Blueloobylou V. Woolwich

[Blueloobylou]

Hi,

 

Im fairly new to this site and have been reading and lurking for the last few weeks and want to give everyone a big "cyber" pat on the back for finally making a stand against the banks! :grin:

 

I have read and digested every bit of information I can and, on 6th Feb 07, sent my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) to the Woolwich for charges which, to my reckoning could total over £2,000. (Im also going after Capital One and Barclaycard but I will post those details on the relevant forums).

 

I shall post at each step of the way, as reading your posts has encouraged me and given me the confidence to challenge the Woolwich who, I now realise, have systematically robbed me over the years!

 

Good luck to everyone. Im sure I'll be along soon with many questions.

[e28bigalbexley]

Hi Looby

Welcome,

Seems like you have everything in hand just have a read of the forum while your waiting to see how others have got on.

Enjoy.

AL;)

[Blueloobylou]

Hi again,

Well, I have today received a letter from Barclays offering me a goodwill gesture of £1000 in full and final settlement. As I suspect my bank charges are over £2000, I wont be accepting this (not in full and final settlement anyway).

The strange thing is, I still havent received my bank statements - they have just sent me this offer? I have phoned them today to say I wont be responding until they send my bank statements. They have until 17th March to do this.

Has anyone else had this happen to them - offer of goodwill gesture BEFORE actually receiving details of bank charges? It just seems a very strange way to do things.

Blueloobylou

[e28bigalbexley]

Hi BlueLoo

Just wait for your statements to arrive. Dont bother wasting your money ringing them unless of course your bored or have no friends to talk to (but im sure you have).

Send them the rejection letter here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bank-templates-library/25716-rejecting-offers.html and edit it to your own means. At least the woolwich know you want your money back so thats a result, you now just need to be determined and patient.

 

AL

[welshcakes]

Hi Bluelooby

 

I'm about 2 weeks behind you timescale so thanls for the warning that the next letter I receive may well be an offer rather than my charges statement.

 

Out of curiousity, did the offer you received today have a deadline for you to respond and if so, was the deadline before the day your SAR 40 day is up?

[e28bigalbexley]

Welshcakes

The timescale on their offer is, not worth the reading time, you want to know what they removed from your account, unlawfully, nothing more, nothing less. If what they offer is below that amount send the rejection letter and get on with reclaiming what is rightfully yours.

 

AL:)

[welshcakes]

Hi e28

 

Without having my statement, I would not be in a position to know whether their offer was for the ful amount though ... am I being naive? If we receive, like Bluelooby, an offer before our statements, should we all just assume that the amount being offered is way off what we are owed?

[e28bigalbexley]

Hi e28

am I being naive? If we receive, like Bluelooby, an offer before our statements, should we all just assume that the amount being offered is way off what we are owed?

 

No not naive at all, but the woolwich would like to keep as much of your money as possible.

They are bound by the law to supply your statements within 40 days (they used to send offers out after the LBA letter, so perhaps by sending offers earlier they save money if you accept) so you are right to wait for them.

 

Assume they are way off, yes by at least 50%

 

AL:D

[Blueloobylou]

Well, Ive been in shock for most of the day so sorry if I didnt get back to you sooner.

 

I phoned Barclays this afternoon to tell them I hadnt received my statements so wasnt in a position to agree any "good will gesture". After repeating several times, this was their "full and final offer" (yeah, right), they referred me back to the Woolwich who they very kindly put me through to. After much confusion, and being told that they hadnt received a SAR from me, I was then transferred to about 3 other people, the last one very kindly telling me they had "found" my SAR.

 

He told me that the figure of charges over the past 6 years had been given to Barclays who had then sent me the letter.

 

Wait for it - the total amount of charges is £9900!!! He's getting the statements in the post to me today - and apologised that I hadnt received them.

 

So - with interest, this is going to be one hell of claim and obviously I wont be receiving Barclays measly offer!

[Blueloobylou]

Hi Welshcakes,

 

No, they should send you the statements first. I suspect that as mine was such a huge amount, they conveniently forgot to send them out, hoping Id accept the £1000 goodwill gesture!!

 

The offer from Barclays advised me if I accepted the £1000 it would be in my account within 7 days. There was a slip on the back that I had to sign and return to them, accepting their offer. This had to be returned within 8 weeks or they would close my claim.

 

Bluelooby

[welshcakes]

Hi Blue

 

I've been looking through the intermittent old statements from my account and I have a funny feeling my charges etc are going to be over the magic £5k figure. Just goes to showdoesn't it, that your own first reckonings were only around £2k. You must be so excited about all that (your) money coming back to you before Summer!

