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I've just received my SAR from Smile after fun & games with getting it in the first place (they'd lost the letter, didn't call back, didn't respond to messages - and then when I lose hope, my SAR turns up out of the blue with the £10 cheque uncashed). Anyway, I could do with a little guidance on what I'm most secure in looking to claim back...
As I'm sure most of you know already the Smile SAR is not very granular - what I get is the list of total charges on each date, totalling:
Because of the nature of the SAR list and the fact it doesn't show a running balance, I don't see that I can tell which proportion of the Debit interest relates to either my fault or the charges. With that in mind, I'm inclined not to even include that in my claim.
Fees is a given unless anyone can advise otherwise - I'll go straight after that amount.
My question is really around commision; I understand that I can't claim for ATM charges (typically £1 or £2.50) but I can't identify these separately from the SAR. All I see is a total charge for a day. The bulk of the £1513 is obviously related to other charges.
How have other people dealt with this? Should I submit a claim for the total value of the commision charge and see what the response is, or should I look for charges which aren't a whole £5/£10 and round them down to the nearest £5 to smooth out any ATM charges?
Re: Smile SAR received - looking for a little advice...
The advice is to claim commission and fees. I haven't been charged any ATM fees (is that for withdrawing money abroad?) but all my fee and commission amounts are multiples of 5, so I would imagine the method you suggested would be just fine.
Re: Smile SAR received - looking for a little advice...
Thanks for the advice. I think I'll round the fees down as - by also not going after the debit interest - it shows I've thought through my case rather than just returned the SAR with the lba.
Re: Smile SAR received - looking for a little advice...
If claiming Fee's you need to be aware that if you have a smilemore account the monthly charge will be included in this total. I didn't claim Fees as the total was just for my smilemore account.... maybe thats why smile settled with me so quickly in the hope i wouldn't claim fees, who knows.
It's all gone very, very quiet on my claim for £1,800...
My SAR for charges was submitted 8th January and after several denials from Smile that they'd ever received the letters and a couple of complaints through secure messages, the lists came through on 2nd February along with my £10 cheque uncashed!
Preliminary letter sent 12th Feb, and I received a standard "We're sorry you've felt the need to complain... keep checking your secure messages..." acknolwedgement by post on 15th, so nice fast turnaround then.
However, since then - zilch. LBAs sent 27th February and I'm hoping this spurs them into action. From what I hear Smile are variable at which point they agree to settle, so I'm dug into my trench and prepared for the long haul.
I'll keep you all posted - and thanks to everyone for the messages of support and advice!
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
Re: Smile SAR received - looking for a little advice...
Sounds as if Smile seem reasonably easy to tackle - I have all my statements so my prelim letter will be going recorded on Monday!
Bank and credit card reclaims - £9,806
Sainsburys CCA non-compliance with FOS;
Natwest reclaim of £340 in progress;
Egg credit card reclaim in progress
Is your Smile Account still open? I've read other threads where Smile have paid up but have closed accounts. Has this been yours or anyone else's experience?
When the Liberals and Conservatives were in opposition they both agreed that banks should pay back high bank charges to customers. Nothing seems to of happened since they came into power as a coalition. PPI insurance has been sorted now they should turn their attention to bank charges and help customers get exorbitant charges refunded.
Should you be offered help that requires payment please report it to site team.
Alliance & Leicester Moneyclaim issued 20/1/07 £225.50 full settlement received 29 January 2007
Smile £1,075.50 + interest Email request for payment 24/5/06 received £1,000.50 14/7/06 + £20 30/7/06
Yorkshire Bank Moneyclaim issued 21/6/06 £4,489.39 full settlement received 26 January 2007
Advice & opinions given by Caro are personal, are not endorsed by Consumer Action Group or Bank Action Group, and are offered informally, without prejudice & without liability. Your decisions and actions are your own, and should you be in any doubt, you are advised to seek the opinion of a qualified professional.
That's good to know as I reckon they owe me about £3k. Have just sent my S.A.R - (Subject access request) today (my electronic filing is not as good as my paper one), so need statement back to 2002 when account was opened. Will start my own thread in a bit.
Just so I'm sure, I can can claim back the penalty charges but can I claim back any daily rates they were levying on my account at various times too? These were a killer and I have only been able to resolve the problem by having my account converted back to a Student one.
Lord-love-a-duck! My thread will be deedee1310 v Smile (I'm not smiling)
Shippy v Smile ***WON***
from Smile after fun & games with getting it in the first place (they'd lost the letter, didn't call back, didn't respond to messages - and then when I lose hope, my SAR
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Shippy vs Smile - The First Success!
