*^&$* hell... NatWest strike again! I was looking through my credit report for something else and I found that NatWest have also issued a default notice for the loan account, dated September 2007. This is the loan account that I did a CCA request on and got nothing back; that in the course of arguing with them about the current account they told me "we have agreed not to pursue you further for the outstanding balance on the Loan account as we have been unable to comply with Section 77 of the Consumer Credit Act".

If they could not satisfy a CCA request then they can't file a default, right? Especially as I didn't receive a default notice...

Loz

I have not had anything from A&L since October, save for that default notice and a few more notifications of charges. Just checked my credit record and there is no default there as yet... I am so sick of this, surely it doesn't take this long to look at a complaint

Lucy Pinder. That is all.

Loz

Have received acknowledgement of service from Wragge & Co, they intend to defend. I am for some reason far more nervous about this claim than my previous ones against HSBC and NatWest. :-S

What do we have here from BT..? The first bill for my "new line" - I love the way they make you pay for the service in advance... not. In addition to the line rental there is of course their lovely "payment processing fee" of £4-50 and the new "1571 low use charge" of £3-00 - they are asking me to pay up front and if I use the service enough I get my £3-00 back?!? Get lost BT.

I'm not paying the bill (yet) anyway. I'm going to ask my ISP to take over the line, so BT will have to close the account and send me a final bill. They try any of their "12 month minimum contract" stuff and they can swivel on it - it was not mentioned to me when I was reconnected and in any case they made such a balls-up of this whole thing... Then we move on to what I feel they owe me, such as the cost of calls from my mobile, being unable to use the broadband I am paying for... how about the simple inconvenience of having to tell lots of people that I had to change my number..?

Still up for an argument,

Loz

Quick update - A&L are still ignoring me and continuing to apply charges despite my complaint (quel surprise). However they now have until 15th December to respond to the courts, seeing as they won't respond to me.

Fingers crossed...

Loz

Supports my view that this won't stop enforcement, but will add to any other issues you have regarding form/content (e.g., missing prescribed terms, etc) in that it will show the Judge the Creditor hasn't executed the agreement properly.

 

I also have to agree that this, on it's own, isn't a reason to prevent enforcement by Court order - unless the Debtor can show prejudice caused. (Which is unlikely) I think I've said as much in an earlier post here.

Thanks for your comments chaps, much appreciated. I wasn't expecting to discover that a lack of signature by HSBC meant that I didn't owe them a bean, but I can dream eh? At the very least it would have been nice to ask them for a refund of all the interest they've charged

However it may prove a useful weapon at some stage in the future...

Loz

I hope I haven't missed something glaringly obvious but this thread is a bit on the large side when searching for something specific...

I was getting a little grief off HSBC over a missed payment or two on my credit card (due in turn to my ongoing argument with Alliance + Leicester), so out of curiosity more than anything I asked for a copy of the original agreement. This card was a case of them sending me a "pre-approved" application form/agreement which I just had to sign and I would get the card. What I've received looks to have the prescribed terms but has not been signed by anyone from HSBC - instead there is a date stamp.

I reckon that without a proper signature from HSBC this agreement has not been executed, is this correct? If so, what options do I have?

Thanks in advance,

Loz

Starting a thread here because I think I may have a case. Was forced into a loan 3½ years ago after changing jobs and reaching my overdraft limit, HSBC would not give me a temporary increase and offered me no option but to take the loan. A year or so later and for whatever reason I found myself in the same position again, and HSBC made me take another loan to cover the first one and my overdraft.

I don't have any paperwork for the first loan (DPA request should produce that among other things) but the copy I got of the current loan agreement has made me think. I noticed that where I have signed to take up PPI, the date is in someone else's writing, whereas on the loan itself I have clearly written the date myself. Thinking back I recall the lass in the branch calling me up to say I'd forgotten to sign something, and sending the agreement back to me with the PPI bit highlighted... I was stressed out about it all and can't work out why I firstly didn't sign there, then after I was pressed did sign.

Hopefully my DPA request will fill in some blanks. I know for a fact they did not ask about pre-existing conditions, such as the depression which I was probably suffering again at the time the loan was arranged; but I think I may have been coerced into signing for the PPI.

*deep breath*

Loz

I consider myself lucky in that case. Sounds like lots of people have serious issues with BT - hope you get a resolution soon :-/

Progress! The line was connected on Monday, albeit with a different number. This Neil gadgie is trying to get my old number back... Once that's resolved I can sort my ISP out

Loz

Been unable to focus on this and other issues, too busy moving house, having a holiday, arguing with BT...

I wrote A&L last month telling them that I was really cheesed off that they have done nothing in 3 months to address my complaint, and that unless they pulled their finger out I would go to the courts. Their response was to refer to the test case (the first time they have done this) and pretty much refuse to look into it any further. In the meantime my account is over its limit again - strange considering they have taken £900 off me - and this morning I received a default notice from them because of it.

To say I am livid would be an understatement - I was going to file a court claim about the direct debit thing this week anyway but they have doubled my resolve now. I'll also reply to the default notice pointing out that the account has effectively been in dispute since July and that they just can't do that. I'm soooo angry right now, hope nobody irritates me at work

Loz

IMHO they are too busy trying to sell everyone broadband and TV, to the detriment of the bread & butter stuff. I may only pay £11 a month line rental and make almost zero calls, but unless they can provide that then I can't get their fancy products can i? :-S

A day short of five weeks after they disconnected my phone, BT have finally responded to my complaints. Just spoke with Neil from the high level complaints team who seemed quite baffled by his colleagues' incompetence and promised to get me connected asap.

