Bitiing back at Woolwich

[Barry031261]

Hi Closey,

My local court is Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Baz

[closey]

Hi Barry,

I'm quite often down that way. If it does go to court I will try and come along if you like. (But we know they will more than likely settle!)

[mijit53]

It seems to me through my own experience as well as the ones read here that the Woolwich is by far the worst for charges.
35 pound a time for returned cheques and unpaid direct debits and on my account another 51 pounds ADMINISTRATION charge plus some interest that is a whopping 121 pounds in charges l was overdrawn by a whopping 10 pound and 56 pence at the time so really deserved these charges..l don't think.
The woolwich need to be investigated by the OFT as they are nothing but a bank acting like a back street loan shark charging what ever they feel like.
I hope everyone succeeds with the Woolwich and gets all their money back and bankrupts the dam thing because it doesn't deserve to survive.
regards
Mike

[Mumofthreeboys]

Originally Posted by mijit53

It seems to me through my own experience as well as the ones read here that the Woolwich is by far the worst for charges.
35 pound a time for returned cheques and unpaid direct debits and on my account another 51 pounds ADMINISTRATION charge plus some interest that is a whopping 121 pounds in charges l was overdrawn by a whopping 10 pound and 56 pence at the time so really deserved these charges..l don't think.
The woolwich need to be investigated by the OFT as they are nothing but a bank acting like a back street loan shark charging what ever they feel like.
I hope everyone succeeds with the Woolwich and gets all their money back and bankrupts the dam thing because it doesn't deserve to survive.
regards
Mike

Here, here!!!!!!

[Barry031261]

I absolutely agree with the previous comments.

Woolwich seem to have the highest charges of all the High Street Sharks and are proving to be one of the hardest nuts to crack as far as returning penalty fees is concerned.
But they will return them! Of that I am sure cos I will not be giving up until I have the lot back. Their tactic of pushing the claims as far as possible will simply mean that they will owe me more at the end of the day as I will now be after the costs I have incurred in time taken to prepare my case for court even if they wish to settle before that!

Since beginning the action against them they have (edit) a further £300 from my account!
If anyone can advise the best way to deal with this I would be grateful. Should I wait for my current claim to be settled before starting a new one, should I start a new claim for the additional fees or can I amend my current claim to include this further sum?

Baz

moderated whilst we understand your annoyance we have to remove any comments that could be seen as libelous

[Barry031261]

Hi all,

Just a quick update. I have just spoken to Keith Jeremiah to confirm that he received the following email that I sent to him:-


Without Prejudice.

Your Ref: xxxxxxxxx, Court Case No. 6SB00449
Barry031261 V Barclays Bank PLC (T/A Woolwich)

17.06.06

Dear Mr Jeremiah,

I am writing to you today in the hope that we might be able to agree a settlement on the outstanding case as stated above.

I have no doubt that you are a very busy man at the moment, what with the number of claims for return of penalties you are dealing with at the moment.

But, with reference to my claim, i have looked at your defence as attached to your letter dated 10.05.06*and it is the same as in all of the other cases that I am currently watching on 'the consumer action group' website. I believe that*once you have been to court with one then the result will inevitably follow for all of the others where you have the same defence. (I am aware cases will be dealt with on an individual basis and no precedence can be set but we are all paying very close attention to each others cases.)

I note that one Judge has even made a comment on the allocation questionaire:
"It is difficult to see how the Defendant, absent any witness evidence, could show reasonableness of charges or details of its costs. Surely there will be a witness. This has a bearing on the time estimate for the case."
This gives me, and my fellow claimants, more confidence in our eventual settlement.

I have attached a spreadsheet (Case 6SB00449) which shows the current amount claimed including court fees and interest to date. I have also included a sum of £100.00 for the time taken to prepare my case for court proceedings should it come to that. This is a figure which I am sure the courts would allow following judgement in my favour.

I have also attached another spreadsheet (Additional Fees) which is a breakdown of further penalties that have been taken from my bank account subsequent to my current claim. I will also be looking to have these returned. Ideally, these fees can be dealt with at the same time as the current claim but, failing that, I will immediately be entering a new claim to the County Courts for the return of these monies which will obviously result in further court costs and interest to yourselves which I am keen to help you avoid.

I do hope that this matter can be resolved amicably and that we can both avoid the unpleasant but necessary appearance in court. But I would like to make it clear that I am fully prepared, with the assistance of the 'consumer action group's' support, to proceed to court on the 1st September 2006 if we are unable to resolve this matter now.

I look forward to your response,

Yours Sincerely,


Barry031261

Mr Jeremiah is indeed a nice man to talk to although he is aware that any coversation we had would be posted here. So he wasn't willing to discuss the matter over the phone but did assure me that the case would be looked at and a letter sent to me within the next couple of days.

I can't wait!

Baz

[Mumofthreeboys]

Excellent letter - I'm sure that will be copied a few times by other people!!!!

