convenient excuse?

[nutgatherer]

am pursuing the unco-operative bank to have them revoke their charges set against me and have had to report them to the Information Commissioner's Office for failure to comply with my subject access request within 40 days

At the same time, i sent them the letter before action hoping to hurry them along or jog their memory - because i know just how hard it is for such a large business to tend to their customers requests in a prompt and helpful manner; within 7 days they send me their first bit of correspondence and guess what? they never received my original subject access request! how funny...

the letter states that they are willing to action my request as soon as possible but request a fee of five pounds and then go on to say that once the fee has been received they will provide the fee within 40 days!!!

what do i do?! i already sent them 10 pounds which they apparently never received. they have me right where they want me: threatening them with court action but with no dates and figures to fight with...and to top it all off, they are faffing around by saying that they will respond within 40 days...arghh, it's an kafka-esque nightmare!!

CAN ANYONE HELP?!

i am going to speak to the Information Commissioners Office as they have acknowledged my complaint

the only other thin i can think of riht now is to contact the bank itself and confront them about the issue...anyone had a similar situation?

pray tell

take care all

[ian cognito]

How did you send the £10, if it was a cheque or postal order, you will know if they cash it?

I work over the road from Balloon Street (their head office) I can take the letter in person if you e-mail it but can't help with the £10 I'm afraid!

[Aitken Brotherston]

Basically if they can say they did not receive the request, it is a reasonable defence.

Did you send the request letter "recorded delivery" ?
If not and they did not cash the cheque/postal order then you should start again but watch in case they cash your 1st cheque/postal order. If they do I would suggest they have committed fraud.

If they have cashed the cheque/postal porder or you did send it "recorded Delivery" then pursue them via the information Commissioner.

[nutgatherer]

thanks you guys for the advice and support...

all is good - i called them up and asked them to debit from my account the £5 that they required to kickstart the subject access request so now i wait...

thanks for the offer of hand delivery JANQUINNY

and no fraud as the original cheque ain't been cashed as yet...

cheers guts

[ian cognito]

No fraud!!! they took a tenner off me for my Subject Access Request, I await my £5 refund with anticipation........glad you got it sorted.

[nutgatherer]

hi all

how's the bank slaying going?

good, good...

so, at last i have all my statements dating back six years...!

NB. you may be interested to know that i started this claim against co-op back in may, (alongside one to barclays), and - just to give you an idea of how much time wasting/bluffing/downright dubious processes that can and will be used to try and put you off their scent - the one for barclays is just waiting for me to file the allocation questionnaire before being given a hearing date!!!

The advantage of all their mussin' (oh alright, and my slight slackness - but only at the beginning...?!) is that i am SO much clearer about the process than i was back in the summer, in fact i am downright relishing it!

this whole process is a weird way to operate a kind of saving regime - but i like it


Anyhoo, i'm gonna go now...spreadsheet and request for charges and interest to be repaid being sent out tomorrow

Thanks for all your brilliant work and bless you all that are fighting them


REMEMBER: you WILL win

[nutgatherer]

hey diddly

just a quick update...received a reply to my request for repayment that was blatantly a computer-spat document (complete with opening sentence : "thank you for contacting us recently to let us know you are unhappy with our service or products"...if that don't give it away); the rest of the letter was basically concerned with wasting my time...so, sent them my LBA and have had a surprisingly similar reply except this time they state that they are looking into the matter and will have a reply for me within the next 6 weeks...obviously i have nothing better to do than wait around for a large company like theirs pull their finger out of their proverbial and sort out my complaint; i have sent them my schedule of charges twice for their convenience!!

perhaps i should call them and offer to come down myself and give them a hand...

so onto MCOL, as they force me to take them through the courts

good luck to you all and keep battlin 'em...

nutty

PS. caught a programme on welsh radio the other day that was covering the bank charges issue, and was urging people to check out this and other sites and to bother the banks for their money back...so the crusade grows

xx

[ian cognito]

I had the same and recieved my refund about a week after LBA, don't want to build your hopes up because i know they treat everyone differently but hang in there!

[nutgatherer]

hey janquinny cheers for the support and

CONGRATULATIONS

did you get a full refund?

well, where am i? well, succesfully sent through my court claim via MCOL on 17/11/06 as time limit for a full refund up, plus got bored of their automated responses...had a lovely weekend learning to waltz and cha cha cha, and started the new week confident in the progress of my claim (as i am a few stages further in with barclays at present, so have been here before)

Then tue brings another letter from my man christopher cardwell at co-op, referencing my letter dated 19/10/07 - all very confusing as had received reply to LBA only 4 days before and had his name at bottom also...! Effiency and communication people, i mean come on...

