Stafford Court stayed all cases today. The DDJ liked the " Objection for a stay" letter but didn't feel that it was a strong enough arguement. Did make the lawyer twitch a bit though.

oh well, onwards and upwards

Unfortunately, as with all 24 other similar cases today. The DDJ at Stafford County Court stayed all cases today pending the outcome of the OFT test case.

Barclays applied for a stay, which I countered using the "templated objection to a stay" letter. At one point the Judge did contemplate my objection (you should have seen the defense squirm) but he felt that it was not quite a strong enough arguement. He did however state that it was a very well put together piece of work (thanks go out to the originator for that).

I asked whether an injunction could be made to stop the Bank from continuing to penalize me with these charges. The defense stated that she did not feel that it was within the judges power (ouch). He promptly put her straight and told me that he was happy to go down that road if I wished ( Defense positively twitching at this stage), however, he explained that if I did pursue this course of action and the OFT case went in favour of the Defense, that I may be liable to pay back all the charges.

Clearly, I am not in a position to do this either financially or knowledge wise.

So....its wait out till Jan 8th 2008 for a decision. Oh well.

It was nice to see a lawyer twitching, even if only for a few minutes.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, could someone please explain where this leaves me now. Obviously, i'll have to wait for the decision but will I still have to go to Court in order to claim my money or will they automatically payout if they lose?

Hi,

I'm at Stafford County Court tomorrow.

I sent Copies of the Court Bundles to both parties. I have just written a witness statement, a case summary and a letter to counteract the proposed stay (they have told me that they will apply for one).

Have I got everything or do I need anything else.

Also, will I even get to have my day in Court or will I be put on hold until the test case is over? what seems to be the norm at the moment.?

Any help would be welcome.

Thanks

Hi,

My Court Date is set for 22 Aug 07. I have just received a letter from Barclays stating that they are applying for a stay.

What I was wondering is: Has anybody been successful in getting Barclays to stop collecting charges until the test case has finished. It seems fair that they should stop collecting charges in the same way that we are expected to wait for an answer, If so, who did you speak to.

Okay....Panic Time.

Barclays have just put in a defence against my claim. Not a big deal in its self other than the fact that I haven't received the AQ yet and that I am off on Holiday for 2 weeks on Friday.

I did ask about this in the chatroom prior to starting the claim and was advised that i need not panic as it would probably be sorted by then. Well it ain't sorted and time is running out fast.

Any suggestions will be very very welcome..............

Sadly...it was virtually a case of frog marching her....she was very reluctant to confront the Staff.

She has been waiting to see how I was getting on......I think i'm the household test case.

I have just started my court action against Barclays, so I have all the info I need for my court bundle including all my letters, sent & Recieved, Bank Charges, statements, court notice etc.

Since starting the process I have incurred a couple more penalty charges, however, unlike before, I now have far more knowledge and experience in dealing with these matters.

Consequently, today I marched into my local branch, holding my folder with all my info. I requested an audience with a senior member of Staff, explaining that I had a concern about Bank Charges levied against me.

I was introduced to a very polite lady who I know worked in the Bank for many years. I explained the situation; that I had charges against me and that I was currently in dispute with the Bank. She actually seemed quite interested in the whole process and the fact that the company she worked for had already offered me 3/4's of my original claim.

I explained that I had watched the Whistleblower programme and that I was shocked by the amount of pressure that staff were put under to meet targets (Charm offensive on my part).

The Lady in question opened up to me and we had a lovely conversation about the current situation.

In conclusion......I was refunded my current charges (the ones since the start of action) and left the bank with a smile on my face for a job well done.

PS: I also escorted my wife into the Bank last week and requested 6 yrs worth of statements. It cost us £5 but when you consider the written way usually takes about a month and costs about £8 in special delivery charges, it seemed a good deal. She was told she would recieve them in 4 weeks.

Its really quite refreshing to be able to stick up for ones self:)

Started my claim via MoneyClaimOnline. Am i right in thinking I need to send them two copies of my Charges?

If so...whats the address and is there a template letter which i can use.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks.

I've obviously upset someone cause no one will reply to me.

oh well:(

Would appreciate it if some1 would reply please.

Thanks:)

Recieved what I assume is a pretty standard letter today:

May I say how sorry I am to learn that ........blah blah blah

When an account is opened with us, our customer is provied with......blah blah blah

Despite my comments above in relation to your views, on this occasion, and without admissions of liability, I am willing to offer the sum of £870.00 towards the total amount you are seeking.

My point is that £870 from £1270 seems a much bigger offer than i've seen offered before. Is this a new carrot that they are dangling i.e. a bigger piece of bait may attract more fish.

Obviously, not this fish:)

I want my full settlement and will be starting my claim in 4 days;)

I have actually attempted to phone the contact No: 0845 300 4028 but it will not let you talk. It cuts you off with " we aren't accepting calls and not taking messages" or something like that.

My Question:

Do I need to reply to Barclays stating that i'll accept their offer but only as part payment. Is this letter necessary or not. The reason I ask is due to the lack of time I have before starting the claim.

Any thoughts welcome.

Could some1 just check that this is okay. i don't know if there is a default against me so i re-worded to tell them to remove one if it exists.

Freepost RLTA-CSUE-TCHC

Barclays Bank plc

Head office customer relations

1 Churchill place

London

E14 5HP

16/02/2007

Request for repayment of charges

Dear Sir/Madam,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxx

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund to me the charges which you have levied from my account over the last 6 years.

I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit refusals, exceeding overdraft limits and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not, then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs to which you have been put by as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs.

