Thread: MamaKitty v. Smile ***WON***

This is quite a quick one, not really worth a thread, but I was chuffed! I opened my Smile account just before starting proceedings with a long-standing Barclays account, just in case, so I've only had this account for 6 months or so.

I went over my overdraft limit by £7 last month, and was charged £15 'service fee' and £15 'penalty charge' or something. I wasn't happy, but wasn't keen on going through all the rigmarole with yet another bank.

So I called to find out what they would say about the charges, I had a whole speech prepared. She looked at my account, saw that I was only £7 over my limit, and without any prompting from me, or even a stern tone of voice, she volunteered to refund the money straight away!

So what percentage do I owe you?! Do I win for the shortest claim yet? I think it was an entire 30 seconds, not including the time I was in a telephone queue.

Hi,

Well I only went overdrawn by £1.61, which was due to their debit interest charges, and I am now being charged £72 for it, as I didn't notice this slight misdemeanour straight away. (Basically I was overdrawn for 7 days last month, the changes went out this week, and becuase I wasn't aware of the extent of these charges, I went overdrawn again, incurred more charges, etc).

There was no offer of a refund when called, despite the fact it was only £1.61 and it was the first time I had ever exceeded teh limit and I had been a customer for a good 4-5 years. In fact, I have not been able to get through to Smile since this call. I have tried 4-5 times and waited between 10-20 mins. I can only pressume they have nothing futher to say on the matter. I sent of my Prelim letter today and hope I have interpreted it correctly. I will certainly be leaving Smile whether I get the money back or not. They clearly do not value me as a customer.