Yeah thumbs, I agree, its a case of sorting out the paper trail. When I originally went to the bank for the statements I wasn't expecting to get them, i thought that as the letter was handed in at the branch it could have been "lost".

I am surprised though that they debited my account for £10 especially as their documentation says that they don't have the facilities for this. Anyway, my first request was for one account, i traced a 2nd account I had with them and to my surprise even a 3rd one. So the proper SAR I sent had details of all 3 accounts.

I suppose as long as I get all the statements it will be ok in the end, but you are right, a proper paper trail should be established from the beginning. I will write them a letter querying what has happened. It seems to me though that since I asked for the statements they have become very difficult to deal with. Good luck with your battle, and yes, time to go for the jugular!!!

Hi Benjee,

Yes, I agree, the notes should be left on the system, but after speaking to someone in IT, there are ways for those notes to be "ammended" without the customer ever noticing. Sure, there are ways to check if it has been ammended but that is one side the customer never sees.

I thankfully no longer work in distribution, made the move to IB, so I'll keep an eye on the pulse. In the meantime I will wait till the new year before posting the SAR. I am just curious if and how much they would pay for it, after all I am in it for the money. Also, working for NU I am a bit cautious in case this does come back and bite me in the arse!!!

Hi,

My advice is to contack HBOS and ask them for the address of their Data Protection Officer. Once you have that send a SAR report together with your £10 (happiest tenner you will ever spend) and make sure it is by special delivery as this is your time stamp and they have 40 days.

Now as a scot I am in the same position as you. I am looking to claim 6 years back so you have 2 options.

1. File for the full figure over 6 years and hope they pay up in full before a court date.

2. Depends where the bank is registered. My bank is Lloyds and their HQ is in England so i can either file the court order in my town (Perth) or their home town (somewhere in england, not that far yet). If I pick england then i can definetly ask for 6 years, and they will probably settle out of court saving me the trip south of the border.

Good luck to the both of you!!!

Another event with this dumb bank.

Yesterday I got paid, but when i went to pay for petrol I got informed that my card had been declined. Luckily I always fill up in the same place so the guy allowed me to come back today, but when i went to the cash point to check my balance it would not autorise a balance check. So armed with attitude I went to my branch. I tried the cash point again but it swallowed up my card so I went to have a word with the main desk.

THe lady could not tell me why i could not take cash out, she went and checked and after 20 minutes informed me that the department that deals with it does not accept inbound phone calls and that she could only communicate via email. Fantastic!!

Luckily (i use the term vaguely and sarcastically) I was allowed to take out some cash. Enough for the week but I am not happy at having to carry £300 on me. Now can i claim for the disterss that all this has caused? Probably not knowing the (edit)****** that they are.

What I noticed on my statement though was that they charged me £10 for a copy of statements. Now I haven't told them they could, they certainly haven't sent me any statements yet, as my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) included a £10 PO. Also, I have received a form for a SAR request from them, asking for £10 and informing me that they do not have the facilities to withdraw the money from my account so I would have to send them a cheque. CONFUSED.

Now my SAR request and their form are overlapping in the post. I take it that the template is sufficient information for the SAR. However, I am completely baffled as how they could take that £10 off me.

(edit) figure about 5.5 K in bank charges to date. I swear I am gonna fight for every last penny of it. Grrrrrrrrrrrr

Cheers Craig,

Yeah one of the great british bands that never got enough recognition.

Thanks for the advice 150% of any offer is a good starting point, i'll keep that in mind. I'll send off a SAR and see if it is included in the notes. Might also ask for compensation for the time it took to fix my car but see what happens from any notes.

Ahh thanks Gary, was still looking into that. So i take it I can now claim the full amount within a scottish court?

Also, depending on the total sum though i might as well try the english banking system as i believe Lloyds TSB are registered in England.

Well, hope this cheers someone up...

Dear Bank Manager,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing the check with which I endeavoured to pay my plumber last month. By my calculations some three nanoseconds must have elapsed between his presenting the check, and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my entire salary, an arrangement which, I admit, has only been in

place for eight years.

You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account with $50 by way of penalty for the inconvenience I caused to your bank. My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to re-think my errant financial ways. You have set me on the path of fiscal righteousness.

No more will our relationship be blighted by these unpleasant incidents, for I am restructuring my affairs in 2005, taking as my model the procedures, attitudes and conduct of your very bank. I can think of no greater compliment, and I know you will be excited and proud to hear it.

