Hi all, I'm at my wits end with Barclays and Verified by Visa right now. It all started over Christmas, my mother had someone try to buy some stuff online with her card, but they failed because they were trying the wrong security code which caused her card to get blocked by VBV (Error code ECI5) and she eventually got a new card after being put through to the fraud department. Good, right? Except.. Not really. Since she's got the new card she's probably had it blocked by VBV when entering correct details around ten times since. What's worse is that it's not just her card that's getting blocked, it's also mine, my Dad's and even my boyfriends (We all live in the same household). It's always ECI5.. We have to ring them up to get it sorted, but we're sick to death of it happening on every second transaction or so. We've explained over and over that it's a hassle and while we appreciate that the fraud system worked initially, when we're inputting the correct details it doesn't seem fair for it to consistently knock us back, especially those of us whose only link to the other person is the fact that we live in the same house. It's also independent of computer, browser, etc. Mine is blocked right now and instead of phoning them immediately (because I'll end up being put in a holding queue for the next thirty minutes ....) I'm here ranting, because it seems that despite filing complaints, despite telling them that this is completely out of order it still happens without fail (to the point I see the VBV page come up and I cross my fingers in the vague hope that my transaction might go through). Sorry. I'm frustrated. Anyone got any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Cool. Yeah. Vodafone have offered it for free for us because of the situation. It doesn't guarantee we won't have the problem with the next number. We're thinking of taking up the offer though. It's great how with these automated messages they're giving away this person's first and second name though... Thanks for the help.

Thanks. I thought that might be the case. It seems that perhaps the calls are becoming more frequent as the number called his phone again. This time we picked it up and it was an automated message. He didn't listen long enough to find out what it said. What would be our next action to try and get this sorted permanently? We will check the credit references (I check mine monthly) but until the number is scrubbed off the record it seems that he might always be under "threat" from them for something he's never done/owed.

Hello, I'm writing this on behalf of my boyfriend. My boyfriend moved from a foreign country to Britain and has only been here just over a year, he has never had any debt troubles and I've never had any debt troubles in our whole lives. So when it was time he purchased his mobile phone and contract from Vodafone. Within about a week Lowells were pestering him saying that he had an account with them. This seemed to have been "fixed" when we told them that it's the wrong person as the mobile phone number was recycled and the person in question was no longer at this number. It's been a quiet year and now I think the debt has been passed on to another company, because now he is getting daily calls from another debt company. I think it is Creation Finance / Sigma because I googled the number they left: 0845 259 0324 and found it mentioned on the who calls me website. He hasn't picked the calls up yet because he's usually busy in meetings or such. This first started with a text message which I think was sent on Friday. I have a few questions, so obviously we can prepare on what to do next: 1) How do we get this permanently to stop, regardless of who the debt is passed onto? It seems records are not "kept up to date" from company to company. Mind you, this person's own friends can't follow these instructions when they text his phone asking random rubbish so I doubt this shower will either. 2) Is there anything we should be wary of? I realise the obvious no giving out our names and no giving out personal details. But I know what these scumbags are like from reading these boards too much. Is there any chance of us being saddled with something that is 100% not ours if they are not able to track the original owner down? This is my main concern. Many Thanks, Maev.

Thanks Marie! I thought it was a bit dodgy to say the least. ACAS pointed to the fact that the standard one on HMRC is nothing like that (although I know they can differ from company to company). But I just noticed you may have got the wrong end of the stick.. which is my fault, I didn't word their wording very well. The exact wording on the self cert is: "I hereby give my employer permission to verify the above information" Which is what gave me alarm bells!

Was just asked by my line manager to fill it in and I refused saying I didn't think it was entirely above aboard. Any thoughts yet? EDIT: I spoke to ACAS. They're not convinced either and have said I'm within my right not to fill that section of the form in. Beyond that they didn't really help much!

Hello, An aside to this.. Was told yesterday that my role is getting outsourced in 6-12 months time. I read into this as "6-12 months notice" ha.. Anyway yeah. That's an aside :-/. The real issue is I was handed a self cert this morning that I forgot to fill in when I returned to work. They've changed it to what it was in previous years. It now wants every detail under the sun (doctor's name, address, what was prescribed, when you seen them) if you did go. Then I noticed underneath that there was a line that said "I hereby consent to you verifying the above details." Uhhm.. I didn't think they were allowed to do that? Needless to say I left the whole area blank and had no come backs but just wondering what your thoughts were on it! Thanks in advance.

I know rebel1!... 3,000 made redundant and they pulled in a massive profit (as always). And what do they blame? The "recession"... What "recession" has Barclays faced? A small drop in profits?! lol. Thanks anyhow .

Thank you BF. I will do so. Does it matter that we do not have exact dates / times? It's not something we thought to take note of and with it being phone based, we don't have a paper trail to provide to the Ombudsman as evidence. Also, I would like to make a donation to CAG as you all have been brilliant in advising/helping me out on three separate problems in this month alone.. God send!! Can you please give me the details so I can make a small donation tonight? It won't be much (sorry it's been expensive this month) but I would like to help this great website.

