Hi, I'm no expert but I've read a lot of the smile threads in depth! I'm also awaiting a response from my LBA and have been given the 4 weeks to wait nonsense. From what I've read it seems smile do seem to be issuing refunds in the 4 week timescale they are giving. If they do not respond within your 14 day limit you do have the option of court action. This of course is a hassle but on the flip side, again from what I've read, you'll probably get the interest on your claim too by taking legal action. Hope this helps! "AAARRGGHH!!" is how I've been feeling about smile lately too!

Yesterday (8th June) I received the following from smile Dear M x, This is just to say we are still looking into your complaint and a member of our Complaints Team will get back to you with a full response within the next 4 weeks. This will be done by phone, secure message or return letter. However, as we're regulated by the Financial Services Authority I do need to make you aware of our complaints procedure. If you go to our website smile.co.uk - the internet bank, click on 'talk to us', complaints is in the left hand menu. Here you'll find our full procedure. Yours sincerely Stuart Calton Thanks Stuart! This just seems like just a rehash of the last letter sent. They have until June 18th. If I've heard nothing by then I'll be claiming via MCOL. Parents all set to forward on mail!

Hey moomin, Its been a week. Any news?

Hi, Sent my LBA a couple of days ago. No recent contact from smile, just the standard response I've posted above. Watch this space I guess. I live in Scotland. If this ends up going to court, am I best going through MCOL and using my parents address in England? From what I have read the Scottish courts can be tricky. I'd be claiming £2738.

Hi bathgatebuyer. Just wondering if you had actually filed a court claim before smile coughed up? How long was it from sending your LBA to payment? Was there any correspondence between you and smile after the LBA? I am eagerly following the progress of recent payouts and have noticed that smile is strangely putting in a defence against planet_moomin. Did you get to this stage? My LBA is due to be sent this Thursday and I'm interested about what I can expect from smile. My gut feeling is that they're still one of the nicer banks to deal with and as a result they are snowed under with claims (wohoo!).

Interesting that they have decided to submit a defense. From what I gather from previous posts smile have been fairly easy to deal with in the past. Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi all, In the post this morning (24th May) I have received a letter from smile which says the following: Dear Mr x, I'm sorry you've felt the need to make a complaint. This is just to say that we'll be looking into it and a member of our Complaints Team will get back to you with a full response. This will be by phone, secure message or return letter. However, as we're regulated by the Financial Services Authority I do need to make you aware of our complaints procedure. If you go to our website at smile.co.uk - the internet bank, click on 'talk to us', complaints is in the left hand menu. Here you'll find our full procedure. Yours sincerely Lauren Doyle smile Complaints Team From what I gather from other posts this is legal action and not a complaint so I will disregard this letter and proceed with sending the LBA 1 week from today.

Quick update: Smile secure messaging has a stupid 1000 character limit on its secure message system. Instead of sending a copy of my letter via secure message I will simply ask for confirmation they have received it in a couple of days. Another thing I remembered was that I didn't include a postal order or cheque for £10 with my SAR. Doesn't look like Smile even bother making sure its there when processing claims. Cheers Splendid

Hi everyone! So here is the story so far for me. I sent my SAR letter on 7th April 2007. No reply by 11th May so I sent a polite reminder via secure message saying I hadn't received a response. On 13th May I received a reply (via secure message) informing me they couldn't confirm receipt of the letter. I had admittedly not sent it recorded post (oops). I replied, again by secure message, and included a copy of the SAR letter I had sent. Today (17th May) I recieved my list of charges through the post dated 15th May, not bad. From now on all correspondence I send to smile will be sent by secure message too. My charges amount to £2324 + £409 interest, £2738 in total. Just about to write my preliminary approach for payment letter. I'll be sending it recorded post and via secure message. No 'cannot confirm receipt of your letter' excuse this time! I'll let you know how I get on. Regards Splendid