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Won FOS Complaint but Barclays not complying


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Dear Sir/Mdm

Thank you for your letter of 3 March – fully 11 days after my letter of claim.

For the avoidance of doubt, my proposed legal action will be in respect of the unfair treatment I am receiving from the bank which is in breach of their statutory duty to treat me fairly under the Banking: Conduct of Business Regulations.

The other issues outlined in my letter will still be at large.

The 14 days referred to in my letter of claim expires on X X X date.

You had better hurry

Yours faithfully

 

 

I suggest that you bring a BCOBS action for a very small amount of money – say, £50. This will put them in a quandary because it won't be worth their while defending and so they will start off your settlement – which you should refuse. They will threaten you with costs because they will say that you are litigating unreasonably but you will not draw their attention to the fact that the court has discretion to award or to withhold costs and costs would only normally be awarded against the winner where the winner has behaved unreasonably. Refusing to settle is not of its own unreasonable if the underlying issues still exist and also in this particular case there is a public interest that the defendants breach of statutory duty is properly recorded in a judgement.

Taking this approach will not prevent you from beginning a separate case against Amazon – which I believe you should do – because they need to slap as well – and when Amazon pays you out because I'm quite sure they won't go to court – then you can tell the bank that you have got your money back from Amazon and so you have reduced the problem against them.

In my experience of not many BCOBS cases – because for some reason or other people don't like to bring them – the trick is to sue for a small amount and we have found that the bank is so anxious not to have this kind of judgement recorded against them that they generally speaking offer more, under conditions of confidentiality, to have the claim withdrawn and avoid the judgement

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Dear Mr XXXX

 

Our Client: Barclays Bank UK PLC

 

We write further to our letter dated 3 March 2020. Our client is taking steps to investigate the issues stated in your letter and to retrieve relevant documents. We will therefore endeavour to provide you with our client's substantive response as soon as possible. In the meantime, we consider that it would be premature for you to issue legal proceedings without first receiving our client's response and would ask that you refrain from doing so until you have heard further from us. We will aim to update you within the next 7 days. Yours faithfully...

 

 

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Dear Sir/Mdm

You had long enough. You've had since November. Your clients are still in breach of their statutory duty and your further delays are simply compounding the issue.

I shall be issuing the claim as promised. You have made no proposals. When you receive the claim form I don't see you have any choice other than to admit your statutory breach.

 

Once I have the judgement you can be certain that I will waste no time in enforcing it and also passing a copy to the FCA.

Yours faithfully

 

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When you say they are in breach of their statutory duty, what does that mean?

 

Also shall I mention this was investigated in November 2019 and they were given 4 weeks by the FOS to action it? It has now been over 3 months.

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Did you bother to follow the BCOBS link which I posted in an earlier post?

 

The links here are intended to be followed so that you can inform yourself. We don't put them up for a laugh

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Hi.

 

I have had no replies from Barclays so am I using the money claim online service now? Today is the end of the 14 days notice. So would I wait until tomorrow to do it?

 

I have registered an account with them if so.

 

I have had a search on here and I can see people using them, but I do not know how to word it for my particular case etc. If there is a link I have missed then please point me to it and I will have a go at making the claim.

 

Thank you.

 

 

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Just this minute received this email.

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Dear Sir

 

Our client: Barclays Bank UK PLC

 

We refer to your email dated 5 March 2020. We have very recently been instructed in this matter and we need to look into the issues stated in your letter dated 21 February 2020. We are taking steps to investigate the issues in full and to provide you with our client's substantive response as soon as possible.

 

In the circumstances, we consider that it would be premature for you to issue legal proceedings without first receiving our client's response. If you have not yet issued proceedings, we would urge you to refrain from doing so.

 

Nevertheless, should you issue proceedings, please note that we are authorised to accept service of those proceedings at the address at the top of this letter (please quote our reference: 701A/RA15/096587/002238). We reserve the right to refer this letter to the Court on the issue of costs.

 

Yours faithfully 

 

 

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Dear Sir/Mdm

Your letter of the X X X date refers.

