Morgan Stanley / Barclaycard Error non Claimed Direct Debit

jinco999

I am wondering if anyone one else has found that Barclaycard on taken over Morgan Stanley's accounts have made a huge mistake.

They have not claimed the direct debit from the 26th September but as they have run there automated banking files on there system have posted it as paid on peoples accounts including mine. Even this months statement and online shows a payment has been received

Downside though...

they have just realised on the 15th October and have written to me saying that they will be correctly sending the file to the Bank to claim on Weds 22nd October, (Just 3 working days notice from receipt of letter, this must be against the Direct debit guarantee for notice periods!!).

I have spoken to them and they think this is fine to collect at short notice as they believe the monies should still be in you account. But I for one move any remaining balances out to a high interest account each month, so now meaning I have to incur hassle and possible interest penaltys to withdraw the money and move it over to my current account.

I wouldn't mind but no offer of compensation was made for the hassle

but it does show that their banking reconciliations cant be that great if something simple like a data file was forgotten to be sent to BACS.

KennyVader

Yep they did not take my direct debit for the minimum payment.

It didn't show on my statement as paid though, they just didn't take it full stop.

As a result they charged me interest because not taking the minium payment meant the balance was not cleared (I had subsequently paid the rest of the balance by direct payment).

So I have told them to close the account.

v0n

Something is completely messed up over there. I had a very low APR repayment arrangement with Morgan Stanley, with set payments going via direct debit for months, on strict day. As far as I was concerned Barclay honored the arrangement and they sent me confirmation of successful direct debit payment towards my old Morgan Stanley card, just like every month, on Oct 1st. But then last Saturday I received a letter demanding payment overdue.
The thing in my case is though - the account number they used in demand letter is different from my old Morgan Stanley card account number. I called number provided in demand letter, got connected to someone on another continent and was told my account details were changed as part of Goldfish->Barclay transition (without informing me), that they have no record of direct debit payment made this month and that I owe them money for late payment. I pointed out that there is direct debit setup in place, for which I receive regular confirmation via email and last payment was also confirmed. The person on the other end was having none of it and pulled quick fonejacker "but why you don't want to pay now" routine and we quickly got nowhere. On Tuesday I sent a fax to the number on demand letter explaining the matter and attached copy of their direct debit confirmation, but noone called me on the number I provided in fax to discuss anything. Instead their automatic "press 1 to be connected" Indian call center revolver kept calling my home number in office hours, as often as 14 times a day for the rest of the week. Who do they expect to find at home in the middle of the day??

My heart skipped a beat when I read the post above. Checked my account and sure enough - although I was sent confirmation from Barclaycard, the actual payment was not taken from my account on Oct 1st. Looks like they messed something up, direct debit was not processed and now I have late payment on my credit rating and Barclaycard even slapped extra "late fee" for good measure on top of it.

The thing is tho - I don't want to be called by "press 1 to be connected" drones, I don't want to be treated like some sort of bankrupt or be accused of non payments by someone in India - I want them to admit it was their screw up and stick to direct debit and pretty much ef off. Direct Debit worked two months ago, it worked a month ago, surely it's still good now?

hasdogs

KennyVader wrote: »

Yep they did not take my direct debit for the minimum payment.

It didn't show on my statement as paid though, they just didn't take it full stop.

They are completely sodding useless. I had a full amount DD with MS which should have been transferred. I got two emails telling me they had received payment of the outstanding balance. I did not see any payment leaving my bank. 3 days later going on-line I notice the payment was marked as returned (with a date 3 days before it appeared online). I got no email or letter telling me the payment had been returned.

Since then I have had 7 long telephone conversations with Barclaycard and two with my bank. Cutting a very long story short Barclaycard are absolutely useless with zero capability to find out what went wrong or to put it right. I canceled the card and have had no communication from them other than calls I have made. I have been trying to pay them the difference between the balance and outstanding cashback from MS which is about 3 quid and the latest is the cashback is not on a statement they have sent me (which I haven't received) and will be on the next statement in the middle of November.

The problem seems to be they are making DD payment requests with the wrong bank account number. They obviously have the right account number because the DD was set up on my bank account, also gaulingly they keep asking for the last 3 digits of the right bank account number as a security question. During one of the conversations they read out the bank account number which I didn't recognise. They have told me because a DD payment request was refused the DD is void and they won't attempt to request from it again and I will have to make a new DD agreement and it can take 4-6 weeks to become active (although it seems from the OP they can fix their problem and try again).

Because I have cancelled I can't access the online account, I have not yet received any paper statement. My payment is overdue and they added a penalty and interest but since seem to have removed it. I just want to pay them the 3 quid I owe them, shred the card forget about it but it looks like this is going to drag on for another couple of months.

Berrie1

We had a Morgan Stanley Cashback card for 7 years, paying the balance offin full without any issue. In September when Barclaycard took over, my husband realised that the balance had not been debited from our bank account and called Barclaycard to tell them of the issue - he was told by a member of staff who refuesed to give their name as it against company policy - that the funds had been claimed from the bank and credited to his account and that the issue was with our bank not Barclaycard. He spent ages trying to get it sorted out and contacted Barclaycard on numerous occassions only to be basically called a liar - until the letter came in saying they had made an error and were claiming the funds immediately.
BEWARE - He checked his account last night (26th October) and has discovered that all transactions dating from September to start of October have been debited 3 times - these were not on the account on Friday 24th October - CHECK YOUR ACCOUNTS AS THEY HAVE MADE MORE MISTAKES!!!!!

chrissy100

The problem I have had is different to the above, but it shows they really don't care about the customers.

