Got defrauded and now ripped off by Abbey - please help!!

freebird65

To cut a long and tragic saga short, my bank account was defrauded to the tune of £6K in April (OUCH!). Now instead of getting proactive and helping me sort this out, Abbey have seemingly done everything in their power to make this the ultimate nightmare. Fraud never answered the phone. Despite all promises to the contrary, they failed ALL my direct debits setting off a chain of charges, the complaints dept have consistently ignored all my calls since May against all their guidelines, my old a/c was stopped and direct debits moved over to a new one in June....but they set them up as Bill Payments so they failed all over again, 3RD JUNE closure indicator on old account was (after ca 25 visits to the branch from me) FINALLY dealt with on NOVEMBER 7TH!!! After all this they even insisted I had to bring my passport in (for the 25th time) to prove who I was!!! I have personally had to call every company to beg for understanding and for my mortgage etc not to default, have run up huge bills and to date and all my local branch manager has said is "Oh well, we're very busy". And I still haven't had any of my charges repaid either! I'm VERY angry and, having been told by the local branch manager that I'm not entitled to complain to the FSA, intend to do just that. What I really need is some help and advice as I have no idea how to go after them properly - surely they can't get away with this kind of treatment....7 MONTHS????? HELP!

YorkshireBoy

This could have been (largely) sorted out back in June - by using Abbey's published complaints procedure...

http://www.abbey.com/customer_satisfaction.htm

Step 1 - Contact the department you have the "issue" with.
Step 2 - They'll acknowledge your complaint in writing within 5 days.
Step 3 - They'll "deal with it" within 4 weeks.
Step 4 - If they can't, they'll pass it to their Customer Satisfaction Centre (CSC).
Step 5 - If their CSC can't give you a "final response" within 8 weeks of the original complaint you can write to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

As it is now, you may have to start at step 1 if you want to "formalise" your complaint.

Good luck.

PS: Some people may be offended by the expletive in your post. You might want to choose another one!

freebird65

Oops sorry - will remove it immediately!! I've been through the above procedure...as such. The problem is that the complaints department aren't acknowledging my complaint! And the customer satisfaction center tell me to go to complaints. I'm now writing to the Ombudsman since I'm getting zero help anywhere else. Needless to say they won't have me as a customer anymore when this is sorted out!

Loretta

freebird65 wrote:

Oops sorry - will remove it immediately!! I've been through the above procedure...as such. The problem is that the complaints department aren't acknowledging my complaint! And the customer satisfaction center tell me to go to complaints. I'm now writing to the Ombudsman since I'm getting zero help anywhere else. Needless to say they won't have me as a customer anymore when this is sorted out!

It seems to me that you have done everything possible in a 'normal' way and ave got nowhere.

I think what I would do would be to write a list of all this dates, times etc, have a copy of all your letters and theirs (if they have sent any!) go into your branch as soon as it opens, tell a member if staff that you want to see the manager or whoever and that you are going to sit there until you are seen and the matter is sorted. Have a list of all the charges that have been accrued and any out of pocket expenses and have a figure in mind that you think they owe you and the amount you want in compensation. If by about lunchtime if you have not been seen you could speak to everyone that walks in the branch, or even print a short account of all this on to leaflets and hand them to people and refuse to move until you have been seen.

It may be a good idea to contact your local paper and tell them what you are doing and invite them to come down to the branch and watch or take a photo. Make sure that the staff in the branch can hear you arranging this. I am sure that other customers will have a lot of sympathy with you because if they haven't actually had trouble with the Abbey themselves you can be sure that they have had a similar experience with another big company.

I have said before in different posts, these big companies make awful mistakes that can take up so much of your time and energy and don't care two hoots about customer service.

It is about time that we stood up to them

Good luck

gibby

the banking ombudsman is the way to go

an Abbey manager - told me to do this when i had problems with Barclays

by contacting the ombudsman it costs Abbey £500 for an investigation and should mean they get their act together.

I have been with Abbey for many years and they have been very good until the last 12 months since things moved to india call centers.

But I have seen very shocking service from Abbey in the past

a friend of mine - had a flat repossesd for £120 in arrears - due to a small problem - the repo cost over £7k and they refused to budge on the matter -
the agency - black horse who did the repo also helped themselves to lots of persoanl items.
My friend was back in same day but lost alot of things and 7K ontop.

the sad fact is I dont think there is a good bank about

Gibby

dchurch24

There are no 'good' banks.

I would sue them for recovery of the charges, plus 8% APR.

