MBNA v Wigan Warrior

[Wigan Warrior]

In fear of plagiarism, This is War!!!!

 

I would really welcome some help and advice. Along the same lines as SurreyScouse I am really sick and tired of these wasters.

 

Here is my story so far:

 

I took possession of my MBNA platinum card in 2001. Regrettably, due to changes in personal arrangements I was unable to make some monthly payments and consequently went over my agreed limit. Pretty standard stuff really, however this went on for a number months and intermittently since the end of 2001. Despite virtually throwing every spare penny at the account, I have only, within the last 4 months, got the account back in line.

 

The above you make think, forms the basis of my disgust and anger but initially I had never really thought about it - As many people have no doubt thought in the past, probably still do: It was my own fault and I had entered into an agreement with them which I had acted contrary to.

 

Then a situation that changed my feelings - At the end of March 2006, my Credit Card expired and I did not receive a replacement, or any correspondence to inform me that I was no longer entitled to one. I duly rang MBNA "Customer Satisfaction", in early April 06, taking the obligatory 45 minutes to navigate and was told that they did not know why I was not sent a replacement, however they would investigate it and contact me within the next 14 days. This promise was not kept and I sent a letter detailing their failures and a request for how I was to be remunerated for MBNA acting contrary to our agreement. A further 14 days passed and I had still not received a reply. I sent another letter and a few days later received a letter from Stuart Johnson requesting I rang his "Customer Satisfaction" representative. I replied by letter that I was quite disgusted that MBNA expected a customer to contact them regarding an issue on their part and I was not prepared to be put on hold for 45 minutes before speaking to anyone. Aside from the phone system, I want everything in writing. I received a further letter, informing me that I would have a full written explanation of how they have arrived at this situation by the 9th July 06, (Not long now).

 

My real irk is - When in the past I have acted contrary to our agreement MBNA have been extremely quick to penalise me financially, so what is a suitable penalty for completely removing their services to me without informing me of a change to our agreement? As a matter of integrity, I have continued to make my monthly payments as I have no confidence in them not trying to hammer me for not paying them.

 

For me, it is now a question of "If you live by sword, you die by the sword" and I am waiting to weigh up their offer, (If any), with a view to going for the whole lot of charges etc.

 

A bit long winded I know, but needed to get it off my chest and hopefully recruit some help from you fellow warriors who have already been very successful.

[surreyscouse]

Welcome Warrior !

 

Ok then, down to business !

 

Make sure you keep the telephone number Stuart Johnson has given you. I have not spoken to the usual call centres for nearly 9 months now, just the advocates office.(That's where stuart works). You always get straight through to this office and they always return calls promptly.

 

First things first, you need to establish what charges this bunch of clowns have given you and then set about getting them back. Don't worry about the fact they are looking into the card issue as when this lot make up their mind, they very rarely change it so don't be expecting a card anytime soon from them.

 

Having read your text, I think your question is quite simple (most of it is a bit of a rant which is only to be expected) Are you asking if you should go after your charges now or await the outcome of your card query ? Only you can decide, they will almost certainly keep card facilities withdrawn but they haven't called the debt in on anybody yet so you should be ok to get the charges refunded to your account and carry on paying them monthly so I don't think you have anything to lose.

 

Anyway, off home for the day now. I'll check in tomorrow and see what your thoughts are on this. don't worry though, I hate these guys with a passion so i'm with you every step of the way here mate !

[Wigan Warrior]

SurreyScouse,

 

Thanks mate, I am also an exiled scouser, although not as far away as you, hence the name. I sincerely hope that MBNA will be as sick of me as much as they obviously are with you at the end of this.

 

It was a bit of rant, but based around how much it p's me off the amount of hassle you have to go through for some payback when they, (Any large financial organisation) makes a mistake.

 

Now that you are on board, I feel confident enough to go for the whole lot.

 

My proposed actions / points are:

 

1. I am not bothered about receiving a new card and I don't particularly want it - I have lived without the use of one for nearly the whole life of the agreement anyway.

2. I want some form of remuneration for MBNA removing their credit service to me without any instruction or information.

3. I now want all my charges back - This will be a significant amount.

 

Game on, where do I start?

