BenKing v Halifax ***SETTLED IN FULL***

[BenKing]

A quick summary of things so far:

 

2nd June: Rung customer services to see what fee I should include with my data request. After checking with her supervisor I was told no fee was necessary. Sent data request letter.

 

7th June: Reply saying could not continue without the £10 fee. I opted to plough through the statements and found £1212 worth of charges so replied informing him of the contradiction. I enclosed the next letter.

 

15th June: Standard Letter offering £130 goodwill gesture. They kindly attached a breakdown "free of charge" of my charges which totalled £1906.

 

Here's the good bit.

 

I entered those charges onto the spreadsheet to calculate the interest and found that they don't add up to £1906, but £1966.

 

I've checked them 3 times and get the same figure every time.........

 

The LBA goes off today.

[sgt_bilko]

Good Luck Ken Bing

 

 

You'll be fine.....

 

 

Just think about what you're gonna spend that dough on.

 

 

Peace:grin:

[BenKing]

Halifax explanation:-

 

"This document is computer generated so I was concerned to see that your addition did not match that of the computer. However, when I checked through the charges, I noticed that on the 1/4/03 there was a charge printed twice. The screen would have only held certain capacity and I know from experience that at the end of the page the last charge is duplicated to the next page."

 

Good will offer has been increased to £390, which I am not accepting.

[rubydoo]

Hi

 

I have just started my claim & i'm curious, do Halifax try it on & offer a ridiculous 'good will gesture' ?

[kevcam]

Yes, most banks will try and offer paltry goodwill gesture.

 

Stick in there!

[BenKing]

As the deadline for starting court action approached I decided to fire one last letter to the Halifax asking them to once again provide me with the details of costs incurred by themselves when imposing the charges. The letter before had stated that they had wanted to resolve my concerns amicably, so I thought I'd put them to the test.

 

I offered to accept the amount of my claim less these costs as I am a reasonable man.

 

Their response received today clearly shows that they are prepared to tell lies to their customers:

 

"As a gesture of goodwill we offered to refund six months worth of charges to your account, which you refused to accept"

 

Their first offer was £130.

 

The second was £390.

 

Charges incurred in the last 6 months = £78

 

Obviously, Chris Hale, the Redress Assessor is either a) incapable of adding £39 to £39 or b) a liar.

 

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to court we go.....................

[BenKing]

Finally got round to getting the court claim submitted.

 

Took the completed forms to court on Wednesday 25th - heard nothing as yet from either the court or Halifax.

[Jfd100]

No, Halifax can't add up, they offered me a goodwill gesture of over £150 more than I was claiming in the first place...quickest acceptance letter I've signed

[BenKing]

Notified by court today that papers were posted 31st October, deemed served 2nd Noov

[BenKing]

Having been reading through other recent Halifax claims and having received the same standard letters looks like this week could be a good week.

 

I've also got a chance to have another go via the ombudsman:

 

I wrote to them on 29th July on another matter of complaint, rang the next day to confirm they had the letter - which they did, and I was informed it was being scanned and a reply would be made within 8 weeks.

 

Despite my protests that they should deal with this sooner they informed me under their code of conduct they were allowed 8 weeks to reply to letters.

 

Needless to say 8 weeks passed and no reply came. I wrote to them before submitting the court papers reminding them they had missed their deadline and unless a reply was forthcoming in 7 days would report this to the ombudsman.

 

No reply, just the standard letter saying they would not refund charges.

 

Looking forward to their next letter (hopefully Tues or Wed) offering to refund all charges + court fees + interest.

 

Once that is received, I'm contacting the ombudsman about the non-reply to the letter of the 29th July:-)

[BenKing]

Standard letter received today of acknowledgement offering to pay my claim as it's too costly to defend, blah, blah,

 

but with an added paragraph!

 

"The Bank of Scotland does not consider that you are entitled to the further £350 that you are claiming. Unless you can provide evidence of this further loss the Bank of Scotland will file a defence in respect of this part of your claim".

 

My claim was based on the list of charges they finally sent to me after my initial letter in June 2006 asking for a list of charges on my account for the last six years.

