I sat and waited a little longer and then the letter arrived telling me that my refund was being transfered to my account. I have recieved all the money I was claiming (£355). I think Smile have handled this really well. It has taken the best part of two months but it didn't get nasty which is nice. Good luck to everyone. This really is worth pursuing.

I have recently started my claim for almost £400 from Smile bank. I spoke to them on the phone before finding this forum through Money saving expert. They offered just £25 return as a good will gesture. This is obviously not going to make up for the money lost. I started by opening another account with another bank – just incase and then adapted the template letter found on this site after printing out my statements and highlighting the charges made for returned items and other penalty fees. I sent this to Smile almost two weeks ago and the only reply I have received so far is letter telling me to read their complaints procedure on their website and that someone is dealing with my complaint and I will hear from them by secure message or post. I have read elsewhere on this forum that Smile are fairly easy to deal with and have my fingers crossed that this will be the case.

Hi, I spoke to Smile on the phone today and they certainly want to appear fair. I have had £100's taken in charges over the last 3 months due to going slightly over my agreed overdraft limit. I was offered £25 as a good will gesture. I don't see what is good about £25 as they took 4x that amount in returned item charges. No one can afford to make all their bill payments while losing vast amounts to their bank every month. I would try to handle it by writing as its probably better to keep track of what is going on. If you are happy with a quick compromise, then a phone call will probably get some result with Smile.