Harrythehawk v Halifax

[harrythehawk]

Started the process a week ago, two recorded delivery letters now recieved by the lovely Halifax people for each account with a £10 postal order in. I was going to start it this week however the Halifax in true to form style charged me £39 last week for a transaction that wasn't even my fault, never signed for or agreed, a mix up between my Mortgage BS and them, I rang and specifically asked them not to take my money and it was an error, please, please don't do it until you have investigated properly ...... no sir the terms and conditions you agreed to blah blah blah, call centre script, must be an electronic transaction sir you don't need to sign, no help whatsoever, can you explain this charge to me and how you have calculated it ? No we don't have to sir, you agreed to the terms ....... need I go on ?? Therefore motivation to deal with these people was there anyway but brought forward ...... they have still taken the money from me and I would like it back !! I do loathe these people with a vengence, I only discovered my wife had not been opening envelopes last month for christ knows how long and have counted £500 plus in charges in the last year alone, god knows what has happened in the 5 years before this .... but here we go, any support or tips would be greatly appreciated, never done owt like this before but I am ready for a war !!

[AWC]

Hi Harrythehawk!

 

Welcome to the forum and top marks for starting the process, you will win!

 

Best advice I can give is read everything! Read the FAQ's, read other peoples threads and have a look at the templates.

 

Oh, and keep us updated too!

[kazdoc]

Yes, I'm at the same stage as you. Wasn't going to but then did due to unfair charges. You now have 40 days (could get those statements earlier though) to research as much as possible, and boy will you have to. Have a look at the templates and forms (N1/MCOL) and spreadsheets. Although they are not needed yet, it is a good idea to be ahead of your game and know in advance what is coming next. This will give you confidence. Although I'm very early on, I've already revised my allocation questionairre!!! Don't be afraid to ask questions, there are so many of us on here, someone will always get back to you.

[harrythehawk]

What is the best advice here, no idea how much we are talking about, I have a joint account and an account for her which I am going to tackle, both are no longer used as I baled out of there and moved to another bank before it hit the fan. She does have a Halifax Credit Card which has been stopped and is over limit and stands at around £3,500. When things pan out and all being well charges are returned to me can the Halifax simply offset these against this Credit Card Account ?? Would it be better if I offically closed these accounts down and asked for a cheque ?? I do have a whole host of creditors and have written to all of them with my financial statement and technically I guess if I am to use this cash to pay anybody off then it would have to be pro-rata as it is now ?? I will be gunning for Halifax CC at a later date anyway but what can they do now and what is the best thing for me to do so that I can make the decision myself on any charges that are returned ?

[harrythehawk]

Anyone any thoughts on this, still ain't heard anything at from them yet, 30 days to go !

[kazdoc]

Now I could be wrong, but I'm sure that you can ask to be paid by cheque. It is your money afterall. My friend is asking to be paid by cheque and her circumstances are similar to yours. I'm sure others on here have done it. Read 'hillards' thread, may be a few back now entitled 'Old DJ V Halifax'. I think he was paid by bankers draft.

[tezviper]

They can use the money to offset the credit card if is over the limit etc. I have seen them do this a few times.

[harrythehawk]

Small victory No.1, I complained after a call centre bod cut me off the other week and I had to ring back, letter arrived to apologise, manager will retrain them, the person was named ...... and for inconvenience and because I had to make another call at my cost goodwill £10 put into my account and it is there !!! First time I have ever done anything like this and got something back and I am so happy (only £10 but it is the principal) ...... bring on the statements where the real big cash starts, 12 days gone since SAR sent and counting !!

 

Also, awaiting a personal reply from Peter Jackson over the last £39 charge that wasn't my fault and bank error ..... but despite my pleas they took it anyway .... watch this space !!