To this end, please be advised about the following changes:

First, I have noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you I am confronted by the impersonal, ever-changing, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become. From now on I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh and blood person.

My mortgage and loan repayments will, therefore and hereafter, no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank, by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee of your branch, whom you must nominate. You will be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such

an envelope.

Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require our chosen employee to complete. I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative. Please note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Justice of the Peace, and that the mandatory details of his/her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in all dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required to access my account balance on your phone bank service. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Let me level the playing field even further by introducing you to my new telephone system, which you will notice, is very much like yours. My authorised contact at your bank, the only person with whom I will

have any dealings, may call me at any time and will be answered by an automated voice.

By pressing Buttons on the phone, he/she will be guided thorough an extensive set of menus:

1. To make an appointment to see me

2. To query a missing repayment

3. To make a general complaint or inquiry

4. To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there; Extension of living room to be communicated at the time the call is received.

5. To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am still sleeping. Extension of bedroom to be communicated at the time the call is received.

6. To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature. Extension of toilet to be communicated at the time the call is received.

7. To transfer the call to my mobile phone in case I am not at home.

8. To leave a message on my computer. To leave a message a password to access my computer is required. Password will be communicated at a later date to the contact.

9. To return to the main menu and listen carefully to options 1 through 8. The contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering

service. While this may on occasion involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration. This month I've chosen a refrain from The Best Of Woody Guthrie:

"Oh, the banks are made of marble With a guard at every door And the vaults are filled with silver That the miners sweated for"

After twenty minutes of that, our mutual contact will probably know it by heart. On a more serious note, we come to the matter of cost.

As your bank has often pointed out, the ongoing drive for greater efficiency comes at a cost. A cost which you have always been quick to pass on to me. Let me repay your kindness by passing some costs back.

First, there is the matter of advertising material you send me. This I will read for a fee of $20 per page. Inquiries from your nominated contact will be billed at $5 per minute of my time spent in response.

Any debits to my account, as, for example, in the matter of the penalty for the dishonoured cheque, will be passed back to you.

My new phone service runs at 75 cents a minute (even Woody Guthrie doesn't come for free), so you would be well advised to keep your inquiries brief and to the point.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever-so-slightly less prosperous, New Year. Your humble client

Stilll looking for excel help?

The formula to calculate days is as follows.

Use on column per set of dates. The formula is then column A - column B (or whatever columns you picked). Next, in the answer column (column C for argument sake), right click and pick format cell. enter dd (for days, only 2 of them).

This will count the day difference, however, this will only go to 31 (or 99 not 100% sure) so to get round that use the value statement.

So in theory:

=value(a-b)

failing that you could simply add another column. with = value(C1).

Hope it helps, haven't started faffing around with xl yet.

Well here it is my very own thread to keep a track of my claim against lloyds.

First underhand behaviour has already happened. Went into the branch in Perth and asked for a copy of statements. The lady was in the process of doing it right there and then for me when the manager intervened. He asked me what i was needing it for and i replied confidential, he then asked if it was for bank charges and i said yer. He then told me I had to write a letter for it. I suggested he gave me pen and paper and I would do i right there. So i did...

This was a couple of days ago. Since then i decided to ask for a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and went into the branch to ask for the Data Protection Officer. I knew the answer (or thought I did) just felt like winding them up a bit.

The lady at the cashier read my account and told me that I had to speak to a manager to get the address. I questioned it but was told it was protocol. 25 minutes the edit appeared. He asked me why i needed it and i simply replied "confidential". He then came back and told me that they would write to me and i had to reply to the letter. Stood my ground and told him that by law he had to disclose the address or I would complain to the information commisioner. The guy wasn't too happy and eventually gave me the address.

So the SAR was sent together with a PO for £10. Royal mail special delivery so that I can track when they get it. Hopefully just after christmas. From online statements i counted £4218 (jesus was i really that bad) but considering I had 2 old accounts with them as well the sum could hit £6k. Mexico here i come!

Since the first day though they have phoned me 3 times asking for £77 overdrawn. Thankfully get paid tomorrow but told them that i do not want to take inbound calls as i don't trust them. Still i am getting the calls. Coincidental or just because i raised the SAR? Anyway one option is a harassment letter but i'll wait a little longer before royally ****ing them off.

