Nardone v Abbey, in court today and WON!!!!

[jazzdocs]

I've been waiting for the Abbey to settle since I first started my claim in January 07. They kept playing for time, offered me half, then played for time again. Court date was set for today 4th June but I thought they'd pay up before it got that far but they didn't. Right up to the post man coming today, I thought they would pay up - but no! Imagine my horror when I realised that I definitely would have to attend court. Thanksfully I had all the paper work ready just in case. I went for my appointment at the County Court and guess what! The Abbey didn't turn up. No surprise there. So the judge awarded in my favour!! The Abbey have to pay back all the charges plus the court fee plus travel expenses.

 

For those of you who are still trying, don't give up - don't be worried about going to court, it was scary and I felt unqualified to defend myself but I did it and it felt great! The judge seemed quite stern at first but he admitted that he was playing devil's advocate and was quite nice in the end. He even put my travel expenses on the bill that will be going to the Abbey. If anyone wants to know the sort of things I was asked, just fire away. I'm on top of the world tonight and dead proud of myself for not giving up.

 

I won, I won, I won!!!!

[sammy59]

OMG well done, can't believe you had to go to court.

 

I am waiting for northampton to allocate my local court at the moment and iam starting to do my court bundle just in case, iam panicking enough about that never mind court.

 

How lond after abbey defended did you get your court date, did the judge ask you to explain any of that hard stuff you just print out for the court bundle

[Lula]

oooo WELL DONE and congratulations, please, tell us everything!!! What did the judge ask you, what court were you in? details details, what did he say about shabbey?

[kev2b3]

congratulations, please tell us the sort of things the judge asked you.

[reka]

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S ! ! ! well done

 

I am in court on thursday so i would really like to know what happened from when you went into the room, did you have to run through you case, or did you just say as the abbey are not there to defend you request in your favour. I have no idea what to expect or do when i walk into the room.

[cassie2006]

CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS CONGRATULATIONS

 

Cassie

 

 

 

(sorry smilies not working on my pc)

[bungleboy]

BRILLIANT!! WELL DONE!!

 

wHEN YOU SAY BUNDLE?? WHAT IS THAT? DO YOU MEEN ALL THE LETTERS THAT HAS BEEN SENT TO THEM? pLEASE CAN SOMEBODY ANSWER THIS FOR ME? 2 WEEKS AGO ABBEY SENT ME A LETTER TO SAY THAT THEY WERE SORRY THAT IM DISSAPOINTED WITH THEIR SERVICE.

 

THEY WILL LOOK INTO MY COMPLAINT AND COME BACK TO ME WITHIN 8 WEEKS!!

 

I CALLED THEM YESTERDAY TO SAY THAT THIS TIME SCALE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, BUT THEY TELL ME THAT 8 WEEKS IS WHAT THEY ARE GIVEN??

 

i WAS HOPING TO SEND MY N1 FORM TODAY AS ITS BEEN 16 DAYS SINCE I REQUESTED MY MONEY BACK..

 

ANY ADVICE?

 

AND....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cassie2006]

Bubgle you need to read this.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/52494-read-now-if-you.html

 

Cassie

[Janet-M]

CONGRATULATIONS

 

Can we please ask you to fill in our survey and consider a donation

 

 

 

you should try for a wasted costs order now

[glad]

CONGRATULATIONS:-) :-)

 

Well done to you especially having to face the judge.Please tell us what you were asked.

 

Enjoy your money.

Glad

[jazzdocs]

BRILLIANT!! WELL DONE!!

 

wHEN YOU SAY BUNDLE?? WHAT IS THAT? DO YOU MEEN ALL THE LETTERS THAT HAS BEEN SENT TO THEM? pLEASE CAN SOMEBODY ANSWER THIS FOR ME? 2 WEEKS AGO ABBEY SENT ME A LETTER TO SAY THAT THEY WERE SORRY THAT IM DISSAPOINTED WITH THEIR SERVICE.

 

THEY WILL LOOK INTO MY COMPLAINT AND COME BACK TO ME WITHIN 8 WEEKS!!

 

I CALLED THEM YESTERDAY TO SAY THAT THIS TIME SCALE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE, BUT THEY TELL ME THAT 8 WEEKS IS WHAT THEY ARE GIVEN??

 

i WAS HOPING TO SEND MY N1 FORM TODAY AS ITS BEEN 16 DAYS SINCE I REQUESTED MY MONEY BACK..

 

ANY ADVICE?