[surreyscouse]

My proposed actions / points are:

 

1. I am not bothered about receiving a new card and I don't particularly want it - I have lived without the use of one for nearly the whole life of the agreement anyway.

2. I want some form of remuneration for MBNA removing their credit service to me without any instruction or information.

3. I now want all my charges back - This will be a significant amount.

 

Game on, where do I start?

 

1. Fair enough, I don't use my card now either

2. You can try for this but I wouldn't hold my breath. It is in the T&C's that they can withdraw facilities at any time although i do agree hey should be be courteous enough to let you know.

3. Do you know what the charges amount to ? If not send your DPA request along with a £10 cheque, they will send the cheque back to you along with a list of transactions as this is easier for them. If you do know what the charges amount to then send your first request for payment to them (both letters in the template library). Give them 14 days and then on day 15 send your letter before action. They will respond saying they will investigate and come back to you within 28 days but just ignore that and stick to your deadlines.

 

Point to note is that most companies do not refund the interest on charges until you get to the court summons where you add 8% on. MBNA however, will work out the interest and refund that to you as well as long as you ask them to. No good you trying to work it out as it's far to complicated, let them do it and it will be right.

 

Got it ? Good, great, let's go !

[Wigan Warrior]

Sound, here we go then with the Data Protection Act request.

[adamski]

Hi

read this thread with interest

Make sure you send it recorded delivery, i would send a postal order in their name so it is now worthless to you so they cannot send it back!!

I have had the 28 days letter i wll give them that much as its still within the 40 days im expecting them to do an I.D on me to delay me but it will not stop me, nothing will, get into them good luck and all the best

Regards

adamski

[Wigan Warrior]

Adamski,

 

Thanks for the advice. Sent the Data Protection SAR recorded delivery with a £10 postal order in their name yesterday.

 

Cheers

 

Warrior.

[Wigan Warrior]

MBNA really are a bunch of incompetent wasters!!! Aside from the commencement of my action to recover their unlawful charges, I still had the other complaint regarding their complete lack of customer service in the withdrawing of my Credit Card without information of instruction. Steve Bailey, Head Of The Customer Advocate Office, promised to give a full explanation, "to my satisfaction", by the 11th July. Low and behold nothing turns up. Phoned the Customer Advocate Office to be told it was sent on Monday, (Not the first time they have stated sending correspondence to find I have not received it), and they would resend it today.

Anyway, checked the recorded delivery Data Protection Request and it was delivered on 11th July 06 @ 07:40 - Does the 40 days start from this date or the day after? I am keen to be as efficient with these sharks as possible.

 

Warrior

[surreyscouse]

40 days from 11th mate. so on 21st August you can hit 'em hard for non-compliance !

[Wigan Warrior]

Put into my Outlook Calendar, set reminder on mobile phone and emblazoned across the office wall planner.

 

You would think that people would just want a no fuss resolution, but these jokers make you want them to mess up, so you can keep hitting them.

[Wigan Warrior]

Got a letter Saturday with an explanation that they do not have to inform customers of their decision to not replace expired Credit Card - Surreyscouse, as expected. I had also asked for my signed credit card agreement which they stated was enclosed - It was not. Anyway this is a minor side issue.

 

Before registering on here I had sent them a letter requesting 6 years worth of statements - They stated in the letter that it would cost £2.50 per statement - So glad I joined you guys, and started doing things right Data Protection Request etc, otherwise MBNA stating that cost would definitely have put me off.

 

Also recieved and read the Lawpack Small Claims Kit on Saturday so feeling confident.

 

Warrior.

[Wigan Warrior]

Received a standard letter yesterday from Rachel Claridge, (They must be receiving loads of claims now, because they have given her an electronic signature for these cases). It stated that they were in possession of my "complaint" and would respond within 28 days. That would put them to day 36 of the Data Protection request. The letter also mentioned contacting Gareth Tunicliffe - I will keep his number, he appears to be the man to resolve the problem towards the end of the process.

 

Warrior

[surreyscouse]

warrior,

 

they must be getting more requests for refunds in as your letter has taken abvout 5 days longer than it used to for a response so this is probably a measure of how much pressure they are under. Sit tight, but you are quite right that gareth is the man to contact in an emergency !

[Wigan Warrior]

How frustrating is it, waiting for the 40 days to elapse or the info to come through?

