pb v barclaycard

[paulpb123]

Hi Folks,

This flipping microfiche argument is a load of old rubbish and we all know it. Yesterday I received the 'puzzled' letter from Carol Jones. I just haven't got the patience to keep arguing so here is my letter which is a revised and extended version of the one I was going to send. Feel free to use it.

 

Request for repayment of charges

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

Account Number: xxxxxxxxxxx

 

I wrote to Deborah Woodcock at Barclays Data Protection on xxxxx regarding the bank’s failure to comply with my request under the Data Protection Act 1998. Unfortunately, I received only a standard template letter (not an email as stated in the letter) from Carol Jones which seems to be sent to anyone requesting details of charges levied against their accounts.

 

I am sorry that you have decided to deny me my legal entitlement to this information and flout the law by refusing to comply with my request; please note that I am making an official complaint to the Information Commissioner. I would have thought that if you are able to supply copy statements at £3 each, then they should be retrievable from your accounting systems and easy enough to produce in accordance with the DPA.

 

In an effort to resolve this matter, and in the absence of the information I requested, I have made an estimate of charges and penalties levied against my account based on the information that you did manage to supply. I now understand that the regime of fees which you have been applying to my account in relation to exceeding limit, returned payment charges and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent consumer regulations. If you say that they are not then will you please demonstrate this by providing me with a full breakdown of the costs you have incurred as a result of my breaches, in order to reassure me that your penalties really do reflect your costs. May I remind you that it has now been confirmed that your particularly high level of penalties are considered to be unfair per se by the Office of Fair Trading who reported on 5th April 2006. These penalties are now considered to be unlawful in the absence of specific proof to the contrary.

 

I would also draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves in a manner which complies with UK law. I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way and I consider that your repeated representations that your charges are fair and reasonable are deceptive and that they have deceived me into agreeing to pay them. Your concealment of the true nature of your charges has prevented me from asserting my right until now.

 

What I require

 

I enclose a schedule of charges for the period xxxxxxxx to xxxxxxx. Based on the figures for this period (which is actually less than a year), and because you have refused to provide me with the necessary information for the period prior to May 2004, I estimate that you have taken xxxx which I would like you to repay. If you do not agree with this figure could you please provide me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my account, as originally requested in my letter of xxxxxx.

 

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and I am writing this letter to you on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will now give you 14 days to reply to me accepting, unconditionally, my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or if you do not respond positively within this time period, I will send you a letter before action giving you a further 14 days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that, there will be no further communication from me and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

PB

 

If they wish to challenge my claim they will have to provide the evidence. I reckon we're all getting bogged down in this microfiche argument and its time to move on. Best,

Paul

[bigdave1985]

i made an overestimate of my charges to barclaycard but they have this morning offerered me £96 saying i have 12 charges on my account. when i checked through the statements they sent (only dating to 2004) i could only see 8, this shows that they are able to go back and check the details unlike what there original letters about the microfiche rubbish says.

 

anyone any ideas as to what to do next:idea: i am obviously going to decline this offer until they can prove to me otherwise, but how do i get them to do this?

 

any help is much appreciated,

 

thanx

david

[paulpb123]

Hi Dave,

I've sent the letter requesting charges estimated from what they sent. I took a one year period from the statements they sent. I chose the period with the highest amount of charges. Include a schedule of those charges with your letter. You simply multiply that by 6 (or however many yrs you've been with them if its less). After the two week deadline they will get a letter before action, giving a further two weeks, then I'm going to file a claim. Its up to them to prove that my estimate is wrong. They are the ones being deliberately obstructive and I can't imagine that they will want to explain to a county court judge why they have acted unlawfully. I think the microfiche argument is utter rubbish and we should all get on with our claims. I take it that the £96 is 12 x £8 which is the difference between between £20 and £12 because of what the OFT reported. But they did NOT say that £12 is a fair charge. Of course they can go further back than 2004. Hope this helps Dave. Keep in touch.

Paul

[paulpb123]

I'm going to be filing my claim against B/card very soon but my problem is I'm not sure how to work out the interest since I have estimated the amount based on the info they provided. Anyone have any ideas on this? I can obviously accurately work out the interest for post-2004 but what about prior to then? And how can I estimate the interest? Any help much appreciated.

