marksgirlie vs natwest

[Marksgirlie]

Hello all,

 

After reading through this site and consulting with the OFT who agreed the charges levied on my account over the last 10 days (around £300, all of my Child benefit and my visually impaired husband's incapacity benefit) are excessive, I have decided to reclaim them.

 

Following the NatWest's complaints procedure, i spoke to the manager yesterday. He obviously had no intention of doing anything, and when i mentioned the OFT ruling about unlawful charges said 'No one's ever said this to me before, so i really can't comment'.!!! I can't decide what's more disgraceful- if that's true or if he's giving the company line...

 

Anyway my first letter went off to customer relations yesterday by recorded delivery- I used the template but with my own words where possible, having read in another thread about a customer service rep derisively mentioning template letters.

 

I have decided i will fight this through to the end. Luckily I have my parachute building soc account all ready so NatWest don't have any leverage over me -or any more of my money going in and out of their system.

 

I hope i can get some support from ppl on here when needed- which it provbably will be!

[NedKelly63]

Hi MarksGirlie,

 

Your comment about template letters made me laugh.

 

I'll stop using template letters when they do!

 

Good Luck!!

 

Ned

[Marksgirlie]

heh, fair comment! Just didn't want them brushing me off.

[chriswatkins]

you will get all the support you need on here, they are a great bunch of people, all you have to do is ask

[Marksgirlie]

Today i recieved a letter stating 'in view of your comments we have asked for a full briefing from those involved. Once this is recieved a formal response will be sent to you'.

 

I think this may be related to the fact that in my original letter I complained about the fact that the advisor I spoke to at the bank suggested getting a loan or credit card in order to have some money to live on.

 

Should I send another letter, acknowledging their response and pointing out that the refund of charges is a seperate issue and that i require an answer regarding that within 14 days? Or is it common for them to send a letter like this regardless of whether there is a complaint?

 

Also, did I spell acknowledging right? looks wrong to me.

[chriswatkins]

just ignore the letter and stick to your time table, if it is the prelim that you have sent give them the 14 days then send LBA , they dont give you any time befor they take YOUR money, so dont give them any, and good luck

[Marksgirlie]

Just posting to update, i did send a short letter stating that the refund is to be handled seperately- i don't want them trying to bog it down in their 8 week complaints procedure!

[Marksgirlie]

Okay, got a surprise letter today- they have refunded charges totalling £537 back to my account!

 

This seems to have been in response to an e mail i sent to Andy Sinden at RBS, rather than to the prelim letter.

 

However, I think my situation has been different to the majority of the posters here, since i had a fairly serious complaint to make about their banking practices, specifically taking my husband's incapacity benefit and my child benefit, then suggesting we get a credit card from another lender to live off after they cleared out the account (turns out it was the branch deputy manager who suggested this, which may have also helped my case!!!)

 

Would it be useful for me to post my original letter and today's response here?

[Isobel Daly]

Congratulations you!!!! I think they were probably scared if it got out and came to the attention of the media or local press. You are an inspiration and if letting other people know how you did it, then maybe more people would have the courage to go for it.

 

Isobel

[Marksgirlie]

Thanks! It's this site that's the inspiration though- without it I wouldn't have known I had any rights in the matter. I would still have complained, but not effectively and they would have known they were safe to dismiss me.

 

Still penniless at the moment, but when my grant comes thru next week i WILL be making a donation here

 

If the site mods would like copies of the letters posted here or elsewhere i will be happy to do so.

[Marksgirlie]

Just rounding up the thread by confirming i recieved my cheque today- £237. The other 300 has been refunded to the account as i never actually paid those charges anyway, they were just debited to the already empty account.

[Guest NATTIE]

Congratulations!