CrispDust v Barclays ***WON***

[CrispDust]

Sent my Data Protection Act letter for my business account closed several years ago on 9th March. Just about to post a reminder when the statements arrived in the post on 25th March. Not bad and nothing paid.
Statements show more information than the usual statement, such as cleared fund etc.
So letter sent to today requesting £675 refund of charges over past 6 years.
Do you think they will be as quick to refund?

[monkey_uk]

I doubt it!

Good luck, and keep us posted.

Please keep us updated CrispDust!

[CrispDust]

Polite letter sent requesting refund of charges sent Fri 31st March, no reply to date so letter before action going today, recorded delivery.
Will keep you updated.

[CrispDust]

LBA letter recorded delivery 19th April 2006 to an address in Leicester -
Mr S Clintworth,
Barclays Bank Plc,
Retail Banking Customer Relations
Leicester
LE87 2BB

Received a letter today, dated 24th April, well over 3 weeks from my original refund request letter. Interestingly from a different address -
Freepost RLTA CSUE TCHC
Head Office Customer Relations,
London
E14 5HP
(which is actually the original address I sent my Data Protection Act request to.... )
with the "up yours" and no dice attitude that Barclays now seem to be adopting.
I think to play it safe I shall send another LBA letter to this new address, with a 7 day time limit, since 7 of the original 14 are now expired. Do you think that is reasonable? Unfortunately I will need to delay any moneycalim activity for a week after my deadline as I will be away at critical times for further action on this.
Do we serve legal papers on the business registered address?
Do peeps think Barclays may start to slog em out now, case by case in court?

[CrispDust]

Interesting - we seem to be getting a mix of 50% offers or flat refusals of anything from Brclays.
Is there any pattern to the reply from prelim letter?
I can't see one. I presume all refund request letter are roughly tyhe same, using a library template as basis.
Any thoughts?

[jonni2bad]

There seems to be so much inconsistancy across the board.

My thoughts are that some requests, for instance, go to Team A, some Team B, some Team C etc etc and that, because of a mixture of the banks inability to train their staff and give them clear, unabiguous instructions in how to deal with these, it is left to the discretion of the team leaders.

A prefers an attempt to settle at 50%
B couldn't give a **** and would like to "see you in court"
C will start low and increase if they have to

That sort of thing!

[mahala]

Originally Posted by jonni2bad

because of a mixture of the banks inability to train their staff

that's because Barclays would rather spend their cash on paying Hollywood actors to record "off-the-wall" adverts for them. I did once write to them and suggest that they re-routed their advertising budget into staff training. They sent me a £5 cheque to make up for the appalling service I'd received.

[coalfire]

We started off getting the usual couldn't give a **** see you in court, then we got the 50% offer and now we are waiting again.

[kessik]

Just spoken to someone at Barclays in Leicester who tells me I should write to:

Archive Situation
Barclays
Leicester
LE87 2BB

I've seen this address already on the board but I don't think I've seen the 'Archive Situation' department before. The girl I spoke to didn't think there was a charge when I asked her so I'm not filled with confidence and will send £10 anyway. Anyone else used this address and department successfully?

kessik

[omollmeg]

Hi I have been dealing with Lisa Brown
Address
Freepost RLTA-CSUE-TCHC
Head Office Customer Relations
London
E14 5HP

This was the one on the headed paper they sent me.
Good luck mate.

Well my letter was from Peter Townsend Data Protection Manager

Data Protection
Radbroke Hall
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 9EU


So its pot luck i guess!

[mahala]

I wrote to Peter Townsend and got a reply. I then replied to him, and got a reply from someone else - the subject access officer. Newly appointed perhaps?

Anyway, her details are:

Sharon Caffery
Subject Access Officer
Data Protection
Radbroke Hall
Knutsford
Cheshire
WA16 9EU

[CrispDust]

Didn't get a reply to my query - Do we put Barclays registered business address down on lega;l papers for small claims?
No further correspondance since LBA sent. Deadline expired Thursday last, Moneyclaim filled in and ready to send on Friday 12th May.

[pauli]

Edwina McPherson - Customer Relations Manager (how many of these do they have now!)

Freepost: RLTA-CSUE-TCHC
Head Office Customer Relations
London
E14 5HP

Direct Telephone number: 020 7116 5072

Very kindly in response to my initial demand had calculated the total amount charged over last 6 years and confirmed in her initial offer letter?

[Andy999]

The Head Office Customer Relations team is probably best to write to - these people deal with serious complaints. Any complaints recieved in branches that the staff can't deal with are passed to them anyway. Because Head Office is the top of the chain, they have to deal with the complaint - they can't pass it on to anyone else because there is nobody above them.

The Leicester, LE87 2BB address is known within Barclays as "Open Sort and Distribute". Any post sent to a Barclays branch should end up here where a team open it and forward it to the relevent department for action. Data Protection Act requests go to Radbrook Hall, copy statement requests go to Barclays Service Centre in Glasgow and complaints go to one of the Complex Query Centres or Head Office, depending on the nature of the complaint. If your letter is addressed to a named individual, it will be forwarded to them, but if the letter actually contains a general request (such as a copy of a statement), it will then be forwarded to the relevent department for action.

Most outgoing post will use the Leicester address - only a few departments use their own address. So you'll see leaflets etc telling you to write to "Savings, Leicester LE87 2BB", even though Savings is based in Liverpool.

I personally wouldn't bother writing to the branch manager as they only have limited discretion to refund charges, whereas Head Office can refund whatever they want.

[CrispDust]

I canot find a definitive answer to this in threads or FAQ. Below is a copy of claim particulars I would like to submit. It is some 600 letters over the 1080 character limt.

What can be removed, without jepordising the statement being made, to get it all to fit in?
"The Claimant had an account("the Account") with the Defendant which was opened before 1996,closed on or around September 2003.During the period in which the Account was operating the Defendant debited numerous charges to the Account in respect of purported breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant and also charged interest on the charges once applied. The Claimant understands that the Defendant contends that the charges were debited in accordance with the terms of the contract between itself and the Claimant. A list of the charges applied is attached to these particulars of claim. The Claimant contends that:The charges debited to the Account are punitive in nature; are not a genuine pre-estimate of cost incurred by the Defendant; exceed any alleged actual loss to the Defendant in respect of any breaches of contract on the part of the Claimant; and are not intended to represent or related to any alleged actual loss, but instead unduly enrich the Defendant which exercises the contractual term in respect of such charges with a view to profit. The contractual provision that permits the Defendant to levy such charges is unenforceable by virtue of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the common law. In the event that the charges are not a penalty then they are unreasonable within the meaning of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982 s.15 Accordingly the Claimant claims:the return of the amounts debited in respect of charges in the sum of £715.00 & any interest charged thereon; Court
costs; Interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act as set out on the attached list of charges or at such rate and for such periods as the court deems just"
Thanks in anticpation

[boonyed]

You need to look in the FAQ section, all the information you need is there. Its cut and paste so will fit.....ish.

[CrispDust]

Thank you for your reply boonyed, but I can't see anything relevant in FAQ and the templates are all in excess of 1500 words.
Perhaps someone who has submitted an online claim could post a anonymised (sp?) copy of the words/format they used.
Would be most grateful.