Foreign Transfer

[d8veh]

Please can someone help me in this matter as I am at my wits end.

 

On 13th Jan I sent a secure message to the bank asking them to make a SWIFT transfer of £1600 to a recipient in Bali. Normally it should take a few days for the money to arrive. Until today (56 days later), the recipient has not received the money and the recipient's bank is denying that they have it despite giving them some sort of transfer reference number.

 

I have made loads of calls and secure messages to Smile to try and sort it out. On 5th Feb, they offered that if I paid an additional £20, they would trace the money for me and told me that I would get an answer within 10 days. Here's a copy of their last communication after I thought I had got hold of the Customer Services Manager to sort it out:

 

Hello Mr ****

 

Following our telephone conversation yesterday, I have spoken to our foreign team regarding the foreign payment you made on the 15th January 2010.

 

Having spoke to our foreign team I can confirm that we have sent several

chasing messages to our corresponding bank. We have also sent several messages over the last two weeks including urgent messages to the international beneficiary bank directly asking them to provide us with an update,to date we have not received a reply from either.

 

I have been advised that our only course of action is to continue to chase the beneficiary bank. I can confirm that the payment was correctly sent to the details that you provided to us by secure message and that no bank error has been made. All foreign payments are sent at your own risk and the secure message you send to us confirms you accept this prior to us making the transfer for you.

 

The charge of £20.00 for the trace is charged in-line with our standard tariff. This charge reflects the time and work involved in chasing the foreign bank and also covers any charges that the foreign bank may make when replying to the trace.

 

I can confirm that I have addressed the other matter of secure messages not being replied to promptly with the Team Manager and thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

If you need to discuss the matter further please contact me on between 7.00 and 15.00.

 

Regards

 

Claire Ogden

Team Manager

 

In the meantime, the exchange rate has gone down by 10%, so I guess the very poor recipient will get a payment reduced by at least £160, while some bank employee takes a bonus. Has anybody any suggestions to solve this matter?

Dave

[Guest Old_andrew2018]

Have you considered paying the fee and then once the money has been traced complaining to the FOS.

[d8veh]

I paid the extra £20 to trace the money on the 5th Feb. They told me that they would find the money within 10 days, but now, 6 weeks later, I have nothing! I complainedto Ms Ogden that I had paid and got nothing It appears that she thinks thats quite fair. I think the FOS is perhaps the next step.

[ForumFodder]

Can you prove the money didn't arrive in Bali?

[d8veh]

Can you prove the money didn't arrive in Bali?

I got my money back eventually - after about 3 months if I remember correctly. In the meantime the exchange rate swung a lot, so when I sent it by other means, I lost over £200. There was no explanation from Smile where it had been. Personally, I don't believe they sent it because I could never get straight answers to my questions and there was unrest in their office due to personnel cuts. I think someone was trying to prove a point.

[ForumFodder]

Sounds more to me like the money was held in Bali. I know it leaves the UK quite quickly and the time taken is through the clearing banks. Maybe someone mis-keyed the international bank account number and the clearing bank in Bali didn't have a clue what to do. It's a shame though, but I wouldn't say it was done on purpose. Even the people in the life and savings department who were shelved some months ago kept their spirits high and didn't go about doing dodgy stuff like that.