Costly communication failure while opening new accounts

[Derfel]

I opened a current account and a business account with The Abbey in January, and filled out the switcher forms and am still waiting three and a half months later for funds to be transferred from Barclays, which the Abbey switcher team promised they would do. I understand it's common practise and it certainly seems common sense that funds are transfered before DDs and standing orders, but they have transfered the DDs but not the funds. With no money in the account, obviously these DDs have bounced, and the penalties incurred have put me into an unauthorised overdraft. I am also being charged for the letters telling me this, which also threaten blacklisting.

 

Every time I ring to try and put things right promises and assurances are given but I am never speaking to the right person and nobody ever rings back. I tried for two hours on two nights last week and couldn't even get through. I have been told 2 weeks ago that I have been made a “priority case” by the switcher team and that they would be ringing me, but nothing. In three months, absolutely no progress has been made by them on my accounts. There has been no communication except threatening letters.

 

What to do next? Thank you.

[alanfromderby]

I would write ot them by recorded delivery, demanding that they complete the switch within 14 days, and that they reverse all charges that they have made, and that failure to comply will result in legal action being commenced for recovery of all costs, and damages.

[Tinkerbelle]

Can you not go to Barclays, queue up, take your money out, go to Abbey, queue up, pay it in?

[Derfel]

Hi,

 

Since my first post, the Abbey have done nothing to resolve this issue, so I have sent a letter of complaint. I received the standard letter a few days later and now they have 7 more days in which to suggest a resolution. I am now considering my next move.

 

To clear a few points up, even without transferring money I *should* have had funds in my account to clear DDs, SOs, etc because when I opened the account with Abbey they agreed a £300 overdraft, but when I received the first letters about penalty fees and first statement it was clear this overdraft was never applied. I had also received a letter a couple of weeks after opening the account that "the switch was complete".

 

I have transferred some funds into my Abbey account that would have been enough to cover my outgoings from the account but no longer is with all the charges.

 

I have worked out how much this has cost me in terms of:

- Erroneous penalty fees which are unlawful anyway

- Overdraft (either authorised or unauthorised) interest

- Other companies fees for non-payment because of bounced DDs

- Lost time due to spending hours on the phone to them to sort this out (to no avail)

- Visits to the branch (to no avail)

Etc

 

I would like to write to them arguing that they are in breach of contract to me and telling how much it has cost me to resolve, with a breakdown of costs, and if I'm feeling audacious charge them an overdraft interest rate (I realise this is untested, but worth a try). That I give them 7 days to consider the points in my letter, which is also the time until the 28 days from my initial complaint is up, and if I do not receive a satisfactory resolution I will be sending a LBA.

 

{ If I'm feeling really audacious, it would be the unauthorised overdraft rate, and I'd remind them that if it were not unlawful I'd also charge them sky-high penalty fees as their errors require my manual intervention. That I would consider all of this a satisfactory resolution to my complaint, but that due to their mismanagement of my account I feel that our working relationship has broken down and I can no longer continue to use them as my bank. }

 

OK, I'm having a bit of fun there but is the basic idea sound? I wouldn't take the p*ss, just ask them for what it has honestly cost me because they are in breach of contract. I know I'd get the charges back anyway, but it's cost a whole lot more than that.

 

Thanks

[andrew1]

If this were me I'd go to another bank and do what Tinkerbell suggests, take your money out and pay it in to another. The Abbey are not noted for their business accumen on business accounts as it is and whilst I do not know how much is involved, if it were £100k you'd be hopping mad if you ran a business. Whether it's £100k or £100 three months is diabolical - get the hell out of there!

[Derfel]

If this were me I'd go to another bank and do what Tinkerbell suggests, take your money out and pay it in to another. The Abbey are not noted for their business accumen on business accounts as it is and whilst I do not know how much is involved, if it were £100k you'd be hopping mad if you ran a business. Whether it's £100k or £100 three months is diabolical - get the hell out of there!

 

Yes, Barclays are already transferring my accounts back. But the accounts are now in overdraft and the Abbey will want more money! There's been at least £1000 in charges now.

 

What do I do? I can claim the charges back sure but I'm entitled to what I said in my other post, and on reflection, a letter of apology and a few trees being planted to make up for all the s*** they send notifying me of penalties.

[Juls]

Forget Abbey Business - they're hopeless. We have a factoring company who make payments to us via CHAPS - at least once a month one of these payments went missing and when we rang Abbey they always told us that it was not their fault when every single time it was. The payment usually appeared 24 hours later then it should have. We have now changed to HSBC and the CHAPS appears 2 hours after it was sent!

