Taylor V Abbey

[latay26]

Hi All

 

I have followed all the advice from this site and have got as far as Abbey sending me their FINAL resolution to my complaint as below;

 

'I am sorry we have given you cause to complain in relation to charges incurred on your Abbey Current Account I have carefully considered the points you have raised, The fact remains however that the charges in question were prompted by payment requests against insufficient available funds. As such, they are valid and in line with our Terms and Conditions.I note you say you are unhappy with the charges you have incurred over since January 2001. If you felt at any time the charges were unfair or incorrect, then the matter should have been raised at that time.We do not feel that Abbey's charges are unfair or unlawful under these regulations. When you opened the account with Abbey, you were provided with Terms and Conditions that detailed the charges that become applicable should you breach the terms of the account. Abbey is up front and transparent about all its banking charges as set out in the tariff of charges. If the complaint escalates into a claim in the County Court, we will review each case individually, and if we feel that our relationship with our customer has broken down completely, we may decide to give notice to close the account under the Terms and Conditions.I accept that you did not set out to incur charges. Ultimately however, it is your responsibility to monitor your account and ensure there are sufficient funds in your account at all times. As such and given the above, I do not feel that a waiver of charges is justified. The charges in question therefore stand.You also refer to the recent ruling by the Office of Fair Trading. The Office of Fair Trading announcement was in relation to Credit Card default charges and not overdraft default charges or to other products, such as Bank Accounts. This means our Tariff of Charges continues to apply.This is my final resolution letter. However, if you would like to discuss the content of this letter or have any new points you believe should be taken into account, and which may make a difference to the outcome of the investigation, please contact me within 14 days of this letter on the above number. If I do not hear from you by then, and you have not asked us to extend that deadline for any reason, I will file my papers accordingly.Should you be dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, I would like to remind you that you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I enclose a booklet explaining how to take your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, and should you wish to do so, there is a time limit of six months from the date of this letter'

 

I appreciate that I should now take this to court, but just wanted to point out for others that are where I am, that firstly I didnt actually open the Abbey account, my old N & P buliding society was taken over by Abbey & my account transfered, so I didnt get terms & conditions etc let alone sign for anything!! I definitely had many telephone conversations with them about the excessive charges, but they were wholly unhelpful! Also this is so obviously a standard letter, because the threat of closure is irrelevent to us, as the account has been closed for well over 18 mths now, they did that after the 3 yrs it took for us to finish paying back the £5000 plus we "owed" them in charges!!!

 

Anyway, onwards & hopefully upwards!!

Latay26

[latay26]

Advice anyone? Do I argue any of the points they make in their reply, or do I just go ahead with court??

 

Thanks Latay

[tom2005]

Hi Latay

Just to let you know I have received an almost identical letter to yours. Have also followed everything as laid out in the templates. Will be taking court action this week. Hope it all goes well with you and with everyone else who has reached this stage.

regards

tom

[latay26]

Hi

I put my case into court (31st Jan) had a delay due to a death in the family & today I recieved a goodwill gesture of half of my claim, no admission of liability of course. Do I press on with my case, am I likely to win or do I accept the offer (dont really want to)

Latay

[latay26]

Hi All

Well Abbey offered me half of my claim as a 'goodwill' gesture!! I of course declined. Anyway, they sent me a copy of their defense & allocation questionnaire, on it they state that they are happy for it to be heard in the small claims track even though it is for £6300. Im assuming this is because, as I have read on this site, that judges are unlikely to direct them to disclose their actual expenses in relation to my charges! Should I disagree?? I was intending to put the Draft order in for the fast track anyway.

 

Also, can you claim the AQ fee back from them as well, even if they settle before the court date??

 

Thanks a lot

 

Latay26