I have also had problems with Sky, after them trying to charge me £85 a month because my 2nd box wasn't plugged into a telephone line (it wasn't even in use) I rang up to cancel my subscription, fully expecting them to give me a sweetener. They duly did, 3 months half price and the ridiculous double charges removed. The next month they tried taking the whole subscription amount from my account - result I was charged by the bank as I only left enough in to cover half the subscription. They also charged me 2 months @ £10 a month for a multiroom package I had cancelled 4 months previously! I gave up ringing them at this point as I was sick of paying them their rip off 0870 rate while I waited 20 minutes on hold. I use the Email service on their website, they are bloody slow to reply (4-6 working days) but at least its free. I ended up getting the 3 months half price actually applied, the £20 multiroom fee refunded and my bank charge refunded - they wouldn't admit to refunding it me though - they said 'we have also accidentally credited your account with an extra £20, but in lieu of your bank charge we will not reclaim it as a gesture of goodwill' (dont these companies love their 'gestures of goodwill'! I still have Sky, but they make one more mess of my account and I will cancel it for good. Incidentally on the subject of them setting up a new DD after it has been cancelled, Carphone warehouse did the same to me - my bank informed me they have 'trusted companies' that they allow to do this. I was disgusted, if I cancel a DD I want it cancelled not set back up!

Well I spoke too early, £350 was taken back out of the account just after it went in. I have however received an offer for the rest today, so it looks like i've won. Letter of acceptance going off today, will update when I receive the money.

So their calculations are so good, they don't even know how much they charged you? Typical.

Great stuff, I have just sent off the prelim to Capstone for just under £4k, so I will be following this thread and routing for you all the way!

Wasn't it Natwest that won the case?

A recorded delivery is not guaranteed to arrive in any way over and above the standard postage, they go in with the rest of the mail and the only difference is that a signature is required upon delivery. Has your recorded delivery actually been confirmed by the recipient as not having arrived? As I can almost guarantee it has been delivered, it just wont have been confirmed into the system due to one of several reasons - postie could be off sick/on holiday/failed to hand in the delivery card for scanning, person in the locker might have had the card back but hasn't scanned the barcode or has missed it, website hasn't received the conformation, etc etc. It happens a lot, recorded deliveries actually going missing happens very very rarely - less than 1 in 50,000. Another thing to remember, you sent the letter, you have conformation it was sent, so stick to your timetable.Do you think the bank would listen if they said they'd sent you a letter and you said you'd never received it? Of course not.

I had nothing either until the judge refused their request for a 1 month stay and I got a court date - the offer came the day after.

Sorry Caro, I didn't explain myself very clearly! You're right of course, I meant that you could end up in a courtroom but it won't be to argue your case. Thanks for making it clearer!

I actually got as far as getting a court date with my Yorkshire Bank claim. The longer a claim goes on the more determined you become to get your money back, and in the end I was more than willing to go to court, safe in the knowledge that I was right! As it happens they offered me the full amount the day after I received my court date. You receive a few help leaflets outlining the small claims court procedure in with the letter giving you a date for the hearing. Very very few claims even get that far though, never mind actually getting to court. A couple have been in a courtroom with Abbey but it wasn't for an actual hearing. One of the members in the Yorkshire bank section went to see the judge dealing with her case, and the judge told her in her opinion it would be commercial suicide for a bank to actually defend a claim in court. She also told how she reclaimed bank charges for her son!

Well I have received another letter from the same guy which is a notice of default. They will default they account in 10 days if the overlimit amount isn't paid, pass the information on to a credit reference agency, etc etc. VERY strongly worded letter sent back today, regarding my previous letter stating the account was in dispute being totally ignored, also them ignoring the banking code which they subscribe to. I also added that when I win my claim against them I will be happy to pay the £34 remaining on the balance and they can then close the account if they want. I also mentioned that if they do issue a default I will start a 2nd claim immediately for removal on the grounds that the balance was made up almost entirely of charges (which they aren't exactly going to argue about seeing as they will shortly be paying them back to me!) and I will submit complaints to the OFT about them ignoring the banking code and issuing a default against an account clearly in dispute.

I wrote to Roxburghe DCA regarding a letter I received saying I owe them £178. I did a CCA request and they have sent me back a letter saying they are acting on behalf of carphone warehouse (strange as this is the 2nd DCA that I have received letters from about this account - the first one I paid half the amount in one go about 6 months ago then never heard from them again) The debt then was £147.47, I paid £74.47 but the debt has now risen to £178, it appears they have been adding the monthly contract charges still. Can they do this to an account that has been passed to a DCA? They say the account was for an O2 phone contract which was opened by telephone, but it wasn't, it was opened on the internet. All they have sent me is a few pages of the account history, such as monthly charges and credits/debits to the account, but nowhere on there does it say carphone warehouse, there's no original documents etc. What is the situation with accounts opened over the internet with regards to providing me with a credit agreement, as can't remember if I ever had anything to sign and return after i'd opened the account over the net. Also they wrongly state it was opened over the phone, does that matter? Thanks for any help. Rob

Brilliant stuff guys, well done for taking the bull by the horns and going for this. I'm just about to start my ERC claim for almost £4k, I reckon all we need is one successful claim and the floodgates will open.

