Cahoot anyone?

[lprescot]

Hi,

Just found this site, very interesting, and made me look back through my bank statements, in the last year I have paid Cahoot 670 pounds in charges on my current account and 175 pounds on the credit card.

That's a total of £840 pounds, for me that's over 2 months rent. I admit I have struggled over the last year, because of the arrival of my daughter in November 2004.

So do you think I should contact Cahoot and try to reclaim some of those charges, has anyone challanged Cahoot before?

[lprescot]

Any help would be great

[richardc]

Yes you should take them on. They are subject to the same laws as everyoneelse. You will find step by step guide in FAQ

[comanche]

IIRC correctly Cahoot are just Abbey in disguise. Go for it!

[lprescot]

Yes the total is 1500 over 2 years, I have started with a letter.

That's a crazy amount, on a few occasions they have charged me 25 pounds for not honouring a 10 pound direct debit..

[keld]

Hi

Saw the link yesterday from moneysavingexpert and sent a letter to cahoot asking for the records under Data Protection Act. Cahoot are good at charging you twice if your over your limit at the statement date. If I get something back its a bonus.

[Docubot]

No - think properly.

You WILL get it all back. It's your money after all.

[lprescot]

I have taken the first step, I have wrote a letter giving them 14 days to pay up basically.

They received it today and sent me an email to say this is being looked in to.

Will keep you posted

[richardc]

Well done. Keep us posted

[lprescot]

Nothing relaised what it was... ignore this

[lprescot]

Got a reply to my letter sent via post, Cahoot's reply was via email.

"Dear Mr ******,

Thank you for your recent letter regarding charges on your cahoot credit card account.

We do not accept that the cases that you mention apply in this situation or that cahoot's charges are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. The object of these Regulations was not price control nor were they intended to interfere with people's freedom to agree the terms of their contracts.

It is well known that banks make charges and cahoot's charges are in line with those of other banks. The terms and conditions of the account and the charges that apply are clear and fair and were provided to you at the time you opened it. You freely agreed to the terms and conditions and the charges when you opened the account. You were not under any obligation to do so and could have gone to another bank if you did not agree to the charges. Equally, you are free to move your account to another bank at any time if you do not agree with the charges.

In any event, we do not agree that the charges are disproportionate. The
charges are reasonable and proportionate to the administrative costs incurred by cahoot.

For the above reasons I will not be refunding any charges. I am sorry that I cannot be writing on more of a positive note and apologise for any
disappointment that this may cause.

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Your sincerely

*** ***********
cahoot Service Relationship Manager"

I find that email some what rude, or is it just me? Basically Cahoot are telling me to go away.

[Docubot]

Of to court then.

[richardc]

About all you can expect at this stage. They hope you will just give up..Carry on with your timetable.

[lprescot]

Think I should send the 2nd letter before court action or that reply good enough to justify sending a small claims?

Cahoot have disgusting service, last year they sent me an email with most of my banks details, the only thing missing was my password, other than that they sent the lot via email.

My Address, name, age, telephone number, credit card number, my works email address and telelphone number. Took them pest part of 3 months to sort that out and offer a decent apology.

[kaiser_solsay]

Hello,

I am 10 days into my claim with Cahoot. I received the exacty same email from Cahoot detailing:

I refer to your letter dated 8th March 2006 regarding your cahoot current account. I've taken ownership of your specific case to provide a response to the issues you've raised.

We don't accept that the cases that you mention apply in this situation or that Abbey's charges are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. The object of these Regulations wasn't price control nor were they intended to interfere with people's freedom to agree the terms of their contracts.

It is well known that banks make charges and Abbey's charges are in line with those of other banks. The terms and conditions of the account and the charges that apply are clear and fair and were provided to you at the time you opened it. You freely agreed to the terms and conditions and the charges when you opened the account. You were not under any obligation to do so and could have gone to another bank if you did not agree to the charges. Equally, you are free to move your account to another bank at any time if you do not agree with the charges.

After checking all of the statements issued on your account since it was opened, I can confirm that a total of exactly £900 has been debited for exceeding your agreed overdraft limit. For the above reasons I will not be reimbursing any of these charges. I am sorry that I cannot be writing on more of a positive note and apologise for any disappointment that this may cause. If you still require copies of the statements attached to your account, please email me accordingly.

Yours sincerely

cahoot Service Relationship Manager

I have replied to this email advising them that I have now started a claim via the county court system (using online moneyclaim website).

