Halifax Online Banking Problems

[halifaxbankbad]

I am currently trying to get Halifax to refund charges that I have accrued because of a failure of a Standing Order alteration to work properly on their Website. I will post more details shortly, what I'm wondering is who is liable in situations like this? I'm unable to prove that I ammended the S/O though I know for a fact I did, and the information on this section of their site is very poor it does not show the historic details of any payments. I have asked them to investgate to see if there has been any technical issues, but they are refusing to accept that there may have been a technical problem, and simply reffering to what the details they can see in the Customer Services Dept. Has anyone had any similar experiences or know the law concerning web based banking? Any help would be appreciated.

 

I am also writing about this on my blog at:

halifaxbankbad.wordpress.com

Edited November 6, 2009 by halifaxbankbad
added link to blog

[surprise]

When making your alteration are you sure you pressed the sumbit button. I forgot to do this once but fortunately I realised my mistake.

 

The Halifax never take responsibility for anything that goes wrong, so I personally think you may have to live with this.

 

If you are absolutely sure you did everything right then what you need to do is follow their complaints procedure then when you've got nowhere, which is quite often the case, and they give you their final response complain to the FOS. I currently have a ongoing complaint with the FOS about their website but for different reasons.

[zipzap1974]

Thanks Suprise

 

Definely followed and applied all actions. Im still trying to find out if anyone else had the same problems at the same time. Am following the Halifax Complaint Procedures, though if experiece so far is anything to go by I dont hold out much hope. Good luck with yours.

[halifaxbankbad]

Here is a copy of the ongoing correspondence between me and Halifax (as of 06/11/09) I will update this as things proceed. I have also been e-mailing these to [email protected] but not had any kind of response or reply?

 

1) My Initial Letter of Complaint.(15/10/09)

 

Ref Complaint: 151784

 

Further to phoning and making this complaint regarding problems with arranging standing orders on your online banking system.…and being told that despite problems using the website, I would not be able to arrange a temporary overdraft or avoid penalties for the unauthorised overdraft I am writing to say I find this grossly unfair because of the huge lack of clarity, detail, and information in the S/O section of your Website.

 

I had altered my monthly standing order of £202.02 which knew I would have to do in order to avoid going overdrawn but it does not seem to have worked (in the last week of September I reduced it to either £55 or £77 I can’t remember which, and as there is no way of reviewing the history of the standing order so I cannot find out). I then thought I had reduced it further (in 1st 2 days of OCT) to £22.22 I Accept as suggested buy your customer service person that at this point I may have inadvertently mistaken the “Bill Payment ” part of the webpage for the monthly S/O part of the webpage and if I did it is because it is not made sufficiently clear how theses 2 elements work in relation to each other. I assumed that the top list of “who you are paying” was simply a list of the account details of all the electronic transfers that ever been used on this account, not something that could be activated to make live payments.

 

Even if the above did happen it still does not explain why the full un-amended S/O for £202.02 also went out instead of the lower amount. Again as there is no way of accessing the historic data on this standing order I have know way of finding out when it was last amended and amount it was amended to. Given that the full £202.02 did come out, I have been left in a very difficult situation since the 8th Sept having to borrow money from friends and family, I don’t have enough money for this kind of thing to be just irritating it’s hugely inconvenient. So given the circumstances I am accepting no responsibility for the £202.02 S/O coming out of my account on the 8th September 2009 or any subsequent penalties or charges incurred in relation to it which I expect you to rescind and would like to know that something is being done about the technical errors that have effected my account. I would also like you to pass my comments about the lack of detailed information available on these payments on the website – which would make it easier to use and avoid problems like this.

 

I have to say the service on the website is usually very good, it is convenient to use and I’ve never had any problems up till now. Thanks for your time.

 

2) Halifax 1st Response.( 30/10/09)

Our Reference: 151784

 

Thank you for your telephone call on the 13th October and for your subsequent letter dated the 15th October. I'm sorry you're unhappy with your Current Account. Please find enclosed a copy of our complaints leaflet which explains how we will address your concerns.

 

When we spoke we agreed you were concerned as you had incurred paid item fees and wanted to know the reason why. You made arrangements online to change your rental standing order from £202.02 to £22.22. This was for one month only. Upon checking your account you noticed that payments for both £202.02 and £22.22 left your account on the 8th October. This had resulted in two paid item fees of £35. You called our telephone banking department who were unable to help you and advised you visit branch. You were trying to find out what had gone wrong.