Good stuff Dan, and the fact that it's YB and has been such b****y hard work getting it back must make it even more satisfying

Thanks PJ and everyone else, sent off the forms recorded delivery today.

Thanks Glenn, I found the banking code online and it you're right about part of 13.6 being not to register a default with credit reference agencies if the amount is in dispute. Cap 1 do subscibe to the Bc as well. I'll get a letter off to them tomorrow stating my claim against them, the banking code sections of relevance and telling them not to issue a default. If they do then I'll just lodge another claim to get the default removed.

A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from Greg Pye, the 'payment specialist manager' from Capital One, saying my account would be defaulted if I didn't pay the overlimit amount within 28 days. I wrote back stating that I was disputing the amount owed due to a large proportion of it being made up of unlawful charges, and therefore the account couldn't be defaulted. This morning I recieved another letter from Mr Pye which is a notice of default. They want £204 (the amount I am over the limit) within 10 days or my account will be defaulted, card withdrawn, etc etc. Now obviously I have zero intention of paying this as almost the whole balance is made up of charges. I lodged a court claim for £770 over a week ago which they have acknowledged, so they are aware that I am reclaiming this money. The total balance on the account is £804 so it will just about clear it entirely. I now need to write a strongly worded letter with regards to them trying to issue a default while the amount is in dispute (obviously there is concrete proof I am disputing it, seeing as I have lodged a claim to recover nearly all of it!). Has anyone got any tips on what to include, or anything from the consumer credit or other consumer acts? Thanks in advance for any help. Rob

Thanks PJ. I assume all I do is sign the discontinuance form and they will fill in the judges name etc, or do I have to fill that in? I feel better about sending it off now I know someone else has!

Thanks Caro, I did think that this afternoon. There's no risk to them in paying me first, then i'll cancel the claim. And Dan, it doesn't say anything about a Tomlin order, would it say it on it, if not how would I tell? It looks to me just like a normal offer, there's no conditions on the slip to sign, as i've said they have asked for me to send the notice of discontinuance but thats it.

Hi Caro It's a part 36 offer - without prejudice save as to costs. They are prepared to offer me the sum of £496.68 in full and final settlement of my claim against the bank, and the banks counterclaim against me. (thats the first i've heard of a counterclaim, there wasn't a word about one in the defence or any other papers!) Offer is made without liability, on a purely commercial basis, etc etc. Basically exactly the same as every other offer letter i've had from other banks. There is also a notice of discontinuance which the bank will hold until the payment to me has been made. Theres a sheet to sign saying I accept the sum of £496.68 as full and final settlement. Nothing else on it, no conditions.

Thanks for the advice everyone. It definitely wasn't a typo as it says 10th Jan 2007. Also it says the case should take less than 2 hours. It seems a little irrelevant now though, as this morning I received a letter from Kirsty Ross... Offering me the full amount, plus interest, plus costs of £496.68. It's short of about £3 in interest accumulated since I lodged the claim, but hey i'm a reasonable man. Dum-dum-dum....another one bites the dust :D Thanks again everyone for your help and advice - i'm sure like many people I doubt that I would have carried on with the claim if it wasn't for support from the members of this forum.

Send the 7 day compliance letter after the 40 days are up. If you haven't received your statements after the 7 days start court action for non-compliance. They haven't got a choice in the matter, they have to send you the information. If the 40 days aren't up yet then it's highly likely you'll receive the info before the deadline. The quickest I have received statements is 32 days and the slowest 38 days, in all cases I have had no acknowledgement at all of my requests, the statements just turned up.

Several people have also successfully claimed back loans that they have been forced into by the banks as a direct result of excessive charges putting the accounts into trouble. As for the other charges you'd be better of pursuing the companies that actually charged you.

The trouble is, as much as the Judges might try and force a case into court, all the banks have to do is pay up and it's case over. It definitely says january 10th, i'll give them a ring though to make sure.

Well good news and bad news. The good news is the judge has refused YB's request to stay the case for a month and has set a court date. The bad news is the court date isn't until January 10th! Gives YB plenty of time to p*ss me about for another few months.

Brilliant, brilliant news, TC! I've lost count of the amount of times i've looked in this thread and hoped to see the words 'settled in full' :D