halifax want me to phone them

[seashell]

Hi

 

I Have Sent The Prelim Letter And Now The Letter Before Action And I Have Not Even Recieved An A Response To Say They Are Dealing With My Request

[thewifeandI]

I wouldn't worry too much - they must be snowed under, the poor darlings!

 

Just keep to your timetable.

[willmurr6]

Hi seashell

We are in the excact same situation,sent prelim on 19/9/06 no reply so have sent LBA today will wait and see if any response from that.Will keep you posted of any results.

[sarahpp]

Don't worry. I didn't receive anything until after I sent a LBA. Then they wrote and said they hadn't received my prelim. letter (they had- it was signed for).

 

Just stick to your timetable.

[aardvark the lecturer]

Hi

 

I Have Sent The Prelim Letter And Now The Letter Before Action And I Have Not Even Recieved An A Response To Say They Are Dealing With My Request

 

Did you send either of these recorded delivery?

[minklemoo]

Hiya Seashell,

We are in same situation. Thought I had done something wrong!! We will be sending LBA in next few days.

Goodluck all.

[rachel140379]

just heard from halifax today after second letter( they had till tomorrow) will be getting £732.00 from them! they will reply.

[odaowlII]

I too got nowt from the prelim. letter.

 

Only just got a response from LBA, basicaly saying I'm not entitled to ay charges as it only applies to credit card charges.

 

Nice try boys.

[ED1237]

I had a letter in response to my LBA thanking me for my letter and advising me they would respond within 4 weeks. Tell that to the judge boys, I filed against them this morning. There does not seem to be any consistancy with them.

[seashell]

Hi I got a letter in the post today asking me to ring them because they are keen to discuss the points raised in my letter has anyone else had this

[aardvark the lecturer]

Not in my case, no.

What stage are you up to?

[bearo]

No not me personally bit it has happened , it is up to you but persoanlly i wouldnt bother, keep everything in writing, they are only going to try and talk you into something on the phone, if you really must call tell them to put everything in writing from now on!

[Guest bluecloud]

Besides, a phone call has the potential of costing you more money (even 0845 numbers are chargeable) plus there is always the chance that you can be caught off guard on the phone and persuaded to accept an offer you don't want.

 

Food for thought.

 

 

.

[seashell]

Thankyou for all your help I am at the stage where I have sent the letter before action

[aardvark the lecturer]

I would personally want to cover myself by responding to the request. Particularly as you've already sent your LBA and so the next contact would be via the court, on the premise that you have made reasonable attempts to resolve the matter out of court!

 

Depending on how long is left before court I would suggest a letter simply thanking them for their recent letter, and advising them that it is your wish to conduct any correspondence regarding this matter via letter.

To finnish I would also remind them that they have not yet complied with the requirements of your letter before action and that they now have X days left to comply before court action commences.

 

If you are bordering on the end of your LBA period and about to file at court then I would ring and ask just one question, Are they complying with your LBA requirements (repayment in full). If the answer is no then advise them that you wish all future correspondence regarding this matter to be completed via letter, however on X date , as per LBA, you will be commencing court action as not complied.

 

Don't be frightened of saying no, or of asking that they refrain from telephone negotiation. As long as you keep your temper and have [written] in front of you what you want to say/ask/accept, just stick to that and you will feel much better.

 

This is only my opinion though, and what I would do.

[neilbass]

I didnt plan to speak to them on the phone, and deliberately didnt put a phone number on the letters - but then they rang me whilst at work on my mobile, at a really busy time.

 

Came up as Private Number, without asking who it was I said it wasnt convenient - then he said it was the Halifax about our claim - so I spoke to him.

 

Wouldnt advise it though - unless you can record the conversation. Also was a bit embarrassing going into it all in earshot of colleagues - think they wondered what was going on!

 

Maybe as Aardvark says, a quick call just to make sure they're not about to offer you the lot now? And then say stick to everything in writing from now on please.

 

One thing the call did do was make me unafraid of them - they didnt know their facts as well as I did and they're meant to be the professionals! And after about 15 minutes he seemed more nervous than I was.

 

Good luck seashell!

[bearo]

why are people insisting on calling them? it may end up in a case of he said and she said if it ever got to court stage, my advise and the advise of thie site, (with a proven procedure that WORKS every time in getting your money back) is to keep it all in writing!! Sorry had to re clarify my feelings on this.

[aardvark the lecturer]

Olliebear, I understand that not everyone wishes to discuss their case by phone, but with the workload the banks have got on at the moment, certain issues can be dealt with far more quickly by a simple phonecall. There are very few departments that are allowed let alone prepared to discuss the finer points of a case as the complaint is passed around to different dept's and only the current one can discuss specific claims. BUT the other departments can help resolve simple problems.

Time and time again we (this site included) talk about the need to be informed about what you are doing, and the facts/reasons behind the claim/case.

 

We also slate the banks for responding with 'template letters', as quoted in the prelim letter available in the 'templates' section of this site!

 

My targets to resolve this matter

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 than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

I will give you four examples of how a phonecall has been more effective than a letter

1. My recent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request for SYGMA bank was delivered to the wrong address by royal mail, as proved by track&trace and the address the clerk copied onto the front of my receipt. This was found and corrected 2 weeks ahead of when I would have had to write to them for non-complience. The person I spoke to was helpful and sincere.
   