I'm sure you are aware that your clients have acted unlawfully towards me by treating me unfairly. The FCA regulations make it clear that they have a statutory duty under the Financial Services and Markets Act. Your clients unlawful behaviour is complete and you have no defence against it. It is simply a question of implementing in full the recommendations of the ombudsman service and of addressing your client's unlawful behaviour by a suitable offer of reparation.

In view of your letter I'm prepared to delay the issuing of my claim for breach of statutory duty until next Friday close of business – 13 March. After that the claim will be issued over the weekend and you can be certain that it will be served on your clients by the Tuesday or Wednesday of the following week.

I have suffered enough inconvenience and this matter must be put right. Secondly, it is clearly in the public interest that apparently responsible and well resourced organisations such as Barclays bank are brought to book for breaking the law – particularly when we are talking about a statutory duty. This is not a simple matter of a misunderstood contract or some other vague obligation. The law is clear and your clients are well aware.

In terms of your threat to show your letter to the court on the matter of costs,  go ahead.  We are all aware of the small claims rules in relation to costs so don't bully me with this stuff. I'm litigating reasonably. I have been trying to achieve a solution since last year and I'm sure the court will note that your client only leapt into action since I threatened them with legal proceedings.

You can be certain I'll be showing your letter threatening costs against me plus this one plus all the rest of the correspondence to the court.

There is no doubt that I will obtain judgement in my favour and as I've already indicated I shall be passing a copy onto the FCA and elsewhere.

Please note that I'm not prepared to enter into any agreements under conditions of confidentiality or to enter into any without prejudice correspondence with you.

 

YF

 

 

 

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Have you opened up an account with money claim and have you started drafting your claim? I think even with this extra week they are probably not going to be up to come back to you and I don't think you should delay any further.

Please start drafting your claim so it is already to go. Don't forget that we need to look at it and we have our own lives to lead as well so leaving things to the last moment for you may not be helpful to us

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Would the Particulars of Claim be something like this below? 

 

I initiated a charge back against Amazon during January 2019 via Barclays bank..
 
Barclays bank immediately refunded the disputed amount of £778 back into my bank account - This is standard practice.
 
Barclays bank investigated this charge back and asked for more information/proof, which I sent recorded delivery. This evidence was received.
 
Barclays bank failed to attach my evidence to the charge back claim.
 
Barclays bank then rejected my charge back claim due to lack of evidence.
 
I made a complaint to Barclays bank at this time and was offered £75 compensation which I rejected, and then £150 which I also rejected.
 
Barclays bank closed my bank account. Debited the initial charge back amount out of my bank account of £778. Registered the delinquent account with Equifax, and registered a CIFAS marker against my name for 1st Party Fraud.
 
I made a complaint to the FOS.
 
The FOS decided in my favour, as Barclays bank had made critical errors with this charge back and set out the following actions which were agreed by Barclays bank, due to their errors, during November 2019.
 
  1. Accept responsibility for the failed charge back and clear the amount owed, which was the charge back amount of £778.00.
  2. Pay £150 in compensation.
  3. Make amendments to my credit file to reflect the fact that the debt amount had been cleared and the account is no longer delinquent and should never have been made this way.
  4. Return the money I had in the bank account before any of this happened, which was £49.17.
The FOS gave Barclays bank 4 weeks to complete these steps.
 
Barclays bank failed to action any of these requests.
 
In February 2020 I contacted the FOS to advise Barclays bank had failed to action these requests. The FOS spoke to Barclays bank who stated no actions were carried out due to an outstanding amount on my account, of which there isn't one. The FOS also asked why a CIFAS marker was placed against my name. Barclays advised they would get in touch with the FOS to explain this, they did not.
 
As of today's date, nothing has been done.
 
Under the Banking:Conduct of Business Regulations, I deserve to be treated fairly by Barclays bank and they have failed to do this.
 
 

Money claim account is open.

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I think you should keep it short and simple. See my proposed draft below which hopefully should fit into the money claim character limit. See if you think there is anything wrong or anything missing.