Anyhoo, he's basically apologising for the delay in his response (the one which is clearly laid out in their complaints leaflet that is included with the letter - another breach perhaps...?) and he goes on to mention the terms and conditions blah blah blah BUT ater careful consideration co op are willing to recredit the total of my charges (£570, to date) and would i arrange a payment method with them over the phone

he then goes on to say that the overdraft interest part is non-refundable as it was not mentioned in recent statements made by the OFT

Well, all this is not only a little too late, but it's hardly reasonable is it? So. i decided to give my man a call, except that the only port of call i've ever been given is their customer helpline call centre number which we all know don't really get you to anyone that you really need to speak with regarding matters similar to these does it?; how wrong i was! the nice fella i chatted with looked up old CC and said that "typically" (his words not mine) my man is only available tween 8.30 - 4.30, exactly the same hours that i work...but he gives me his extension no. and now i have direct contact - huzzah!

So, i decide to give him a nice early call and get told that he is busy on another call - either another disgruntled customer that beat me to it or perhaps another bluff...i ask if they can get him to call me back, and he does pretty promptly, launching straight in to arranging for my money to be refunded; i politely state that i am willing to accept the figure as a part payment towards the total outstanding one and go on to state that because i had not had a positive reply within my reasonable time limits imposed previously, that figure now had a few more numbers added - namely the court fee, the 8% interest and decided to request that they refund my Subject Access Request fee (£5 - it all counts folks!), totalling approx £755

He is a very pleasant man, he makes "i'm writing all this down" noises and says that he will put my request to his superiors and i will hear something back from them via phone or letter in the next few days...simple as that, phew! I was pretty flippin nervous about speaking to them as as much as i knew, i didn't want to allay a lack of confidence or get caught out by anything, but all went well...

we will see if they get back to me with a "yes" to my offer (unlikely), or if they get back to me at all...i imagine it will be some sort of compromise but i will probably have to jog their memories again in a few days

my conversation with CC has been transcribed to paper, a copy of which is winging it's way to their head offices as we speak, and if i hear nothing then they have till the 9 dec to come up with a defence...

i wonder if the xmas giving spirit will creep in to un co op towers?

we shall see

cheers all and remember - you will win!

[ian cognito]

Well you're getting there! yes I got a full refnd from the co-op, not wuite so lucky with Smille though, I gave them an extra week or so after LBA, partly because co-op paid up so promptly and partly because of work, holidays etc. Got a call today, thought they were coming to some arrangement but no - courtesy call to let me know "the matter was being dealt with in accordance with FSA guidelines" told them they had my timetable and extra and they said (wait for it) "we can't just jump when you tell us to!!!" OK N1 tomorrow.

[nutgatherer]

come on now, don't be so harsh on them - THEY called YOU after all - it's nice to know they care (or at least know who you are)?!

you'll soon be smilin all the way to the bank. it just might be via the courts

let the dogs slip...

[nutgatherer]

WELL BY JOVE...I HAVE AGREED A SETTLEMENT WITH THE CO-OP!!!!!!!

my man chris cardwell was trying to get hold of me fairly frantically on friday as there were a few messages on the telephonicle when i got home from work...

So, i called his number this morning first thing and we went through the breakdown of my request that we discussed a few days previous and apparently a cheque is winging it's way to me as we speak.....
!!!

HUZZAH!!! HUZZAH!!! HUZZAHHH!!@!!!


i have agreed to halt my claim with the courts once the cheque has cleared in my account, and not before!

there was no bother at all - no questions, or uhms and ahhs or wringing of hands...simply: "we are sending you out a cheque for the amount today, mr. ******"

SO THERE WE HAVE IT.....

Just so you know, the breakdown of my request:

570 - charges
45.03 - overdraft interest on charges
80 - court fee
57.33 - 8% interest (capped once i had had some genuine dialogue with them, rather than the standard letters)
5.00 - S.A.R fee


will let you know once the settlement is final and the hard cash is in my paw!

A MASSIVE THANKS TO ALL THAT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THIS SITE AND THE INVALUABLE RESOURCES THAT IT CONTAINS; A HEALTHY NOD TO ALL THAT GAVE/GIVE THEIR SUPPORT AND A FIST PUMPING TO ALL THAT ARE CONTINUING THE BATTLE - KEEP GOING FOR YOU WILL BE SUCCESSFULL!!!

EXPECT A DONATION ONCE FUNDS CLEAR!!

am going to attempt to move this thread to the "successes" section - any ideas anyone..?

bye bye love the nutter

[ian cognito]

Well done Nut!!!

They almost make you feel sorry for taking it off them!!!