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I am having some worrying problems with Barclaycard.
At the end of August I moved house and notified them of my new address.
At the beginning of September I got a call from their debt collections department asking me why I'd not made a payment.
Arrghhh!! I'd completely forgot because of moving house.. then I realised, I never got a statement so I said that on the phone. I found out, they had updated my address wrong and put the wrong house number. Basically meaning my statement had gone to someone else I did not know.
The person I spoke to couldn't do anything and advised I call customer services. They did ask me to make a payment straight away by debit card, which I did.
I then looked online at my account to make sure everything was ok but B/C had taken a few steps:
- Cancelled my interest free period, which I had 2 or 3 months left on
- Levied a £12 charge
- Added £60 interest on the balance
I wrote a letter of complaint, mostly about the leaking my details to someone else but also about everything else.
They responded with apologies and assurances no personal info has been disclosed. They restored my interest free period, refunded the charge but I'd still have to pay the interest.
Then a few days later I got a notification they had added a derogtray comment on my credit file for falling behind.
I also noticed they had taken the ONE debit card payment from me twice, so I had paid double.
I wrote another letter to them pointing this out and asking them to put my notes on my credit file to good standing.
They never replied but on Saturday I got a letter saying they are reducing my credit limit because of new information held by B/C.
It seems to be they reduced my limit because I complained.
As it stands the bad comments on my file are still there and it says I have defaulted on payments and still have not paid them back, which I have, more than a month ago now.
If you believe BC have sent your statement to the wrong address, you should have this a/c closed anyway, as they have compromised security of the a/c.
I'd tell them you want:-
1) A new a/c with your old credit limit.
2) The negative Credit remark removed.
3) A full refund of the interest.
4) A refund of the 2nd payment they too without authority.
5) An apology for their abysmal Customer Service.
6) A goodwill payment in compensation for the way they've treated you.
Mention that, if they fail to respond adequately to your complaints, the matter will be referred to the Information Commissioners Office regarding the breach of confidentiality.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
Firstly, I know they sent it to the wrong address as they admitted it on the phone and in writing.
In my first complaint letter, I did ask for a new card but in their reply they said my security was in no way compromised and said that the statement only has my name, not any account numbers etc. They said if I still want a new card let them know.
However... trusting them in my second complaint letter I said its ok I don't want a new one. Does that complicate things...?
As it stands I have asked for all of your points, apart from the new card but they have not replied, apart from saying they are reducing my credit limit. Its has been about 4 weeks.
This is bonkers - if they sent a state't to the wrong address, it would surely show all the a/c details on it. Even if they were referring to the letter sent about your late payment, this would show your personal data.
....trusting them in my second complaint letter I said its ok I don't want a new one. Does that complicate things...?
No, you've taken advice, decided they are talking nonsense and you now require a new a/c.
Send them a reminder headed FORMAL COMPLAINT, saying you require an urgent response because of their breach of confidentiality. Give them 14 days to resolve this or you'll make formal representations to the ICO.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
Thanks for all your information. They still have not replied so I have composed the following letter to them. Can you check if its ok?
I did not receive a reply to my last letter dated 17/10/08 which is very disappointing considering the situation.
Since my last letter, you have taken further steps against me, lowering my credit limit and restricting the use of my card. The situation that arose, was mostly your fault, by your own admission but you are penalising me. I consider this matter to be serious.
I have now taken advice re your actions and I ask that you:
-Remove the derogatory comment from my credit file which says I am in default when I AM NOT and this has been there over a month.
-Send me a new credit card with a new account number as you leaked my personal details to someone else in my street.
-An explanation why you took the payment from my debit card twice, when I only authorised one payment over the phone.
-An official investigation and apology how my details were leaked and then why my further letter was ignored.
-A refund of any interest you are going to charge me because of the late payment and your removal of my interest free period.
-A copy of my statement from September, October, November, none of which I have received.
I have been advised to you give 14 days to reply to my letter, or I will report you to the Information Commissioners Office for breeching the data protection act, by leaking my personal details to a third party.
Also, if my 14 day conditions are not met, I will report you to the Financial Ombudsman for taking unfair action against me.
I have taken advice concerning this situation and now require that you:-
1) Remove the derogatory comment from my credit file which says I am in default when I AM NOT. This has been there over a month.
2) Close the old account as my confidentiality has been breached by your disclosure of my details, made to someone else in my street.
3) Issue a new card with new account number and restore my Credit Limit to £xxxx, as it was before this episode.
4) Provide me with an explanation of why you took the payment from my debit card twice, when I only authorised one payment over the phone.
5) Carry out a proper investigation about how my details were leaked and why my letter dated xxxxxx was ignored.
6) Refund any interest that I have been charged as a result of this episode and the removal of my interest free period.
7) Provide me with copies of my statements for September, October and November, none of which I have received.
8 ) Offer an apology for the appalling service provided.
9) Offer compensation for the stress and inconvenience caused by this beach of confidentiality and your subsequent failures.
Unless I have a full response within 14 days, formal complaints will be lodged with the relevant authorities including, but not limited to, the Information Commissioners Office and the fos.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
I got a letter this morning from Barclaycard re my complaint and they have completely ignored what I said.. and took over a month to reply!
They said:
"We have a legal duty to provide accurate information to the credit reference agencies and as such we are not permitted to amend your records."
They go on to say you can avoid this by paying on time.
Im really annoyed they completely ignored every other point... and STILL even though I'm not, my credit report says I'm in default with them. I was in default for about a week and now its been there for like 2 months.
It says if I'm not happy I can complain to the Ombudsman...
I'd send a copies of your letters and their replies to BC's Head Office with a covering letter saying:-
Dear Sir or Madam,
FORMAL COMPLAINT - a/c no xxx xxx xxx
It is very clear that your staff have failed to address the individual points which I have reasonably raised in my letter to you of DATE (on which ltr in post #11 above was sent).
I appear to have been given a blanket response which is wholly inadequate.
I will allow you a further 14 working days to respond properly to my letter after which I will make formal complaints to the fos and to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Send it to:-
Barclaycard,
Customer Relations Department,
Barclaycard House,
PO Box 5592,
Northampton,
NN4 1ZY
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
slick132, not sure if this matters, but Ive already sent an official complaint to that address and it was them who replied with the above ignoring everything I said.
It was also the customer relations manager that replied, rather than an agent.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
I had a think about this for a couple of days and re reading everything I sent to them vs what they replied, I think ive tried more than enough now to put my point across and they never even have the courtesy to reply so sent a complaint form to the financial Ombudsman now.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
I emailed them yesterday and they replied by letter today saying that it appears B/C have not yet made their final response even though its been more than 8 weeks.
They said they are going to contact B/C now and ask them to make it within 14 days.
I know they don't intend to reply to me, as I got the silent treatment as with my other letters. Wonder if they will reply now they have been asked to by them.
Any help and advice is offered in good faith, based solely on my own knowledge and on experience gathered from this site. I am not qualified to offer legal or financial advice, which you should seek from an expert before making any important decisions. My opinions are therefore offered without liability.
BC have now responded to each individual complaint and apologise for the way ive been treated.
Most importantly, they say they are going to correct my credit file which still says im in default (and its been like that for about 4 months!)
Also, they offered me £50 compensation and acknowledged that they had failed to respond to some of my letters and will "review their policies to make sure it doesn't happen again"
It says they will wait to see what the fos says now and if their reply was acceptable. In my opinion it was, all I wanted was a bit of acknowledgement and the default removed and the compensation was your idea Slick, so thank you!
Help with Barclaycard!
free period, which I had 2 or 3 months left on
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