I have composed the following letter, which explainds in full what my complaint is, can anyone give me any advice if there is anything I should add/omit. I am writing because I am somewhat disappointed with the way the breakdown of the above vehicle was handled by your company. Initially my car had a breakdown in June 2006 and was recovered to ******** Volvo. This was sorted quite quickly, no parts were replaced and no definite fault was found with the car. I suspect very little was actually done to the car despite being presented with a bill for over £70. On collection I was informed that as it was an intermittent fault the ‘repair’ could not be guaranteed. Within two weeks the same fault reoccurred, the AA were called and the AA tech investigated the problem and came to the conclusion that the cam shaft sensor was at fault but should be tested before replacement. The car was again recovered to Bridgend Volvo Specialists, the finding of the AA technician were related to the reception staff. This was on the 26th July 2006. I was told at this point that their diary was full and the car could not be looked at straight away but would be looked at when they could. I telephoned on Saturday 29th July and asked if any progress had been made. I was told no but they would call be back on Monday, nobody did. I telephoned again on Wednesday 2 August and was told ‘we think it’s the ECU as the computer wasn’t able to communicate with the ECU on my car’ I again mentioned the Cam Shaft Sensor and was told that it had been tested and was OK. I was then told that the next course of action was to wait for another T5 to come into the workshop and see if the ECU from my car worked in that. I heard nothing after that until 22nd august when my wife received a telephone call asking if the car could be collected as it was taking up space in the workshop. I called back in the afternoon and asked to speak to Jason. I was told he was out on a test drive and would call me back on his return. He didn’t call back. I telephoned again the next day and spoke to Jason who told me that they had done as much as they could and unless we had a new ECU then could do no more and they needed the workshop space so the car had to be moved. I called another Volvo dealer, related the story so far and they agreed to have the car to see if they could locate the fault. I called Jason back and arranged to collect the car on Friday 25th august. The car was recovered to Stratstone Volvo in Cardiff at considerable expense as the AA has said that because the car had been recovered to a garage that I nominated they were unable to recover it a second time. On booking in on the 25th the service desk clerk told me that they would be able to look at it on Tuesday 29th August after the bank holiday. On Tuesday 29th Stratstone called me and said they had carried out a full diagnostic and the fault code 3-1-4 was retrieved from the ECU, camshaft position sensor signal absent, permanent fault. The faulty camshaft position sensor was replaced and the car was now starting and running fine. I collected the car the next morning and it is indeed running fine. What I am finding it difficult to understand is that although *********** had my car for 31 days you were unable to diagnose the fault as you computer was unable to communicate with the ECU in my car. Even though the fault had already been diagnosed by the AA. Yet the diagnosis equipment at Stratstone diagnosed the fault straight away. If I had taken your technicians diagnosis and advice at face value and had the ECU replaced which I am informed would have cost between £600 and £700 depending on the type of ECU, yet this still would not have cured the fault and more expense would have been incurred. So in summary it appears to me that ******** Volvo had my car for 31 days based on a computer misdiagnosis. So the question I need answering is, is your computer diagnosis equipment malfunctioning or is there some other explanation? I am very annoyed at he fact that I have lost one month of my road fund licence, paid for on months insurance not to mention the loss of use of my car due to a fault (that had already been diagnosed) that was never going to be diagnosed by a faulty computer. In addition when the car was collected on the 25th August the battery was flat and not capable of turning the engine over, both front window were left open and the interior was covered with a thick layer of black dust, as was the exterior and the near side door trim had black grease smeared on it. As you can imagine I am extremely disappointed with the level of service from *****************.

Hi Just thought that both of them being Early Redemption penalties and the £600 one is with IGroup and these seem to be extremely quick to settle so would tackle that one first and then once underway we would then tackle the £5000 one which is with Abbey who don't seem to be so straight forward. They seem to taking longer. IGroup Initial Request letter sent yesterday and must admit I have already typed the Initial letter for Abbey, I already have obtained the statements for both whilst going through the process with HSBC. So the chances of being able to wait until the small one is settled are remote anyway. he he he...I am having so much fun. Go for it, its great when the result comes through, although I think I gained a few grey hairs along the way with HSBC. But its worth it. Although we have not had the money in the account yet !! fingers crossed it won't be long. Its so nice that we are all able to win against these theives. You get used to the banks always being right ..... well not this time. Infact this has got me so fired up that I have been harrassed by my neighbours for the last 18 months and suddenly thought no I just took on one of the largest banks and won, so enoughs enough and have got the police out and am going for a case of Harrassment. Talk about getting all sides of my life sorted in one foul swoop. weg XX

Well it was worth all the nervous moments, I WON !!!! 9th July - Initial letter Had the normal no way reply 18th July - LBA Sent HSBC ignored that one completely 11th August - MCOL issued 16th August - Deemed Served 18th August - Acknowledged 2nd Sept - Letter from DG requesting breakdown of charges 4th Sept - Faxed it to them on the (monday) Phoned to check they had it - although they never phoned me back 5th Sept - Letter arrived the next morning (TODAY) Offering Full Settlement. 5th Sept - Signed and put back in post, deleted confidentiality clause. So now just sit and wait and see how long it takes for them to credit the money to the account. Now I have really got the confidence I am going after IGroup for a ERC of £600 and then once I see how that goes I might tackle Abbey for a mortgage ERC of nearly £5000. Deep down I sort of new I would get this money back but the feeling when the letter arrived this morning was amazing. this will really help to get me back on track financially. I really couldn't afford the court costs of £120 but it was worth going broke for a while. Keep at it, you will get your money back.

HI all Thanks, basically its my money and I have an annual profit of 00000 compare to HSBCs profit so I would like every last penny back. its just a little nerve racking at the moment, trouble is you get so used to the banks always being right, thats its hard to beleive that they are in fact completely wrong in this case. And after the fob off letter I did get the wobbles but having checked the threads on here seems I got word for word the standard letter signed by the same person. They obviously hope that most people will think the same 'banks are always right' and give up. But having seen your site and studied it. It was after spending two weeks with my family living on not much food at all to try and sort our overdraft out and then HSBC still taking their £125.00 in charges that tipped me over the edge. Why the hell should we go without food to try and sort things out once and for all but they still take their bloomin charges. Enoughs enough I am having it back. It will be nice to get it back, its just a shame that they can't be made to pay for the stress that their charges have caused. We have even asked that they delay the charges until after payday before now and all you get is a big fat no and tough.... so will be nice to win ...hopefully....

Well still no response to my LBA, so started my MCOL last night. Fingers crossed it all goes as it seems to have for others, i'm claiming £2783.26 now including 8% interest and the court fees. I have included in these the next fees which they will be taking from my account on Monday (£125.00, which will again put me over my overdraft limit). Would have had my overdraft sorted by now if it wasn't for the fees that they charging. Its always them that puts me over the limit and then they charge me again. Lets see what happens...

Hi Dani Thanks for that, got the wobbles. Would be great to get it back, if it wasn't for bank charges would be alot better off.

Hi all Have been reading the website with interest for ages and have started my claim against the bank for my charges. Sent my intial request for charges to be returned, had a 'we are dealing with it' letter and then the standard 'we do not agree' letter. So sent my LBA and have heard absolutely nothing since. Have sent both letters recorded delivery so I know that they have had the LBA as I have the signature. I am now due to start moneyclaim on Thursday and am getting the wobbles. I am supprised that I have not heard anything from them. Also there is another £125 of charges just being applied to my account so I shall add these to it but did I ought to write to HSBC to advise them of this first ?