Act Now Alerts non-alert

[sambohodgson]

Hi all,

Would appreciate a bit of help if possible.

I signed up to their Act Now Alerts service and was not "alerted" when I exceeded my limit. I've been trying to point this out to them for over a year now and during which time they've continually applied defaults to my account (FOS were useless as they said that fees were applied in line with T&C and didn't address the non-notification).

The case seems to be being passed around the entire Consumer Care Team with no acknowledgement of fault.

Any advice please? Does anyone have a contact address for a master and commander?

Thanks in advance

[Conniff]

Are you talking to them on the phone or by letter ?

 

 

I think you will find that ships have Masters and Commanders, not Natwest Bank.

[sambohodgson]

Constant contact via letter - i'm not particularly eloquent when put on the spot and a letter allows me time to ensure that I'm not being misunderstood. Get the same old "you're an important customer" and "we believe that our decision is fair" rubbish though.

Is there a reason that every letter that comes from them includes an Ombudsman leaflet? Having perused the forum, it seems that the fos are rather biased in favour of the banks…

 

Agreed, master and commander is a rather complementary comment when it concerns the running of a bank.

[Klandestine]

Constant contact via letter - i'm not particularly eloquent when put on the spot and a letter allows me time to ensure that I'm not being misunderstood. Get the same old "you're an important customer" and "we believe that our decision is fair" rubbish though.

Is there a reason that every letter that comes from them includes an Ombudsman leaflet? Having perused the forum, it seems that the fos are rather biased in favour of the banks…

 

Agreed, master and commander is a rather complementary comment when it concerns the running of a bank.

 

What is your expected outcome for this complaint?

 

Text alerts are a useful additional feature but shouldn't be relied upon. Natwest does states that: "We will not be responsible if, for any reason, we are unable to send you an Alert or, for any reason, you do not receive the Alert".

 

I'm surprised that they didn't make you a "gesture of goodwill" but I can't see them refunding all charges or removing a default because after all it was your own spending/payments that took you over your limit in the first place.

 

Also, they are required to inform you about the Financial Ombudsman Service. The opinion that the FOS is biased in favour of the banks is exactly that - just an opinion. Complaints data/statistics actually suggests that they find in favour of the consumer more than they do the banks.

Edited April 23, 2014 by Klandestine