[harrythehawk]

Nothing heard from the Bank, sent a reminder yesterday and phoned last week. Have issued SAR and CCA to the Halifax Credit Card too as they are being a real pain at the moment, one of their managers seems to think they are above the law and they can ring me whenever they want despite my written confirmation he had in front of him saying once per week and quoting the legislation on harrassment and me directly asking him not to ring as if they did it would constitute harrassment and they would be in breach of the various acts/legislation to which he replied "we will not stop ringing you until we have and agreement" ..... well, have sent full Telephone Harrassment letter, have the tape recorder on standby, list being compiled ready to post off to TS, OFT & the Police !! Does anyone else also find it incredibly rude that Halifax will only ever give their christian names ..... very unprofessional .... I knew all this was coming and I had the fool tied up in knots, he even threatened default letter on the 29th February .... which I politely pointed out doesn't exist, this of course not being a leap year !!

 

Still come the pile of statement's on my door mat oh happy day !!!

[harrythehawk]

Letter recieved saying statements ordered on two main bank accounts, if not here in 10 days then ring ... looking promising. Was computer generated with an "if" you asked for details of manual intervention then we have not supplied it as we are not obliged to ?

 

Bring it on !!

[harrythehawk]

Received Statements for her account (only opened October 2005), £640 in charges (is that £40 plus per month !!!), Preliminary and list of charges ready to go Recorded tomorrow ........ it feels so good !!!

[harrythehawk]

Just caught the Postie this morning before I went to work with my letter ready to threaten court action due to absence of statements on the joint account and they have turned up, only had time to open and have a very quick look at what I had got, 161 pages twice ? Looks to be complete from 1999, will scan through tonight when I get home .... also got a really bad electricity bill so will be real busy ..... tore up the threat letter I had ready, at least it saved a quid and a trip to the Post Office !! Will be going there tomorrow with the preliminary though !!

[sea-sidelady]

Have fun with your highlighter, It makes a nice change searching for the charges and getting quite excited at every new one you find...!

[jaxads]

Hi and good luck!!!! I think poor "Howard Halifax" is very busy at the moment - lol!!!! Just a little tip -- go through highlighting your charges and then do it again. I missed quite a few the first time that I picked up the second time !!!

 

Have a read of my thread to see how I got on with the Halifax :D:D

 

This site is just amazing and you will get all of your money back. Remember, it's YOUR claim and you must stick to YOUR timescales. You're calling the shots here, not the Bank.

 

Very best wishes.

 

jaxads x

[harrythehawk]

Well £457 since 2002, not anywhere near as bad as I expected considering the cheque account was £640 since October 2005, still gonna be going back in my pocket !! Still have their credit card to go though which was £25 a time for over limits/late payments nearly every month !!

 

Rather strangely the statements arrived in two A4 envelopes totalling 161 pages, in one envelope were the odd numbers and in the other one the even numbers !! Took a few minutes to intergrate them but did confuse me for a while .... another delaying tactic there maybe ??!!

 

Preliminary and spreadsheet ready to send rec del tomorrow .... bring it on !!

 

BTW the cheque account received a standard response to preliminary, aparently the FSA now give the Halifax 8 weeks to investigate which is unfortunate as I only give 14 days before I issue LBA !! Roll on Monday ....

[harrythehawk]

Letter arrived yesterday for the cheque account .... offer to settle in full £640 as GOGW !! Sent back letter from off here to accept rather than their form with all it's I wills and won'ts on it, will keep eye on account for that cash going in, says should be within 14 days, LBA wasn't due to expire until Monday !! yay !! Victory is mine !!

 

Just the joint account to sort out now, LBA has gone off today for that one !

[harrythehawk]

Still no payment on hers so faxed through threat to MCOL them on Monday, watch this space !! On the joint we have gone past LBA and filed my first MCOL which is deemed served on Monday ...... letter arrived from Halifax yesterday though, we are sorry you are disatisfied blah blah blah, please allow 4 weeks for us to investigate .... has already been 4 weeks since prelim .... stuck to timetable, see you in court, thank you very much !!

 

Keep on claimin'

[harrythehawk]

Guess what ? They didn't respond to the fax, what a complete waste of space these people are !! I have been fobbed off and lied to for nearly 3 weeks ...... well once bitten and all of that ..... MCOL went in Monday night ..... bit of extra interest for me then and a lesson learn't ..... do NOT believe a word Halifax tell you !! ..... now taken back control and that feels alot better !! I can wait for the cash Halifax, there is nowhere to hide !!!

[sea-sidelady]

Go get em...!!!!!!

 

Looks like they picked the wrong person to mess with....