 

In your letter you have mentioned you are unhappy at not being able to arrange a temporary overdraft. You feel this is grossly unfair because of the huge lack of clarity, detail and information in the Standing Order section of your website. You feel that if you made an error when amending the payment it does not explain why the full standing order left your account. Given the circumstances you are accepting no responsibility for the £202.02 standing order leaving your account or any subsequent penalties or charges incurred in relation to it. You would also like to know that something is being done about the technical errors that have affected your account and would like to pass comments about the lack of detailed information available on these payments on the website.

 

I have now completed my investigation into your concerns and I am sorry to advise you that I am unable to accept your complaint. I know this will be a disappointment to you, and it is important for you to understand the reasons for my decision, which are set out below.

As discussed, you had a monthly standing order to Two piers housing for £202.02. You also had a bill payment to XXXX that was originally set up online in March 2008. This would allow any adhoc payments to be sent to the company. I can see a payment of £22.22 was sent to them through this bill payment on the 8th October. This would indicate that no amendment was made to your monthly standing order and as such the monthly payment of £202.02 was sent as normal. This was also on the 8th October.

 

I have noted your comments in regard to the Standing Order section of our website. The payments section is split into three parts. The first is headed 'Transfers and bill payments', the second is 'Standing Orders' and the third is 'Direct Debits'. As such your regular standing order would have shown under 'Standing Orders', the adhoc request would have shown under 'Transfers and bill payments'.

 

Further to our conversation I am sorry that we have not been able to reach agreement about how to resolve your complaint. However I have set out above a summary of our discussion and subsequent investigation and hope that you understand the reason for my decision.

However, if you are unable to accept my decision please come back to me. If we are unable to resolve any ongoing concerns you will be able to contact the Financial Ombudsman service for help. As long as you are happy with the way I have dealt with your complaint there is no need for you to reply to my letter. If I have not heard from you by 15th December I will close my file.

 

Yours sincereiy

Jeannette Hughes

Customer Relations Manager

3) 2nd Letter of Complaint. In response to the above (05/11/09)

 

Complaint Ref 151784

 

I have just received your written response from (Jeannette Hughs). Which is completely unsatisfactory and frankly patronising. All the letter contains is a restatement of the basis of my complaint and a brief paragraph about someone having looked at the online transactions (and again a restatement of what I had already explained)..Which is in no way an "investigation" into the problems I have had. I was expecting at least cursory consultation with your online / IT dept to see if it was possible to find out more details about the problem.

 

I'm sorry but the action taken so far has just been a complete waste of my time despite phone calls (and waiting for returned phone calls which never appeared) and writing, it is clear this is going nowhere and not being taken seriously but I am afraid I haven't got the time, patience, or enough money for this not to be resolved ASAP.

 

Due to health problems I am only able to work part time so my salary is only 600 pounds a month,

so the initial fault meant I lost over a third of my salary in September, and now the same thing as happened in October due to the penalties. This has left me unable to pay rent and bills. I would again appeal to you consider that this may have been a technical error that needs proper investigation. And even if you are unwilling to consider this, I still maintain that this area of the website is not sufficiently clear and is lacking in vital information. If you could please cancel the charges that have been applied in relation to this and the one due to be applied on the 28th of November it would be greatly appreciated.

 

I am now also concerned that the same S/O errors will occur this month. As far as I am, able to ascertain all S/O have been completely deleted. Only a direct debit remains active, so I am also writing to make clear I except no responsibility for any further S/O payments going out in the month of November 2009. I am also going to ring up and make sure this has been noted, I am extremely worried about what may happen, if it occurs again, I will be left literally penniless.

 

If you are not able to help me with this then I will unfortunately have to take this to the Ombudsman.

 

In order for me to be satisfied that this has been properly investigated could you please provide me with the following information:

 

1) A detailed history of my S/O’s and there amendments.

 

2) The statistics relating the number of complaints you have received regarding technical problems with the website (on a daily basis) for the months of September and October 2009

 

3) Could you also provide me with the number enquiries / complaints relating to online transactions not being completed properly in the months of September and October 2009 (again on a daily basis)

Edited November 6, 2009 by halifaxbankbad
updating