 

I also "switched" accounts from NatWest (who were REALLY bad) to Abbey and it also took over 3 months to get direct debits changed. I complained and stupidly, accepted a measly 75 quid compensation when it cost me much more in charges. Don't give up like me, and demand all charges back plus compensation because a switch really should take no more then 7 days - and Abbey will blame the other bank, funny that!

 

Incidentally when I changed DDs from Abbey Business to HSBC I did it myself and it took half a morning.

[Derfel]

I've just got a letter saying that they wish to investigate the complaint thoroughly and as such it's taking longer than expected and they need another 4 weeks. I'm fuming.

 

Please can someone advise me... is my above plan my preferable course of action? I don't want to be spoon fed what to do on this, I would merely like the re-assurance that other people would do a similar thing... I could instead wait another 4 weeks and then use the financial ombudsman (assuming the Abbey don't offer a satisfactory resolution) but I want to be pro-active and be sure I recover every penny this has cost me and and make the bastards realise I'm serious and not just to be fobbed off. Thanks.

[barracad]

Stick to your timetables, don't let them dictate how long you should wait for a response. Also don't bother with the financial ombudsman they will take 8 weeks to get back to you.

[Jane Austen]

Personally, I would go ahead with what you suggested earlier. They have had more than enough time. You don't seem to be getting anywhere and it is incompetence on their part.

[Derfel]

Here is what I plan on sending:

I am disappointed, but not at all surprised, to learn from your letter dated 9th June that you require another four weeks to research my complaint. I consider the initial four weeks a more than reasonable amount of time in which to resolve my complaint for a large organisation with a dedicated complaints department, especially as this is not a complex issue.

 

As it is not relevant to my immediate concern, I have no interest in waiting for whatever reasons you have for the ongoing mismanagement of my account. Given the simplicity of my banking requirements, any trust I had for you broke down months ago; and with it any chance of me ever doing business with you again. As such I require the following resolution:

• All bank charges and relevant overdraft interest refunded, in both accounts. Had your switcher team done their job with my business account, and the overdraft applied to my personal when agreed, neither account would have been liable for charges or been in any unauthorised overdraft. These charges are also unenforceable at Common Law and contrary to Statute. With reference to the terms and conditions I agreed to when opening my accounts, it is an implied term of the contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner with complies with UK law.
  
• >
  
• Compensation for undue stress caused.
  
• A written apology. Your management of my accounts would have landed me with further charges from other companies whose payments were missed, had these companies not shown good will. Furthermore I am certain that all these issues could have been rapidly solved, had any one of your switcher team contacted me and kept me informed, as I requested on many occasions that they should do. In particular, I am aggrieved at the way I was treated by certain members of staff. Please see my enclosed separate letter.

I leave it to you to suggest a figure for the settlement. If you do not respond, or respond positively, within 14 days there will be no further communication from me and I will issue a claim against you. Any future correspondence from you must be submitted in writing.

[lisamellor]

after being with them for 3 months and you have had an terrible experience with them already??? shoddy or what?? it would have been less hassle though to just take the money out of one account and to put it into the abbey.

[Derfel]

it would have been less hassle though to just take the money out of one account and to put it into the abbey.

Yeah but why would I have done? Each time I rung I was told it'll be done "within the next few days"... if in fact I'd known I was being fobbed off I'd have taken my business elsewhere because why could I trust them with anything else?

 

I've not had the time to really stick it to them yet, but I've certainly done a lot more than they have in trying to solve this, even though I shouldn't have to.

[lisamellor]

hey no offence meant!!! they are cheeky tw*ts. dont it just really wind you up when they blatantly lie to you. whats worse if when you have to ring them up and speak to an indian call centre then go over whats happened to them time and time again --- like they can help ?? ye rite!!

[mahala]

The letter looks good. Can't wait to read their response.

[Spiceskull]

Here is what I plan on sending:

That is a great letter...shame that they will still stumble on blindly. However, your timetable and agenda, you stick to it and good luck.

[Derfel]

hey no offence meant!!! they are cheeky tw*ts. dont it just really wind you up when they blatantly lie to you. whats worse if when you have to ring them up and speak to an indian call centre then go over whats happened to them time and time again --- like they can help ?? ye rite!!

None taken! I think actually you'd have to go a hell of a long way to beat the unhelpfulness of the people actually at the branch!

[Derfel]

That is a great letter...shame that they will still stumble on blindly. However, your timetable and agenda, you stick to it and good luck.

 

Thank you, I'll finish the letter tonight and get it posted. I'm just wondering how I can put a figure on "undue stress caused" on moneyclaim, and how I can legally argue I'm entitled to it! Or whether I can ask for an apology in my claim.

[alanfromderby]

Or whether I can ask for an apology in my claim.

