ICICI Dispute/P! ssed off!!

meatandtwoveg

I have had an ICICI HiSave account now for over two years, I have never had a problem until now. On the 24th (Monday) of November I pulled in £20,000.00 from my linked account, which was accredited to my HiSave account on Wednesday 26th November.

I went into my HiSave account on the 27th November and the £20,000.00 was showing in credit, so I thought everything was fine. I went into my HiSave account again on the 30th November and the £20,000.00 was showing in credit again, also my interest was showing being accredited for then month ending November 2008, so I thought everything was fine. I calculated that the interest was correct, and that I had been paid interest for the accredited £20,000.00, for the period between the 27th of November to the 30th November. This all looked fine, so I was happy everything had gone through fine.

I then went into my account on the 15th December to find out the HiSave team have sent the money back to my linked account on the 30th November and paid no interest for that period between the 1st December and the 15th December as the money had been placed in my linked account.

I am complaining because the ICICI HiSave team did not have the politeness and the decency to tell me the money had been sent back to my linked account.

The money which is a large amount is not secure while sitting in my linked account as this is a current account has access through a debit card, cash link access, and the card has been used over the phone and over the internet. If the money had been stolen for any reason, I would not have known the money of £20,000.00 pounds was in my current account. I have lost twenty days interest on the money as it was sitting in my current account paying no interest, which I feel is the ICICI HiSave teams fault.

When I called ICICI to complain, I was told my Direct Debit facility has been cancelled as I have not used it for the past thirteen months, and this was my fault, as it states that after thirteen months it is cancelled as this is explained in the accounts terms and conditions.

My question is why accept payment of £20,000.00, and then pay interest on the £20,000.00 for the period of 27th November to the 30th November, and then reject payment and send it back to my linked account on the 1st December.

Thanks for reading!!

Oblivion

This does seem to be a rather over-zealous imposition of the T&Cs, particularly since the direct debit actually got processed. I wonder why they didn't deactivate the DD facility on your account if it had expired? Also, you'd have thought in these troubled times they would be glad to hang on to your money

Dave.

meatandtwoveg

Oblivion wrote: »

This does seem to be a rather over-zealous imposition of the T&Cs, particularly since the direct debit actually got processed. I wonder why they didn't deactivate the DD facility on your account if it had expired? Also, you'd have thought in these troubled times they would be glad to hang on to your money

Dave.

Cheers Dave

I know, they cost me money, and left the cash exposed in a hole in the wall accessable accout which is worrying, so security is an issue, but the process they have in place is rather worrying, throwing back the funds without a polite email?

davejold

Hi, Same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago, I phoned them and set up a new DD linked account, was told 5 working days, then received email to confirm this. Yesterday had another email to say that DD mandate had been cancelled, again! Now invested elsewhere. Are they trying to loss customers? Dave.

gt94sss2

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

My question is why accept payment of £20,000.00, and then pay interest on the £20,000.00 for the period of 27th November to the 30th November, and then reject payment and send it back to my linked account on the 1st December.

Did the money actually leave your linked account?

It could be that ICICI expected to receive the money from your current account and so credited your account.. and it then took them some time to realise that the direct debit payment had not in fact arrived. I've heard of cases like this before and its your responsibility to make sure your direct debits are valid..

Or did your bank provider asked for the transfer to be reversed? If so, it sounds to me as if you should be complaining to your bank and not ICICI - i.e. if they 'honoured' a direct debit which had been cancelled/expired.

The money which is a large amount is not secure while sitting in my linked account as this is a current account has access through a debit card, cash link access, and the card has been used over the phone and over the internet.

With respect, if you are not happy with the security of your current account provider, either move bank or keep a much closer eye on the account - regardless of the balance you may/may not have in your account.

Regards
Sunil

meatandtwoveg

gt94sss2 wrote: »

Did the money actually leave your linked account?

It could be that ICICI expected to receive the money from your current account and so credited your account.. and it then took them some time to realise that the direct debit payment had not in fact arrived. I've heard of cases like this before and its your responsibility to make sure your direct debits are valid..

