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    • If you are buying a used car – you need to read this survival guide.
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    • Hello,

      On 15/1/24 booked appointment with Big Motoring World (BMW) to view a mini on 17/1/24 at 8pm at their Enfield dealership.  

      Car was dirty and test drive was two circuits of roundabout on entry to the showroom.  Was p/x my car and rushed by sales exec and a manager into buying the mini and a 3yr warranty that night, sale all wrapped up by 10pm.  They strongly advised me taking warranty out on car that age (2017) and confirmed it was honoured at over 500 UK registered garages.

      The next day, 18/1/24 noticed amber engine warning light on dashboard , immediately phoned BMW aftercare team to ask for it to be investigated asap at nearest garage to me. After 15 mins on hold was told only their 5 service centres across the UK can deal with car issues with earliest date for inspection in March ! Said I’m not happy with that given what sales team advised or driving car. Told an amber warning light only advisory so to drive with caution and call back when light goes red.

      I’m not happy to do this, drive the car or with the after care experience (a sign of further stresses to come) so want a refund and to return the car asap.

      Please can you advise what I need to do today to get this done. 
       

      Many thanks 
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    • Housing Association property flooding. https://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/topic/438641-housing-association-property-flooding/&do=findComment&comment=5124299
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    • We have finally managed to obtain the transcript of this case.

      The judge's reasoning is very useful and will certainly be helpful in any other cases relating to third-party rights where the customer has contracted with the courier company by using a broker.
      This is generally speaking the problem with using PackLink who are domiciled in Spain and very conveniently out of reach of the British justice system.

      Frankly I don't think that is any accident.

      One of the points that the judge made was that the customers contract with the broker specifically refers to the courier – and it is clear that the courier knows that they are acting for a third party. There is no need to name the third party. They just have to be recognisably part of a class of person – such as a sender or a recipient of the parcel.

      Please note that a recent case against UPS failed on exactly the same issue with the judge held that the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 did not apply.

      We will be getting that transcript very soon. We will look at it and we will understand how the judge made such catastrophic mistakes. It was a very poor judgement.
      We will be recommending that people do include this adverse judgement in their bundle so that when they go to county court the judge will see both sides and see the arguments against this adverse judgement.
      Also, we will be to demonstrate to the judge that we are fair-minded and that we don't mind bringing everything to the attention of the judge even if it is against our own interests.
      This is good ethical practice.

      It would be very nice if the parcel delivery companies – including EVRi – practised this kind of thing as well.

       

      OT APPROVED, 365MC637, FAROOQ, EVRi, 12.07.23 (BRENT) - J v4.pdf
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Alliance & Leicester - Settled


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Hi all

 

Well, after stumbling across the "Bank charges - illegal?" thread on Money Saving Expert late on Friday night, I found this site. Having reviewed lots of information on here, I totted up my bank charges since I opened my A&L account last year..... just under £1100

 

I haven't had any previous contact with them on this issue (apart from the odd charge being refunded as a goodwill gesture previously - hence the "nett" comment in the letter) So, to get the ball rolling, I took the preliminary letter and modified it a little. First draft is below, it's ready to send on Monday morning - unless you can see anything wrong with it? Your input appreciated :)

 

Alliance & Leicester PLC

Personal Customer Services Centre

Bootle

Merseyside

GIR 0AA

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXXX – {Name}

REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from my account since inception in {month, year}. I now understand that the regime of “fees� which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit/standing order refusals, unauthorised overdrafts and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

What I require

I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a nett total of £XXXX.XX plus £X.XX which you have charged me in unauthorised overdraft interest on the amounts you have taken. Total £XXXX.XX. I request that you refund this amount in full.

 

Targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and write on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

You have 10 working days, from receipt of this letter, to reply unconditionally accepting my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a further letter before action allowing a further 10 working days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that will be no further communication from myself and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

{name}

Cheers

 

Michael

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It frightens me - and I wrote it!!