 

Now, this is something that I would love to be able to do!!

 

[Spiceskull]

Thank you, I'll finish the letter tonight and get it posted. I'm just wondering how I can put a figure on "undue stress caused" on moneyclaim, and how I can legally argue I'm entitled to it! Or whether I can ask for an apology in my claim.

Personally I wouldn't bother. You could end up working yourself into a lather over something that just isn't going to happen.

 

Get your money first, have a good breather, then think about everything else you can do afterwards...good luck.

[Derfel]

With time constraints I didn't send my letter, but surprisingly I got a letter today from the senior customer complaints resolution manager: (Abbreviations are entirely my own doing to save time due to the vacuous nature of the letter).

 

Dear derfel,

 

Thank you for your letter of 8 May 2006. Please accept my apologies for the delay in my response.

 

I am extremely concerned and disappointed to read the contents of your letter and I would like to start by offering my most sincere apologies for the way in which you have been treated. At Abbey, we aim to provide an excellent service to our customers and it is disappointing when we fail to achieve this.

 

I can see from our records the overdraft facility on your Bank Account XXXXX was made available in February 2006. The standing order and DDs which have been set up on your account have now been cancelled. Regrettably I am unable to establish the exact reason why the overdraft was not available immediately or why there has been a delay and problems with the SOs and DDs. I realise however this situation has caused you to incur charges on the account. As a result, I have therefore today refunded the £35 unpaid DD charge which debited your account on 18 May 2006 and reversed the pending charges totalling £215. Please note the balance of your account remains over the authorised overdraft and until it is brought back within the limit you may incur further unauthorised overdraft charges.

 

I am aware that you have been caused inconvenience and have incurred additional telephone costs trying to resolve the problems. In recognition of this and to cover the £25 payment penalty you have incurred from Black Horse Finance, I would like to offer you £100.00. I have also enclosed a letter which you can provide to Black Horse should you wish to do so.

 

I would like to assure you we do value your custom and whilst I can understand your decision, I am disappointed you have decided to instruct Barclays Bank to withold your income and rinstate the SOs and DDs on your account there. Whilset I realise my gesture cannot alter past events I hope it will go some way to restore your confidence in our company and maybe reconsider your decision.

 

This is my final resolution letter. If you are happy to accept this offer in full and final settlement of your complaint, then please sign the form I have sent you and return it to me in the prepaid envelope within three weeks. I hope you feel I have made a fair decision. However, if you would like to discuss the content of this letter or have any new points you believe should be taken into account, and which may make a difference to the outcome of the investigation, please contact me within 14 days of this letter on the above number. If I do not hear from you by then, and you have not asked us to extend that deadline for any reason, I will file my papers accordingly.

 

Should you be dissatisfied with the outcome of our investigation, I would like to remind you that you can refer your complaint to the FOS. I enclose a booklet explaining how to take your complaint to the FOS, and should you wish to do so, there is a time limit of six months from the date of this letter.

 

>

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Jane Mattera

Senior Customer Resolution Manager

Complaints

This is just a complete fob off, it's buttering me up a bit in the hope I'll give them a closure of the matter in return for £100. But the real joke is they haven't mentioned anything about not transfering my funds from my business account, or any of the charges in the business account (all but one of them). Needless to say this settlement falls way short of what I am out of pocket.

 

And they really should forget the leaflets about the FOS (about the 3rd I've had) and just give a link here, and also consider putting "P.S. Sorry for taking the ****, I just work here." at the bottom.

 

Also Barclays have kindly furnished me with written detail of all communications they've had from Abbey about transferring the account. Interesting reading.

 

I'll post my modified letter to them in this thread soon, I have a few things to sort out with it now the situation has changed.

[Derfel]

Just an update, we didn't hear anything and it ran past the 8 weeks, so we sent them a copy of that letter from Barclays, a summary of what's happened so far, and we'd now be going to the Financial Ombudsman. A few days later their head of complaints rung and told us he was in the process of writing a 'grovelling apology ' and detailing a resolution.

 

They reset both accounts to zero, allowed my brother to keep the pensions payments which had got the personal account overdrawn in the first place because they weren't wiring money across like they should, and gave him £250. The letter of apology was quite unreservedly admitting it was all their fault, and they also said they'd informed credit agencies that all of this was mistaken.

 

May be worth checking the stuff was actually deleted and not just ammended, but other than that we're happy it's all sorted.

[Odd Fellow]

Seems like a result. Shame you had to wait so long and force the issue like you did.

 

Just goes to show how much Abbey values it clients.

[lisamellor]

nice one. do make sure you check all the credit agencies though.

 

lisaxx

[Derfel]

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