Thread: in for a penny...

in for a pound.
Ok
I have just written the Preliminary Letter of Approach to A&L whom I have been with since july last year. I think they owe me about £72.00 Not much, but when I add it to the other banks charges it makes a tidy sum £230!
I'm hoping as it's such a small amount they'll just refund it and I won't need to go to court. I am scared that they will shut my account, and coz I'm a 'rate tart' I won't get another account. Should I go for a parachute now? or wait and see. Although My 1 year fees free OD is coming up in July anyway A&L are the best for OD charges...so maybe I'll wait a bit longer.
Thanks for looking. Hi to all MSErs!
FA

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sorry been busy wiv other stuff.
got standard "sorry you've got problems" letter of acknowledgement from Liz Larkin, Customer Services. Enclosed Complaints Leaflet says
"by day 7 we'll try to give you a full reply. if this is not possible, an acknowledgment will be sent to let you know who is dealing with your complaint.
by day 28 - we will have investigated your complaint and sent a written response. in some cases we may need more time to respond. If so we will write with an update of the situation.
by day 56 - it is highlyunlikely that your complaint won't have been resolved. But, if it hasn't, a senior manager will reveiw the situation and wrtie to you with our final response."
The clock is ticking... 28 days from 24 April is 22 May - then I get 'nasty'
bring it on!

I got the "we are sorry here's £25" letter yesterday, with the this is a good will gesture and you will have to pay in the future threat. I'll find the real thing and post it here when I've waded thru the piles on my desk...
I have 8 weeks to accept this - although the money is already in my account & I have spent it!
I will write them a VERY NICE letter thanking them for the partial refund then ask for the rest of it back(£46.50)

Looks like you made the same mistake as me being dazzled by A&L's special offers. I too am an MSE'r, but could not afford to stay with A&L for the full 12 months of the "free" overdraft. I was with them from April to January and it cost me £177. Good luck getting the rest of your money back.

OK I found the letter from Marie Williams, Customer Services, Alliance and Leicester - here it is slightly abridged

"Firstly there has been no consultation between the banking industry and the Office of Fair Trading about current accounts. If there is any industry wide consultation on this matter, Alliance and Leicester will participate as appropriate.
I have checked our records and can see that you had three charges raised on your account<edited here coz I don't think you need all the details - suffice to say that they owe me about £71.50 - given the £12.50 refund as a 'gesture of goodwill' I got when I phoned them to say "it's not fair">"

they continue "Although these charges have all been raised correctly in line with our charging policy, I am willing to make a further refund of £25.00 in lieu of your last overdraft charge. I must inform you that this is a gesture of goodwill and any charges raised correctly to your account in future will have to stand.

I hopw we will now be able to draw this matter to a close andif I do not hear from you within the next 8 weeks, will assume this is the case. Howver in accordance with regulatory requirements, I am enclosing our leaflet which explains the steps you would need to take if you should wish to persue this matter further, including the ultimate availability of the fos."

Well stripe me sideways - I thought the WHOLE reason WHY all this claiming back had arisen was because the OFT and banks had had a 'little chat' in light of some digging that WHICH? had done...

I am determined to get the rest of it back good will getsture or no they are thieving scumbags and it's my money...

Onwards and upwards.

Well 14 days are up and no response...
Maybe I'll send them a recorded letter, just to be certain they got it. Wouldn't wanna let them get off on a technicality would I?
OR
should I just procede to court and assume the letter arrived?

Sorry, I didn't make it clear in the previous post.
I sent them the lba on 20 May. and received no repsonse or anything after 14 days.
I'm gonna err on the side of caution and send them another LBA recorded delivery and then start the court procedings when they don't reply.

Letter from Customer SAervices A&L 21 June 2006
"Thank you for your further enquiry regarding charges that have been debited to your account, which I understand remain the cause of dissatisfaction.
I have reveiwed the circumstances in which the charges were raised and have carefully considered the points you have made. Whilst I appreciate that you are unhappy with the situation, I can confirm that the charges were applied correctly in accordance with out chraging policy and unfortunatley, I am unable to alter our original decision on this occasion.
I accept that you may be disappointed with this response but regret that I can offer no further assistance regarding this matter."

This is basically the "you don't have the balls to sue us" letter...isn't it?

Or should I quit now whilst I am ahead? I still have about 46.50 outstanding from an original 84.00 worth of charges. Is it worth taking them to court for such a small amount?

I do not believe that A&L would close my current account since I have an ISA and a savings account with them and they must be raking it in with them.

It's your call what you want to do now. I am not convinced that they would keep your current account open just because of the ISA and savings accounts. In my opinion, they would probably leave those open and close your current account. Have you got a parachute account just in case?

It seems a shame to have come this far and not follow through with court action. Just because it is a small amount I don't see why they should get away with it; its the principle of the matter. The cost of the action would be quite low and you would get that back assuming that you won, which seems a safe assumption as an A&L representative said on the radio that they would pay anyone who put in a court action, but not go to court and close the account.

The MCOL system is quite simple and is explained very thoroughly and clearly on the site.

Let us know what you decide.
Please be clear that I am not a professional and this are just my opinions.