 

As long as you know what they owe you then gp ahead. If you don't then send a DPA request first.

 

Make sure in your mind that you are ready to go to court on this if they get stubborn.

 

Have you got a parachute?

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Hehe, BankFodder - I didn't mean to scare ya :D

 

Yeah, I know what they owe - I went through all my statements and did the whole spreadsheet thing last night. Only blanked out the detail in the letter to de-personalise it a little :) Definitely ready to go to court over the whole thing too - not a lot to lose, but a lot to gain isn't there? :wink: Am setting up the parachute in the morning - probably time to move banks anyway, given how A&L have mucked me around..

 

Am contemplating taking action against all my creditors too - but there's an added risk there that they've frozen the interest on my accounts, don't want them to start that too. Plus, there's my mortgage account with the Halifax, they know how to rack the charges up on arrears..... hmmm.....

 

One thing - should the preliminary letter contain the examples of cases & references to liquidated damages?

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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One thing - should the preliminary letter contain the examples of cases & references to liquidated damages?

 

Cheers

 

Michael

 

It's a fair point but I expect thatthey are fully aware of all of that already.

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It's a fair point but I expect thatthey are fully aware of all of that already.

 

Yeah, I realise they're probably aware - I just really want to cover all the bases as this is my first salvo :) I've modified it again then, with some extra info from this letter:

 

Alliance & Leicester PLC

Personal Customer Services Centre

Bootle

Merseyside

GIR 0AA

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXXX – {name}

REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from my account since inception in {month, year}. I now understand that the regime of “fees” which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit/standing order refusals, unauthorised overdrafts and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore unrecoverable at common law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498; the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79.

 

Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. In particular, charges were applied after I entered into transactions without sufficient funds in my account and also when I have gone overdrawn without authorisation. The actual loss is the cost of automatically sending me a computer generated letter. I would respectfully submit that is valued at no more than 50 pence.

 

UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50).

 

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of the bank’s loss in relation to my account. No-one has had to look at my account or telephone me. No one has had to collect anything. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and outwith, the UK).

 

On a separate note, your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account falls within the ambit of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under reference to paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 of the said regulations:

‘Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair - 1. Terms which have the object of effect of - (e) requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation’.

 

0n 26 July 2005, the OFT stated that 'a charge is likely to be disproportionately high if it is more than a court would be likely to award if the lender sued the cardholder for breach of contract'. Because your charges include a large profit margin, in addition to actual loss, they are unrecoverable as an unfair term in contract. I believe that your charges require me to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation for incurring a transaction(s) which was ultimately declined by an automated computer system.

 

In addition, it is unfair to require me to subsidise your global debt recovery costs and debt write-off.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

What I require

I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a nett total of £XXXX.XX plus £X.XX which you have charged me in unauthorised overdraft interest on the amounts you have taken. Total £XXXX.XX. I request that you refund this amount in full.

 

Targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and write on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

You have 10 working days, from receipt of this letter (i.e. by Monday 13th March 2006), to reply unconditionally accepting my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a further letter before action allowing a further 10 working days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that will be no further communication from myself and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

{name}

 

Whaddya reckon?

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Great - I hope that you are going to take the xxx's out and put in some real money!

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Great - I hope that you are going to take the xxx's out and put in some real money!

 

Well, only if you think that'll help :wink::lol:

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Well, the letter's gone Special Delivery today - should be with them by 1pm tomorrow :D Bring it on!

 

BTW, noticed a couple of typos and that I'd missed the Bridle Road off the address in the drafts above and added a couple more examples to the cases - so, the final letter (yes, the XXXs were replaced before printing :D ) is below:

 

Alliance & Leicester PLC

Personal Customer Services Centre

Bridle Road

Bootle

Merseyside

GIR 0AA

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXXX – XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES

 

My request

I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied from my account since inception in {month} {year}. I now understand that the regime of “fees” which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit/standing order refusals, unauthorised overdrafts and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore unrecoverable at Common Law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498; the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: Wilson v Love [1896]; Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79; Ford Motor Co v Armstrong [1915]; Bridge v Campbell Discount Co. Ltd [1962]; Murray v Leisureplay [2004].