In fact, I have done just that - they will give the money back within a few weeks I would imagine.

I won't talk about it too much in the forums anymore as people seem to get offended and state things like 'you deserve the charges if you can't manage your account' etc...

So PM me if you want details of how to get those charges back - this is my particular bug-bear with banks - especially Abbey.

HGLTsuperstar

OK, will try to give a condensed version of the story, and please note this is not a request for posts regarding "People who can't manage their accounts deserve everything...", as that really is not helpful at this moment in time.
My parents have been with the Abbey for over 20 years, both banking and mortgage, (despite my attempts to get them to move). Anyway now they can't due to the overdraft charges they have been lumbered with.
Since the beginnig of the year no statements have been sent, despite repeated requests including asking for them to be sent recorded delivery to ensure no argument over whether they arrived. Just lots of frustration in talking to Bombay. In July their debit card was declined in the supermarket, (very embaressing) and they were told by the branch that they had exceeded their OD and would have to get it extended there and then by £400 to be able to live until Dad got paid at the end of the month! So no choice then. first point: "Customer Service" in the branch did not even have the decency to discuss this in a side office, instead keeping M&D in the foyer for all to hear!
Anyway folks not been aware of monthly charges being deducted from account for being OD, as no statements. They were told this had been building for months, and then Dad's wages clawed it back but now had "caught up". Told though that the computer system was unable to print out a list of these charges, just that over £200 was due to be taken at the end of the month. Again note, parents never received any automated letter etc (which is what these costs are supposed to cover) and of course no statements.
After reading posts on here, I helped them file a small claims court, which the Abbey have said they intend to contest. Received a letter from Abbey's solicitor today who, suprisingly, tells us he has been able to access their entire bank transactions for the year, which we were denied access to! He claims that there has "only" been £210 charges in July and a further £32 in August. They do not accept responsibility and do not answer why this "admin" charges were made when no admin appeared to be done. Also no mention of interest which was taken, from what I see on the lists that's another £62.36, and the charges up until the account was frozen, which M&D were told about in the branch, are not listed. Abbey are offering to refund the £242 of charges which are on this printout, plus the £120 court fees.
Firstly, what about the other charges and the interest. Secondly no explanation about lack of statemens or informing of a mounting problem (especially considering the length of time M&D been with the Abbey and never had any probs with their finances before). Thirdly, should the Abbey have contacted direct with this offer, or should this all go through the courts. Fourth, what to do? If we dont answer this, will the offer go through the courts, so could be accepted later, or will the courts see this as an admission of guilt on Abbey's part and hammer them, or should we negotiate for at least the interest and even the extra £400 OD they were forced into.
Fifth, it does seem that similar stories tend to involve Abbey, so is it worth sticking with this and going full on for publicity etc?
Thanks guys

ampersand

freebird65 wrote:

Oops sorry - will remove it immediately!! I've been through the above procedure...as such. The problem is that the complaints department aren't acknowledging my complaint! And the customer satisfaction center tell me to go to complaints. I'm now writing to the Ombudsman since I'm getting zero help anywhere else. Needless to say they won't have me as a customer anymore when this is sorted out!

Hello freebird65-
I saw this thread whilst seeking another and would strongly INSIST that you contact Times Money directly. Their investigation/success rate is impressive. You are needlessly wearing yourself into the ground. If you feel unsure, buy tomorrow's paper and check out the Reader's Money section for reassurance.
Good luck!

Zebra

I would also recommend that you contact one of the quality sunday papers, who can help investigate your complaint. I have had success by writing to the Sunday Telegraph in the past. Banks often seem to be more concerned with adverse publicity than anything else.

dchurch24

Seriously, the answer is to start a small claim against them - they are aware that the charges are illegal and won't contest it. They will attempt to scare you off by filing a defence etc..., but ultimately, the last thing they want is for it to get to a court.

Do this and you'll get your money back and your court costs. Then go for the publicity, The Guardian and the BBC (Working Lunch) would be much more interested if you have started legal proceedings against them.

Indeed, when I did this to Abbey, they tried to get me to sign a confidentiality agreement. I, of course, didn't.

Incidently, the Ombudsman won't get involved until after 8 weeks, and in this case, it's unlikely that they will want to get involved. Their terms and conditions state that they can charge you these charges. The Ombudsman can't enter into talks about the legalities.
As far as they are concerned, there is no complaint to uphold - you breached the contract and you pay the price - end of story. This is presumably why the Abbey manager made this suggestion - they know that the Ombudsman can't interfere.

The court is the only way forward to get these charges back.