krakan vs HSBC

[krakan]

Right.

 

Held an account with Shanghai's finest since I was 13, and have been royally shafted in the charges sense for most of that.

 

Saw the light in the last few years when I realised that a polite letter (with reference to the automated nature of all their 'decisions') usually saw a refund. Now I'm out to level the playing field again for good, because there's a load of rubbish I wasn't informed enough to complain about at the time. Now I have a job, the charges and the worries have stopped, it's time to deal with what's gone on before..

 

First off then, krakan's DPA letter regarding his statements and lists of charges. It's fairly standard insofar as it's very close to the template from the library.

 

 

Please supply me with a complete list of transactions and charges relating to my bank account since January 2000. This includes a list of what the charges were in monetary terms and what the charges were for. Alternatively, a complete set of bank statements for that period will be acceptable.

 

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my banking business with you.

 

If you are unable to supply data relating to manual intervention because there has been no such manual intervention then please be kind as to confirm this in your response to this request.

 

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10. You have 40 days in which to comply. Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me, then I shall be reclaiming them, and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA subject access request fee.

 

If there is specific information which you require in order to satisfy yourself as to my identity, please let me know by return. However please note that the above address is the one which you normally use to communicate my private business to me and which you have hitherto found to be acceptable.

I would be happy to collect the Data from my local branch

 

Obviously, you guys are busy enough without holding my hand but have I done that correctly? Provided I haven't, y'know, accidentally inferred that I want them to take my money and burn it then I shall send it out on Thursday 17th May, and will update as things progress..

 

an 'OK to Launch' would be most appreciated from anyone who's done similar:)

 

Thanks guys,

 

krakan

[Spiceskull]

I would suggest removing the following:

Furthermore, if I discover that you have levied disproportionate penalties against me, then I shall be reclaiming them, and also reclaiming the enclosed £10 DPA subject access request fee.

Requesting this information is an absolute right in law, and your reasons for the request are none of their goddam' business. Additionally, if they see the words 'refund request' they may send your request off to a different department, which could slow things down somewhat.

 

Additionally, some banks have been asking customers to provide the dates/charges that they are interested in, again, another stalling tactic.

 

Regarding the fee - if you are requesting a service (which you are) they are entitled to the (in my mind somewhat derisory) statutory fee.

 

Apart from that it's fine, so OK to launch.

 

Good luck.

[krakan]

Comments duly noticed and letter modified accordingly..

 

Off to PO now, thanks:)

[Spiceskull]

Bon chance.

[krakan]

Right, finally today got a reply from those lovely people from Shanghai...

 

Having had a look around some other threads I see that I'm not the first to get this letter, but aside from the usual stuff (which includes them saying they'll waive the £10 fee and are returning my cheque) they included the paragraph others have seen:

 

Although many of our systems are automated, a "manual intervention" by HSBC staff may be required in a vaiety of situations including: account opening, dealing with correspondence or telephone calls, when deposits or withrawals are made over the counter at our branches and from time to time during account administration

It strikes me as deliberately obtuse, clearly I didn't want a overview on the subject of Manual Interventions for christ's sake, any more than I wanted a short precis on what is meant by Transactions and Charges. I was asking in a DPA SAR letter for the love of god, obviously I wanted information about manual interventions pertaining to my account.

 

I am planning to reply to Ian Shepherd requesting that he furnish me with specifics of any Manual Interventions relating to my account. They've a little under a month to comply now, I assume that if I explain that the second half of his letter missed the point, can I mention that the 40 day deadline is still counting down?

 

Encouraging though, at least I'm getting somewhere now and I look forward to getting the statements so I can start adding things up..

[Spiceskull]

To be honest - I wouldn't waste your breath replying to the letter. You have made a request, given them a deadline, they know EXACTLY what your request involves...

 

It's just a matter of waiting for the postman now...

[krakan]

Righty ho, all's moving along nicely now isn't it..

 

Statements eventually arrived, all well within the limit, all present and accounted for. Had a look through them and as far as I can see/count/highlight I appear to be £498 worse off that I ought to be. This is, satisfyingly, pretty much exactly what my present overdraft is

 

Have taken the prelim letter from the library page, and slightly altered it to fit my interest-free-ness. Have included a list of the transactions I'm disputing, and will, all being well, be posting it first thing tomorrow morning.

 

Before I do, a quick question: Where is the best place to send it to? My 'local' branch is actually a sub-branch, and my Sort Code shows up as belonging to the main branch nearby (well, 15 miles away..). Should I send it to one or both of those, or to head office daaan saaarf?

 

Thanks for the continued help folks!

[krakan]

Right, finally had a letter back from HSBC with a letter offering settlement for a shade under what I was asking for.. Between you and me, I think there may have been a couple of charge listed in my schedule which had actually already been refunded, after I started complaining as and when they happened.

 

Since there is no adverse CRA information associated with these guys, I have no benefit in getting any sort of judgement against them (aside from the good feeling, but there are plenty of other banks to be getting that from!) so I'm going to accept this offer and move on..

 

Mods, if you're still watching, this can be moved to the success thread.

 

I'll fill in the survey presently..

 

Thanks to all that helped - see you in my other threads perhaps:)

[krakan]

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