It's a long story, which I won't bore you with......... But due to circumstance beyond my control, I am in fiancial difficulties. I manged to agree terms with my credit card companies and paying a very small amount, with all interest stopped too.

Morgan Stanley had actually been taken over by Golsfish last year and they honourd the agreement I had. Barclaycard have now taken all the customers on and when the phoned me about my arrears! I explained and they said they would honour it too...... That was fine untill last week, they have now decided that they are not agreeing to the low amount and say I have to now start paying £52 a month. (Orginal agreement was £10.00). They are also going to start putting the interest on again! Not only can I not afford the £52, I have no hope of ever paying this off with the interest being added on!

So I am not impressed with them at all!

JazzyLady

I had a MS credit card for over 3 years, full DD payment every month. Barclaycard take over and no payment is taken in September, instead I get a threatening letter about possible court action from Barclaycard. I phone the customer services, they say 100s of people have had issues and it was their error with the Direct Debit set ups. They apologise, recredit the charges and interest to the account and say that they will take two months in one in October don't worry about it.

Oct payment due to be taken 27th even though my payment date on the bill was 7 Nov. It wasn't taken. Oct 28th I receive a text telling me that my account is on hold because of non-payment. I phone their customer services. After 10 minutes with a useless woman I asked to speak to her boss, I was put on hold for 3 minutes she came on line and hung up less than a minute into me explaining what had happened - I didn't swear at her just was explaining the situation. I phoned back, was put on hold, spoke to a bloke who told me that they couldn't help me as they were too busy could I phone back in 30 minutes. I asked him to take my phone details to call me back and he said they weren't allowed to and then he hung up.

I then registered for the online service to send them a secure e-mail of complaint which hasn't even been acknowledged. I want to make a payment but can't, I want to cancel my card, but I can't.

I am about ready to go to BBC Watchdog and the Financial Ombudsman as I am concerned about their errors affecting my credit rating.

Never had a missed payment or an issue before and I am sick of BC after just 5 weeks of them having the account from MS Goldfish.

What are our next steps?

C.

gjm123_3

Its all true, and experiences of other forum members seem to match my own. I'm a member of other forums too (we need all the help and moral support we can get!) and similar sentiments are expressed everywhere you look.

The DD from MS worked flawlessly for years. It seemed to work after BC took over, then suddenly our card was refused - at the checkout in Sainsburys. My wife was underestandably upset, and I was (initially) at a loss as to what the problem might be.

Calling BC was a complete and utter waste of time. I'm sure there is a mandate for all employees to not acknowledge that there might have been a problem, but I did get the late payment fee refunded once I agreed to pay over the phone by debit card. In essence, BC changed the reference on the DD, and my bank correctly refused to honour the request. BC were adamant, to the point where I was told that I did not understand how these things worked, that it was my bank that was at fault.

I asked for, and eventually received, another direct debit form. This took nearly 10 days to arrive and was completed, and returned, the same day. This month (several weeks after the form was returned) the DD has not been set up and the card has been stopped again. (BC seem to do this the day after your payment due date with no leeway whatsoever, unlike the services offered by other cards.)

I've been at work and we've also been receiving calls at home. My wife has answered two calls, possibly from an English person, but described the caller as... Well, lets just say 'rude', shall we? My wife was more descriptive. The second call went along the lines of:

Wife: Hello?
Caller: Is Mr M there?
Wife: I'm sorry, he's popped out for 10 minutes.
Caller: Oh.

Caller hangs up.

Nothing else. Not a "Could he call back?", any info about who the caller is, or anything else at all. Checking the caller id gave a number which when dialled went through to a BC auto-attendant.

So they can't organise the takeover of existing accounts, they foreclose without warning on existing agreements, they can't manage their side of an arrangement, they can't admit they're wrong, and they're downright rude on the phone.

Time to close the account. Of course, for many people that may mean clearing any outstanding balance, something that could be difficult at this time of year.

Does anyone know if this debacle has been reported in the financial press?

Incidentally, Barclays Bank branch staff feel the same way as we do. They avoid dealing with the call centres as much as possible, cannot understand what the parent company is thinking in these matters, and will apologise profusely and continuously for the mistakes that they acknowledge have been made.

woofwoofwoof

Just off the phone from the BC call centre about an extra interest charge on my account. I've had a life of balance since I set up my account with Morgan Stanley - nothing has ever been purchased on the card.

Last month there were two interest charges one at 0.483% and another at 1.24%. The amount of money we is talking are very small. Anyway, last month I got speaking to someone in UK who told me BC had put some MS/Goldfish customers onto the wrong rate and he credited the 0.483% interest charge. Today I spoke to someone in their overseas call centre and he told me (repeatedly!) that the large interest rate was for my balance transfer and that the small interest was for purchases (of which I have not made any).

When this was MS/Goldfish there was one interest rate - now there are two, I just don't understand. Could it be the £20.00 fee that Morgan Stanley charged for the card in June 07? If it is though, why did MS not charge a separate interest rate for this on their statements?

tommy55_2

I used my MS card for the first time in ages whilst on holiday in Las Vegas. Upon return from the USA I find that I can no longer access the MS online service. I presume that the balance has moved to Barclaycard, however when I register online, I find I still have a zero balance. To all intents and purposes it appears that over £400 of debt has vanished into thin air. Two months later, my new BC account is still showing a zero balance. Little bit concerned that they'll suddenly wake up to this and hit me with the interest from September - is anyone else in this situation??

duncansby

Barclaycard have been a complete nightmare since taking over from Morgan Stanley. I have had unauthorised activity on my account and had to phone umpteen times and they have been completely useless.

I would urge anyone to close their Barclaycard account as soon as possible to avoid the same scenario