Paul

[Yorkyclaims]

What I did was work out what would be the average amount of charges per statement, and on the spreadsheet, put the average amount in the relevant box.

[paulpb123]

Thanks for that Craig, I'll give it a go. I was tempted to click on your scales, but would that make you go green?

[paulpb123]

I'm going to file a claim against b/card today but I'm not sure that my original calculations were correct. I did an estimate based on 1 year x 6. However, am I right in thinking that b/card only introduced charges in 2001? Should I therefore do the claim based on 1 year x 5? Any thoughts greatly appreciated.

Paul

[paulpb123]

anyone?

[paulpb123]

is it correct that b/card only started making unlawful charges in 2001?

[Mike220359]

yep unfortunatly

Mike

[paulpb123]

Doing MCOL now but want to get this right. When in 2001 did they start unlawful charges?

[paulpb123]

Right, filed claim last night for £2346.62 so its time to play the waiting game. I'm counting on them taking this to the 1th hour judging by other people's threads. I guess b/card are going to have to drop the microfiche argument now after the Abbey findings. Good luck to all b/card claimers!

Paul

[noomill060]

Well done, Paul. Now the balls in their court.

[paulpb123]

Barclaycard really should get their act together. Two items in the post this morning. An aknowledgement of my claim with intention to defend (so they get to waste more time) and a letter from customer relations stating that they are dealing with my complaint and thanking me for my patience! I'm sure there's a proverb for this...

[Robert_Brenchley]

I'll be using your template for the initial letter, thanks. Keep us posted about how you're getting on.

[paulpb123]

Good luck Robert. Received a 'goodwill' offer of £267 based on the difference between their charges and the £12 which they seem to think is a fair charge. If you're reading this Mr Barclaycard, the answer is no and I look forward to receiving your defence.

Paul

[Matheos95]

Hi there - I also sent a letter copied off the forum for estimated figures had nothing to go by as account was paid up before 2004 so what they sent me wasnt worth the paper it written on. Im now at MCOL stage and have hesitated abit but after reading again thought dam it go for it.

 

My question is did you change the wording for MCOL from the normal ones we use because of the esitmation of charges and them not supplying a true DSAR.?

 

Thanks and good luck

[paulpb123]

No I didn't change the wording. If b/card think my estimate is wrong they will have to show the court the correct figures. Good luck with it.

Paul

[paulpb123]

Hi folks,

Checked MCOL today...their last day to submit a defence...and they've done it, right at the last moment. Thought I might get to click the judgement button...in my dreams, of course. I guess they always play it this way because they get to keep our money for longer. Oh well, let's see what their defence says.

[paulpb123]

Got the paperwork through today. Their defence is not impressive, just a load of stuff about T & Cs. Opens by saying I didn't supply details for the charges I'm claiming but I did, of course, twice! They also say that charges prior to 18 Oct 2000 are unclaimable under the Limitation Act...but I'm not claiming prior to this date! Do they have a template defence or something because very little of the defence seems specific to my case? Oh well, onwards and upwards.

[Mike220359]

Got the paperwork through today. Their defence is not impressive, just a load of stuff about T & Cs. Opens by saying I didn't supply details for the charges I'm claiming but I did, of course, twice! They also say that charges prior to 18 Oct 2000 are unclaimable under the Limitation Act...but I'm not claiming prior to this date! Do they have a template defence or something because very little of the defence seems specific to my case? Oh well, onwards and upwards.

 

Just delaying tactics thats all, your case has just risen to the top of the to do list that's all.

 

Mike

[paulpb123]

I'm sure that's the case Mike. I'm doing the AQ now. Is there anything I should add in the 'other information' box? Perhaps something to the effect that they didn't respond to my SAR and that's why I've estimated the claim?

[Yorkyclaims]

Yes!!!!!

 

In that box put you require the defendant to issue you with copy statements dating from 2001 until 2004, previously requested under the DPA 1998 but information declined.

 

Good Luck

[paulpb123]

Thanks Craig, that's a very good plan!

[stan5131]

Hi Paul. Will be following closely. Have used your template letter re estimated charges. Hope you dont mind. I am a little behind you so your progress is fascinating. Lets get em!