GSMGuy v Woolwich

[GSMGuy]

Hi all, great site!!!!

Anyway Phoned Openplan a few weeks ago, just out of interest and asked for a list of all chages on one of my accounts for the last six years, plus details of any manual intervention needed...

I was not charged, and received a 2 page list in less than a week... All nicely itemised and added up for me!!!

Total £2530 + interest, which I don't think I have worked out correctly..

So sent 1st letter Rec Del on 2nd May - Confirmed delivered online 3rd May - Got std Openplan letter back dated 3rd May.. Thankyou for taking the time etc...

Then got a letter dated 4th May telling me it had been passed to Barclays...

And finally one last week dated 8th May from Barclays (Mike Brophy again, busy guy!) saying "I am sorry you are unhappy with the charges bla, blah, blah one of my team will contact you as soon as possible"

To date no contact, so my question is, I now have to send LBA, but on what date do I base my 14 days? The day Woolwich received it? (03/05) or the day Barclays got it (08/05)????


Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

base the 14 days from the date you sent it! After all its unlikely they will be paying up so easily!

Good Luck

Lou x

[GSMGuy]

And I presume I am correct in that it's LBA time - but how do I go on about the interest calculation???

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

ok, interest deducted from your account or 8%

If its the 1st, then use Vampiresses spreadsheet, you can only claim back a % of this that accounts for the charges and not your overdraft spending.

If its the 2nd then theres another Spreadsheet to help you out in the same library but you can only claim this once filing at court...


Lou x

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[GSMGuy]

Stll at a loss working this out - I have a list of all the charges, and the dates, but not the account balances. Am I better not asking for interest at this stage, asking for a nominal amount or not mentioning it and then adding it at 8% at the next stage???

Want to try and get LBA in the post tomorrow...

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

PLEASE READ THE FAQ'S AND SPREADSHEETS!

Sorry, but I have tried to explain for you, but you dont seem to have understood, please do some reasearch on here, type in interest or something into the search bar. If you are totally stuck PM me.

Louise

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[GSMGuy]

LBA in post rec del today

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[GSMGuy]

Ok, acknowledgement of LBA received today via std woolwich letter, I presume I'll get something from barclays in a day or two..

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[GSMGuy]

Update... Letter received today from Mike Brophy... The important bits......


"May I say how sorry I am to learn that you feel the bank chrges you have incurred are unfair..... I must inform you however, that we disagree with your view....... Despite my comments above in relation to your views, on this occasion, and without any admissions as to the basis of your complaint, I am willing to offer the sum of £800 towards the total amount you are seeking. This is with the cost and inconvenience inherent in a further dispute in mind and is intended as a gesture of goodwill. If you would like to accept my offer, please sign and return the enclosed form and I will have the payment credited directly to your account......"

Yeah right - "unfair" - Illegal is the word....

So am I to return it saying I am happy to accept the £800 as an interim payment towards the total - but am still going ahead with issuing a court summons on Mon...... TBH today is the 14th day given in thew LBA, but I just don't have the time today... Advice please....

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[GSMGuy]

Cough...


Mike

[GSMGuy]

Ok, have now sent them a fax as follows::::

Further to your letter of 01st June, received yesterday, I am happy to accept your offer of a payment of £800 as an INTERIM payment, whilst awaiting receipt of the difference between this and the original amount claimed in my letter of 28th April 2006 in which I requested repayment of £2530 plus interest. Therefore, I am happy to accept your offer of £800, subject to a further payment of £1730 plus interest on the full sum. I have amended your acceptance letter, and attach same. Please note that if this is not acceptable, I intend to issue a claim in the County Court via Moneyclaim Online for the full amount plus interest @ 8% pa as allowed by law.

If you are receptive to my settlement offer, then please advise me via fax or email by 4pm on Mon 05th June. If I do not hear from you by this deadline I will file my claim online as advised.

Yours

xxxxxxxx






What do you think??






Mike

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.

[barracad]

Sounds fine to me.

