Daddy G v Smile

[daddyg]

Hello people,

 

Sent my initial letter, requesting my previous 6 years charges, by recorded delivery on Friday and I've a few questions to prepare for the fight!

 

I was wondering if anyone had successfully claimed interest back from Smile and if this was worth while?

 

Also, I'm in Scotland and am aware of the limited amount that can be gone after through small claims, has this been an issue for anyone?

 

Any help would be greatfully apreciated!

 

G

[daddyg]

Ok, latest update. Royal Mail confirmed that the letter was recieved and signed for on the 2nd (March) so last night I thought I'd send a secure message to see how the SAR request was coming along.

 

This morning I recieved a secure message saying this -

Hello Mr Daddy G

 

We haven't received the letter from you yet. If you reply to this message to confirm you would like this informatipon and you agree to the £10 charge I can start gathering your infomration. Please be aware we have 40 days to action your request from when you confirm the details. You will not recieve past statements as part of the subject acess request.

 

Thanks

 

Tom

 

I replied through secure message saying that the Royal Mail had confirmed delivery of the letter to them and that the letter contained a cheque for the £10. I also stated that as delivery had been confirmed on the 2nd that was the date I would be taking the 40 days to action from.

 

Over to you smile!

[caro]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Scottish side of things as smile usually pay up before the need for court action.

[daddyg]

That's good to hear Caro.

 

The one thing I'm getting a little worried about now is the impact of the OFT ruling. I'm going to be really peed off if I only get half the charges back!

 

Does anyone have any inklings of what Smiles response to the ruling will be?

[Advoc8]

Don't worry about the OFT, for a number of reasons.

 

First of all the OFT 'ruling' will be a report containing a number of conclusions. It does not have the force of law.

 

The OFT credit card report has made no real difference to the thousands of credit card claims that have been made since it was published. The effects it had were that most credit card issuers dropped their fees to £12 and that many claimants got the balance between £12 and the charges they had paid offered to them early on but if the claimant pressed on with their claim they got the full balance back.

 

Smile will probably just amend its templates to take the OFT report into consideration and maybe make offers of refunding the difference. You just grin back at them and carry on if that happens.

[caro]

I agree, the OFT report will make no difference, or at least not for some time to come, although there has been scaremongering about this on some other sites.

[daddyg]

Glad to hear you both think there shouldn't be any problems.

 

I guess I'll be one the first to find out if it does make a difference, as I should be putting my claim in around the same time as the ruling is made public.

 

Fingers crossed Smile stay good to their "ethical" roots and do the decent thing!

[caro]

I wouldn't be too surprised if your claim was settled before the OFT report.

[daddyg]

Ok, here's the latest.

 

After a week and a half, three secure messages and three phone calls (when I was twice told that they couldn't get through to the complaints department dealing with the request because they didn't have a direct line to them and once told that they were "in a meeting" yeah right!) I've finally had a response from Smile about my SAR.

 

Hello Mr Daddy G

 

I've used the Royal Mail link you have provided. Unfortunately it comes up with there is a problem with the reference number.

 

You do have the option of us sending you a print out of all your charges. This is free of charge and takes about a week.

 

Please reply to this message if you would like me to send you this list. If you would like a Subject Access Request you will have to block the cheque you initially sent and resend to:

 

smile

Customer Care Dept

1 Balloon Street

Manchester

M60 4EP

 

 

 

Regards

 

Chris

 

So they're effectively saying they've lost my original letter, which was sent recorded delivery and registered received by the Royal Mail.

 

Anyway, I'm moving house soon and need the cash so I've just asked for the print out. This seems to be what most people have been getting anyway doesn't it? Perhaps I'd have been quicker just asking for this in the first place?

[daddyg]

Well my print out of charges arrived this morning.

 

Totals are Commission = £610 and Fees = £1,198 so a total of £1808. Am I right in thinking that these are the only two things I can claim?

 

We're about to move house so this will come in very handy!

 

I'm going to send my preliminary letter and a duplicate secure message this afternoon. Fingers crossed for a quick resolution, I need that cash!

[caro]

Wha exactly are commission and fees? Does it include bouncing DD's, cheques etc, daily charges for being over OD limit and also the monthly charge for this? Do you know how much interest you paid on the penalties.

 

Are you confident they have included everything that you consider to be unlawful charges?

[daddyg]

The plot thickens...

 

After a more thorough look through the print out I realised that the figures didn't tally up with my statements. Then I noticed that the sort code at the top was mine but the account number was different.

 

They've sent me someone else's charges.:o

 

A quick call to the complaints team (0161 829 5156) and they assure me that they'll get my actual print out off to me today.

 

I guess they're under a wee bit of pressure from the ever growing wave of claims!

 

Caro, Commission refers to all Daily Excess and Service Charges. Fees are charges for bounced DD's etc. Regarding interest, I'm not sure how to work this out from their print out. What have other successful Smile claimants done with regards interest?

[caro]

TBH I think most may not have gone for the interest on the charges, but it can be dealt with using the advanced excel spreadsheet in the bank templates library.

 

What did they tell you to do about the information they sent? This is a clear breach of the Data Protection Act. I hope it doesn't mean that someone else has your private and confidential information. You could report this to the Information Commissioners Office.

