I'd mentioned in someone else's thread about the massive problems I'm having with Shabbey's Card Fraud department and claiming that money back, and getting a new card. I got so hacked off with it yesterday, that I decided to start keeping a blog about what's been going on. I've written (post dated) posts of what has happened so far. The plan is to forward it to anyone and everyone I can think of, such as Watchdog and the major newspapers. Abbey are messing people about - and because it's card fraud they're messing about with people's finances at a time when sensitivity and efficiency is of the essence. oh how Shabbey... Any comments support or even similar stories would be welcomed - I figure if they get some bad publicity, they may get their finger out and give me my money...

UPDATE: This morning I tried again, thought I'd give them another try and tell them that I intended to contact the FO. I said that i couldn't believe that it was taking so long. The woman I spoke to said that Shabbey's card services are in the middle of being relocated to Madrid, and that's why so many problems are happening. Obviously this isn't the customer's fault, and it seems to be horribly mis-managed if this is the case. She said to me that there was no point in trying to call Card Fraud on my behalf, as the staff used the same number as customers and she'd just be on hold forever. Pathetic...

ah, thank you!

Hi, LS123, do you by any chance have a link or address? I've had a quick google, and everything seems to be about card fraud prevention (bit late for that!) cheers

oh. my. god... This sounds *exactly* like something that's happened to me (and why I'm having a look round the forums!) I noticed some fraudulent activity on my debit card to the tune of £200 at the end of April this year, had my card cancelled and went through all sorts of hoops just to get a new one (resulting in my writing a four page complaint letter - so much went wrong) Today it has been 41 days since they got my claim for getting this money back. I was told to go to the branch to fill out a fraud form "because it's quicker" in fact, the complaints department aren't even sure that it was done. I have spent literally *hours* on the phone, either listening to the engaged tone or on hold (one time for an hour, followed by a recorded message saying "this office is now closed"). I now don't bother with the fraud number, and go straight to the complaints dept, and have phoned them several times, all they do is apologise, tell me the department is busy, and they'll chase it up for me. Nothing has come of that, and they tell me there's nothing else they can do. Thanks to the most incompetent and disgusting customer "service" I have ever experienced, I now refuse to use phonebank. I have been lied to, patronised, insulted, and literally been told it's my fault. I am sick of speaking to people whose grasp of English is so poor, they can only repeat what is on a script, rather than answer the question. I feel really sorry for anyone who banks with Abbey and has fraud on their debit card. I am supposed to be going away at the end of the month - a trip I've had planned for months - and it may not happen now because of this. If I can help in any way with your fight against Abbey, please PM me. They've been an absolute nightmare to deal with.

Thanks. I think if Three are refunding people's charges it means there is something wrong with it all. I found something on Twitter's FAQ about it: Twitter Support Ironically, I left Orange to start with Three..

Hi all, I thought I'd post this, because I have been stung for text message charges that I thought were included. I recently took out a contract with Three; snazzy new phone, 75 xnetwork mins, and 600 texts for £15 a month, on an 18 month contract. I've started using Twitter a lot, and thought that it would be cool to be able to update it from my mobile - which is partly why I chose the tariff and mobile provider. I've been texting away merrily to a mobile number that starts 07624 - then this morning I got my first bill. I have been charged 25p for each text. The "Destination" on the bill says "Manx Mobile", and a bit of searching on the internet reveals that this is the Isle of Man's telecoms company. It seems that Three (along with T-Mobile, from what I understand) class this as an international number, and don't include it in your text allowance. 07624 xxxxxx looks like a perfectly ordinary mobile number. I had no idea when I set it up with Twitter that this was going to be classed as "international". I knew that certain numbers aren't included in the allowance, such as those five digit short sms numbers, but this one has thrown me. I thought it worth mentioning here - not because I want advice or anything (looking on the comments on that post, one guy complained and had the charges refunded, which is what I intend to do) but because this seems to be the logical place to warn people. Hope it helps.