[moonie]

That letter you received from Mike Brophy with the offer of £800, I received word for word the exact same letter from Laurence White - Head of Customer Relations at Barclays.

Seems they can't even be bothered to read anyone's letters, they just spin out the same drivel to everyone even at the 'offer' stage. Absolutely disgusting and this is the 'service' they are so proud of telling everyone about.

Like you, I've accepted it as an interim payment, quoted the piece about the default notice and given them 7 days to respond.

[GSMGuy]

Ok,

Got a reply today, basically saying, i#we are not going to pay you the £800 as it was offered in full and final settlement, and you have endorsed your acceptance to show otherwise. Therefore our offer is now withdrawn etc. etc...

So I am going to issue online - HOWEVER - one thing I am slightly worries about is, although I have received the full list of charges etc, it was not in response to sending the Data Protection Act request - I merely asked.. I have sent the 1st letter and the LBA, but before I issue, should I do a Data Protection Act request for details of manual intervention, in order to further support my case??

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[GSMGuy]

Anyone??

Mike

[GSMGuy]

Ok, well ion the absence of any advice to the contrary I think I am gonna do a Data Protection Act request, specifically the manual intervention bit, and when recived, go and issue my claim forthwith...

Comments?

Mike

[closey]

I think you would probably be ok without the manual intervention bit, but there is no gaurentee. I think it's your call on this.

[GSMGuy]

Decided to cover my back by sending a Data Protection Act specifically for the "manual intervention" bit... Will await reply and then issue claim.

Also, I have done a Data Protection Act for another account, to which the reply was an offer of £875.... Before they even complied with the Data Protection Act! Needless to say it's a non-starter..

Mike

[GSMGuy]

Finally got a reply to the Data Protection Act today, plus my £10 cheque returned "as a gesture of goodwill" appears they left a few charges off, as without getting the calculator out, it looks more like £4k...... So I am gonna do a revised LBA in respect of the new figures, quoting the original complaint reference and offer of compensation - Will give them 14 days and issue online...

Mike

	Small Claims kit by Lawpack Sue your bank as many times as you like with just one Small Claims kit by Lawpack. Follow this link to read the review. The kit contains everything you need: instruction manual, templates, examples, forms and a comprehensive CDRom. Applies to England and Wales

[GSMGuy]

Decided to take a leaf out of Barry's book and email Jeremiah first, prior to issuing claim...

Without Prejudice.

Your Ref: ********, Court Case No. TBA
************** V Barclays Bank PLC (T/A Woolwich)

16th August 2006

Dear Mr Jeremiah,
Further to your recent offer of £875 in respect of the above, and my willingness to accept this as an interim payment, and the refusal by Joanna Carney in Customer Relations to agree to same,

I am writing to you today in the hope that we might be able to agree a settlement on the above, prior to my issuing a money claim online which will incur additional costs.

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 present.

But, with reference to my claim, I have looked at copies of what appears to be your standard defence and it would appear to be 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 am therefore led to believe, that should I proceed with my claim in the courts, that your defence will be wholly similar to those mentioned.

I note that one Judge has even made a comment on one of the cases allocation questionnaire:
"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 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 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 issue a claim online and pursue it all the way, if we are unable to resolve this matter now.

I look forward to your response,

Yours Sincerely,

*********






What you all think?

Apols for the plagiarism!

Mike

	County Court guidebook by Judge Patricia Pearl Follow this link to read the review of this excellent Small Claims Guidebook. This comprehensive and very accessible guide will take you through the process of suing or defending a claim. This guide will help you take control of your litigation and make you more confident about doing it yourself. Applies to England and Wales

	Are you letting your bank keep your money Are you giving away thousands of pounds?? Many people aren't claiming all of the money they are entitled to when they make their bank charges claims. You have been forced to pay unfair bank charges. Have you forgotten that your bank has charged you inteest on those charges? If you are overdrawn and the bank owes you charges - then your overdraft is made up of charges - money which you bank owes you. Yet you are paying interest to the bank - on your own money!!! Follow this link to see the discussions on this. You might even double th size of your claim.