[daddyg]

When they realised they'd sent me the wrong sheet they asked me to shred and safely dispose of it immediately.

 

The print out only contains a list of charges with an account number at the top. There's no way to identify who the account belongs to. I don't think anyone has my information as when I spoke to them they were still in the process of compiling it but yes, bit of a boo-boo isn't it.

[daddyg]

Ok, received my actual summary of charges today.

 

Strangely whomever complied this list seems to have switched which charges are referred to as "Fees" and "Commission" resulting in a Fees total of only £15 and a Commission of £1,288.

 

So a total claim for £1,303 went in today.

 

Lets hope things go a bit smoother from here on!

[caro]

Does this seem about right to you?

[Boba Fett]

Weird! My charges came to £1,304 - do you think they are making up the charges?!?!

 

p.s. I got all charges fully refunded after 28 days from Prelim - you will get the same!

 

Ok, received my actual summary of charges today.

 

Strangely whomever complied this list seems to have switched which charges are referred to as "Fees" and "Commission" resulting in a Fees total of only £15 and a Commission of £1,288.

 

So a total claim for £1,303 went in today.

 

Lets hope things go a bit smoother from here on!

[paul738]

i rang smile a few moments ago complianing that my SAR hadnt been action nor had my cheque been cashed even thogh they received my letter at the end of feb. nice bloke there said he would send out a list of all charges immediatly and free of charge. smile seem like one of the easier banks to deal with in this situation. not looking forward to lloyds though! haha

[Boba Fett]

i rang smile a few moments ago complianing that my SAR hadnt been action nor had my cheque been cashed even thogh they received my letter at the end of feb. nice bloke there said he would send out a list of all charges immediatly and free of charge. smile seem like one of the easier banks to deal with in this situation. not looking forward to lloyds though! haha

 

Yes they are very pleasant to deal with throughout. They will take the full 28 days most likely, but be patient and remain civil and you will be couting your cash soon!

 

p.s. All correspondance, including request for payment & LBA was done via "Secure Messages". This saves on postage, and you know 100% the info is received. When sending the Prelim via message, it took 3 messages to include the schedule of charges!

[caro]

I found they didn't always respond to secure messages and I was forever chasing with phone calls. I had thought it would be quicker but it wasn't. In the end I just did a prelim and LBA and got paid with no problem.

[paul738]

Yes they are very pleasant to deal with throughout. They will take the full 28 days most likely, but be patient and remain civil and you will be couting your cash soon!

 

p.s. All correspondance, including request for payment & LBA was done via "Secure Messages". This saves on postage, and you know 100% the info is received. When sending the Prelim via message, it took 3 messages to include the schedule of charges!

 

i've got the name of a bloke in the complaints dept that sems to be well versed in dealing with this situation so im going to carry on dealing with him over the phone. i shall send in the LBA on secure message and/or fax and ask him to action it as he proved very helpful when my SAR seemed to go missing and my SM wasnt answered. as you say boba, being very civil seems to get you far with smile.

[daddyg]

Smile replied to my preliminary letter on Monday (sorry about the delay in posting but I've been busy with other stuff)

 

Hello Mr Daddy G

 

Thanks for letting me know about your problem. I'm really sorry to hear you've had trouble with the charges on your account.

 

This is just to say I'll be looking into your complaint and I'll get back to you as soon as I can with a full response. Please be aware this may take upto 4 weeks in line with the Financial Services Authority regulations, although we aim to respond much faster.

 

Thanks again

 

Shirley

 

Needless to say I shall be sticking to my original 14 day time-frame before sending my LBA. I'm assuming that it's 14 working days?

 

Since reading Boba Fett's posts and the whole palava over them losing my recorded delivery SARS request I too have been conducting all communication though secure messages, and it seems to be working fine.

 

Boba, I'd noticed that quite a few people seem to have similar totals for their charges and I think this is quite telling. I think it shows how easy it is to fall into the cycle of repeat charges with smile.

 

Anyway, fingers crossed and I should have it all back soon!

[Advoc8]

I'm assuming that it's 14 working days?

 

Only if you want to be generous. Giving 14 calendar days is fine.

[daddyg]

Sent my LBA yesterday and today I received this secure message -

 

Hello Mr Daddy G

 

I'm sorry you've not had a reply to your complaint as of yet. I appreciate that you may have given us 14 days to resolve your complaint.

 

However, we work to timescales set by the Financial Services Authority. We are allowed up to 4 weeks to reply to your initial complaint. However, law allows us a maximum of 8 weeks to respond to your complaint. If we need anymore time after the initial 4 weeks we will let you know either by secure message or written letter.

 

I'm sorry if you feel that 4 or 8 weeks is too long to wait. However, due to the number of complaints that we have received recently we have to work them in order.

 

I'm sorry if this means you have to wait. However, if we were to put your complaint before others it would not be fair and lead to customers waiting longer than necessary.

 

Regards

 

Jackie Burgess

smile Complaints Team

 

Where do I stand here? I'm moving house in around a month and could really do with the money now. Do I really have to wait for potentially 8 weeks?

[caro]

Stick to your own timetable, not theirs. 13 days until you do a court claim I believe.