2. My recent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to Halifax, I called after 4 weeks and learned that there had been an error whereby the cheque was cashed but the letter not scanned and actioned, the person I spoke to apologised and ordered the statements for me there and then.
   
3. In the MBNA forum there is a thread about 'can it really be this easy?', where by calling and speaking to a representative at least 7/8 people have been able to get contractual interest repaid, even though they were not originally going to apply for that! By only responding with our template letters others have only recieved the 8% they were asking for.
   
4. I recieved my offer letter from halifax saying they would settle in full by Wed of next week. I rang today and politely chased this up, letting them know I would not write and inform the courts the matter was settled until I had received payment. Result? In two hours the funds were in my account in full.

At the top of the Halifax forum is a post by Bankfodder with the direct tel no for halifax card services complaints, encouraging people to call if they are having problems getting their requests dealt with. Recently (I think it was) Bankfodder posted a message reminding claiments that Halifax were forgetting to add the interest into there settlement figures, advising people to ring the legal team so they could add it.........

 

 

Shall I stop there, or carry on...

 

Please do not read this post as an angry rant or attack, it is honestly not meant in that way. I, like you, feel passionately about this topic. The beauty of an open forum is that views can be exchanged and points made.

 

That said, I would NOT advise anyone to go of willy-nilly negotiating their claim terms, that would undoubtably end in tears. Any agreements made over the phone must have either been confirmed in writing or have been fulfilled before you can fully trust them.

 

BUT..........in many many instances it is not damaging to pick up a phone, billions of people do it every day.

 

In seashell's case, my concern was that at court stage a lack of response could be damaging to his/her defense. We all know that the whole prelim+LBA procedure is purely designed to evidence that all reasonable attempts have been made to resolve the situation WITHOUT the courts being involved. How would failing to respond to attempts at negotiation look? I bet we'd all be screaming about the banks if they didn't ever respond.

 

[bearo]

Olliebear, I understand that not everyone wishes to discuss their case by phone, but with the workload the banks have got on at the moment, certain issues can be dealt with far more quickly by a simple phonecall. There are very few departments that are allowed let alone prepared to discuss the finer points of a case as the complaint is passed around to different dept's and only the current one can discuss specific claims. BUT the other departments can help resolve simple problems.

Time and time again we (this site included) talk about the need to be informed about what you are doing, and the facts/reasons behind the claim/case.

 

We also slate the banks for responding with 'template letters', as quoted in the prelim letter available in the 'templates' section of this site!

 

 

I will give you four examples of how a phonecall has been more effective than a letter

1. My recent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request for SYGMA bank was delivered to the wrong address by royal mail, as proved by track&trace and the address the clerk copied onto the front of my receipt. This was found and corrected 2 weeks ahead of when I would have had to write to them for non-complience. The person I spoke to was helpful and sincere.
   
2. My recent S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to Halifax, I called after 4 weeks and learned that there had been an error whereby the cheque was cashed but the letter not scanned and actioned, the person I spoke to apologised and ordered the statements for me there and then.
   
3. In the MBNA forum there is a thread about 'can it really be this easy?', where by calling and speaking to a representative at least 7/8 people have been able to get contractual interest repaid, even though they were not originally going to apply for that! By only responding with our template letters others have only recieved the 8% they were asking for.
   
4. I recieved my offer letter from halifax saying they would settle in full by Wed of next week. I rang today and politely chased this up, letting them know I would not write and inform the courts the matter was settled until I had received payment. Result? In two hours the funds were in my account in full.

At the top of the Halifax forum is a post by Bankfodder with the direct tel no for halifax card services complaints, encouraging people to call if they are having problems getting their requests dealt with. Recently (I think it was) Bankfodder posted a message reminding claiments that Halifax were forgetting to add the interest into there settlement figures, advising people to ring the legal team so they could add it.........

 

 

Shall I stop there, or carry on...

 

Please do not read this post as an angry rant or attack, it is honestly not meant in that way. I, like you, feel passionately about this topic. The beauty of an open forum is that views can be exchanged and points made.

 

That said, I would NOT advise anyone to go of willy-nilly negotiating their claim terms, that would undoubtably end in tears. Any agreements made over the phone must have either been confirmed in writing or have been fulfilled before you can fully trust them.

 

BUT..........in many many instances it is not damaging to pick up a phone, billions of people do it every day.

 

In seashell's case, my concern was that at court stage a lack of response could be damaging to his/her defense. We all know that the whole prelim+LBA procedure is purely designed to evidence that all reasonable attempts have been made to resolve the situation WITHOUT the courts being involved. How would failing to respond to attempts at negotiation look? I bet we'd all be screaming about the banks if they didn't ever respond.

 

 

I AGREE the beauty of a forum is we all have an opinion, mine was merely that!!!

 

You have some valid points!

[aardvark the lecturer]

No problem ollie,

 

shake hands, kiss and make up????????

 

JUST KIDDING. my wife will kill me!!! :D :D

[dayglo]

when it comes down to telepone calls, I think it comes down to how confident you are in the background of the issues you are talking about.

 

Like ATL, I've resolved many issues so far over the phone to my complete satisfaction that would have taken longer in writing. However, there have been 2 occasions when I took someones word over the phone that they would do something and lo and behold, several days later - no action. I ended up putting it in writing eventually and that wasted about a week. Swings and roundabouts.