I'm still intending to switch to a different company once this is sorted - first things first though, I want a working line and I want them to repay me £7-55 for calls I had to make on my mobile and £17-99 for the internet I've been unable to use.

With crossed fingers,

Loz

Thanks for that, though I couldn't find anything on Watchdog's site other than the link to BT.com | Contact BT - will try that.

Loz

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can get BT to do anything at all? In the past three and a half weeks since they closed my account (despite me not asking them to do that), they have firstly not admitted that the account had been closed, until a cheque was in the post to refund the balance; secondly completely ignored my repeated requests to reconnect the line, to either my old address or the new one; thirdly ignored my written complaints regarding their abysmal customer service. How do I get them to do anything when they are ignoring me at every turn? Can the regulator do anything at this stage?

I've had no phone for that time, and no internet for two and a half weeks because my ISP don't have a working line to connect me to. I've spent £10-odd on my mobile to their 0800 number trying to sort it out (the rest of the calls were from work) and they won't even tell me how to claim that back from them.

All I want is the line returned to the same status as before they pulled the plug...

Increasingly frustrated Loz

One of my calls was put through to somewhere in Ulster by the sound of their accents - they were the ones I got most sense out of. Though sadly no results.

Loz

Sent to BT today:

Thank you for informing me that my account had been closed - I have made at least half a dozen phonecalls to BT over the past 10 days and nobody told me that. This despite me repeatedly explaining that I had been disconnected a week early for a "moving house" order, and asking to be reconnected. On each occasion BT staff have apologised and promised that I would be reconnected within 24/48 hours, but nothing has been done and the line remains disconnected. In the meantime I had reason to cancel the move order but was initially told I could not do this because I had not cancelled before 12th October - ie. before I placed the order in the first place! Furthermore a supervisor promised to listen to a recording of the original call so she could work out what went wrong; again I was promised an update and again I have not been contacted by BT.

 

I am quite dissatisfied with this whole episode and would like to give BT a final chance to resolve it to my satisfaction. Please considercarefully the following two scenarios, either of which being implemented would restore my faith a little:

 

1) BT restores the line (0191xxxxxxx) and account to its exact status before all this happened - ie. connected to xxxxxxxx.

2) BT carries out my original request and connects the line (0191xxxxxxx) to yyyyyyyy.

 

These two alternative outcomes are the only ways that I will be in any way satisfied with what has happened here. In either case let me make it clear that I do not expect to be charged reconnection fees, nor do I expect to be tied to a minimum contract duration. I believe that after the mess BT has made of this I am justified in making these requests.

 

Finally I will require information regarding how to claim compensation for the inconvenience this has caused, plus the money I have spent by having to use a mobile phone to call BT.

 

I hope this is clear and a resolution can be reached as soon as possible.

 

Yours sincerely,

Loz

I am rather annoyed by this. At the risk of sounding xenophobic, I wish BT would employ people who speak English properly, then there might not have been a misunderstanding in the first place...

Aye I realised that, that's why I asked them to cancel the order. They still haven't reconnected me though - 8 days now!! >

I'm currently on hold (again!) to B(ombay)T(elecom) and thought I'd post here while i'm waiting...

I'm due to move house tomorrow - not far, up 2 flights of stairs - so last Friday I called BT (from work) to ask for a move. "Next weekend", I said. The lass suggested doing it on the Friday, to make sure it was done on time, which I said was OK. I later realised that by moving house they tie you in to a minimum further 12 months, and that I would not be able to change provider and get my phone cheaper, so when I got home I decided to call my ISP about their phone service... and found that BT had disconnected me a week early. >

I spent an hour on my mobile trying to find out WTF had happened and eventually was given an apology and told that I would be reconnected ASAP. Did it happen? I had to call again on Tuesday and explain the whole thing again, and ask them to reconnect me... and now I am having to call yet again.

I told them to cancel the order because they've made such an arse of the whole thing, they can stick it if they try this "12 month" condition. What I now want to do is transfer the phone to my ISP and then get them to move the line to the new flat, same number and all. If BT hadn't been so useless this could be in progress already, it's so annoying!

Rant over.

Loz

This sounds like the response I have had from MBNA - I "requested" PPI over the phone according to them, but they have no proof and have said so in writing. I cancelled it when they tried to sign me up to life insurance that I hadn't asked for.

Currently pondering my next letter...

Loz

The way your original post reads to me is that you lost your job before the change to a managed loan, so the loan protection should still have been there..? Or have I misunderstood?

Loz

Surely the "loan protection" should have kicked in when you lost your job? Or did they find some bit of small print to avoid paying out on it..?

HSBC really are the pits for these loans - I was forced into one when I asked for a temporary increase to my overdraft as I was changing jobs (and going from weekly pay to monthly). If there was a way out of it I would grab it with both hands...

Loz

I am following this thread with interest... have already had charges refunded twice from HSBC but also have a loan which they pushed me into 2 years ago. At the start of the loan the charges totalled £687-00.

I was wondering how legit it is to ask for this money back "again", but thinking about it they have not necessarily refunded charges, more like made a "good will payment"... Let's do some sums!

Loz

Thanks Jansus, I've made sure to focus on the DD being the root cause of the whole thing - even have a spreadsheet which shows what my account would look like if firstly the DD and secondly the charges had not been taken, at no point does it exceed my OD limit

Loz