 

I notice 4 of the charges in fact were from early 2000 and therefore pre-date the 6 year period. However, having spoken to the woman at the Halifax today (as the letter I received today didn't have their revised list with it) I am told that he has only counted charges from the date of my court claim and not from 1/8/00 and 1/9/00.

 

These two missing charges total £75 would make the total amount £2144.68 + 120 court fees instead of the £2036.24 + court fees they are prepared to put into my account.

 

Just to complicate things further, their calculations of the interest are higher than mine were!

 

They've promised to ring back later to discuss the two missing charges, so I'll keep you posted........................

[Innocenti]

At least you got a letter. The Halifax have until today to respond, I havent heard a thing and as yet no defence has been filed. So I am putting in my judgement tomorrow!

[BenKing]

Had a thought..........

 

In their letter they say:

 

"However, on a purely commercial basis it will cost Halifax money to defend your claim in terms of the legal costs that will be incurred.........For this reason, but without admission of liability, Halifax is willing to reimburse etc etc"

 

then they go on to say about the 4 charges included before the 6 year period:

 

"Unless you can provide evidence of this further loss BOS will file a defence in respect of this part of your claim"

 

So, they are not prepared to defend the bulk (because they know they cannot) but are happy to defend a small part (because they know they can)

 

Hopefully, that could give an extra bit of confidence to anyone contemplating court action

[BenKing]

Haven't rung back, turns out he tried calling me on an incorrectly noted down number. They agree the £75 should be paid.

 

Yesterday I faxed my acceptance to the number they gave me, but the fax was never answered.

 

This is like pulling teeth........................

[tara676]

hope you get somewhere soon, at least you know you will get your money, good luck and enjoy spending it, hope you have a brill xmas now

[BenKing]

Still losing teeth.................

 

Despite numerous requests for this guy to call me, this has still not happened. So I telephoned again this afternoon to discover that a letter is being sent to me today (which I will probably therefore not receive until Saturday) saying that I need to sign an acceptance form before they can do any more.

 

The letter sent on 13th mentioned no acceptance form but merely stated: "Please confirm within 7 days that you are willing to settle" I was also told yesterday this could be done in writing by faxing a letter to them, which was done even though the fax number they gave me was not answered (my local branch sent it to another).

 

Needless to say I am getting more and more frustrated by these delaying tactics and have given them until 4pm to credit my account with the money owed.

 

They said in their letter of 13th Nov they have returned the Acknowledgment to the Court - not according to the court who I telephoned this morning.

 

Deadline expires at 4pm today, so it looks like I'm off to court first thing in the morning unless someone pulls their finger out.............

[BenKing]

Have been promised the money will be in my account by the close of business on Friday at the very latest.

 

We shall see..................

[BenKing]

Money credited this morning

[BenKing]

[tara676]

Excellent, really pleased for you! good to see another postive outcome

[Springer]

Well done!! It's such a good feeling isn't it!!! :D

[Papalauskas]

Have Just Sent My First Letter To Halifax Received A Reply Requesting £5 Fee. Will Keep You Posted !!!!

[Lutecia]

I also have done this. I had a letter drafted but asked for the info over the phone. They sent a letter asayiing duplicate statements would cost £5? I don't think this is what we are asking for though? Its a list of charges - not statements and correct me if I am wrong but every statement costs £5 from the Halifax? Should I send in the correct letter with the £10 and the Data Protection quotes?

[haileyraeburn]

Well done! I hate this company with a passion now. The second man I spoke to on the phone was rather rude to me tonight. Pipex have taken my DD out early , AGAIN. So, this has obviously incurred a £39.00 charge which I have refused to pay but they say I must. Have spoken to stupid Pipex and they say I've to call back tomorrow when Finance are there during 9 - 5.30 hours but he advised me they will take 14 days to refund my money. Argh! I am now so angry that I'm gonna claim back what I am due for the last 6 years and that will teach them!

[Coyotesj]

Hi Luticea

 

You are going to need to send the SAR letter from the drafts section of this site along with a cheque for £10. The SAR letter asks them to send a schedule of the charges OR copies of statements..... I was sent copies of statements as they say that they are unable to provide a schedule of charges only, and £10 is enough to cover this no matter how many years worth of information you are asking for. Hope this helps!