the best way to get charges back

[Bookworm]

Can I add that to fuel these worthy feelings, you might want to have a look at our "Litigation concluded" section. People, it is GROWING!!! And it feels GOOD!!!

[Arwen]

Hi,

 

As you may have guessed by my name, I work for a bank. Capital One to be exact. I'm in the same position as you, but with other banks. (it's gross misconduct if i got charges on my staff credit card).

 

the best way to get charges back is being nice. If you phone up shouting about the charges, you put the phones assocaites back up. So are far less likely to refund your charges.

 

Also don't say you didn't get your statement. Everyone says that! and after you've heard it for the 10th time, you get cynical and don't believe it.

 

Your best bet is to say 'i'm really sorry the payment was late. It'd really help me if you're able to refund this charge.' You'll then probably get 1/2 offered. Rather than getting irate, simply say 'are you sure you can't refund the full amount? If you can't do you have a manager available for me to speak to about this?'

 

Because of how much it costs us to transfer the call to a 'manager', you'll more than likely get the other half agreed. don't knock the India call centre either, they're 10x more likely to refund no questions asked.

 

if you don't want to speak to the india call centre, don't call before 7.30am and after 8pm. The UK staff are only available during these times (the perks of sending our jobs abroad)

 

I DID speak to Capital One and WAS nice to them. I did pay them late (for the first time ever cos I genuinely forgot). I didnt get my statement that month, which would have reminded me. Next I got was a letter from them asking for £30 to bring account into line, so I paid £70. They didnt mention the late payment fees. I called them and apologised-mentioned I had never been late before blah blah, would they consider et etc. Got rude female (from India-not that it matters, but you said they were more likely to refund) who basically told me to eff off. Now I am over limit etc again cos of the £100 plus of fees. They are now harassing me at work.

 

Sorry I have tried being nice-now I am going to read this site send the letters and take the loan sharks for all my fees..........

 

I am lucky that I can clear my card off in 4 weeks in full (due to get large sum of money thru inheritance) and I fully intend to tell them where they can stick their card- very politely ofc....

 

Then I will start on the fees I had a few years ago from other organisations eg GE Money and RBS .

[ilaister]

Just add my voice to the choir; I've had an account with NatWest for about 7 years now and the first time a cheque bounced (twice obviously as they're re-presented the next day) I phoned up, explained that I was 20 years old and had no idea about banking and charges etc (I thank the Lord kids these days get personal financial education at schools, even if it is basic) and the very kind lady immediately gave me one of the charges back that same day because my account had been 'run quite well, deposits every month' etc.

 

She also said that this was the first and last time that any charge would ever be refunded on my account.

 

So, yeah. There seems to be only one surefire route to get your money back.

[Rich44]

Just thought I would add re the gross misconduct if you work for a bank and screw up.

 

Many moons ago I worked as a temp for Barclays Financial Services, not the banking side the stocks and shares bit and all staff members there HAD to have their wages paid into a Barclays account and if they attracted any charges on that account you would face disciplinary action, so it does happen.

[ppauls150]

Soo much for being polite :@ Just been down the bank as my claim has been settled but there was £90 outstanding that i didnt know about when i sent my claim in, so off i went and spoke to a very nice guy and said if i had known about this £90 i would of incorporated it into the total figure i was claiming for 2 weeks ago. As i didnt and the bank are settling with me if i can get these £90 charges stopped from coming out in 2 days then it will all be tied up and sorted and that will be the end of it. If not then the whole process starts off again and the £90 will send me into my overlimit fee again as there is not £90 in there and will carry on again for months. He saw my point and said yes he will refund them. Problem was i now live 300 miles away from my own branch and the branch i now go to cannot refund the charges and he has to go through my own branch to do so. So he rang them up explained the situation to them and asked them to do it and they turned around and said no they cannot do it as any charges that want refunded from anyone now has to be sent to the customer service place for them to do with any charges people want back :o So now i have to start sending letters once again not only to get the £90 refunded what will come out in 2 days time but when they come out i will accur another charge for that taking me over my overlimit. Now so much for being polite why if one bank person talks to another saying i have seen his case and i would refund them for another bank clerk to turn around and just dismiss it without knowing all the facts of the matter.

[Yyates]

Can you not open another account with a different bank? Would this not be an easier solution? By doing so if you move all your monies and debits to the new account at least the charges will eventually stop on this account and then you will know exactly how much to charge back from them. Just a thought, sorry if it doesn't help.

[salixx38]

HI,

 

Ive just received my statements for the last 6 years and my charges amount to 923.00. My statements say "Charges as Notified" but they were all for going overdrawn. Am I right in thinking that I now send them the Request for Repayment of Charges, with no spreadsheet and await their reply? Sorry for sounding thick but im starting to get confused now!

 

Thanks for any help.

[barracad]

HI,

 

Ive just received my statements for the last 6 years and my charges amount to 923.00. My statements say "Charges as Notified" but they were all for going overdrawn. Am I right in thinking that I now send them the Request for Repayment of Charges, with no spreadsheet and await their reply? Sorry for sounding thick but im starting to get confused now!

 

Thanks for any help.

 

There is a step-by-step guide in the FAQs. Please read through this thoroughly.

 

Please start your own thread in the relevant bank forum for any further questions.