 

Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. In particular, charges were applied after I entered into transactions without sufficient funds in my account and also when I have gone overdrawn without authorisation. The actual loss is the cost of automatically sending me a computer generated letter. I would respectfully submit that is valued at no more than 50 pence.

 

UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50).

 

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of the bank’s loss in relation to my account. No-one has had to look at my account or telephone me. No one has had to collect anything. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and outwith, the UK).

 

On a separate note, your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account falls within the scope of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under reference to paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 of the said regulations:

‘Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair - 1. Terms which have the object of effect of - (e) requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation’.

 

0n 26 July 2005, the OFT stated that 'a charge is likely to be disproportionately high if it is more than a court would be likely to award if the lender sued the cardholder for breach of contract'. Because your charges include a large profit margin, in addition to actual loss, they are unrecoverable as an unfair term in contract. I believe that your

charges require me to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation for incurring transactions which were ultimately declined by an automated computer system.

 

In addition, it is unfair to require me to subsidise your global debt recovery costs and debt write-off.

 

Your responsibilities

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

What I require

I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a nett total of £XXXX.XX plus £X.XX which you have charged me in unauthorised overdraft interest on the amounts you have taken. Total £XXXX.XX. I request that you refund this amount in full.

 

Targets to resolve this matter

I hope that you will enter into a sincere dialogue with me about this matter and write on the assumption that you will prefer to do this rather than merely respond with standard letters and leaflets.

 

You have 10 working days, from receipt of this letter (i.e. by {day}, {date}), to reply unconditionally accepting my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment.

 

If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a further letter before action allowing a further 10 working days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments.

 

After that will be no further communication from myself and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.

 

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

{name}

 

Will update this thread as & when a reply is received...

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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For once the Royal Mail did me proud - the letter was confirmed on Track & Trace as delivered well before the 1pm guaranteed time - hoorah! :D

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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  • 2 weeks later...

Received my first contact from A&L today:

 

Dear {mcuth}

 

I am writing in response to your recent communication and was very sorry to learn of your disappointment with the service you have received.

 

Thank you for taking the time to highlight your concerns, we are currently looking into the situation and will be writing to you with a more detailed response.

 

In the meantime, I am enclosing a leaflet which explains the steps we will take to handle your complaint.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Leaflet enclosure was the "Your guide to complaints" leaflet, blah blah blah "If you're still not happy with our final response or the update provided by day 56, you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service."

 

Day 56? ROTFLMFAO - not a chance.

 

I'm going to drop them a line by fax today, saying that because the Ombudsman doesn't rule on breach of contract, their standard complaints procedure and the timelines discussed therein are not applicable. Remind them that they have until next Tuesday to respond in full, before my LBA is sent in.....will update with my fax later.

 

BTW, I have the above letter & complaints leaflet scanned if needed?

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Ok, draft of the reminder to be faxed:

Alliance & Leicester PLC

Customer Contact Centre

Bridle Road

Bootle

Merseyside

GIR 0AA

 

By fax to 0151 966 2079

Pages 1 of 1

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER [account number] – [name]

REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES – YOUR REF [ref]

 

Thank you for your letter of 7th March 2006, received today.

 

In my letter of 28th February, 2006, I set out that you had 10 working days from receipt of that letter (i.e. by Tuesday 14th March 2006), to reply unconditionally accepting my request in principle and letting me know a date by which I will receive payment. I also stated that “If you do not respond, or do not respond positively, within this time period, I shall send you a further letter before action allowing a further 10 working days in which to reflect. I believe that these targets are more than sufficient for a large company such as yours with dedicated staff and departments. After that will be no further communication from myself and I shall issue a claim at the expiry of the second deadline.”.