Hi everyone, I've put this here rather than the banks forums because it's not to do with claiming back charges - hope that's okay, please move it if not. Basically, I'm writing a complaint letter to Abbey (and am now really seeing why they're nicknamed "Shabby"). This is a quick outline of what has happened: April 30th - I realised NCO were debiting money from my debit card that I hadn't authorised. Given their rubbish communication skills, I rang the bank to cancel my debit card and order a new one. May 4th - went into branch to sort out a fraud claim form, and asked about my card. It hadn't been ordered, and after a while of phoning people up and prattling on the computer, the advisor said both mine and my husband's cards needed to be cancelled because it was a joint account. They would cancel both cards, and re-order them the following day (a Saturday). I was irritated, but could live with it. May 10th - rang Phonebank again, spoke to the most appalling chap, explained the situation and he said that the card had been issued on Saturday like I'd said. Meanwhile, we have hardly any access to our bank account, and hubby has to take time off work to go to the bank to get money out with statement and passport. May 15th - went into local branch to make a withdrawal - again queried whereabouts of new cards. The girl went off for a minute, and came back and said" "I'm sorry, but they haven't been ordered yet" She ordered them there and then, and spoke to the "administrator" whoever that is. Obviously, I'm writing a complaint letter, not least because the man on the 10th lied to me when he said the cards had been issued! My question is, should I outright ask for some kind of compensation? Or wait and see what they say? I've been told that the new cards will take up to seven working days, so nearly four weeks with ridiculously limited access to my account is beyond a joke. Any thoughts much appreciated

Just to confirm, Zimmie, do I send the CCA to NCO or Capital One?

exactly! The payment I made of £5 was to stop people coming to my house. I remember saying things like "I want to sort this out" not "I want to pay off the debt and the shedload of interest and charges that have been added"

This is brilliant - thank you I know now they can't access my property, but at the time I would have believed anything they said There is definitely NO CCJ against this debt, either. My bank say that once I fill out the complaint form with their fraud people I should get the money back in 48 hours (I have no idea how it works, but they've been really helpful) 12 payments of £20 will be very handy about now! I shall definitely look into reporting them to the OFT, too.

Thanks, I have all the statements relating to the time when the dispute started - they charged me for a late payment then an over limit fee, both of which they said they'd reverse. They didn't, and kept telling me (get this) to "ignore any letters I got because they're computer generated" Naiively I did this, and it's cascaded into a bit of a mess. Unfortunately, all this was done over the telephone (this is going back a couple of years now) so frustratingly I have nothing in writing. Should I still send the SAR even though I have the statements? I know a lot of this sort of thing seems to be about correct process, and I'd hate to get it wrong on a technicality.

This is an old debt I have with Capitalist One, which is in dispute - yet they still passed me on to a DCA. About a year ago, I got a card through the door from NCO (I didn't know who they were or what they represented at the time) saying that they would gain access to my house to recover goods to the value of the debt if I didn't pay up within seven days (I can't remember exactly what it said, but that was the gist). I panicked and got really upset. When I phoned them up, they said they represented Capital One, and that if I wanted to stop them coming to the house, I *had* to make a payment there and then. I had no idea what my rights were, and out of desparation I payed them £5 with my debit card. I remember saying that I wanted to pay off the debt, but would have to speak with my husband to see what we could afford. They asked if I knew roughly how much, and I said, "I don't know probably only about £20". Later, when I'd discovered this forum, I realised that I shouldn't be paying them anything if the account is in dispute! The thing is, NCO have taken it upon themselves to simply debit my card by £20 each month anyway. I honestly don't know why I haven't noticed it. Maybe because it's a debit card payment, rather than a proper direct debit. Whatever, they have been doing this since last April. I phoned my bank, and they have cancelled my card. They have also explained that I can fill in a form and claim this money back if I didn't authorise it - which I know I didn't. The question is, what do I do now? NCO have been sods in the past to talk to; hanging up on me, threatening me with bailiffs etc, but my worry is that because I've been making payments, it looks like I'm acknowledging the debt as it stands - I'm not. Any help or ideas would be lovely.

Right - I'm going to do this! I've kept about 95% of my statements from Abbey, there's just a couple of months missing from 2002, and looking at the months around them, it doesn't look like we would have had many charges. This being the case, I've decided to skip the SAR stage, so now I send the Preliminary Approach for Repayment letter? Abbey have taken £1900 in charges since mid 2001, it makes me so angry when I think of the times I phoned them in tears because if they took the charges off we'd not have enough money for other bills - including the mortgage. Hopefully, revenge will be sweet...