In the meantime it is my understandment that a scottish small claims court would only go up to £750. So now thinking of claiming in england, but even then the figure is 5k. I feel more than one claim coming on. Also as its an english court i can claim 6 years back. Hopefully this will settle out of court so i won't have to make my journey south.

So here it is, good luck to all of you in the claims process, stick to your guns and don't accept settlements. All or nothing!

Many many congratulations. Inspirational reading. Hope you have a fantastic christmas and that your husband is on the way to recovery.

Yes, I quite agree. Claiming 5k back should ease the burden. However, if I could link the date of the charges with information in the credit report and prove that if they did not apply the charges then it would have been easier for me to get normal credit instead of going to sub-prime lenders which charged far too much. Yes, a long shot that could cost me a bit in court charges, but saying that, you never know...

I really do feel for your son. I work for norwich union and I am really sorry that they had to keep you on hold for so long. Unfortunately it is your son's responsibility to check that the documents are correct. Yes, not many do, but ultimately the onus is on your son.

He could try and argue the case in court. Provide details from confused but other than sympathy the judge will probably order 6 points and the resulting ban.

If it is any consolation, Norwich Union are the only company that do not load polices for an IN20 (driving without insurance). I know because I also had 2 IN20s. Most companies will but Norwich Union look at it that he was banned for not having insurance, as long as he now pays for it, then there is no need for the situation to happen again, unlike drink driving.

Also, they now do pay as you drive insurance, which might be cheaper for your son. Best of luck with his court case.

Sorry John, but i am on the Halifax's side for this one. I used to work in a call centre and those queries were quite frequent. Insurance prices vary on a day to day basis. Its a bit like buying a pair of shoes and then finding them cheaper a month later in the sales. Or plane tickets, tv, or anything else. The price was set at the time based on claims criteria and so on, the market has since changed, they have changed their loadings for your particular area and so on. Your only other option would be to cancel the insurance with the halifax (check what the refund would be, also there is a cancellation charge of about £30-£50 depending on the company) and then set up a new policy online. Yes, a silly method, but that's the system at the moment.

Its life, sometimes prices go up and sometimes they go down.

I was recently involved in a shunt (not at fault). My insurance company is Norwich Union Direct and they were really awful the last time I had to make a claim. So this time i went straight to a solicitor through my legal expenses. They hired the car for me and everything was charged back to the 3rd party. Car was repaired through a private repairer in under a week and once again costs sent to 3rd party.

So my advice is, if your parents have legal expenses cover, use that. Contact the solicitor and see if they can deal with it for you. Standard legal cover tends to be 50k and any solicitor should be happy to take on a claim where the 3rd party had admitted full liability.

Anyway, good luck to your parents for it.

Thanks for that. I think I will pursue it anyway, might get compensation for the time it took them to fix my car (a very long story). Would be interesting to see what they do, partially because I work for them.

OK...after lloydstsb and capital one the next on my hitlist is gonna be norwich union. Should they actually provide me with those notes then any idea what range i can claim for? hundreds, thousands?

nice avatar...a wildhearts fan at all?

Hi,

I hope this helps. I work for norwich union and i think they do short term cover as well, but with RAC being now part of AVIVA i think this might help you.

Also do not set up a policy and then cancel the direct debit. You will incur a cancellation charge of around £50. This is now standard for insurance companies as the cost of cancelling a policy is of around £30 as the motor's insurance database needs to be updated and so on.

Hope it helps.

Pay by Day

lol...got censored. Edited, even though quoting facts, people seem to complain about it.

Hello everyone,

I need some advice if possible. I had a claim with Norwich Union Direct about a year ago. The claims system was a shamble, but somehow I found out that on their notes the advisor wrote "customer is ****ed".

Now I can appreciate that they meant I was upset (bloody claims system) but I object to that in my notes because it could be interpreted that I was drunk.

If I were to ask for systems access could I then sue them for those comments? Any help would be kindly appreciated.

Thanks.

Hi,

I was hoping for some advice. I have finally started the process of claiming back DD charges from my bank and credit card company (I figure around £5500 in total). Like many others my credit score is dead.

Could i claim damages for the bank/credit card company witholding my money? i.e. it is because of them sucking all my money every month that i was not able to maintain repayments on other agreements and hence have an atrocious credit score.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers.