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Please some advice needed – I am at my wits end. Please bear with me as you read my long post.
On the 14th of July, I made a transfer for the amount of £3500 towards paying off my egg loan. This was meant to take no more than 4 days to show on the account. However, 7 days later, the money was still not showing on the account. At this point I rang Egg; this is the beginning of my nightmare!!!
Egg explained that as the money came without a reference number, it was sent back to Barclays. They informed me that I had to chase Barclays on this.
Between the 21st of July – 4th Aug: It was a case of me making phone calls to Egg. Been put on hold for up to 30mins at a time on an 0845 number during the day, been passed from one person to another and at the end of it getting the same message that it will be passed on the their Complex Settlement department. On every occasion it was passed on to the Complex Settlements, the answer I was given was – the money was paid to Barclays. We cannot help you. I demanded to speak to a manager on several occasions but for some strange reason still have not spoken to one.
On the 4th of Aug – as usual I called Egg and was told a manager will call me at 9am. I spent the morning waiting for the call. The call never came. I rang Egg and asked why the manager has not called me. Reason Given – She was with another customer. She finally called just before 1pm.
6th Aug – During my phone call to Egg, I was told that a request will be made on that day by email for the switch receipt by the Loan specialist to their Complex Settlements Department. I was informed that the receipt was sent by post. So another day wasted.
7th Aug – By chance I check my egg account – there was an email from egg informing me of the switch receipt no. (Still no phone call from Egg).
10th Aug – I took the switch number to Barclays and was informed by the Personal adviser and manager on duty that
a) The switch number provided by Egg means nothing to Barclays or to me.
b) I was told I should not be made responsible for investigating the whereabouts of my lost money.
11th Aug – I rang Egg informing them of this. As always I get very unhelpful Loans specialist telling me that there is nothing they can do. I expressed how unhappy I was and she said she would TRY and get a manager to ring me!!!! I also informed them that I will be reporting Egg to watchdog or anybody that would listen. Alas, no result.
As I am writing this post today, I have had no phone call from anyone from Egg, letter or any explanation from Egg as to the whereabouts of the money.
I made a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman yesterday (18th August)
I would like help and advice on claiming for the following -
1) Claiming back for my lost money (£3500) plus the interest
2) Claiming for the amount of time spent and expenses accrued from my phone calls – approximately about 5hours and trotting forward and backwards to Barclays
3) Claiming for the inconvenience of the whole process. The undue care and disregard shown to me by Egg and the distress caused by Egg.
Thank you for your time reading my post. Your advice on how to deal with this will be much appreciated.
You say this was a "transfer" of 3500 GBP expected to take 4 days, so presumably this was an account-to-account electronic transfer of funds, or a SWITCH card authorised transfer naming Egg's bank branch and account number. You do not say what identifying reference accompanied your transfer, whether your full name, Egg card/loan number etc was on it, so that Egg had no reason not to hold on to it.
Egg evidently had no appetite for holding onto this unidentifiable pay-in, and decided to send it back to Barclays. Egg, with 2 million accounts, might have held onto this pay-in for a while on their suspense file, but they chose not to. Hard to see how Egg flouted the law by refusing to hold onto an unidentified pay-in from unknown origin. The transfer came from Barclays, and Egg sent it back where it came from and washed their hands.
Meanwhile Barclays with far more accounts than Egg, plus a jungle of worldwide electronic transfers every day and every night, received 3500 GBP from Egg, with or without idenfying reference which Egg did not give Barclays because you did not give same to Egg.
All is not lost, as there is an electronic trail and a paper trail. Egg, in refusing to accept the payin, remains liable to give you the full evidence as to when, where and how they sent the money back to Barclays, including the SWITCH authorising code, if that is what they meant by "switch number". You have proof 3500 went to Egg, but you have no grounds to force Egg to hold onto unknown payins.
It is very doubtful if your high street Barclays branch clerk is the best people to help you. It is Barclays HQ who need to look into their suspense accounts for orphan payins without owners. To these persons the SWITCH number will NOT mean nothing, but date, time, and Egg's mode of payment into Barclays is essential, including the SWIFT code Egg may have quoted on their backward transfer.
There was a story of a person who made an electronic transfer of 10K GBP from UK to USA. Because of incorrect identifier number it was misrouted and got buried in god knows which bank. After 2 years he was still chasing it.
This is an electronic funds transfer issue, not an Egg issue. Angela Knight fronting British Bankers Association have a charter with which all signed up, to be helpful to bank customers. If you cannot get through to the jungle of Barclays hierarchy, try contacting the BBA via their website.
Hard to see how Egg can be made responsible for sorting out a muddle not of their making. Sure, they need to supply the precise paper and electronic trail. But they no longer have the money -- they sent it back from whence it came, effectively they never took ownership of it. Their part has now ended. It is Barclays who received back 3500 GBP to which they have no title of ownership. It it Barclays who need to find the money and refund you, once they establish you are the lawful and true owner of the money. Again it will be pointless to go heavy on Barclays, as they did not create this muddle.
Egg Lost My Money & Doing Nothing!!! HELP
to Egg, I was told that a request will be made on that day by email for the switch receipt by the Loan specialist to their Complex Settlements Department. I was informed that the receipt was sent by post. So another day wasted.
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