[Blueloobylou]

Hi Welsh,

 

When I looked through my old statements, I knew that the minimum would be about £2000 but I did have a lot of statements missing (about 3 years worth!) but couldnt remember if Id had charges levied against me for that period. Obviously, the majority of the charges were during those "missing statement" years. Its unbelievable isnt it? :o

 

Im really trying not to "spend the money in my head" until Ive got it safely back in my bank account but its hard, I can tell you.

 

It'll be interesting to see what comes back with your list of charges - you might be in for a nice surprise.

 

Bluelooby x

[Blueloobylou]

Hi Guys

Just had a thought - the Woolwich only sent me a list of charges. They were not statements so I have no way of knowing if the list is correct or not.

Will they automatically send me the statements also? Or does the wording of the SAR allow them to get away with just sending a list of charges?

Thanks

Blue

[Blueloobylou]

Okay, Prelim sent to Woolwich on 16th March asking for my money back.

[richeratlast]

Hi Blueloobylou , I am just slightly in front of you and am getting worried as I haven't received any offer yet and I have my list of statements ( over 13k ) and I am on day 10 of the LBA . Does anyone know if it is true I need £450 to take a claim of this amount to court !!!!!!!!

[Blueloobylou]

Hi richer,

Im not sure to be honest. Do you mean it will cost you £450 to make an application to the court? If so, you will get this back when you win.

[kippy2]

Hi Blueloobylou , I am just slightly in front of you and am getting worried as I haven't received any offer yet and I have my list of statements ( over 13k ) and I am on day 10 of the LBA . Does anyone know if it is true I need £450 to take a claim of this amount to court !!!!!!!!

 

no its £250 for your claim. offer makes no difference as it wont be the full amount. file on 15th day.

[welshcakes]

Hi Blue

 

Woolly's 14 days to respond to you is up tomorrow isn't it? I don't suppose you've had any response...

[Blueloobylou]

Hi Welsh,Thanks for your message.

 

Woolly have until 30th March to respond to me - no response as yet.

 

Then it will be LBA time, I think.

 

Hows your claim going? I havent been on the site for a few days so Im just off to check on your progress.

 

Blue x

[Blueloobylou]

Woolwich still havent responded so I am posting the LBA today giving them until 15th April before I get tough!

[welshcakes]

Woolies "aimed" to resolve by 30th (in response to my SAR request). Nothing through however the 40 days by my schedule isn't up for them til 4th April. I'm not going to bother giving them the +2 days for postage as they seem to draw theses things out at every stage so I'm sure my claim won't fail on a postage times technicality!

 

Will ring them on Monday morning to tell them they have til Wednesday for me to have received statements.

 

I suspect they really are swamped and likely have a backlog of work however this is not my problem and one on the easiest solutions for them is to start giving out no quibble full refunds upon written request.

 

This 40 days seems to have taken forever!

[vdiddy]

Hi, sent off first letter to Woolwich on 27/03/2007 and today they have sent me a letter telling me they are looking into my issue and will get back to me by 30 April.In my first letter i had given them 14 days to respond and they have done so earlier.Should i wait for till day 13 then send off the LBA or i can do it right away?

[e28bigalbexley]

Stick to the timescales laid down here http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/faqs-please-read-these/31460-example-step-step-instructions.html READ THEM NOW

 

If it is time to send a prelim letter, or an LBA send it, if you wait for them you will be waiting and waiting, waiting ,waiting....................

 

And if you havent already got your own thread start one now Vdiddy

 

AL;)

[welshcakes]

Hi vdiddy

 

If you haven't already done so, start a thread vdiddy -v- Woolwich. That way you'll get step be step answers to all your queries as you go through the process.

 

Have you read the step by step guide yet?

[e28bigalbexley]

Woolies "aimed" to resolve by 30th (in response to my SAR request). Nothing through however the 40 days by my schedule isn't up for them til 4th April. I'm not going to bother giving them the +2 days for postage as they seem to draw theses things out at every stage so I'm sure my claim won't fail on a postage times technicality!

 

Will ring them on Monday morning to tell them they have til Wednesday for me to have received statements.

 

I suspect they really are swamped and likely have a backlog of work however this is not my problem and one on the easiest solutions for them is to start giving out no quibble full refunds upon written request.

 

This 40 days seems to have taken forever!

 

Welshcakes the timescales are there for a reason, that includes the post (2 days 1st class). Thats what the court recognise as resonable time for a letter to be recieved.

And dont phone Helen, Rob or whoever at the woolwich, write, send the letter recorded then you have a record of giving them ample opertunatey to supply your statements.

40 days is a long time but not in the timescale of the 6 years you could be trying to claim back.

Just to let you know i statred my woolies claim back in june 2006 it was finalised in Jan 2007 so it takes a while sticking to the timescales. Do it right not how you think it should or could be done:D .

 

AL;)