Hello, I'm writing on behalf of my fiance at the moment. I originally signed up to CAG because I was with Barclays Bank and I got monthly fraud calls every time my World of Warcraft subscription was debited from my bank. Unfortunately, it's worse for my fiance. He is currently receiving 1 or 2 calls a month usually when he exhibits this behaviour: Buys a game from Steam for a small amount and then goes to Subway the next day and uses his wireless to pay for the small amount. The bad thing is, he doesn't have the time to go mental at them, because the automated message (STUPID IDEA) goes to our house and to my Mother who can't deal with it. If he doesn't deal with it in work, the automated message will continually ring every so often until it's dealt with. With it being "works time" he doesn't want to take the time out to deal with it. What's worse is when he actually has to have the Fraud departments phone number inside his mobile phone so he can ring them. He has told them over and over again "this is me this is me this is me" the message does NOT get through. Last time they rang he said that he wanted those things whitelisted for his account and he was told that things can't get whitelisted (Which sounds like CRAP or just a really BAD idea). When this happened to me, I was originally told that the "system learns your behaviour" and the calls will cease. The thing is, he's lived in this country (He's a Dutch national) for about 9 months now and I reckon he's probably received 15-20 calls in that time. It's time consuming, inconvenient, expensive (to ring the number) and has been embarrassing at times when his card has been blocked for usage and he's tried to pay for train ticket he couldn't get (on that day I had to buy his!) What's even worse is one snot in the fraud department tried to tell him they've only blocked his card twice or three times (??) which begs the question if you are why do you ring him to confirm a bunch of crap then? It's obviously on your system that you've done it otherwise you would be telling him that the automated messages were fraud!! OK. I'm deviating a bit. Is the best way to deal with this to send a letter to Barclays detailing the problem we have and send it recorded delivery? It's his money! If he tells them he shops here, Barclays shouldn't try to dictate to him where to shop! Yes, fraud prevention is a necessity, but surely not 15-20 calls in less than a year being flagged from the same thing that the account holder has told them is genuine everytime! Advice appreciated, many thanks in advance! Sarah. EDIT: Would also like to mention, I also exhibit the same behaviour and get no calls at all. Funny that isn't it?! "Learning your behaviour" would love to quote Jim Royle but will refrain!! .

Thanks. I just got a bit of a fright! It seems to be par for the course nowadays from some Google searches I've been doing. It isn't the end of the world then. T&Cs are T&Cs and that is that. I just wasn't as meticulous as I usually am. I double checked and found small print on their site when buying something that says (paraphrased) "By committing to buy you agree to our T&Cs". Gone was the good old tick box! But well in line with what they're required to do. Silly, stupid me. I also checked that I didn't want to hear from third party companies. So first thing they did was pass my details on to a third party company *Sigh*. Which potentially means because of them I might hear from a third party company? Talk about a contradiction!!

Hi all, I recently bought a laptop from PC World for my fiance and paid for it online with my debit card. I receive alerts when changes to my credit file are applied and I found this landed in my email this morning: "DSG RETAIL LTD-192BUSINESS , a Third party company, has made an inquiry against your credit report on 01/08/2011 . If you were not aware of or did not consent to this search, contact DSG RETAIL LTD-192BUSINESS or Equifax for clarification." Surely by buying a laptop online I haven't consented to this or have I missed something in a T&C somewhere? I have not purchased insurance from them or initiated a direct debit. I just bought a laptop. I feel quite annoyed now! What should I do? What does this mean? And how does it impact me? EDIT: Just checked their T&C's: "When deciding whether to accept your order we may use certain information about you, including any received from our identity verification partner, currently 192.com. For example, we may pass on your details for them to check against certain public and private databases. This will help to protect you and us from fraudulent activities." I still feel that it's pretty naughty (In the sense of they checked AFTER I'd paid up!) Am I fine or will this require an action at all? Thanks, Sarah.

Just thought I would update you and say that while I was away we won our appeal . Thanks for the help/advice.

Thanks for this. I have found their online appeals process and wrote a letter to them providing pics from my phone. Best I can do in the situation as I'm on my hols. I have offered to bring in a scan to their office. Best I can do! Annoying though as we always pay and display just bad luck....

Hello, Apologies as I'm writing this on my phone and I'm on my holiday so not really had chance to read other threads. We are in weymouth and have paid for a parking ticket. As we got out the car the wind has blown it onto the floor. When we got back there was a fixed penalty notice from weymouth council. We have kept the ticket we have bought and the office is across the road only open on Monday please note that we have not over stayed the ticket or anything just bad luck that it blew off the dashboard! What do we do and do we stand a chance of it being cancelled if we go in on Monday? Many thanks in advance and sorry again as I'm on my phone. Maevvy.