Spitting blood: My complacency with Abbey may have cost me one month’s salary

[drive]

I decided to get the ball rolling and claim back charges from Abbey Bank, Abbey MBNA Credit Card, Nat West Credit Card and GE Capital Finance for a total of £7.5k excluding interest. The speed of response from each orgainisation has varied immensely.

 

Abbey Bank Account Claim - £4900

I sent an initial request for refund on 10.04.07 and within the 14 day period received a standard response from Abbey's Complaints department stating that they would need 8 weeks to investigate.

 

24.04.07. I sent the standard Letter Before Action, giving them 14 days to respond.

 

25.04.07 - I received a letter from Abbey kindly asking for another four weeks to fully review my case.

 

Fair enough, I thought. Best to exhaust all options before proceeding to court. Plus I needed to time read up all the advice given on this site.

 

01/06/07- SPITTING BLOOD!! I checked my bank account balance online and found that my £2000 overdraft had been removed, without any written warning. NONE!

 

I didn't find out about the removal of my overdraft until after close of business today. I called Abbey's call centre this evening, who have referred me to their Debt Management department so that I can discuss the repayment of my overdraft tomorrow. If they do not agree to reinstate my overdraft in the morning, I will have unpaid standing orders, direct debits, pending card payments and regular transfers, which will result in more charges from multiple organisation AND not to mention no money at all for a whole month. I do not even have the funds to take them to court now!! They have made sure of that. &^%$#!!

 

I did not complete the set up of a parachute bank account before this process so my entire months salary due to be credited to my account on Wednesday will be swallowed up by the absence of the overdraft. It's my fault, I should have arranged for my salary to go into another account as soon as I had instigated the reclaim of charges process.

 

PLEASE BE WARNED by my mistake. Abbey are most definitely Shabby Scabies. My overdraft was not due for renewal for another five months yet. I am certain this has happened because I have asked for my charges back. I am so annoyed, if they had given me one month notice, I could have arranged to redirect payments etc etc

 

Make sure you follow all the guidelines on this site. Set up another bank account first. Transfer all standing orders and payment commitments beforehand.

 

I will give them the 8 weeks they've asked for to review my case but this is it now. Total WAR! They have totally messed me up again and I will not give up until I have every single last penny from them back, without fail.

[bonnie0852]

Hi Drive, no advice here but just wanted 2 say i can totally empathise with how mad u r at them, its disgusting!!!!

im sure someone on here will read this and give u some help to shove it right back at them!!!!

gd luck

bonnie

[Robdblynd]

They've had enough time, if you've got your spreadsheet done then I'd send the Letter Before Action and as soon as you can afford it, get a claim filed. If you delay they think they've won, you've backed off so their problem is solved.

 

Don't let them intimidate you.

[path_finder]

They did a similar thing to me, I set up a parachute account and started paying my wages into another account. When i sent my SAR I also got a letter to say that they were calling in my o/d facility.

[drive]

Thanks to all for the encouragement and feedback. It is very reassuring to know that others are out there with similar experiences, who are either at the same stage or have succeeded further. I am most annoyed at the fact that they didn't even bother to inform me that they were taking the overdraft away first.

[Lula]

I think that you may have some sort of recourse to action here, they HAVE to give you 28 days notice, its in the T&C's

[naffaz]

Hi

 

Not sure if this is what has happened to my husband. Online his available balance is way different to what it ought to be, so I googled the problem and apparently Abbey have been having some sort of technical problem.

My husband also spoke to Abbey who seemed to know about the problem, although sometimes you do get the impression that they are just trying to get you off the phone.

 

He's calling back this morning to see what the problem is - maybe his o.d. facility has been removed, maybe it really is a technical fault.

[atj26589]

Drive

 

Which number did you ring? I have just rung 0845 9 724 724 and received a different answer to you. Basically along the lines of "there are aware there is a problem" I was then asked how much my overdraft was and it was reinstated over the phone.......

 

A similar thing happened last year (I think about the same time) where O/D's didn't transfer over automatically.

[drive]

I called the usual number 0845 9 724 724. I will call them now and try to stay calm! They have also given me Debt Management's telephone number

[atj26589]

I used menu option 6 and then 4 if it is any help

[drive]

You are right. Abbey are experiencing technical difficulties and they expect the overdraft system to update this afternoon. I have been told that my overdraft should be reinstated in a few hours time. I didn't bother with the debt management department. Let's hope I don't get charged for any transactions made whilst the overdraft was removed.

 

This is a lesson and a warning for me! I will be setting up a parachute account, today.

[cassie2006]

Drive

 

They probably WILL withdraw your O/D. They did mine BUT they HAVE to give you either 28 or 30 days notice (can't remember which).

Hopefully you'll have your other account up and running by then.

 

They're real b**ggers:mad:

 

Good Luck

Cassie

[drive]

My overdraft has not been updated. Their systems have gone down now. My payment for grocery shopping which was due to be delivered this afternoon has been cancelled as the payment was declined. The service you get from Abbey really depends on which call centre you get routed to. I have just been advised that the call operative I spoke to earlier this morning could have manually reinstated my overdraft. Now I have to wait for their systems to come back online (hopefully today but no promises) It is frustrating. I look forward to taking my business elsewhere. After 20 years with them I have had enough!