 

AND....CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

First of all, once you have filed your claim, ignore any letters from the bank and let the court guide you. These are just holding letters - the banks send them out to try and put you off and to drag things out. Unless your bank send you a letter saying they are offering you the full amount, then don't correspond with them if you have filed a claim.

 

The way it happens is, you file your claim with the court, the court then contacts the bank, then the bank tries to put you off. Its all a game at this point. But once your claim is filed it is in the system so you should only corresond with the court after that - at some point, and I know because this has happened with friends - the bank will make an offer. If it isn't what you want, ignore it and trust the courts process. If you are happy with it then confirm with the bank but don't inform the court until the money is your account.

 

In my case I had a lot of holding letters. The Abbey kept putting me off saying they were sorry I had the need to complain but they needed time to look into it. This is rubbish because they had all my statements. That's why it took from January till now for it to come to an end. But I didn't correspond with the bank at any time after filing my claim.

[jazzdocs]

oooo WELL DONE and congratulations, please, tell us everything!!! What did the judge ask you, what court were you in? details details, what did he say about shabbey?

 

I'll tell you it all , now that I've had a good night's sleep. I was in Lancaster Crown Court. When I arrived the clerk of court askd me who I was defending. I felt so inadequate having to say I was defending myself. Then a man in suit, carrying a briefcase came in. I was wetting myself. I thought he must be from the Abbey. He sat down and got papers out of his brief case so I did the same. When he started writing notes I did the same. Thought I should look like I knew what I was doing. The clerk then asked the man if he was respresenting the Abbey. Imagine my relief when he said no!

 

Then I was called into the judges chambers. The judge was just a man in a suit. His first comment was that he couldn't believe I was there and that the Abbey hadn't just paid up. Good start I thought. then he asked me why I thought they should pay me the money back. I then started to feel like I was being cross examined because he kept saying to me "if you've gone overdrawn then you've had money from the bank that didn't belong to you". I had to justify why my account had sometimes gone overdrawn i.e. not transferring money from one account to another in time for DDs to go out. I also pointed out to the judge that with my business account, the bank actually charge me to pay money in, now who wrong is that. I'm lending them my money and they charge me for the pleasure. The judge and I both agreed that its easier and cheaper to keep your money under your bed. But of course we wouldn't do that. He then asked me what I thought the banks should be charging their customers. I said .42p because I'd heard someone say that on a programme before Christmas.

 

In my bundle I had everything that the court had asked for and that I had had to send them before the hearing.

1. Particulars of claim

2. list of charges and dates they occured (I included interest in this)

3. any letters from the bank (I included the one that had an offer of half of the money)

 

I also took along stuff that I had printed out from the BBC web site. The good old BBC has loads of stuff on there because it has all been in the news. You can print it straight off. And because it was all headed BBC news I thought this would make a good impression. I was able to refer to it in the hearing.

 

The judge then became very lovely and said he was just playing devil's advocate. He said because the Abbey hadn't turned up he was going to award in my favour. Imagine my relief. All in all I was in there for about 15 minutes. It is recorded, I could see the levels going up and down on the recorder as I was speaking. It is all very scary, but the thing to remember is you are speaking to a man in a suit, in an office. He doesn't wear a wig, you are not sitting in the docks.

 

If you have to go to court, be brave and rmember that you are asking for what is yours. At the end of it all, the judge kept saying that he couldn't believe the Abbey had let it get as far as court. He said that they always settle on the morning of the court date at the very latest, but more often than not they pay up a few days before.

[jazzdocs]

OMG well done, can't believe you had to go to court.

 

I am waiting for northampton to allocate my local court at the moment and iam starting to do my court bundle just in case, iam panicking enough about that never mind court.

 

How lond after abbey defended did you get your court date, did the judge ask you to explain any of that hard stuff you just print out for the court bundle

 

No, I couldn't believe that I had to go to court either. I felt traumatised, but it was great in the end. I felt like dancing when I came out. I didn't receive my court date until 4 weeks ago. I half expected the Abbey to pay up within that 4 weeks, but of course they didn't. Even up till yesterday morning, the morning of the court date, I thought the post man would bring a letter from the Abbey. When a letter didn't arrive I thought "this is it, I've got to go to court". The annoying thing is, you need to get your bundle together for court just in case, like me, you have to go. Chances are it won't get that far and you;ll have wasted your time and energy getting everything together - but it si worth getting everything together because at least it keeps everything fresh in your mind. I spent days trying to rehearse what I would need to say and do if I had to go to court. It ends up making you feel quite stressed. But well worth it.

