Who is to blame Halifax or Abbey - 5 months to switch an isa

baldyjunior

:mad:
I sit here in absolute frustration as two of the big institutions pass the buck. I opened an Abbey isa on April 26th 08 and then filled out the forms to switch my existing ISA from the Halifax. It was simple enough and i have done this three times before in previous years. I thoght all was going well until i received a letter from the Abbey in Late August telling me that the funds had not been released by the Halifax.
I phoned the H.. only to be told by them, that the inland revenue were looking into this matter, which of course was of major concern to me and a worry to say the least. I was told to phone back in a weeks time. I phoned them again only to be told by somebody else that they had no idea of what i was talking about, and in fact the reason the money haad not been switched to the Abbey was due to not having received any letters regarding this.
I phoned the A.. who advised me that they had sent a letter out and would chase it again.
Do you see where this is going now....?
to cut a long story short, as this can run and run, I asked for a letter from the H.. and a letter from the A..to find out exactly who had done what. The H.. have now said that they received only a covering letter and no transfer of authority so could not proceed any further with the request. The A.. have sent 4 letters to the H... chasing this switch.
so it seems i am piggy in the middle of these two firms who can only battle it out between themselves with letters and no one taking the blame for this major feux pas.
What am i entitled to after five months of still not knowing when my isa switch may happen.
I have had a few sleepless nights with sheer frustration, countless phone calls and endless hours of being put on hold on a 0845 numbers.
i would be interested to know what you think of this rediculous situation of 5 months to do a switch which is still incomplete.

Baldur

1. Have you instituted formal complaint procedures with either/both of the banks?
2. If so, you can formally complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service, if the matter has not been satisfactorily resolved within 8 weeks of your complaint(s)

baldyjunior

Hi Baldur
Thank you for the reply. I have lodged an officail complaint with both parties involved. I was not aware of the 8 week rule though so thanks for that info. I just don't know who is going to accept the blame for this one as neither of them looks like they want to take ownership of this and obviously do not want to have to make the compensation payment that surely is due at the end of this case.

Baldur

baldyjunior wrote: »

Hi Baldur
Thank you for the reply. I have lodged an officail complaint with both parties involved. I was not aware of the 8 week rule though so thanks for that info. I just don't know who is going to accept the blame for this one as neither of them looks like they want to take ownership of this and obviously do not want to have to make the compensation payment that surely is due at the end of this case.

Yes, I know the feeling, I currently have an unresolved complaint lodged against LTSB with the FOS regarding a Cash ISA transfer from early last March.

Milarky

Baldur wrote: »

Yes, I know the feeling, I currently have an unresolved complaint lodged against LTSB with the FOS regarding a Cash ISA transfer from early last March.

All anyone can do in this shituation is 'complain early - complain often'

Baldur

Milarky wrote: »

All anyone can do in this shituation is 'complain early - complain often'

I did & I have....;)

baldyjunior

Appreciate your thoughts, so watch this space as i will not let this go and each day longer it goes on the more stress i feel and the more weight will go in my favour.

a7man

I work in an IFA, you will be surprised how many cases are like this! Having an intermediary in the middle can be a great asset when chasing up the different banks as half the time they are useless! Good luck with it all. You can either hold up the complaint and will probably be due compensation - also you could fill out another discharge form/ discharge letter and send it on (as these get lost a lot).

baldyjunior

I have just received a letter from the halifax and it says "i enclose a copy of the letter received on 2nd september 2008 from Abbey national etc etc" but guess what there was no letter enclosed with it. So great customer service that is, it is really fuelling a bad situation into an even worse situation. Needless to say i had a sleepless night just through sheer frustatration. This has obviously got legs to keep running. i have started to keep an on going diary of events now, so when it comes to putting it down on paper both the Abbey and Halifax will both be at fault for their part.
Do you think thatif i wrote to the chairmen of each company that it would get to them and would it be taken seriously enough?
To be continued and watch this space.....

Martin could you do a programme on how to complain about finacial institutions!!!!

Baldur

baldyjunior wrote: »

Do you think thatif i wrote to the chairmen of each company that it would get to them and would it be taken seriously enough?

From experience with LTSB, the letters would simply be passed to their Customer Service Recovery Centres (or their equivalents), which certainly hasn't achieved much in the way of progress in my case.

baldyjunior

I have received a correspondance from the Halifax with all of the leeters that they have sent out and recieved from the Abbey. The first the Halifax knoew of the switch was on september 2nd. I have not had a reply back from the Abbey yet neither the phonecall they promised either. So my next step will be to have another go at the Abbey. Another 30 minute rant with stress levels hitting the eject button and of course calling an 0845 number. To be continued.......