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The claimant's claim is for £100 for breach of statutory duty by the defendant contrary to Banking: Conduct of Business Regs made under Financial Services and Markets Act in that they treated me unfairly. After a dispute over a chargeback in January 2019 June in which Barclays received evidence but failed to look at it, they unfairly registered a CIFAS marker against me, depriving me of my bank account and access to my funds. I complaint to the financial ombudsman who in November 2019 held in my favour and recommended certain action by Barclays but Barclays have failed to implement them despite correspondence from myself and from the FOS. Barclays has been provided with all relevant information and is fully aware.

 

 

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Don't forget that now you're making these threats, you really will have to go ahead with it if they failed to produce a sensible solution within the time limit.

This means that they will have to implement in full all of the ombudsman's decision is and also they will have to set about addressing any reputational damage they have caused in respect of your blighted credit file. There will have to be interest at a proper rate on the funds that you have been deprived of and also compensation for your lack of access to a bank account.

There will also have to be a sensible offer of compensation.

I have suggested that you sue them for £100 – and I can imagine that if you issue the papers for BCOBS that they will fall over themselves in an attempt to prevent a judgement being obtained. This means that it is possible they will's offer you what you're asking and I think you have a basis for saying that you refuse and that you prefer to go for judgement. This would cause them to threaten you with costs and you would have to be courageous enough to respond and say that it's in the public interest view to obtain judgement and therefore you are turning down their settlement offer. They won't be used to that kind of treatment – but hopefully they will then return with a higher offer. This has been our experience of running BCOBS actions in the past – but of course you can't guarantee it. The risk is yours – the victory is yours – but so is the defeat.

I think Barclays are behaving like dishonest pigs – but this is no more than you would expect from them – or any other bank.

It all depends on how much you want to face them out

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Also be aware, that if they make offers to you they will attempt to make them on the basis of confidentiality. I suggest very strongly that you refuse to get involved in that and at the very least you make it clear to them that confidentiality will cost an extra – and I'm talking about quite a lot.

They will also try to make without prejudice offers to you – save as to costs – in other words they will be blackmailing you again with the idea of costs. This is the standard approach for banking bullies and their solicitors. In my book it amounts to an abuse of the court process because they are effectively trying to intimidate a litigant in person.

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I'm honestly not afraid of them or anyone so they can threaten what they like. If it all goes balls up then that's life, I can live with it. I don't need credit, because I am ok financially so whatever happens, good or bad, is fine with me.

 

I am ready to take them on and go as far as this needs to go.

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Okay – so long as you are aware that although the small claims rules on costs are on your side, there is always a 1% chance – probably not more than that – that they could go against you in certain circumstances.

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Reply from Barclays solicitors. No mention of the CIFAS at all.

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Our Client: Barclays Bank UK PLC

 

We continue to act on behalf Barclays Bank UK PLC in respect of your allegations. This is the Bank's response to your Letter of Claim. This letter is sent pursuant to the Practice Direction for Pre-action Protocols and Conduct, within the Civil Procedure Rules.

 

Background On 17 December 2018, you used your Barclays account with account number xxxxxxxx (the Account) to purchase items from Amazon totalling £788.73 (the Sum). When you received the items they were damaged so you requested a refund from Amazon.

 

Amazon agreed to refund you the Sum and provided you with return labels to facilitate the return of the items. However you sent the items back using Parcel Force on 19 December 2018 due to issues with the labels provided. Amazon did not consider that you had complied with their returns policy therefore the refund was cancelled.

 

This didn't happen, the refund was never made.

 

On 23 January 2019 you raised a chargeback dispute against Amazon with the Bank. The Bank credited the Account with the Sum the same day whilst the dispute was investigated.

 

A letter was sent to you on 22 February 2019 requesting evidence to show that you complied with Amazon's returns policy. The letter asked for a response in no more than 10 days (i.e. by 4 March 2019) otherwise the Bank would close the case and hold you liable.

 

On 5 March 2019 the Bank received a letter from you purporting to show that you complied with Amazon's return policy however the case had been closed as the documents were received outside the Bank's deadline.