 

In the absence of a satisfactory resolution from yourselves, please note that I will continue to work to this timetable.

 

If we are unable to resolve this issue within this timetable, I am highly doubtful that the Financial Ombudsman Service has the ability to rule on the legalities of liquidated damages & punitive charges (see: Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498; English cases of: Wilson v Love [1896]; Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79; Ford Motor Co v Armstrong [1915]; Bridge v Campbell Discount Co. Ltd [1962]; Murray v Leisureplay [2004]). Also, the Financial Ombudsman Service would be unable to rule on unfair terms of contract (see: Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083), reference paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2).

 

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

{name}

 

What do you reckon? Also nicely sets out my reasoning for not using the Ombudsman, if that's brought up in court, yes?

 

Austin - my progress to date is all contained within this thread - i.e. Sent preliminary letter, only received above acknowledgement, reminder being drafted.

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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So, as of this morning's post, no substantial response from A&L.

Letter Before Action below - being sent by Special Delivery this afternoon:

 

Alliance & Leicester PLC

Customer Contact Centre

Bridle Road

Bootle

Merseyside

GIR 0AA

 

By Royal Mail Special Delivery

 

Dear Sir/Madam

 

ACCOUNT NUMBER XXXXXXXXX – X X XXXXXXXXXXX

REQUEST FOR REFUND OF CHARGES – LETTER BEFORE ACTION

YOUR REF XXXXXX

 

In the absence of a satisfactory reply to my letter of 28th February 2006 and fax of 10th March 2006, I am writing to ask you to refund the charges which you have levied to my account since inception in March 2005. I now understand that the regime of “fees” which you have been applying to my account in relation to direct debit/standing order refusals, unauthorised overdrafts and so forth are unlawful at Common Law, Statute and recent Consumer regulations.

 

I am of the view that your charges represent a penalty and are therefore unrecoverable at Common Law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v. Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498; the House of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the position in English law: e.g. Wilson v Love [1896]; Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor Co Ltd [1915] AC 79; Ford Motor Co v Armstrong [1915]; Bridge v Campbell Discount Co. Ltd [1962]; Murray v Leisureplay [2004].

 

Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. In particular, charges were applied after I entered into transactions without sufficient funds in my account and also when I have gone overdrawn without authorisation. The actual loss is the cost of automatically sending me a computer generated letter. I would respectfully submit that is valued at no more than 50 pence.

 

UK banks have recently given evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50).

 

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable pre-estimate of the bank’s loss in relation to my account. No-one has had to look at my account or telephone me. No one has had to collect anything. Your charges would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example, loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and outwith, the UK).

 

On a separate note, your charges appear to represent an unfair term of contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account falls within the scope of Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under reference to paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 of the said regulations:

‘Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair - 1. Terms which have the object of effect of - (e) requiring any consumer who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation’.

0n 26 July 2005, the OFT stated that 'a charge is likely to be disproportionately high if it is more than a court would be likely to award if the lender sued the cardholder for breach of contract'. Because your charges include a large profit margin, in addition to actual loss, they are unrecoverable as an unfair term in contract. I believe that your charges require me to pay a disproportionately high sum in compensation for incurring transactions which were ultimately declined by an automated computer system.

In addition, it is unfair to require me to subsidise your global debt recovery costs and debt write-off.

 

I would draw your attention to the terms of the contract which you agreed to at the time that I opened my account. It is an implied term of that contract that you would conduct yourselves lawfully and in a manner which complies with UK law.

 

I am frankly shocked that you have operated my account in this way as I had always reposed confidence in your integrity and expertise as my fiduciary.

 

I calculate that, as at today’s date, you have taken a nett total of £1079.00 (note that I have removed the £5.27 in unauthorised overdraft interest as a gesture of goodwill on my part). I require repayment of this amount in full.

