0116 200 4040 )
I too used to work for the evil A&L & am in the process of claiming nearly £2k back from them!

[matt-man]

Cheers redgemini

At least i can chase them in a week now!!!
I got a feeling mine may top the £5k mark before interest is added!
How far down the line are you? And how long did it take them to get your statememts to you?

Matt

[redgemini]

Hi Matt,
I have just (today) sent my letter before action to them - although my account is clear & closed now I still want my money back! lol! It didnt take them too long to send the statements through - maybe a couple or three weeks?
I sent a Data Protection Act request through for my other half on the 5th Feb and am waiting for his statements to arrive now!

[matt-man]

Well i've just sent off a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to HBoS & to Capital One as well so do you want to cage a bet on who'll settle first?

Matt

[matt-man]

Quick question for anybody listening!

I've seen on some other threads that some people have sent off a prem letter and schedule of charges sheet for the amount they can work out from the statements they do have. They then add more on once they have all the charges when the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) gets replied to.

Would anyone recommend this?

The big advantage is that the ball is already moving once the statements finally arrive!

Cheers

Matt

[matt-man]

Right i've prepared the following letter, what's your thoughts? Should i send it now or am i just being too impatient?

21st February 2007


LETTER BEFORE ACTION

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx


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 have requested a Subject access request so that I can fully calculate what you have taken. However from the statements I do have I can see that you have charged me overdraft interest on the sums you have taken as well.


I have now written to you four times requesting refund of all charges applied to my account. This will be my last letter before action.

I require repayment in full of all charges that have been applied to my account since I have had it and the removal of any default notices from my credit report. If you do not comply fully within 14 days then I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount plus interest plus a claim under ss.7 and 13 of the Data Protection Act 1998 plus my costs and without further notice once the information is received from my subject access request.



Yours faithfully,

Matt Man

[younganfree]

Hi, matt-man.

Before I say anything, let me stress it is only my own humble opinion and can, therefore, be accepted or kicked out of touch at your pleasure!

What's your hurry, dude?

From my monitoring of the forum over the last 9 months or so, things tend to go smoother when claimants follow the tested format, (which includes a tried and tested time-table). People can find themselves getting into scrapes which then prolong the process when they try to rush in without knowing what they are doing.

If there is no desperate need to try for a quicker settlement why not just sit back and coast? Others have already done the difficult groundwork for you - all you have to do is follow their lead.

[matt-man]

Yeah i suppose your right.

But the thing i'm confused about is what i should do when i recieve the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) back? You'll see above that i have had recent correspondence from them already.

Cheers

Matt

[younganfree]

If I were you I'd start from scratch. Pretend none of the above had happened as they seem incapable of entering a dialogue with you. In my book giving the same answer every time is not dialogue, it is pure ignorance.

Get your S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) laid out once it arrives and reckon up your charges, then fire off the first letter as shown in the site's library and follow the rest of the procedure as and when. The reason I'd do it this way personally is that if it went to court (even tho highly unlikely) they do not have to tell the judge that you were previously in contact with them and it might look to a judge that you were being unreasonable and not giving them enough opportunity to respond - not that they'd be so devious you understand.

Alternately, (and I'd go very cautiously here), you could possibly send an adjusted LBA saying "following my correspondence to you dated such & such, such& such and such & such, it is obvious you intend not to refund my requested bank charges, therefore, I have no alternative but to issue you with the following notice to proceed to court" or words along those lines and however they will then fit in with what the forum's LBA says.

Any help?

[matt-man]

That's great younganfree

I've been hoping someone would give me some advice on this.
I'll wait for the S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to come back and make a decision then.

Thanks again.

Matt

[younganfree]

Glad to've been of assistance Matt.

It's best to remember that we are a "self-help" group and that claiming is more of an art than a science, if you see what I mean?

I think what I'm trying to say is that, apart from the mods on here (and sometimes even they'll admit they don't know the answer to a question) anything anyone says can only be taken as advice and not as "the gospel according to St. whoever".

Keep posting an we'll keep putting in our tuppence worth.

p.s. Were you one of those nice smily faces who sat behind the counter in a local branch when you worked for them?

[matt-man]

No, believe it or not i was a Financial Adviser, guess i should of known better eh?!?