 

This isn't true. They were received on the 5th But they told me that for some unknown reason the evidence had not been attached to my file. They did not tell me at that time that the case was closed and they could not tell me why the evidence was not attached to my file.

 

As a result, the Sum was re-debited from the Account on 9 April 2019 causing it to become overdrawn by £739.29 {the Outstanding Balance). The Bank did not receive payment of the Outstanding Balance; as such it closed the Account and registered a default marker with credit reference agencies.

 

In April 2019, you filed a complaint with the Bank regarding the letter being received outside of the Bank's 10 day deadline (the Complaint). The Bank did not uphold the complaint but paid you £150, without an admission of liability, for distress and inconvenience.

 

This is wrong. The bank did not pay me £150. In April they offered £150 compensation over the phone due to their error, the error of not attaching the evidence to my file, and I refused it. They keep saying they paid me £150 and the FOS told me many times that they paid me £150, but no one has paid me anything. No amount of £150 went into the bank account, and a cheque was not sent to me so I have not been paid £150.

 

The complaint.

 

You were not happy with the outcome of the Complaint so you complained to the Financial Ombudsman Service (the FOS). The FOS investigated your Complaint and on 14 November 2019 a decision was made by an investigator, xxxxxxx. The decision stated that the Bank should;

 

• Pay the Sum by way of:

 

o Clearing the Outstanding Balance; and

o Refunding the balance of the Account prior to 9 April 2019 (£49.17); and

• Amend your credit file to reflect that the Outstanding Balance has been cleared.

 

The Bank agreed with the FOS decision on 29 November 2019 and asked for guidance on how settlement should be paid as the Account had been closed. However, the FOS failed to respond, and as such, the Bank was unable to effect payment.

 

Your claim

 

You allege that the Bank;

• Has failed to comply with a FOS investigator's decision;

• Should clear the Outstanding Balance;

• Amend your credit file;

• Pay you £150 compensation; and

• Is liable to you for the balance of the account prior to 9 April 2019.

 

The Bank's position

 

The Bank's primary position is that there have been delays in complying with the FOS decision because further information was required from the FOS. The Bank has now received the required information and is in a position to clear the Outstanding Balance and refund the difference between the Outstanding Balance and the Sum, totalling £49.44.

 

The Bank has previously paid you £150 for distress and inconvenience, the FOS considered this to be reasonable and has not asked the Bank to increase this figure.

 

Again, this has not happened.

 

Therefore no further payment will be made in respect of any claims for distress and inconvenience. Can you please provide us with your account details to enable the Bank to effect payment of £49.44.

 

In the meantime, the Bank is taking steps to amend your credit file to reflect the above decision. In the circumstances, we trust that this settles your Complaint and look forward to confirmation that no further action will be taken.

 

Yours faithfully TrL TLT LLP

 

in

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Why was the Amazon refund never made? Is there any way that you could be held responsible or partially responsible for this?

Do you have evidence that the evidence you supplied was not attached? Can you prove that the case was closed without telling you?

 

Are you sure that no £150 was paid? We don't want to find egg on your face

You sent an SAR to the ombudsman – have you received a response? Have you received an SAR response from Barclays? Is there evidence that Barclays Centre question to the ombudsman and the ombudsman didn't respond?

Please will you not annotate the letters and the way that you have done.

Reproduce a letter using the quote function and then make your comments afterwards. Otherwise it's just too difficult to get through

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6 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Why was the Amazon refund never made? Is there any way that you could be held responsible or partially responsible for this?

 

Amazon sent me return labels for the items that were damaged. The return labels stated on them ''do not refund, items sent as additional items by mistake'' So, when they were received, the receiver would have looked at the system and seen a note saying 'do not refund' so they didn't. I didn't use these labels that amazon sent to me, due to that statement, but the computer system at amazon advised not to refund, so they didn't. I spoke to them via email and chat and tried to explain this, but no one understood and gave me copy/paste replies every time. Every person you speak to at Amazon is in a foreign call centre. They have no idea what you are talking about as they do not understand the situation.

 

8 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Do you have evidence that the evidence you supplied was not attached? Can you prove that the case was closed without telling you?