[thegoodsamaritan]

I am very annoyed with the title of this thread. "The best way to get charges back"?? Suing them is the only way that works with these greedy people unfortunately. We shouldn't even give them the opportunity with prelim. letter and letters before action but as moderators say courts wouldn't like that. I never thought I could feel so angry about a corporation..... Degrading situations they put us through when we were down. If it weren't for those charges we would have recovered much earlier from the nightmare episode which lasted 3 years.

 

So nobody should tell us there is a better way to get these charges back which includes being nice to banking staff. I know it is not the staff's fault but they were the ones who refused to even listen when we phoned.

 

I am not even doing it for the money now. I am feel so much joy when I find out that there is a new claim starting on this forum. This is more like a revenge for me now. Once this is settled and I gain a bit more experience about the whole process I will do my best to help anyone who has a claim against these greedy pigs.

 

If you have a large amount of charges, then yes the "best" way to get charges back is to follow the process here and go to court...

But...

If you only have a maximum of one or two charges with each bank then I'd say it would be easier to claim all your charges back without the hassle of having to go to court by being "friendly" with the staff and asking for them back as a goodwill gesture. Yes the banks may be in the wrong but would you rather resolve it quickly with little hassle or have it dragged out for longer?

In my experience in the past credit card companies have refunded a single charge time and time again without hassle just by me appologising, explaining it was an oversight and simply asking for my charge back.

[whistleblowing fairy]

yes well i'll keep u updated on what we are told

 

Capital One have were told to say that we disagree with oft blah blah blah. Also told to remind people that they only disagree with amount charged not our right to charge fees blah blah.

 

We've not yet been told what to say now that the oft deadline of 31 May has passed.

 

with regards to all those that have expressed at the title of my thread - my advice was for those want one maybe two charges back. If you're asking for ££££'s there is only going to be one department in most banks that can make a decision, and that usually isn't someone you're going to be able to speak too.

 

If you want ££££'s refunding then using the letters from this sight would be your best bet. From what I know we do, the first letter gets £40 refund. The second letter gets between 25% - 50% of charges and then the third one usually gets the lot.

 

maybe worth trying to 'blag' that you're going to court and see if you can get away without doing so.

[whistleblowing fairy]

There are no perks in getting your jobs sent abroad. Don't stick up for the Indian call centres. They are taking YOUR jobs. If the company feel that outsourcing offshore is working well, then it's probably only a matter of time before the rest of the call centre operation is off-shored as well.

 

Although customers might not think there isn't perks, there is. 'we' used to be 24/7 365 days a year based in UK including Christmas (people do phone in on Xmas day:o )

 

We use our India call centre to work nights/ bank hols/ Xmas and Easter. So we don't have to fight to get these off anymore.

 

I get your point about it all being shipped off, but i doubt that would happen. the india staff have degree and can only do the most basic work. the work that requires a bit of though is left for those in the UK and some of them have barely learnt to read&write.

[Guest Lueeze]

well me and my partner have cap 1 cards.

 

1st letter my partner was offered £40

2nd letter my partner was offered all (£120)

 

1st letter I had no response

2nd Letter I was offered £104 (owed £500)

 

So I guess generally they do follow that procedure...Im still filling for my claim though!

[monkey_uk]

Although customers might not think there isn't perks, there is. 'we' used to be 24/7 365 days a year based in UK including Christmas (people do phone in on Xmas day:o )

 

We use our India call centre to work nights/ bank hols/ Xmas and Easter. So we don't have to fight to get these off anymore.

 

I get your point about it all being shipped off, but i doubt that would happen. the india staff have degree and can only do the most basic work. the work that requires a bit of though is left for those in the UK and some of them have barely learnt to read&write.

 

But what about when they consider off-shoring the rest of the operations?

 

I called National rail the others day and asked for a train time for a train from Swinton (South Yorkshire) to Sheffield.

 

I EXPLICITLY stated that it was Swinton South Yorkshire and not Swinton in Manchester. I even told her it would show on her system as Swinton (S. Yorks.).

 

The result? Well, for a 20 minute-or-so train journey going through Rotherham, Meadowhall, and the Sheffield, she wanted to send me via London Waterloo.

 

WTF?!

 

This might seem like a drastic example, but believe me, this is a VERY common occurence.

[keren29]

after reading this, i've just called Capital One. I had a late fee of £20 applied on 16 May this year.

 

what had happened was the statement had got put in withsome other paperwork, so when I paid all the bills online, it wasn't in the pile and I didn't give it a second thought - Ipay the bills, then shred, then forget .

 

anyway, following the OP's advice, Icalled and spoke to a nice lady - and, yes, she offered £10 - I asked nicely if the whole amount could be refunded? Would a manager be able to help? She put me on hold for about 10 seconds and then said as a gesture of goodwill, she would refund the whole £20.

 

Thankyou OP, I 've been meaning to do something about this since it happened and thought it would be a flat 'no' if I called, but, as if it were a script, she did exactly as you said she would!

[whistleblowing fairy]

good to hear that it helped someone.

[Highroller]

I agree.........sue them. They are quick enough to charge us...now they can be quick and refund us.

This group is great....and I'm out for revenge too.....and ....my money refunded

[whistleblowing fairy]

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