Thanks, Elizabeth. I found a letter template that I can work on - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/586-credit-store-card-letter.html I'm wondering whether I should put more information about what happened, ie them telling me they were looking into it (and another conversation where I was told not to worry about letters they were sending as they were 'computer generated') or just stick to the basics that are on the template?

Hi, can anyone advise me on how to word a letter to Capital One about a long standing dispute on the account? Unfortunately, all my correspondence with them so far has been by phone, (I hadn't read the forums here at the time!) and I have been told they are 'looking in to it' for me. The dispute refers to some charges that were applied to my account, which they agreed to remove as I'd not had problems before, but it never happened. Now they've referred me to a DCA, which as I understand it, they can't do if the account is in dispute? The charges have escalated out of all proportion in the meantime. I basically just want to know what on earth is going on. I'm not disputing what I owed originally, (about £570) but they just seem to have ignored the dispute over the charges completely. Thanks, everyone.

Thanks - I thought about someone trying to break in, but reasoned that as I didn't answer the door, surely they would have made more effort to break in? I used to think I was being paranoid asking my hubby to lock the door - I've changed my mind now...

Last week, someone started banging on my door and rattling the letterbox. They knocked on the living room window and banged on the door again for a while - then they tried to open the front door. It is locked - my husband always locks it when he goes out to work, but this whole thing has scared the cr*p out of me. I've wracked my brains trying to think who it could be - I don't personally know anyone who would be so belligerent! I wasn't expecting a delivery (and peeked out of the bedroom window and didn't see any van or anything) and whoever it was didn't call out or leave a note through the door. A long shot is that I'm worrying it could be a DCA. I have an outstanding account with Capital One which has been in dispute for some time, but I thought if a DCA came round to visit they had to leave notice? Plus, what's with trying to open the front door? Surely they can't do that? In a way, I hope I'm just being a bit paranoid... Any suggestions most welcome.

I completely forgot about this thread until I got an email notification about a new reply! As the original poster, I thought I should update you all on what has happened with my particular problem. My husband rang the council direct and complained about the way in which the bailiffs had acted, explaining my health problems and saying that he wasn't happy to deal with bailiffs who were essentially threatening us and exacerbating my health problems. To our utter surprise, the council agreed that we could go back to the original agreement and pay them £125 a month - this for the current years tax and some towards the debt! With the bailiffs involved, we were paying them £125 off the debt, and having to pay our current council tax bill on top of that. It was a hell of a struggle, and we stopped paying the current year's tax altogether. Thank you to everyone who has advised me, this whole forum has helped me and my husband feel empowered enough to deal with it. Before I came here, I think we would have just struggled along, getting deeper and deeper into debt. Thank you all.

just an update - Mum has been in contact with CAB, who are drafting her two letters - one to the council to ask for an extension to the appeal, and another to the working tax credits dept which sounds like something between a delcaration that she never claimed in the first place and a request to investigate the situation. In the meantime, a local councillor has suggested she contact the police and report suspected identity theft. The police are coming out to talk to her in the next couple of days.

thanks for the reply - yes, she is considering using the DPA, but the problem is that she needs the working tax credits people to sort this out quickly, because she only has a certain length of time to appeal about the council tax thing. She has tried to get through to the CAB line again today but as the line seems permanently engaged, she is going to go there and camp out until she gets some help.

