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Using the material from this site I sent 2 letters to RBS (Cardiff)
The 1st was the 18th May, requesting a total of all charges to my 2 accounts (as I have had them for less than 6 years) and advising them thay have taken over £400 in charges since December 05 alone from one account.
They responded pretty quickly with the usual letter of 'here's a goodwill gesture, if you take it you lose the right to ever question our charges again' and they credited one of the accounts with £114.
I wrote a letter back on the 28th May stating that they could take the goodwill gesture back as I refused the offer, stating that the claim was still proceeding and also questioning why they hadn't sent my statement of charges as requested. I also requested a Breakdown of their charges and the 'costs' I'd incurred to them by going over my OD limit occasionally.
I got a letter back on the 9th June saying their offer will not be increased and advising me to go through the Financial Ombusdman if I wished to proceed further. No mention of my statement of charges or the charges breakdown.
I left it for a while, for the 28 days to expire and to decide what to do next. I actually didn't realise how long I'd left it and now want to proceed.
Should I contact them again for the statements? Or do you think that shock tactics would work better and that I should just file a case?
Thing is I don't really have a case at the moment as I don't even know how much I'm entitled to claim back in charges!
I didn't send anything templated requesting the statement - I just included the request in my initial letter (and repeated it in my second). I asked them to debit the cost from my account. Would this be sufficient for them?
Fantastic
I've drafted up a tailored copy of 'TEMPLATE 2 - Send if the 40 days has expired' to send off to them. I'll update this post accordingly with the progress.
Just a progress update. I'm planning on keeping this thread updated until the final outcome as an example case for other customers so as to let people know what to expect from this bank (note that each case is handled on it's own merit so outcome won't always be the same!)
Well, it took a while for them to get the statements to me and I finally received them on Saturday 19th August. I hope the rest of the claim gets handled quicker!!!
I worked out a sum of around £700 for one of my accounts not including the 8% interest and I've sent a letter with the charges summary. I emailed it so it should fall into the right hands tomorrow hopefully. I've also marked the 14 day intervals in my outlook calendar so I don't lose track of time this time round!
I'll also be filing a seperate claim for my other account with them too. Need to obtain statements in order to do this [GROAN] but I will not be backing down.
Had a situation with the inland revenue and their famous tax credits which I refused to give up on. The cause of the mess was them not me and they even admitted this, but still refused to pay up. It took me two years, every escalation point and two MPs, but I got every penny I was owed.
Stick with it guys, don't give up! Get back what's yours!!!
Hello Kao, I will be following your thread I sent my SAR 9 days ago, emailed Tommy Mclean today public relations manager, asking him to acknowledge that he had recieved my letter, which I handed into branch with fee and got a receipt, and just added I expect to hear before deadline otherwise going straight to money claim and local media, guess what with in two hours had a reply saying he had it,
I'm also dealing with Tommy McLean. He seems to be a very efficient guy! He received my latest letter and list of charges today at around 7.45am and he sent a reply at 7.55am.
His reply included full contact details and the following;
"Can you bear with me for a week or so
while I investigate your claim? I will then write you with an offer.
I am sorry that I can't investigate immediately, but as I am sure you can
imagine from the media coverage, we are trying to deal with large volumes of
this type of complaint at the moment. I promise I will revert to you as
quickly as I can."
I think this is perfectly fair. Empathy, apology and an approximate timescale. Customer service is actually much better than I was expecting!. I imagine they're inundated with letters like ours at the moment. At the end of the day it's important to remember that the individual is not at fault - it's just the company they work for.
I'm more than happy to wait for a week if the response is an offer of settlement. Of course the likelihood is that it will be a partial refund, which will not be accepted, but hey ho, we'll see how we go. Cross that bridge when I come to it.
Actually I would be suprised if your next response isn't anything other than a letter asking for another week, and then another week! I may be a cynic but they LOVE to delay things so don't get your hopes up too high and stick to your timetable....don't be fooled!
Ya I think I will stick to the time table, but I was surprised at how quick he responded, and also how pleasant he seemed. Good luck to you to as I said before I will follow your thread.
Received a letter from Tommy McLean this morn. Must admit I'm quite impressed he responded this quick! Seems like a nice guy too.
The letter states 'we prefer to resolve matters with you direct [as opposed to going to court of course! ] and as an exceptional matter have agreed to meet your claim of £x in full'
Only thing is, my full claim is not the amount stated, it's a few hundred less. Not sure if it could have been a genuine error though. I returned the copy of the letter with 'declined' in the space where you sign your name to accept...
I've just emailed him as well explaining the declination of the offer, so he knows what the letter will say before it gets to him on Monday.
Not sure how to handle the 'this is a goodwill gesture, no admission of error, any future charges will stand' issue though. I'm not accepting those terms even if they pay me double what they owe!
Is it possible to, upon receipt of an offer of settlement in full, accept the money but decline their terms?
Edit: For reference too, the date for my 'letter before action' is a week today (8th sept) and the case will be filed on the 22nd if not resolved before then. Haven't forgotten the timetable
What will probably happen now is after you send in your lba you'll get a similar letter again from the infamous Mr Mclean basically saying the same thing again and the offer still stands!Thats what I and quite a few others have had! You can either decline again or say that you wil accept this as a partial settlement but will be proceeding to court for the rest of the amount owed to you!!
Received a letter this morning offering the full amount of my claim!! No court - no threats - no hassle! I'm a firm believer in karma and throughout I have always remained calm and courteous and patient (despite not feeling this way for parts of it) - and it seems to have paid off
There's the usual schpiel about not admitting liability and all future charges will stand, etc, but I'm not sure what to do about these terms. Has anyone successfully accepted the refund of charges without agreeing to these terms?
From talking to users in the chatroom, I have decided to take the offer of settlement and accept their terms.
As far as I am aware taking this settlement doesn't ban me from claiming in the future, should the need arise, as unlawful charges are unlawful regardless of their T's and C's.
Well I'm pleased with the outcome and wish you all the best of luck with your own claims. I do have another account to query, but I think for a lesser amount. Hopefully it will be straightforward as they have already paid a higher sum to me to avoid court.
I'll keep this thread updated with case #2 once I have the statements!
Good luck once again all
Don't forget - 'be nice'! However frustrated and irritated you are with your claim, once the handbags start swinging they'll probably be more likely to dig their heels in - I know I would.
I have to say though, on behalf of us nice people, it doesn't always work :>( I think they'd have played hard ball with me no matter how nice I was/am, especially with over £3,000 at stake!
But having said that, we must all remain cool and collected with the banks. PANIC here instead!! LOL and get it out of your system:>)well, that's what I do...as you know;>)
RBS claim - slight delay! Where next?
(Cardiff)
, if you take it you lose the right to ever question our charges again' and they credited one of the accounts with £114.
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] and as an exceptional matter have agreed to meet your claim of £x in full'
