Natiowide ISA. Do we have ANY power at all?

[Deleted User]

I compained to the Nationwide about how they have handled opening my Fixed Rate ISA and the poor commmunications using the Secure Messaging facility on 29 August. The first letter I got was dated 1 August and I received a detailed response from them on 5 September.

They offered me £30 in compensation which I will accept as, apart from phone calls, I shouldn't be out of pocket with regards to interest now they have supposedly sorted out the problems. Although they have another 7 days to deliver the compensation and also an updated Investment Certificate I am waiting for. If not, it will be another complaint.

backfoot

backfoot wrote: »

My tale of woe with Nationwide is familar but has a few variants.ISA transfer started 30/4/08,funds tranferred by 22/5 but no ISA set up.Letter of complaint 30/6/08 not even acknowledged but responded to 22/8/06.They say my account was miscredited (whatever that means?).

Written back to ask :
1.Why the overall delay.
2.Why not resolved in June after I wrote in.
3.Why wasn't the complaint dealt with within 7 days as per their complaint's promise.
4. Why did they write to me with a generic letter in July saying there were delays if they had set something up.
5.Why did they ignore my request for compensation as per FO guidance for inconvenience and distress. I have advised them that their 56 day period is up if they don't resolve it, prior to me referring it all to the FO.

Really for something quite so simple,Nationwide have made an astonishing hash of it all. I am clearly not alone and they should be accountable for this ineptitude with so many customer's funds.It doesn't augur well.

My expectations of Nationwide are now so extremely low and they have not failed to live up to them. Nearly another month has passed following the above complaint. I have today referred the matter to the Financial Ombudsman and their representative was confident it was a case they could take forward on my behalf.

It is astonishing to think that five months of incompetence can arise simply from an ISA transfer. This from an organisation now about to grow larger by taking over two medium sized B.S.'s. What a scarey thought.

backfoot

Just as I got the FSA forms,Nationwide have finally accepted blame for the following.

1. The overall unnaceptable delay.
2. That they miscredited my money to someone elses account. :eek:

3. That they didn't action my first complaint,even though they had it.

4. That this would have helped them discover the miscredit.

5.That they failed to abide by their own complaints process.

They have backdated all interest and offered £75 for distress,inconvenience.

Should I accept or hold out for more?

Milarky

backfoot wrote: »

Just as I got the FSA forms

That should be 'FOS'

They have backdated all interest and offered £75 for distress,inconvenience.

Should I accept or hold out for more?

You either accept their offer or complain to the Ombudsman. They have conceeded the grounds for the mistakes they made. You could complaint to the FOS and it would cost them £450 to allow the Ombudsman to go over their figures (I believe) In any case the Ombudsman will award you something now so your complaint to him/her would be that £75 seems unreasonable and you want them to examine this offer against similar errors in the past. This will delay any award but you have the satisfaction that they (the FOS) agrees the figure is fair - NW are scarcely going to offer less than £75 if you do complain. The tactic is therefore to make a counter offer to NW for settlement of what you think is fair (if not £75) I've no real idea but I suspect you could bump them up £50 if you now set £125 as your terms (because they have an incentive to avoid drawing this out etc)

But don't just take my advice - see what other people here think is possible too.

YorkshireBoy

Milarky wrote: »

But don't just take my advice - see what other people here think is possible too.

I received £325 for a (from memory) 7 week delay, and various other general 'incompetence' issues, although not with Nationwide.

The FOS's Annual Review 2007/08 may give you some pointers...

http://www.fos.org.uk/publications/ar08/dealt.html#ar003

As well as ensuring financial redress, they may also make an award for distress and inconvenience. Where they do make such an award, it's typically between £150 and £500.

If you feel you have a particularly strong case, then the cost to the institution could be somewhere between £600 and £950 in the most severe cases.

There is, of course, the chance they will not agree and reject all or part of your complaint!

Milarky

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

http://www.fos.org.uk/publications/ar08/dealt.html#ar003

Fascinating stuff. Note that only 'current accounts' and 'credit card' scored significantly for the consumer and all other categories are more or less 70:30 in favour of the firms. Would this be just a historic 'blip' too - where complaints on bank charges were going through on the nod before July 2007 - and possibly because CC charges were capped at £12 by OFT before that - leading to a number of back-charging complaints being settled?

It shows (I think) that organisations don't let complaints get to the ombudsman and will settle instead - -so they only fight the strong claims. This doesn't apply with Nationwide, though, if they have made an effective admission (it won't be a formal admission since their offer will be a 'full and final' offer letter from experience)

backfoot

Claim settled for £200. Rejected their offer of £75 and they wouldn't negotiate and sent false information.Collated a case for the FOS and lodged it with them.

NW hit the panic button and asked if a Senior Advisor could speak to me.

It was complete joy to hear them grovel.

The FOS presence really concentrated their mind on what was a cast iron case of complete incompetence.

frivolous_fay

I'm delighted to note that my transfers OUT of Nationwide ISAs have been fantastically quick, compared to transferring in...