Bank-smart now charging me!

It makes mine and my husband's blood boil too, they are just a bunch of rip-off merchants!!! When I paid the £100 they claimed we owed them, I thought that was it and he said he never wanted to see another Bank-Smart letter in our house ever again!! We both felt physically sick when the £480 invoice arrived!


This company are a joke - for some time they have not offered a telephone service, now they do but they are "all busy", fair enough, but when you are supposedly given a chance to leave a message, an American female voice comes on saying "The person at extension 101 is not available and this mailbox cannot accept any more messages!"


Shocking beyond belief, glad to see they are being investigated.


Agnes Jane Steinson

Dear Sirs


Having read some of the posts on here, I am writing to say that I too am disgusted with Bank-Smart. I am sure I have posted on here before about them but here is a quick recap.


Several years ago (perhaps around 2007 but I can't remember) I engaged their services to try and claim back PPI from a range of credit cards etc that I had. Ever since then they have done nothing but repeatedly ask for paperwork which I no longer have, ask my husband and I to complete forms time and time again with information they should already have (they claim the lender needs an update of the information every 6 months or so!!) A lot of their questions we can't remember the answers to as it is so long ago, but they won't allow "Don't know" or "Can't remember" as a response and expect you to contact them for help before returning the forms! However, for some time they did not offer a telephone advice service, now they do but they may as well not, as they are only available 10 am til 4 pm, ok I get that, but when I phoned them this American voice came on saying to leave a message as they were all busy, then it said, after the beep when I could supposedly leave a message, "The person on extension 101 is not available" and the line went dead! Shocking customer service!


In 2012 they led me to believe that Welcome Finance owed me £10k in a PPI refund and they could claim it back for me. I instructed them to go ahead. However no refund was forthcoming, just more requests for paperwork, and when I contacted the lender direct they said they did not owe me any refund.


Now, to cap it all, Bank-Smart phoned our house yesterday and left a message, then today we received a letter billing us for the £480 we supposedly still owe them. I recently paid them £100 and thought that was it; they have apparently done work on our behalf but as far as we see they have done nothing to assist us, they are just stressing us out! We are thinking of seeking legal advice, or going to the Citizens Advice Bureau, but first I thought I would contact yourselves as I have seen several complaints on your website about the company, and I even saw a post that stated the CMC (I think that's who it was) is looking to get Bank-Smart shut down.


My husband and I are really scared in case Bank-Smart try to take us to court for their fees, that is the last thing we want, but I do not intend contacting or paying them, and we just want the whole matter finished with!! Wish we had never started with them.


Please can you advise us on what to do next as this is ruining our lives!!!


Thankyou.


Agnes Jane Steinson

I have just read some of the previous replies that were posted before I posted tonight's message. Yes the £100 and the £480 are "fees for breach of contract"! I am tempted to parcel up all the paperwork I have from Bank-Smart, or scan it, and send it to Money Saving Expert for their perusal but I don't know if that would help. My husband said tonight when he saw what we received today that we should just pay them, but having seen stuff on here about them I am reluctant to do so!!! They really are a joke and I will not be phoning or contacting them; yet as I said in my earlier post tonight, we are scared of being threatened with court action and feel we need to take advice from this website, a solicitor or Citizens Advice Bureau! And I am tempted to tell them that I will be taking advice because of what I have seen on here; I will have a look at the link you posted to their Terms and Conditions.


Any further thoughts please? Thanking you in anticipation.


Agnes Jane Steinson

Not yet but I will certainly do it soon as this is driving us insane!! Thanks.

It's your only course of action really.

Note that Martin sold this site some years ago and isn't likely to "take on" cases for the forum users, neither are the website owners.

I have tried to make an appointment with CAB but could only leave a message on their voicemail, this was about a week ago and nobody has returned my call yet.

I e-mailed Bank-Smart today requesting my £100 back and telling them exactly what I think (yet again!!), I know they tried to phone my mobile earlier but I rejected the call!

What on earth to do now........