I' scared - FA vs Cahoot

[fannyadams]

Ok
I have just written the Data Protection Act letter to Cahoot regarding a bank account i had with them about 3 years ago and have since closed. I think they owe me about £79.00. Not much, but when I add it to the other banks charges it makes a tidy sum £230!
I read a lot of the correspondence on here and it looks like Cahoot like to be intimidating.
I'm hoping as it's sucha small amount htey'll just refund it and I won't need to go to court.
Thanks for looking.
FA

[Bookworm]

Most people feel that way...
Except for a few Rottweilers here and there who desperately want to get to court, and keep on getting foiled by those pesky banks paying up before they get there!

[fannyadams]

got this EMAIL reply on 28 April 2006, in response to the LETTER I worte to their offices:
"Thank you for contacting cahoot.

I am sorry that you felt you had to contact us concerning the level of service that you have received from cahoot. Please accept this e-mail as acknowledgement that your issues have now been brought to the attention of cahoot's Service Relationship Managers.

At cahoot, we aim to satisfy our customers at all times. We have a complaints handling procedure in place to ensure that you receive a quick and fair response to any complaints you may have about our service. At each stage of the complaints procedure, the details of your case will be reviewed and fully investigated. You will be kept informed of what is happening and we will do everything we can to help you. For a full description of our complaints procedure, please log into your personal homepage on the cahoot website via www.cahoot.com. Please scroll down to the bottom of the home page and click into our 'Important Information' section. Details of our complaints procedure can be found under the heading "Complaints Policy". This is the seventh legal notice and can be found immediately after the section which relates to "Third party websites and products".

It is our policy to acknowledge all complaints within 24 hours (or the next available working day) and wherever possible to resolve. In the event that detailed investigation is necessary, we will endeavour to give you a full reply within 5 working days. In the circumstances where this is not possible, we will keep you informed of progress regularly.

Yours sincerely,

Service Relationship Team"
-----------------------
I emailed this back on 28 April 2006:
"Hi
My bank account has been inactive for at least 3 years and therefore I am sorry but I am unable to recall my log in information.
This is why I wrote to you.
Would you please be so kind to write to my home address, as I am unwilling to correspond via the insecure medium of email.
I look forward to hearing from you soon
With best regards
"
---------------
I have absolutely NO IDEA what the log in would be for my ex-account.
AFAIC as soon as I've ditched the bank, I've moved on and changed passwords/contacts etc. I KNOW I couldn't even BEGIN to HAZARD a GUESS as to how to log in to the website - so them saying 'just log in and go here' beggars belief and shows me that they are stalling for time. As of today I have had no response, to my email. Maybe I should email them again, or Maybe it's recoreded delivery letter time...

[fannyadams]

I sent them a 'snotty' email about how they said they'd be in touch and how they haven't been in touch by letter. and got a bland "the letter is in the post, you should get it within the next 48 hours" reply.
The letter from David Cafferty, service relationship manager, cahoot reads:
"I have taken ownership of your case to provide a response to your recent letter. I note that you have requested a subject access rrequest in accordance with the Data Protection Act. from your letter it is clear that the main reason for this is to obtain information pertaining to the charges applied to your former account. To avoid charging a fee for a Subject Access Request I am happy to provide the information relating to charges on your account. I have checked your former account and found 3 charges applied over the life of the account <total £70>."

OK so on to the next stage. I'll double check my accounts package with the details in it to see if I was OD when they were applied and then I'll ask for them to pay them back.
Woo, Hoo!

Just be careful that it is only £70 as some banks have done this and leter found out it is more!

They still have to comply with the Data Protection Act so make sure you double check for yourself!

Lou x

[fannyadams]

Thank Lueeze
They have itemeised my charges and because I have all my statements in Excel I just wanted to make sure they were singing from the same song sheet as I am.
it's £70 of which £45 made me more overdrawn. How do you calculate the interest? This is the extra OD interest not hte counrt interest.
I wanna be sure I claim it all.

[fannyadams]

OMG, they totally caved!
whilst completely disagreeing that the charges were unfair they agreed to refund the whole lot coz "having reveiewd the history of your account I can see that in general your account was well managed and the charges detailed in your letter represented uncharacteristic breaches of our T&C".
he continues "a protracted discussion regardign these charges is in neither parties interest so I have enclosed a cheque for £XX.XX as a gesture of goodwill"
Off to the bank to pay it in tomorrow.
I'm RICH, rich beyond my wildest dreams (and I have some prety wild dreams I can tell you)!
Thank you all for your support...
FA

[barracad]

Congratulations!!!