Additionally, it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the OFT who reported on the 5th April 2006 and are therefore presumed to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

Your responsibilities

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 frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them.

Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

What I require

I calculate that you have taken £1270.00 from my account over the last 6 years.

I enclose a schedule of the charges which I am claiming with this letter.

Additionally, should you have entered a default notice against my credit record and this default occurred merely in respect of unlawful charges levied by you or was the result of impecuniosity’s caused directly by the taking by you of penalty charges which you had applied unlawfully to my account then In addition to full payment of the sum mentioned above, I will require that you remove the default entry from the register. Please note that mere correction or amendment to the entry will not be acceptable.

My targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

I will give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

If you do not respond, or you do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

Yours faithfully,

Rustmonkey

Thanks for all your help. its much appreciated.

I've completed the spreadsheets. I have one copy without the 8% @ £1270.00 and one with the 8% at £1514.96.

I will know write out the Prelim letter and get it sent off with a copy of the (without 8%) spreadsheet and a 14 day timetable.

Here we go:eek:

Statements all came winging through the post today. All 6 years.

Time to get out the highlighter and start totalling it up. After a quick glance I din't think it will be as much as i thought but should still hit the £1000 mark with the 8% added at the court stage. Lets face it, they ain't gonna cough up before that are they.

I'll sit down and work it out, start the spreadsheet and prepare the initial letter. Now the fun starts.

Thanks for taking the time to read and re-edit original, unfortunately as I had no reply fom anybody yesterday, i used pre edited letter. Was sent special delivery...this morning. Should arrive Monday morning.

I guess, we'll just have to sit back and wait.

Thanks anyway;)

thanks...done.

How does it read?

Bump....anyone:(

Anybody........please:)

Slightly revamped:

Mr Peter Townsend

Privacy & Data Protection

Radbroke Hall

Knutsford

Cheshire

WA16 9EU

Dear Mr Townsend,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: 00272590

With reference to your letter, dated 30 January, 2007, received today, my request was for details concerning any manual intervention by any person, or member of your staff or, if there was no intervention of any kind, confirmation of the same.

I asked, quite plainly, "Did manual intervention take place” - yes or no? If yes, then supply details, and if no, then please confirm. This you have singularly failed to do.

It has recently come to my attention that the Information Commissioner as deemed that Barclays are already in breach of their data protection obligations.

You have not answered my request satisfactorily, so I therefore remind you that your 40 days is running out. I deem my initial letter to you as having been received by yourselves on the 30th January, 2007.

You therefore have until Saturday, 10th March, 2007 to comply with my request in full otherwise I will issue proceedings for non compliance without further notice.

I re - enclose cheque No 100218 for the sum of £10, for which I insist you accept, as this is the statutory maximum fee for a Subject Access Request of which I am requesting.

I will require full disclosure of my account for the last six years i.e. back to 30 January 2001, as requested in my initial letter. As this is after 2000, my details will be stored on computer and will therefore be easier to process.

I will require a receipt for the Cheque so that I may claim it back at a later date. I also enclose a copy of my original request.

Just to ensure that there is no misunderstanding “This is a Subject Access Request.”

Yours sincerely,

Is this okay to send??????

I have just drafted this using a few of the ideas from previous claimants:

Does this sound okay:

Mr Peter Townsend

Privacy & Data Protection

Radbroke Hall

Knutsford

Cheshire

WA16 9EU

Dear Mr Townsend,

ACCOUNT NUMBER: xxxxxxxxxx

With reference to your letter, dated 30 January, 2007, received today, my request was for details concerning any manual intervention by any person, or member of your staff or, if there was no intervention of any kind, confirmation of the same .

I asked, quite plainly, "Did manual intervention take place” - yes or no? If yes, then supply details, and if no, then please confirm. This you have singularly failed to do.

It has recently come to my attention that the Information Commissioner as deemed that Barclays are already in breach of their data protection obligations.

You have not answered my request satisfactorily, so I therefore remind you that your 40 days is running out. I deem my initial letter to you as having been received by yourselves on the 30th January, 2007.

You therefore have until Saturday, 10th March, 2007 to comply with my request. I re - enclose cheque No xxxxx for the sum of £10, for which I insist you cash, as this is the statutory fee for a Subject Access Request of which I am requesting.

I require full disclosure, as requested in my first letter.

I will require a receipt for the Cheque and I also enclose a copy of my original request.

Just to ensure that there is no misunderstanding “This is a Subject Access Request”

Yours sincerely,

Is this okay? is there anything I could add to give it even more credence?

Okay Guys -n -Gals,

Got the, I assume standard response from Barclays Data protection:

"Please be aware that the Bank is not under an obligation to present information according to any specific format.....blah blah blah....

copy statements supplied in the next few weeks....blah blah blah....

may be an increase in time required to collate.....blah blah blah....

As regards your mention of "manual intervention", the DPA does not oblige the Bank to comment about internal policies and procedures.....blah blah blah..

As the Bank is providing the copy statements on a complimentary basis your payment is returned herewith.

Pete Townsend."

Now I have seen that the Information Commission aren't buying this and that I have a right to this info. is there an updated template to take into account the new info we have got, quoting verse and chapter.

I did think I saw one but can't remember where it was?

Anyone.

It' s okay, sorted.

This is what it says....

We're sorry, but xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx does not have access to this document.

You are signed in as xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, but that email account hasn't been granted permission to this document.

oh...i have registered with google;)

Sorry about this but does anybody know why I can't access the spreadsheets? Comes up with something about not having permission.

without the spreadsheets i'm stuffed.