 

If you do not fully comply within 10 working days of receipt of this letter (i.e. by Wednesday 29th March 2006), then without further notice I shall begin a claim against you for the full amount, plus interest, plus my costs.

 

I look forward to hearing from you by return.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

 

(name)

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Tick, tock, tick, tock.....7 days and counting - nothing received since the bland acknowledgement of 9th March :D

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Well, after nothing but the blan acknowledgement received 9th March, I received two letters today.... :shock:

 

First, dated 20th March (verbatim, including the poor punctuation & grammar):

Dear {mcuth}

 

I refer to your letter dated 28 February concerning the bank charges that have been raised on your above account.

 

Whilst I have noted your comments on reviewing your account I can confirm that the charges have been correctly applied to your account in accordance with our charging policy. It is with this in mind that I regret I am unable to comply with your request for a refund of these correctly raised charges.

 

Having noted your comments, I must advise that our charges are clearly shown within our literature, they reflect the market and are in line with our competitors. We make no secret of our charges, which are detailed on the reverse of your statement and are contained within the terms and conditions of your account.

 

In accordance with regulatory requirements, I must advise that if I do not hear from you within the next eight weeks our file on this issue will be closed and I am enclosing our leaflet explaining how to progress this matter, either through our internal procedures or, if necessary, via the Financial Ombudsman Service, should you remain dissatisfied.

 

I am very sorry that you have been disappointed with our service on this occasion and trust that we will meet your expectations in future.

 

Yours sincerely

 

[manually signed]

 

{name}

 

*NB - in line with competitors? Hmmm, the Co-Op (my parachute account) "only" charge £19.50 for a bounced DD, whereas A&L charge £34 :wink:

 

Followed by this, dated 21st March (quoting the same reference number):

Dear {mcuth}

 

Thank you for your further correspondence dated 15th March 2006.

 

I can confirm we are looking into the issue you have raised and will send a full response within the next 28 days

 

Yours sincerely

 

[manually signed]

 

{name}

 

Ok, leaving aside the "left hand / right hand" thing, should I respond to this in any way? I'm tempted to reply but, since their letter of 21st March implies a further response (to my LBA of 15th March), I'm also tempted to just let it go until they run out of time. Their 2nd lot of 10 working days doesn't run out until next Wednesday (29th).

 

That said, I have my court docs all drawn up and ready to go anyway (I'm prepared :D ) and am also tempted to just issue a claim right off the bat if that's their final response :twisted: .

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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If it helps I've been through all of this with A&L and their pattern seems not to change. I also received the two conflicting letters, and never have had a letter signed by the same person. I filed claim on 7th March and they were deemed to have received on 9th. Today, the last of their 14 days to acknowledge, they have filed an acknowledgment. They now have until 12th April to file a defence.

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But have you received their defence? You will receive that and an allocation questionnaire before you get the date.

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If it helps I've been through all of this with A&L and their pattern seems not to change. I also received the two conflicting letters, and never have had a letter signed by the same person. I filed claim on 7th March and they were deemed to have received on 9th. Today, the last of their 14 days to acknowledge, they have filed an acknowledgment. They now have until 12th April to file a defence.

 

I think they're using as many stalling tactics as they have available - no doubt they'll file the defence on 6th April :roll:

 

I today have recievd a letter too stating they intend to defend in court, just waiting for court date!

 

Interesting tactics - am sure it'll be a bluff, even if they're not bluffing, we're in a very strong position. Roll on middle next week when I can file my own claim :D

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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Well, no replies received from A&L since the last lot. Being as I'm off work tomorrow, I thought I'd be extra special nice and give them an extra couple of days - before I have the satisfaction of taking a beautifully printed (if I say so myself) N1, spreadsheet, and umpteen pages of statements with charges highlighted down to Swindon County Court. :)

 

Bring it on! :D

 

Cheers

 

Michael

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