I will post my next correspondence.

Anyone had any success with Cahoot yet?

I am rolling my sleeves up this week and filing letters of action with:

Clydesdale bank PLC
Nationwide Credit Card Services
Egg Credit Card Service

Gonna be a busy week!

Regards,

Kaiser

[lprescot]

Christ so I got a standard reply, Cahoot's service manager used a pre type email, he didn't even take his time to write a personal reply.

Thanks for showing me that.

[sim@simpol.net]

Just to let you all know, I've taken on Cahoot and won! Here is the e-mail I got:

Dear Mr *****,

I refer to your letter dated the 9th March 2006 regarding your flexible loan account. I've taken ownership of your specific case to provide a response to the issues you've raised.

We don't accept that the cases that you mention apply in this situation or that Abbey's charges are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. The object of these Regulations wasn't price control nor were they intended to interfere with people's freedom to agree the terms of their contracts.

It is well known that banks make charges and Abbey's charges are in line with those of other banks. The terms and conditions of the account and the charges that apply are clear and fair and were provided to you at the time you opened it. You freely agreed to the terms and conditions and the charges when you opened the account. You were not under any obligation to do so and could have gone to another bank if you did not agree to the charges. Equally, you are free to move your account to another bank at any time if you do not agree with the charges.

Although the charge is valid, I can see that this was an isolated incident so as a genuine gesture of goodwill, I've made the decision to refund the charge in question. I trust that this is to your satisfaction.

If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me at service.relationship.team @cahoot.com.

Yours sincerely

Lee Berdauskas
cahoot Service Relationship Manager


*********************
Internet communications are not necessarily secure and may be intercepted or
changed after they are sent. cahoot does not accept liability for any such
changes.
If you wish to confirm the origin or content of this communication, please
contact the sender using an alternative means of communication.

This communication does not create or modify any contract.

This email may contain confidential information intended solely for use by
the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient of this communication
you should destroy it without copying, disclosing or otherwise using its
contents.

Please notify the sender immediately of the error.

cahoot is a division of Abbey National plc.
Abbey National plc is registered in England, registered number 2294747.
Registered Office: Abbey National House, 2 Triton Square, Regent's Place,
London, NW1 3AN.

[martinwhite]

We don't accept that the cases that you mention apply in this situation or that Abbey's charges are unfair under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999. The object of these Regulations wasn't price control nor were they intended to interfere with people's freedom to agree the terms of their contracts.

Oh yeah! So what do they think IS the purpose of an item called Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations then! One surmises, from the title, that it's to prevent terms being inserted into consumer contracts that are considered unfair! Ha! This is the funniest thing I've heard all day! Alternatively, it's such an insult to the intelligence that it also makes me really really angry!

It is well known that banks make charges and Abbey's charges are in line with those of other banks.

This is known as the fallacy of "Appeal to common practice" where because X is widespread/common, X is therefore legal/ethical/justified, without any other independent justification or reasoning.

The terms and conditions of the account and the charges that apply are clear and fair and were provided to you at the time you opened it. You freely agreed to the terms and conditions and the charges when you opened the account. You were not under any obligation to do so and could have gone to another bank if you did not agree to the charges. Equally, you are free to move your account to another bank at any time if you do not agree with the charges.

They've already said that their charges are in line with other banks, so what difference would it make to go to another bank!

Also, blatant "begging the question" by insisting that the charges are fair yet without any reference to the legal terms that judge what "fair" in this context would be. Also, this is, as we have already said, covered by Common Law and other legislation, so it really is beyond the pale to insist that the charges are fair.

Although the charge is valid, I can see that this was an isolated incident so as a genuine gesture of goodwill, I've made the decision to refund the charge in question. I trust that this is to your satisfaction.

Again, the tactic is to "beg the question" rather than offer any substantive argument.

Lee Berdauskas
cahoot Service Relationship Manager

Maybe you should write to the Managing Director/Chairman and ask if it's standard "Service Relationship" policy to tell their customers:

1. we didn't force you to have an account with us
2. If you don't like it, bugger off to another bank.

That would really work with me! I would feel so valued as a customer now!

Martin

[kaiser_solsay]

I just logged onto to start my claim using the Moneyclaim website, but it states that I must have an address in either England or Wales. I am from Scotland.....is there a Scottish Moneyclaim website that I should be using?

Can anyone help?