Written by John Kruse, one of the leading experts on Bailiff Law, this consumer friendly guide is essential reading for anyone who comes into contact with a bailiff.
The book is easy to understand and clearly explains the rights
a bailiff has, and also what they cannot do when collecting debts and repossessing goods etc.
Well this is meant to be my parachute account, but after going a couple of quid overdrawn i received a £25 'commission' charge. I paid money in, bought it back into credit, then received a further £25 'commission' charge putting me back in the red. I also noticed that they are going to take £100 overdraft usage fee on the 23rd, right before payday, which will make me go overdrawn, make them apply another £25 commission charge, and give them £10 more in overdraft usage fee.
I called them, they were useless. They were getting a managet to call me at 3pm. No word as yet.
I will take this all the way along with Lloyds and Woolwich.
Oh flipping heck (or something like). Good thing is they do pay back quite quickly so go for it. I know it's a pain changing, but quite a few have gone for Nat West One Step account (or some name like that). No overdraft with it or cheque book though. Might not be such a bad thing. (Hope that doesn't sound patronising. It isn't meant to be).
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Smile did actually call me back last night, and the guy I spoke to was pretty sympathetic. I guess the one promising thing he said (which it seems to other bank has) is that Smile are actually looking at their charges closely and changes are afoot - however - in light of mine he couldn't do anything. He advised me to send a secure mail to their complaints department outlining my complaint and they will take over.
I'll do the DPA route first (even though I have all my statements online) to ask about manual intervention. The start the process all over again
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
The guy was meant to email me the best email address to use and hasn't bothered. Do you have one Caro?
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
I sent a secure message yesterday and still no reply. I will get shirty with them later in the day!
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
They are rubbish at sending replies to secure messages, I sent them one the other day asking for an update, and specifically requesting that they didn't send a standard form response.
Guess what.
They sent a standard form response, I now have two of these from different people, saying they're looking into it for me. (what's to look into? You've paid other people, the law is quite clearly on my side and you have definitely charged me, investigation concluded!). I suspect they're just sitting on it to see what happens. I also keep calling them, but, friendly as the customer service people are, I just get fobbed off with, 'we're looking into it'. Called them today to explain that I only call so regularly, (2-3 times a week), because it would be beneficial to both parties if we could resolve this amicably but advised them to be under no illusion that I would advance this as far as neccessary.
I got a bit behind chasing them up due to other things happening. Then yesterday morning I went to my local shop and the shop keeper told me that Smile hadn't honoured a cheque and HE had been charged by his bank for this.
I issued the cheque two days before pay day. Every other bank I have ever used don't clear a cheque from your account for at least three days.
So I called smile about this, only to be told they clear cheques within a day!
I kicked off and was told a manager would call me back. A manager did. He was actually really nice and sympathetic. I advised him was just about to start action against the bank due to charges levied on my account. I said to him, you know you will pay up, there is no way a Smile reprentative will come and stand in front of me in court because I will win and you know this, therefore why not settle this matter now.
He advised me that he would need to speak to the 'special department' set up to deal with these claims to see what they said and email me back.
This is his reply:
Following our telephone conversation this afternoon, I've spoken to the Senior Manager responsible for the team dealing with queries relating to our charging policy.
He's advised me that there is a process that has been set up to deal with these types of enquiries. This is due, as you suggested, to the number we are receiving.
We will need to have your comments/complaint in writing to be able to put your request into this process. This can be accepted by you replying to this message.
Thank you for taking the time to speak to me this afternoon.
So I have emailed the details over and started the ball rolling.
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
I'm sorry you've felt the need to make a complaint. This is just to say that we'll be looking into it and a member of our Complaints Team will get back to you with a full response. This will be by phone, secure message or return letter.
However, as we are regulated by the Financial Services Authority I do need to make you aware of our complaints procedure.
If you go to our website at www.smile.co.uk, click on 'talk to us', complaints is in the left hand menu. Here you'll find our full procedure.
Thanks
Lee
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
I'm sorry you've felt the need to make a complaint. This is just to say that we'll be looking into it and a member of our Complaints Team will get back to you with a full response. This will be by phone, secure message or return letter.
However, as we are regulated by the Financial Services Authority I do need to make you aware of our complaints procedure.
If you go to our website at www.smile.co.uk, click on 'talk to us', complaints is in the left hand menu. Here you'll find our full procedure.
Thanks
Lee
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Maybe, it seems to be that there is less consistency with Smile than with other banks, I get the impression they're just testing the water at the moment and seeing how the tide turns.
On the plus side a lot of people seem to be getting letters asking them to do things, (mine was send them my SAR), before they can process a refund request.
The very fact that they're still entertaining the idea of refunds still bodes well in my book.
I personally think they are just over worked. They aren't a huge bank like Lloyds and they have had to allocate staff to work on this full time. Who knows though. The banks are a law unto themselves!
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Oh, I also sent this reply to Lee.....thought I'd try and keep it friendly!
Dear Lee,
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I look forward to a promt and positive reply from you.
Regards
*****
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Hello *****
After reviewing your complaint a refund of the charges applied to your account has been agreed. As such, a total of £175.00 has now been returned as a gesture of goodwill.
I hope you find this result to be satisfactory.
At this stage we are required to let you know that smile will regard the complaint as closed if we do not receive a reply within 8 weeks of this response.
If you remain unhappy you may ask for your complaint to be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Full details are on our website, Redirecting to Smile Production Site / talk to us / complaints.
Regards
Lee Saunders
smile complaints team
Smile really are proving to be the easiest to claim back from, so if you are reading this and are feeling a little uncertain about whether to take the plundge, go ahead....you will get your money back.
Once Lloyds have settled a donation is on it's way (this money has to be used to pay the Council Tax!).
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Lloyds TSB - £972
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent
Claim acknowledged
Defence received
AQ 20/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 20/07/06***
Woolwich - £2288
S.A.R, prelim and LBA sent.
Offered half
Moneyclaim filed online 02/08/06
Judgement filed online 23/08/06
WARRANT FILED ONLINE 30/08/06
MONEY RECEIVED BY BALIFF 04/10/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 09/10/06***
Smile - £175
Pelim 23/06/06 ***FULL SETTLEMENT RECEIVED 07/07/06***
My Ex vs Woolwich - £715
S.A.R sent 30/08/06
Pelim 06/10/06
LBA 20/10/06
Advice & opinions provided are personal, and not endorsed by CAG or BAG, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Well done Closey
How did you start off did you go down the dpa route or did you just send a secure message. If so what did you put in it. Any help is appreciated decided im gonna give it a go they owe me £325
Closey vs Smile
, but after going a couple of quid overdrawn i received a £25 'commission' charge. I paid money in, bought it back into credit, then received a further £25 'commission' charge putting me back in the red. I also noticed that they are going to take £100 overdraft
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