dmbarfield v. The Woolwich

[dmbarfield]

Hi,

My diary of events so far:

16/08/2006 Sent my letter requesting copies of my statements with £10 cheque

Received the cheque back with a nice letter saying they will be dealing with my complaint.

19/09/2006 Received a list of charges & copy statements.

21/09/2006 Sent my preliminary request for repayment letter

Received 2 further letters very politely telling me that Barclays/Woolwich are dealing with my complaint, and by the way they are sorry if I am not happy with the service!

The end of this week I shall be drafting my next letter (LBA).

It's been far too straightforward so far, who is going to be taking bets on when it will all go pear-shaped?

[paddym]

probably ! anyhow you seem to have it all under control just stick to your timescales not theirs and you will be fine good luck !

[dmbarfield]

Thanks,

One thing I wasn't sure about (really minor thing!) do you give them 14 working, or 14 calendar days between the preliminary letter & LBA?

Yes, I am a pedant!!

[paddym]

14 calendar days ! we in the CAG & BAG are always working ! lol

[dmbarfield]

Update to this, I have just printed out my LBA & schedule of charges (again), and if there is no polite offer of a full refund from Barclays or Woolwich, I'm off down the post box in the morning.

Out of interest, I notice a few on here are dealing with Woolwich customer services, has anyone else been referred to Barclays head office customer relations?

[paddym]

All claims get escalated to Barclays head office as Woolwich is now a trading name of Barclays plc from they took Woolwich over !

[jellebabe]

Hi, your at the same stage as me, LBA just gone, was referred to Barclays head office, they give really long deadlines for their replies, ignore them and send on our time!

Also the big pikies have taken £48, I went a little overdrawn and they charged me £3 a day!

[G1BB0]

I am being charged £3 a day as i type, am currently £15 overdrawn, this will also cause another D/D for 13 quid to fail = another £35.... makes you laugh really, how can the penalty be more than the actual amount!!!!!

[dmbarfield]

Right, The Woolwich have officially 2 postal deliveries remaining to send a full refund, and then it's time to start the court action. But first I've got a few questions for those who are more clued up than I.

All of the letters I've sent so far have been by standard first class rather than recorded. This won't count against me will it?

When I do get around to filling the forms, should it be the Woolwich or Barclays as defendant? or is this just another of those pedantic little things that I shouldn't worry about?

Thanks again!

[Thailand]

I doubt the postage thing will be a problem - but maybe send your future recordings by recorded delivery so you can trace them on line.

I personally chose Woolwich address @ Clacton-on-sea, but you could use Barclays H.O. Alot of people vote to send to thier branch - ultimately it gets transferred to the relevant place anyway!

[dmbarfield]

Firstly, sorry if this question has been answered elsewhere, but I'm now at the stage were I am really worried about making mistakes.

I have started to fill the moneyclaim form online, and am at the claim particulars page. Whe typed out in word the particulars take up 1016 characters & 13 lines, but in moneyclaim it's 25 lines. I have trimmed out every unnecessary space, but can't get it down to 24.

help!!

[paddym]

Check the FAQS SECTION THERE IS A STEP BY STEP GUIDE WHICH INCLUDES THE mcol TEMPLATE WHICH YOU WILL FIND VERY HELPFULL FILLING OUT YOUR CLAIM !

[dmbarfield]

Thanks, I used the template but whilst filling in the MCOL form at the point I said I did want to claim interest there was a pop-up window with alternative text for the interest section. Is it safe to assume that I can disregard the MCOL text in favour of what is in the template on this site?

An interesting development yesterday morning. I received a letter from Barclays offering a sum of £125 as full settlement. My optimistic side thinks I might be able to settle this over the phone.

[paddym]

thats just standard pratice now the woolwich will offer between 10 - 50% for settlement but you write back telling them youll accept it as an interim payment and pursue the rest through the courts theyll swiftly withdraw the offer and as regards settling it over the phone im afraid in my experiance dealing with these people thats a non starter im sure if you read through our threads there are fellow members who have been right through the process and so far i cant remember one person thats its worked out that fast for the woolwich really drag it out until just before our court dates !

[dmbarfield]

I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and waited 48 hours to my phone call requesting full settlement, but (probably unsurprisingly) nothing has been heard. So I have just submitted my MCOL, I'll update as I hear anything.

ps If successful, I promise I will donate to this site, it has been absolutely fantastic!!!!!

[dmbarfield]

Hi,

Although I have now submitted the MCOL, I thought I should reply in writing to the offer made by Barclays to settle the claim. Would someone have a quick scan over the text and tell me if they think it's ok?

Dear Mr White,

In response to your letter dated 21st October, 2006 I am writing to confirm the brief conversation held with a Barclays customer service representative on the 25th October, 2006.

During this conversation I informed said representative that I would not be accepting the offer made in your letter of £125 as full and final settlement of my claim. But would be willing to accept the previously stated sum of £471, or I would be willing to take this matter to a court of law. I was informed that I would be contacted within 48 hours of the telephone conversation to discuss the matter further.

By 28th October, 2006 (72 hours later) I had not heard anything more from Barclays, and therefore submitted a claim using the HMCS Money Claim Online system.

It is unfortunate that this matter has been allowed to progress to this position, but should you feel that a positive resolution can be reached then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Thanks again!

[paddym]

looks like you have it all under control !

[dmbarfield]

Don't let this outward appearance fool you! But thanks for confirming it's ok.

[dmbarfield]

Ooh, those nice people at Barclays phoned me at work (where did they get that number?) to increase their offer to £200, and to tell me that the amount according to the Woolwich records was wrong.

When I asked them to send me the evidence that it was wrong, they had the convienient excuse that this was based on information provided by the Woolwich which Barclays don't have access to (aren't they the same company now?).

Anyway I pointed out to the nice man that the MCOL had been issued, and the only way it would be withdrawn is if the full claim was settled.

A very polite an civilised phone conversation, but hopefully I got my message across that I'm serious about this!

EDIT: Looking back at other people's experiences, I can't see any other instances of Woolwich/Barclays disputing the claim amount. Should I be worried about this?

[Thailand]

I wouldn't, when it comes to them paying up - they'll let you know if there is an discrepancy??