Topsturner Vs Black Herse

[topsturner]

Okay here goes - I am determined and perfectly capable of taking this all the way so this saga should prove quite entertaining and hopefully help a few people out too.

 

Although financially I'm just about alright now, back in the day I was pretty much penniless and a lot of that was thanks to Lloyds Bank (they gobbled up TSB a while back who used to be a nice bank apparently, so my Grandmother says). Their evil 'charges' have always made me want to shoot that black horse of theirs as it prances along with my money coming out of it's backside.

 

How amusing of them to help themselves to my account, sometimes 80 pounds of my hard earned at a time, at the most inconvenient moment possible! They never take it on payday do they? The amount of times I would have my remaining balance wiped out, leaving me skint for the rest of the month and - hey! - overdrawn again! These charges hit the people who are the worst off; my bank balance used to bump along just on it's overdraft limit and these charges would be devastating. I wonder where the Black Herse Chief Exec's bank balance bumps along?

 

So when Saint Martin Lewis spread the word on Radio 2 I scented revenge. I don't even care about the money really, I want my day in court with the black herse dragged out of it's stable and tethered to the dock!

 

As I have a life and don't hoard my bank statements I sent the Subject Access Request (letter that asks for list of all previous charges or 6 yrs of bank statements) along with a cheque for ten quid on 6th October. This website has a list of the banks and the address for each one that holds all their data; Black Herse has theirs in Central London. Niiiiice!

 

I received the list of charges on 8th November, almost a month later to the day. I was quite impressed with this as they must be very busy at the moment. I wonder if anyone's told them why suddenly everyone wants their old old bank statements? Ho ho! Anyway, all the charges were listed back to 2003, after which they had to provide me with bank statements.

 

This is interesting, as the time they have obviously started keeping a database of these charges is, amazingly, at the exact same time that my bank charges go from £5 to £30 a pop. I wonder why the Black Herse suddenly felt the need to keep tabs on everyone's charges at the same time that they went through the roof to the tune of 600%?

 

That aside, after totalling up only charges of £20 and over (i.e. ignoring all the £5 ones from pre-2003) I arrived at the figure of £1894.

On the 10th November I sent the initial approach for payment, reminding Black Herse that I hadn't factored in the 8% interest I am entitled to or any compensation for the times that they illegally left me penniless until my next pay day, somethimes weeks at a time.

 

The standard snot-o-gram reply from my branch (Bournemouth) came back almost immediately yesterday on 14th November telling me it had forwarded the letter to the 'appropriate department', no doubt along with the hundreds they must be getting by now. Ha!

 

I am now counting the days until Monday 27th November when I can skip to the post box and send the second approach for payment threatening legal action. Bring it on Black Herse you old nag you're past your best old girl and I'm closing in!

 

More details as they happen, looking at the threads of others on here I'm sure I'll have a few whinnys and the odd kick from the Lloyds stable, they can crack on, no more lumps of sugar in my pockets - best of luck everyone in the meantime -

[topsturner]

Greetings! Last time I posted my branch had sent a snot-o-gram saying they'd forwarded my letter on to the 'appropriate department' (Ranting Customers We've Screwed Section).

 

EXACTLY as predicted by all the other case histories on here and Saint Martin Lewis on his site, on Friday 24th November, right on the deadline from my first demand, I received a leaflet and a very softly-softly letter saying "We're sorry to hear you're unhappy with us. We'll look in to this and get back to you within a couple of weeks."

 

WRONG. Get that black horse out of it's stable I'll give it a head start before your briefs have to dust off their wigs; two weeks head start to be exact. My final letter goes out today. Giddy up nag or we're off to court and you're cat food!

[BARTY]

Good luck! Love the Saint Martin Lewis bit!

Barty:)

[topsturner]

Greetings everyone, just to give you all an update as I have received some of my money back...

After much arsing around with letters / Ombudsman leaflets I went on to the Moneyclaim website and paid the £120 to get the Black Herse whinnying. Sure enough, no sooner had the notcice been received from the court I had a letter from Lloyds saying they were refunding approx. £300 to one account and £700 to another. There were no conditions whatsoever, and with interest and costs this is still £1500 short of what I am claiming. So... the clock is still ticking! They have until the 21st Feb to cough up the rest or I'll be asking for a judgement.

One reason I'm convinced they paid the above amounts straight away... they happen to pay my overdrafts off alomost to the pound. I wonder if the Black Herse is preparing to end our delightful relationship? Stay tuned as I continue to heap on the misery!

 

Best of luck to you all