Advice Needed - NOT BANK CHARGES RELATED

[frostiecuk]

Sorry for posting this in the BANK CHARGES section, but I dont see another forum relating to Banking Issues. If there is one, then I guess a Mod will move my post accordingly.

 

The issue I have with Abbey relates to fraudulent activity that took place in the 1st week of March 2007. Despite an ongoing battle, nothing has been refunded to me, I am being charged for being overdrawn and missing out on interest owed to me. This totals over £1500 now, which to me, is a fair chunk of cash and is delaying any holidays I had planned this year etc.

 

I have created a website (Welcome at Abbey National - My experience of Abbey’s customer service) and have also emailed the CEO directly after exhausting all other channels/processes. I am now wondering the best way to get exposure to my individual case and wondered if anyone had any ideas or suggestions?

 

The site itself is safe from any liable or slander proceedings as everything is factually based and can be proven in court if needs be. But I am simply running out of ideas and losing a lot of hair at the same time

 

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated, and again, sorry if this post is in the wrong section.

[alexted]

Have a look at http://www.saynoto0870.com - there are alternative direct phone numbers listed there for the various departments at Abbey. I don't know if it will save you time on hold (and more hair loss!) but might be worth a try. Good luck!

[chrysalis]

oh. my. god...

 

This sounds *exactly* like something that's happened to me (and why I'm having a look round the forums!)

 

I noticed some fraudulent activity on my debit card to the tune of £200 at the end of April this year, had my card cancelled and went through all sorts of hoops just to get a new one (resulting in my writing a four page complaint letter - so much went wrong)

 

Today it has been 41 days since they got my claim for getting this money back. I was told to go to the branch to fill out a fraud form "because it's quicker" in fact, the complaints department aren't even sure that it was done.

 

I have spent literally *hours* on the phone, either listening to the engaged tone or on hold (one time for an hour, followed by a recorded message saying "this office is now closed"). I now don't bother with the fraud number, and go straight to the complaints dept, and have phoned them several times, all they do is apologise, tell me the department is busy, and they'll chase it up for me. Nothing has come of that, and they tell me there's nothing else they can do.

 

Thanks to the most incompetent and disgusting customer "service" I have ever experienced, I now refuse to use phonebank. I have been lied to, patronised, insulted, and literally been told it's my fault. I am sick of speaking to people whose grasp of English is so poor, they can only repeat what is on a script, rather than answer the question.

 

I feel really sorry for anyone who banks with Abbey and has fraud on their debit card. I am supposed to be going away at the end of the month - a trip I've had planned for months - and it may not happen now because of this. If I can help in any way with your fight against Abbey, please PM me. They've been an absolute nightmare to deal with.

[LS123]

I had the same issue with the Halifax - I noticed a fraudulent transaction back in January and despite numerous phone calls and letters to their fraud dept nothing was ever done. I filled in a claims form with the FO at the beginning of May and it was sorted and the money back in my account within 3 weeks

[chrysalis]

Hi, LS123, do you by any chance have a link or address?

 

I've had a quick google, and everything seems to be about card fraud prevention (bit late for that!)

 

cheers

[LS123]

Here you go, I filled in the claims form on-line and then printed it off and posted it with all the copy letters that I had sent and never had any replies to, and also a copy of my statement showing the transaction.

 

I had an initial reply back from them saying that there were very busy etc and it would take a few weeks to investigate my claim and then within a couple of weeks I had a letter from Halifax to say that the account had been refunded.

 

 

our complaints procedure and how to complain

[chrysalis]

ah, thank you!

[chrysalis]

UPDATE:

 

This morning I tried again, thought I'd give them another try and tell them that I intended to contact the FO. I said that i couldn't believe that it was taking so long. The woman I spoke to said that Shabbey's card services are in the middle of being relocated to Madrid, and that's why so many problems are happening.

 

Obviously this isn't the customer's fault, and it seems to be horribly mis-managed if this is the case.

 

She said to me that there was no point in trying to call Card Fraud on my behalf, as the staff used the same number as customers and she'd just be on hold forever.

 

Pathetic...