One thing tho, I note you've put 'without prejudice' on top - I thought you only put that on a letter if you didn't want the contents disclosed in a court of law, but you do don't you??????

[Barry031261]

I dont think I do actually. I am forcing the issue with regard to additional fees that they have taken from my account since I started my claim and if I do have to go through the courts to recover this then I won't be showing this letter!

More to the point, I don't want them to have any benefit from it either!

Baz

[Mumofthreeboys]

Excellent point - hadn't thought of it like that.

[Barry031261]

Update 9.8.06 (just over 3 weeks to go till court date)

About 3 weeks ago i had a letter from Keith Jeramiah offering me £1600.00 as full and final settlement even tho we now have a court date! Cheeky b****r!
Anyway, I phoned him and told him how I felt about the offer and he appeared to cave and said that he would check the figures claimed and, if it all checked out, he would pass it thro for settlement.

Anyway, a few days ago I had a letter from him asking why I hadn't responded to his offer and whether there was still the chance to negotiate! He also stated that 'Barclays Bank "expect" a compromise on my part'

So................I sent him the following!



Dear Mr Jeramiah,

I refer to your letter dated 4th August 2006.

You may, or may not, recall our telephone conversation in response to your settlement offer of £1600 in respect of my claim number 6 SB 00449 where I made my feelings clear to you. But, In case this has slipped your memory, I will briefly outline the conversation for you.

I stated that I found your offer totally unacceptable as it was not even close to the figure that I am claiming in unlawful Penalty Charges. The conversation ended with you verbally agreeing to check the figures claimed and, if the figures tallied, you would put the claim forward for full settlement.

Unfortunately, I was a little niave and actually believed you. I should of followed this up in writing but felt that you had made a genuine offer and that you would be good for your word.

I now know that verbal offers of any kind cannot be relied upon and now require all future correspondence in writing so that they can, if need be, be referred to at a later date should the need arise.

With regard to any further negotiations; of course I am keen to conclude this action before the hearing date of 1st September 2006.
But be aware that I am not willing to compromise on the settlement figure in any way. I feel aggrieved that you would even suggest that Barclays Bank would ‘expect’ a compromise on my part. If you had made efforts to conclude this action earlier then the settlement figure would have been significantly lower that it currently is.

I am, therefore, ready to accept your offer of full and final settlement of my claim as it stands at todays figure which is £2,368.48 and continuing to rise by .37p per day until settled.

Furthermore, I now require that the additional Penalty Fees that have been charged to my account since the start of this claim are re-paid at this stage if an out of court settlement is to be reached. These fees have been wholly caused by your constant delaying tactics in reaching a settlement of my court claim and I feel justified in insisting that these are dealt with now, rather than facing another 6 months of further delays that you would undoubtedly cause.

I have again included a breakdown of these unlawful charges which amount to £435.00 for you to check authenticity. This figure does not include interest pursuant to section 69 County Courts Act of 8%.

This will bring the overall settlement figure that I require to £2,803.48.

Of course it should be noted that the Court hearing is only a matter of weeks away and I am more than happy to allow the District Judge to make the final decision. Should it reach the stage where settlement is not reached before the hearing date I will be asking the Judge to consider the additional fees that I have incurred, plus additional costs, and seek to obtain a judgement that includes these.

In closing, I would like to summarise the terms that I am willing to settle this court action prior to the hearing date-

A. The settlement of the Court Claim no. 6 SB 00430 for £2,368.48
B. Additional fees added to my account after Court action was instigated £435.00
C. The combined figure of £2,803.48 being deposited into my account prior to 1st September 2006

If you agree to the above terms, please sign and return the duplicate copy to me by return. You will also need to ensure that the monies are paid into my Woolwich account as cleared funds. As soon as I confirm that the monies are in my account I will send a letter to Salisbury County Court to discontinue my claim and I will send you a duplicate for your records.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Yours Sincerely,



barry031261




I agree to the above terms of settlement


Signed _________________________ ______
Keith Jeramiah (Legal Executive)

Dated: August 2006

[Mumofthreeboys]

'expect a compromise'!!!! :o

Excellent letter, well done. Shouldn't be long then

[Barry031261]

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I read that bit!

I hope Mr Jeramiah appreciates the 'sign and return' part! It always niggles me when they can put this on the end of any stupid offers they make.

See if he likes it!

[closey]

Good letter. That cheered me up no end!

[e28bigalbexley]

wish i could write a letter like that makes you feel all, all happy and gleeful (i got told off last time i said sumthing naughty) good luck to you barry heres to a sucessful ending, cheers

[GSMGuy]

Most excellent letter!!!!!!


Mike

[Yasmin]

Can't wait for the response. Not much time for him to wriggle and jiggle if your court date is 1st Sept. Hope it's settled now!

[Barry031261]

Yehaaa!

I've just checked my bank balance and discovered a large deposit made yesterday!

This can only be settlement from the bank. I haven't got my post yet, and I havent checked the figures to see if its correct, but £2223.00 has been refunded!

Fantastic! Now I can afford to go after the others hehe!