I got charged £12 for a late payment. I phoned and asked for a refund on the charge but they were only willing to give £6 back, so I said I'd write and get it back.

My first letter was ignored. Got no reply at all.

My LBA has also been ignored. I explicitly stated the 14th day (3rd Jan) by which I expected payment, but I've received nothing. The tracking code shows the letter was received by them on 24 Dec.

What should I do? Technically I should file with moneyclaim, but for £12 I'm not sure I should? I really thought they'd have paid up.

Should I phone them and ask why they've not replied and explain I'm about to file a court claim if they don't credit me by the end of the day?

Should I phone them and ask why they've not replied and explain I'm about to file a court claim if they don't credit me by the end of the day?

Hmm.. I got back home on the day I posted above to find a letter from MBNA saying they were looking into it and I'd get a reply by 20th Jan.

I know the normal protocol is to stick to your own timelines, but given it's only for £12 do you think I should hang on to hear their reply?

20th Jan is only 10 days away, so perhaps it is worth waiting. Don't hold your breath though

Curses..... I have received a reply saying that they're not going to give a refund (for £12 flippin' quid!!!).

So, given the low claim amount and the fact they didn't reply to the prelim letter, I've drafted up one final request with a little sting in the tail - that I will cancel my account with them (which I will gladly do). It's all standard text at the top of the letter - I put my own wording in about half way down.

Please could someone glance over it before I send it tomorrow, I don't want it to go against me if I have to take it to court (which I will do if I get rejected again) - please let me know your thoughts.

Thank you for your letter dated XX.XX.XX explaining that you are not prepared to refund the £12 late payment charge you applied to my account on XX.XX.XX.

 

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to late fees are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am writing to ask you one final time to refund me this charge. I require repayment in full of this money.

 

Failure to comply will result in me cancelling my card and account with you. Regardless of the OFT guidelines and your own standard policies referenced in your letter, if you do not see maintaining good customer relations as motivation enough to refund a £12 charge then perhaps my custom is better suited with one of your competitors. As I'm sure you are aware there are hundreds of lenders besides VirginCard/MBNA who I can swap to and this is something I will do without hesitation.

 

Additionaly, if you do not comply fully within 14 days (i.e by XX.XX.XX), I shall begin a court claim against you for the full amount plus interest, plus my costs, without further notice.

 

I am confident that like many thousands of others I will win such a case. A favourable outcome for me would only go to highlight the unnecessary nature and futility behind your decision.

 

Yours sincerely, etc......

Letter is now posted. Fingers x'd.

Not heard a thing back from MBNA on this, and it's several days past the 14 day deadline, and I built in a 14 day extension from my prelim start daye, just to try and get it resolved. Tsk....

I'm gonna get the Claim ready over the weekend and file it first thing Monday if nothing has turned up.

Is it still possible to use MCOL for this?? I saw big notices saying 'STOP' for the bank charges - does this apply to Credit Card claims too?

Don't use MCOL. Firstly, the case will get stayed automatically even though it is not a bank charges claim and, secondly, there is not enough room on the form for a proper particulars of claim and you can't attach your schedule and it gets transferred to your local court anyway. Much better to go straight to your local court.

Thanks for that advice Steven. Can I get an N1 form online or need to go to my court?

N1

Warning - you can fill it in on your computer but not save what you have filled in. My advice is do everything in word and then cut and paste onto the form and print. THe Particulars of Claim can be done on a seperate sheet and the word 'attached' written on page 2 of the form.

Hi Stillborn Crisps,

Can i please ask you, as i have a virgin credit card with charges, which address have you been using for your pre-lim and LBA?

Thanks

TheyrCriminals

Hi Crimz,

I've been using:

Virgin Card

PO Box 1004

Chester Business Park

Chester

CH4 9WW

It's the same as the MBNA address, and the letters are even coming back headed as MBNA, not even a whiff of the Virgin logo.

Well... I WON this little victory! I phoned them to find their previous reply (apparently sent 2 weeks ago) 'got lost in the post'.

But they sent a duplicate saying whilst they don't agree with me they're refunding the fee + interest to maintain their relationship with me. Weirdly the money only got credited to me the day of this second duplicate letter. It's almost as if they didn't send the first one at all (otherwise the money would've been credited two weeks ago). hmmmm....

Whatever... I won, and they are idiots!

Every victory is a victory, no matter how small - Well Done!

Hi SC, did you dump MBNA afterwards?

FBR

No, I still kept the Virgin Card in the end as they did refund me albeit through gritted teeth.

I'd previously had an actual MBNA card where the same sort of thing happened but they steadfastly refused to refund £12 even as a gesture of goodwill, so I did dump that one, then successfully claimed it back, then wrote them a letter saying 'you just lost a 10yr customer over £12, and you didn't even get to keep the £12, ha haa' sort of thing!