Or did your bank provider asked for the transfer to be reversed? If so, it sounds to me as if you should be complaining to your bank and not ICICI - i.e. if they 'honoured' a direct debit which had been cancelled/expired.

With respect, if you are not happy with the security of your current account provider, either move bank or keep a much closer eye on the account - regardless of the balance you may/may not have in your account.

Regards
Sunil

Work for ICICI any chance mate?

Their processess are not customer friendly, they are not customer orientated at all, sometimes grace is something which should or could be applied especially as they are trying their hardest to attract cash at the moment?

Customer PR in the present climate is vital, its no wonder they are trying their best to hold on to your cash when they are allowing a customer to have their payments into their own account rejected due to their flawed DD process of expiry?

Cheers for the reply, but not really of any help!

Hazzanet

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

... due to their flawed DD process of expiry?

It's not really a flaw, just the way BACS designed the DD system:

From the BACS website:

Q. What is a dormancy period?
A. All banks hold details of Direct Debit Instructions on file for a minimum period of 13 months from lodgement of the Direct Debit Instruction, in the event of no collections, or from the date of the last payment.

Q. Why has a dormancy period been introduced?
A. The dormancy period rule was introduced as a safeguard to the Direct Debit Scheme to protect payers from Direct Debit Instructions being live on their account indefinitely. So if you should forget to cancel a Direct Debit it will be removed from the banks’ system after the dormancy period has lapsed.

Q. What happens to a Direct Debit Instruction at the end of a dormancy period?
A. After the dormancy period has passed, the bank will remove details of the Instruction from their system. Before claiming further Direct Debit payments the organisation must obtain a new Direct Debit Instruction or your authority to continue collecting. If this is not done your Direct Debit payment may be returned by your bank.

gt94sss2

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

Work for ICICI any chance mate?

Nope..

Customer PR in the present climate is vital, its no wonder they are trying their best to hold on to your cash when they are allowing a customer to have their payments into their own account rejected due to their flawed DD process of expiry?

As has been pointed out by Hazzanet. direct debits operate in the same way regardless of current account provider - and it would have been them and not ICICI who would have cancelled it (not ICICI) due to non-use. Its not a 'flaw' but specifically designed like that.

The same has happened to me with a direct debit for a credit card I didn't use for a long time - both I and the credit card company assumed the direct debit was valid.. only to find out my bank had cancelled it as it hadn't been used for such a long time..

You never answered the question 'Did the money actually leave your linked account?' - if not then ICICI have done nothing wrong apart from incorrectly assuming the direct debit would be honoured and crediting your account - only then to find out your current account provider didn't honour the direct debit.

You could also have transferred the money yourself using BACS to ICICI, rather than waiting for a direct debit (especially as you seem very worried out your current account security)

However, its really not anyones responsibility apart from your own to monitor your current account balance and notice if payments are going in/out.

Regards
Sunil

meatandtwoveg

To be honest i am p!ssed off with them, trying to discuss the problem which has cost me money is very very difficult, i will be talking to the ombusman and the FSA if i have no joy with regards to interest payments lost?

Right or wrong, i would look after the customer in the current enviroment, i will let you all know what happens with ragards to lost monies on my part.

Thanks for the replies, i await their decision with regards to lost interest.

YorkshireBoy

meatandtwoveg wrote: »

i will be talking to the ombusman and the FSA if i have no joy with regards to interest payments lost?

Have you made a formal complaint with ICICI (necessary before you can ask them to adjudicate)?

Also, you've avoided Sunil's question (twice), namely "did the money ever leave your current account?" Several posters have previously reported monies residing in both accounts simultaneously when DD pulls go wrong with ICICI (as a search of the forum would confirm).

meatandtwoveg

The [EMAIL="b@st@rds"]b@st@rds[/EMAIL] withheld some of my interest aswell this month, to recoup what interest they paid me on the £20,000.00 for the period between the 27th November to the 30th November 2008.

So they made a mistake, i pay, i have made an official complaint now, if no luck i am going to the ombusman and the FSA. This is comical!!!