[jazzdocs]

On the survey what does DPA stand for? And on the drop down menu for the stage, do I put 6 or 7. It went to court but the bank didn't turn up so do I put 7? And for customer service, does this mean from the bank, the court or who/what? I don't quite understand sorry.

[glad]

Hi Jazzdocs

Thanks for posting what happened.I am at Lancaster court and was starting to panic because of the one that had been thrown out the other week.It was really good to read what you have posted and I now feel empowered to go all the way .WELL DONE YOU. :)

 

Glad

[20kplus]

Congrats!

I am due in my local county court on Monday 11th June...I have been given judgment by defualt as NatWest didn't even respond to the online claim. BUT 3 days after judgment was given to me their solicitors entered a plee for 'judgment to be set aside'.

 

I'm nervous that they will be granted time to launch a 'defenc' despite the fact the ONLY reason they have given fro failing to launch a defence ontime is that the documents were not forwarded to the correct department within NatWest ontime!!!!!!

 

any advice on how to convince the judge he/she should uphold the judgment????

 

20kplus.

[sowerby17]

Well done you.Abbey should be fined for not turning up.

[andypal]

Well done you.Abbey should be fined for not turning up.

 

Hi Sowerby17. I agree with you on that. Abbey should be fine for not turning up. The amount of cases being served in court and they have not showed up should tell all judges that abbey are not interested, they have done wrong by charging excessive bank charges and defineitely impose HIGH fines to them as they are clogging up the court system.

 

Andy

[jazzdocs]

Congrats!

I am due in my local county court on Monday 11th June...I have been given judgment by defualt as NatWest didn't even respond to the online claim. BUT 3 days after judgment was given to me their solicitors entered a plee for 'judgment to be set aside'.

 

I'm nervous that they will be granted time to launch a 'defenc' despite the fact the ONLY reason they have given fro failing to launch a defence ontime is that the documents were not forwarded to the correct department within NatWest ontime!!!!!!

 

any advice on how to convince the judge he/she should uphold the judgment????

 

20kplus.

 

Sounds like they're playing for time in the hope you'll be put off.

I had a form back from the court saying the Abbey were going to defend themselves in court and it was signed by their solicitor. I hope it goes ok for you. Main thing is not to give up.

[Bookworm]

On the survey what does Data Protection Act stand for? And on the drop down menu for the stage, do I put 6 or 7. It went to court but the bank didn't turn up so do I put 7? And for customer service, does this mean from the bank, the court or who/what? I don't quite understand sorry.

 

D P A = Data Protection Act, when you ask for your statements back (some don't if they already have them)

 

Go for 7, yeah. ;-)

 

Customer service, from the bank. (Not from us, we know we're great! )

 

Thank you, and VERY well done.

[bungleboy]

HELP!!

 

I have just spoken to abbey, and they slammed the phone down on me!! They have told me that I have not given them the 8 weeks that they are allowed for my copmlaint...then bang! down went the phone!!

 

I have given them 16 days to look into this copmlaint...is this long enough?

 

Any advice ?

[paultalbot]

Hi all,

This is my first post.

I am also in the court process and my claim will be put before District Judge Cooke in Birmingham.I have no court date as yet just a request for evidence before the 4th July.Is there anyone who can give some advice as to what I should be doing next and is there anyone willing to follow me through this.

May be I met win this one:?:

[reka]

HELP!!

 

 

I have given them 16 days to look into this copmlaint...is this long enough?

 

Any advice ?

 

Stick to your timetable not theirs, i personally would avoid any telephone conversation with them. If you must communicate, a letter is best as then you have an accurate record of what has been said and more for your court bundle if you get to that stage.

[jazzdocs]

Now that the judge says they have to pay, I'm just waiting for the cheque to arrive. they can't pay it into my accounts because I closed them both last year after trying to reason with them over charges. They were so awful and unhelpful, and more than anything obstructive and rude, so i thought stuff this - I've been with them since 1974 but I'd had enough and closed all my accounts. As soon as they cough up I'll fill in the survey.

[jazzdocs]

HELP!!

 

I have just spoken to abbey, and they slammed the phone down on me!! They have told me that I have not given them the 8 weeks that they are allowed for my copmlaint...then bang! down went the phone!!

 

Any advice ?

 

Where is the rule written that they're allowed 8 weeks? nonsense. I gave them 4 weeks and said if they ahdn't paid up i was filing my claim. They wrote to me saying they were looking into it and that it would take time. I ignored this letter and filed my claim, leaving the rest to the court process. I didn't have anymore contact with the bank after that.

 

I agree with Reka - it's important that you stick to your timetable and allow the court process to do the rest.