 

I did receive the previous 12 months statements, (Well I say 12 months, there were 3 missing), from MBNA after a request prior to starting the formal route as per your instruction - Anyway, the charges totalled £450 for a 9 month period, which has only served to make me more excited about how much I can claim when all the statements arrive .

 

Enjoyed reading the other threads as everyone else's cases move on and continuing to recover what is lawfully ours from these clowns. Keep them coming.

 

I will go back to waiting patiently and bother you all no further, until something happens.

 

Cheers,

 

Warrior

[kfdh1962]

Hi Warrior,

i am also trying to get back my charges from MBNA, x2 because i have an alliance and leicester card also operated by MBNA.

i sent of my Data Protection Act S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) letter. Steve Bailey sent back the cheque, but included free of charge aschedule of all the charges from 2001 to 2004,(that was the point at which the account interest etc was frozen and i went onto a repayment arrangement.

they siad i can still have the full SAR request if i wish but would need to send back the DPA request form that they enclosed, plus a cheque and some ID. nice delaying tactic.

They have credited £100 to my account as a gesture of goodwill whilst maintaining that there charges are legal and fair. Yeah right.

The information appears complete so i will continue on with the process to get the rest of the chages back, £800 in total, and i will also be requesting they pay interest on this.

So onto the next step, sending the store card template letter from the library, which would appear to be a letter before action for the remaining charges plus interest on teh full amount

[Wigan Warrior]

Mmmm.... I sent the Data Protection request with a postal order instead of a cheque, so that they could not return it. I am not sure if this has helped because they appear to be sending the information out as a matter of course and I am £10 down:confused: . Anyway, they have got 16 days to come up with the goods.

 

I should really start with LloydsTSB now, but I wanted to see how this one pans out first, before getting into parachute accounts etc.

 

Warrior.

[Wigan Warrior]

11 days until the DPA request is overdue. When or should I give them a nudge?

 

Cheers

 

Warrior

[surreyscouse]

just give them a call and remind them they only have 11 days left and see what response you get

[Wigan Warrior]

Cheers Scouse,

 

Sent Gareth Tunnicliffe an e-mail:

 

Gareth,

I recently sent a Subject Access Request in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998, accompanied by a £10 postal order made payable to MBNA Europe Bank, to your Data Controller. The request was signed for on 11th July 2006 and the deadline for your compliance is 21st August 2006. I would not wish MBNA to fall foul of this legislation and require the intervention of the Information Commissioner. Consequently, as a matter of courtesy I am reminding you of your obligation and to seek an expected date of delivery for the requested information.

Warrior

[Wigan Warrior]

As it happened, I didn't need to send a reminder. When I got home last night there was a letter from Steve Bailey. Standard letter, offering £100 goodwill gesture and a list of my charges which total £1500.

 

I will accept as part payment and move on to claiming for the rest.

 

Sorted

 

Warrior

[pollyjohnson]

Hi Warrior

Did Steve Bailey offer you £100 or deposit £100 into your account. I just got the same leter and he deposited it into my account. Not showing yet but thats what he wrote. Letter dated 4th august. I am ignoring it. if he wants to make deposits into the account he can go right ahead. Just sent prelim letter off.

 

Polly

[Wigan Warrior]

Okay I have got over excited then fell back down to earth when I had a look at the advanced spreadsheet for calculating interest. What is the score with that? Can I only request the £1500 + 8% or can I go for compound interest? Please help

 

Cheers

 

Warrior

[Wigan Warrior]

Hi Polly,

 

They refunded it to my account. I am not sure what the score is with that. Having read the other threads, probably should accept their goodwill gestures as part payments, take it off your overall claim and keep going for the rest.

 

Warrior.

[pollyjohnson]

nah if it was a gesture of goodwill we don't need to deduct it from our claim. they are just hoping we will run with that. I am still going for the whole claim.

Polly

[surreyscouse]

Polly, unless I am very much mistaken, I think you have just hit on something here !

 

Are you basically saying that if you claimed say £1000 and they credit us with £100 out of "goodwill" then you would still go after the £1000 ? I ask this as you are probably quite entitled to do this depending on how their letter is worded. It goes against the grain of what this site is about but it really could exploit loopholes in MBNA's letters, and we know they would do that yo us don't we !

 

You have really intrigued me on this.