Halifax cancelled charges over the phone !!

[browny1979]

Hi all,

I got a letter from Halifax saying I had incurred a £39 charge due to Halifax having to return a Direct Debit as unpaid. This charge was due to be taken from my account today (24th). Being an avid follower of Bank/Consumer Action group for quite a while now I thought i'd see what would happen I phoned up and complained about the charge,(with me knowing full well they couldn't justify it !).

I phoned Halifax telephone banking and simply asked the (quite polite !!) woman straight out if she would cancel the charge as I didnt think it was fair. I nearly dropped the phone when, after me being put on hold for a couple of minutes because her system had 'frozen' ,(whatever !) she said she would cancel the charge 'this time as a goodwill gesture' and then promptly gave me the 'you should be more careful with your account' lecture. If she hadn't given me the finger wagging lecture I might have let it go ,so I decided to give it to her with both barrels.......

...............I couldn't resist informing her that however much 'goodwill' this was, they couldn't justify charging me £39 and so I would have been prepared to go through the procedure of reclaiming the charge through the courts if neccesary,as this charge was unlawful, unless the Halifax could prove otherwise, which to my knowledge they so far, in previous claims, had not been able to do.

I think her response to this information was 'oh....errr'. I proceded to thank her for her time and put the phone down with a rather large grin on my face !!!!

Happy Days !!!!

[neilvw]

hehe nice 1