Thread: Disgusted with Lloyds

A couple of weeks ago my daughter had her Lloyds Visa card refused at a restaurant. She had already checked online and knew she had enough money available but the card was declined twice. She then checked at a cashpoint and found that their was a difference between the balance and the available balance although all payments had cleared and nothing was due to be paid out or in. A couple of hours later she checked again and the balance was back to normal with all funds available but no transactions made.

I drafted a complaint letter for her and she sent it recorded delivery asking for an explaination why the money went missing from the account and why the card was declined when there was more than enough money available.

Instead of an expected written reply, someone called her from Lloyds and put the blame on the cashpoint, a previous transaction and the restaurant! They also wanted to know why she was checking so regularly on her account/s and that she should be making no more than one transaction per day so it was also her own fault. The person who called insisted that a previous transaction hadn't cleared but my daughter stood her ground and said it clearly had, and after the person checked on their screen they admitted they were wrong but still blamed it on everyone but the bank.

Fortunately my daughter is fairly level headed and told them that anything they had to say should be put in writing in response to the written complaint.

I'm disgusted that Lloyds think that is the way to deal with a complaint, clearly headed as COMPLAINT. Just call them up and say it's entirely their own fault and the fault of wherever you use your card and you can't move your money more than once per day or check on your balance too frequently. It's just a normal current account for fluffs sake!

She'll be voting with her feet and taking the matter further as it's totally unacceptable.

Thanks Mr lex,


Perhaps they are peeved because we asked for a bunch of flowers to be sent to the restaurant for being so understanding, whilst my daughter was left cringing and waiting for someone to bring her the money to cover the bill.

Lloyds have now put it in writing that the restaurant is solely to blame, which simply isn't true. £15 was missing from the account according to the ATM and an online check but Lloyds are insisting all the money was available. Their reply was patronising and said what a good saver they were and not to use ATM's which charge.

If that's the way they treat their future investors then they will come unstuck.

Since that last post the same thing happened again and we managed to get screen shots of the account showing the mysteriously missing money for over 48 hours. The balance was different from the available balance but everything had been paid and cleared.

Stage 2 of the complaint has been completed so we should hear something within 5 days from the customer team.

Lloyds are still blaming everyone and no one. Despite asking for everything to be put in writing they still called. Then they denied being told to put it in writing and insisted the letter they received did not say that..until they started reading it aloud in a condescending voice which altered to a grunt when they read the last few lines and had to apologise.

What they said is money is being taken from the account but the same amount is also being ear-marked for 2-3 days because that's what happens and they have no idea why but it's not their fault. It's all part of the usual banking process!!!!!

So you spend £100, it's immediately debited from your account, but they still keep back a further £100 just in case? I don't think so and I've never heard so much tosh.

On to stage 3 when they get around to putting it in writing.

Lloyds really are a law to themselves, i am currently fighting a battle with them that has been dragging on for nearly 2 years now and one thing i have learned is that Lloyds care about no one but themselves, they operate by procedure only without any regard for customer care, codes of conduct or even the law.

Good luck with your complaint. Don't let them get away with it.... ;-)

'They also wanted to know why she was checking so regularly on her account/s and that she should be making no more than one transaction per day so it was also her own fault.'

Just who are they to tell her how often she should be checking her balance & oooooo, how dare she commit the crime of spending her own money in any way she sees fit & as often as she want to!! She must be punished immediately - get out the stocks!!

Keep up the complaining until you get a satisfactory response.

They have sent a written response and contrary to what was said on the telephone (the first conversation) they admit that the card was used and rejected but still can't explain why.

They are blaming Tesco Mobile. Daughter makes payments via computer for £15 using a debit card. The payments are being marked as DD and although Tesco are taking the money, for some reason the same amount is also being earmarked even though it's already been deducted and paid.

Again they can't explain why this is happening or do anything about it. IMHO if it's their card and they have to manage the account they should be dealing with any problems. Surely if Lloyds are having a problem with what Tesco are submitting it's up to them to sort out?

All is fine this end and the top-up is going through and it shows a debit card transaction on Tescos site, not a DD, and it's credited quickly.

On the brighter side Lloyds have given her £25, with no conditions or anything to sign, because they admit they were wrong when they initially said she had not used the card to pay in the restaurant.

I forgot to mention before that the caller laughed at my daughter when she said she was passing the call over to me, her Mother. They weren't laughing when the call ended and I said I objected to being called a liar when I pointed out that all communication should be in writing only and I drafted the letter.

It's their loss as all the money has now been taken out apart from a few quid across 3 accounts. Or should that be our loss considering the position Lloyds are in?

Sounds like a ghost transaction to me but it is strange that it was for just a few hours rather than a few days. I think you have gotta just deal in writing only and refuse to talk to lloydstsb. Until you have got that letter and its worth scanning it up, its difficult to say what is going on.

I have to say as well that I am not sure how the VISA system works with regards to ghost transactions, which is where a transaction is put through and, in between the response from the bank to the retailer via the merchant, the machine times out and gives a decline message. With maestro it takes 3 working days however it may be a lot quicker with VISA which might explain the discrepancy in available funds. I think the issue you have is that there is so many people with varying experience trying to deal with it via the phone that it is confusing the whole matter.

Originally Posted by Mr lex

Nice one crapstone

Please tell me Lloyds haven't put any charges on this account ??



It sounds like their in such a bad way, they only have one computer between them !!

Hi Mr Lex,

They haven't put any charges on the account. But you have reminded me that she had the same thing happen in Easter and they sent a letter to say she was overdrawn but removed the charges withour prompting. She wasn't 'overdrawn', just that the same thing had happened and sent her £5 in the red. In reality she still had funds which should have been available.

If she has £30 in the account and uses her debit card with Tesco Mobile it shows as £15 debited and the balance as £15 but it shows the available balance as £0. The lady on the telephone said that usually it would be 2-3 days if it was earmarked and she couldn't understand either why it was anywhere between a few hours and a day that the money was vanishing for.

If they don't know then how on earth do they expect us to understand and have any sort of faith in them.

Hi Yourbank,

Thanks for your help. The first letter to Lloyds was made as an official complaint and that all communication should be in writing, they ignored this and called. The second letter also insisted on a written reply which again they ignored and denied it said that (see post #6).

I can't help thinking they are giving out a bit of bull by trying to talk their way out of it and saying it's a 'new policy' to call all customers to resolve complaints. I personally think it's a bit of bullying on their part to student account holders that probably wouldn't understand what they are saying and who'd just agree with whatever is said.

What they don't think about is that some parents are on hand to help and that they'll lose a customer that could have stayed with them for years to come.

Originally Posted by Mr lex

I can't understand it either.

And how the hell are we supposed to manage our accounts with all this going on.

Untill things chage, we will continue to be 'Milk Cows' to the Banking industry. Hopefully, the OFT test case might just resolve some of it.

Lex

Yes..we are darned if we bank and darned if we don't. It's a plastic fantastic Barbie (other dolls are available!) world. The core of todays education should be contract law and economics to degree level before year 11. It's far more useful than learning the life and times of a Zebu or spending time writing an essay on a day in the life of a toe.

Hopefully the OFT will get it right and we will get a result but we still need someone with teeth to deal with day-to-day complaints without waiting for years and going through several channels when the problem is crystal clear.