Hi everyone, I am posting this on behalf of my mum, who is at her wits end over a problem she is having with Council Tax Benefit and an alleged claim for Working Tax Credits. Let me explain.. She retired from her job as a nurse in January 2005. She is in receipt of her state pension, and a small private pension, and that's it. She claimed Council Tax Benefit without any problems, and got the standard letter to say if her circumstances changed to let them know. A couple of weeks ago, she got a knock at the door. As she didn't know who it was, she didn't answer. The person put a business card through the door which was from the council asking her to ring the given number. When she did, she was told they needed to ask her some questions about her claim for Council Tax Benefit. She asked if she could do this over the phone, and they said no, because she "had to sign something". Two men came out to her house, she said they were brusque, and made her feel uneasy. They noticed a mail order cardboard box on the floor that my mum had kept for her cats to play in - chewed and full of cat hair - and asked her if she was an agent for that company. When she indignantly said "no!" they pestered her saying "are you sure?" They said that they had on record that she was self employed - something which she never has been. When she asked what made them think that, they responded with "we phoned the tax office on your behalf, and they told us" The men from the council also said that she had allegedly had two payments made to her bank account in November last year, something which she denied, and has since found her bank statements to prove. The men made her sign a handwritten statement about her employment status (she told me that everything on it was right) and the men left. She did not get a copy of this statement. When she found her bank statements, she tried to phone them, but her calls were never returned. She telephoned the Tax office about the suppsoed payments and employment status, and they confirmed her details were correct, and said that they would never give out information to a third party anyway. Last week, she got a letter saying that basically because she was self employed, she would have to pay money back to the council. The letter talked about Working Tax Credits - something my mum has never claimed or had any correspondence about. She found a helpline number for the Tax Credits people, and phoned to explain the situation. They said they would look into it, but reckoned they had paid her two payments last year. Unfortunately my mum isn't very good on the phone and didn't probe this further. They said they would send her a "standard letter" out, and she would need to fill in a form and send it back to them, but said they would ring her back within a couple of days anyway. She telephoned them yesterday because she hadn't heard anything. The man she spoke to was rude, abrupt, and unhelpful. She said he sounded like he was reading from a script. He told her that her case had been passed on to an investigations department. As she had now found the bank statements, she wanted to pass that on to that department, and also to reiterate the fact that she only has a certain length of time to appeal to the council. The man said that the investigations department didn't have a number for customers, and kept repeating that they would contact her as soon as they knew anything. Rock, meet hard place... Today, she has been trying frantically to call the CAB for advice, and the local office has been constantly engaged. She is incredibly worried, especially since we discovered that the extension number of the contact from the council is the same one as their fraud investigation team... She has no idea what to do, I honestly don't think she's even had a late payment with her council tax, let alone what they are implying. What concerns me is how the Working Tax Credits people have her details. I thought this was something you had to physically claim for? As I said, my mum has never claimed for this, never had any letters, let alone payments from them. Any advice for her would be greatly appreciated...

sorry, Ashley, the best way of payment for me would be DD or Standing Order.

I'm writing this in a separate thread because I don't want to get it confused with my Capital One thread. As well as that debt, my husband and I also have council tax arrears amounting to just over £1000. We'd made a payment arrangement with the council, paying £125 per month. £100 was for the current year's tax, £25 was for the arrears. I can't remember what happened, but one of those payments didn't go through, and suddenly we were being hounded by a DCA called Equitas. They told us that we had to pay £125 per month *off the debt* and it had to be paid in full within 9 months otherwise they would apply to the courts for a "right of entry" which would allow them to send the bailiffs in to take our posessions. This was a few months ago, and I was in the middle of a benefits appeal and not getting any money. We just about managed for a couple of months, but realised it would be just too much. My husband telephoned them and said that we could not afford to pay the £125 and why, and the person he spoke to said that as long as he made a "token payment" each month and brought it up to date if and when my appeal was succesful, that was okay. Except, they didn't bother to make a note of it on our file, which resulted in a bailiff coming to the house. When he didn't get a reply (I hid upstairs) he put a photocopied piece of paper through the door that said "removal of goods notice". I telephoned my husband at work in an incredibly upset state - I was ready to take some stuff and go and stay with my mum for a bit Hubby phoned the bailiff and he said he would look into it. In the meantime, my appeal was successful, so the Bailiff said we could make a one off payment of £200, then start back on the £125. Apparently, the person who told us about making a "token payment" was a new starter who should never have said that, and according to the bailiff, as a result of what happened to us, got the sack. This brings us up to the present, but what concerns me is that really, we can't afford £125 a month. We only agreed to it because of the threats that were made to us. Reading around on here makes me think that we've been done. As it works out, we aren't paying anything off this years council tax, because we just can't afford it. What are our options? It worries me that we have already entered into a payment agreement with Equitas, and they seem keen to bully and coerce, and aren't afraid to make home visits unannounced. As I read this back, it seems like we're doing everything we can to make a payment we can't afford while they're rubbing their hands with glee...

Thanks, Ashley. When I telephoned the DCA to say "leave me alone" I told them that all I could afford right now (because I'm on benefits) is £20 a month. Of course, if my situation changes and I get a job, I would be happy to increase it just to get rid of them! I was wondering whether it would be wise or unwise to mention my health problems. I keep thinking of it from their POV, but I guess everyone with payment problems sound like they're making excuses...