 

I might have an email here from a complaints person who took up the case early May, I may have told her in an email that the evidence wasn't attached and she would have replied to that, but I would need to search for it. She did ask me for the evidence so its likely I have that email here.

 

If as they say the case was closed on the 5th March, the first I knew of them doing this was when they debited the amount out of my account on the 9th April, because I logged into online banking a couple of days after this, saw it, and rang them to ask what was going on. There was no letter from them before this, and I don't think there was a letter after this either.

 

12 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

Are you sure that no £150 was paid? We don't want to find egg on your face

 

I have checked the bank statements from the SAR request, no amount of £150 was paid into the account, they do not have any bank details for me, and no cheque was received by me.

 

14 minutes ago, BankFodder said:

You sent an SAR to the ombudsman – have you received a response? Have you received an SAR response from Barclays? Is there evidence that Barclays Centre question to the ombudsman and the ombudsman didn't respond?

 

No response from either as yet.

 

 

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In terms of the Amazon failure to refund – did you explain this all to the bank? Did you do this in writing?

We shouldn't be at a stage where it is "likely" that you have evidence. You are on the verge of bringing a legal action and you should have everything totally lined up and filed by now. This is extremely serious. Find it. Get all your papers together properly. This needs to be taken seriously.

Come back here when you have found the evidence.

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A letter was sent to the bank regarding the whole Amazon situation when I sent in my evidence. Its this evidence that was not attached to the claim. A lady from Barclays rang me and asked me to provide the evidence to her so she could investigate, this was early May 2019, (after they closed the case and debited the money back out of my account) she sent me a blank email, so I had her email address, and told me to reply to it with the evidence. This is what I did so I have my email to her with evidence attached to it. This is the same evidence I initially sent to the bank for the chargeback.

 

I had an email response from her at the time.

 

Quote

 

To: xxxxx <[email protected]>
Sent: Tue, 7 May 2019 15:51
Subject: RE: xxxxxxx
 

Hi xxxxxxx
 
Just to confirm I have received all attached documents and is under investigation. I will contact you shortly.
 
Kind Regards
 
Txxxxx

 

 

 

 

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What are the return dates for the SARs?

 

Also, what date do you send them the evidence? Do you have an accompanying note?

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It would be this coming Saturday, In my rush to type them I wrote 14 days and not 10.

 

They say they sent the letter asking for additional evidence on 22nd Feb, I received it Friday 1st March, and posted my response on Monday 4th March, that was the soonest I could send it. Their letter took 7 days to get to me. 1st class. I posted my response to them 1st class recorded delivery and it was received the next day.

 

The FOS ruled that giving me 10 days to supply my evidence was not enough and they should have allowed longer. Letters from Barclays do take time to arrive. They do not arrive within a couple of days.

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In principle I suggest that you hold off until you have received the SAR's from Barclays and from the ombudsman. Then go through them very carefully. We have a section of the library somewhere where we explain to you how to deal with a subject access disclosure.

However I think that you need to make an immediate response to the solicitors:

 

Quote

Dear Sir/Mdm

Thank you for your letter of X X X date. I dispute most of the contents in there but in particular I notice that you have not referred at all to the issue of the CIFAS marker.

As you know this is an essential element of the dispute between us and I'm giving you an opportunity to comment now.

I should warn you that I'm poised to bring a legal action and the issue of the CIFAS marker which was applied either unfairly or deliberately in the retaliatory way will be one of the issues raised in my claim.

Yours faithfully

 

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Here is a link to some guidance on dealing with a subject access request disclosure.

 

I suggest that you take it slowly and methodically and don't miss anything. Don't make any accidents or overlook anything. Everything is important – not only what is included – but what is not included as well. Apart from anything else you will have two sets of data – one from the SAR and one from the bank. Compare them. It will be extremely useful to check one against the other because that is the way that you will discover gaps and omissions.

 

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Do I mention the £150 in my reply to the solicitors? The money isn't the issue, its the fact that they keep saying they have paid it, and they 100% have not.

 

I will read the link very carefully.

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