Bank error - seeking compensation

andy065

Hi, I could realy do with some advice.....
I bought a car for £9k last month using my banks debit card. The retailer entered the authorisation code incorrectly and had to call their bank to do the transfer manualy. They accidenatlly put through £90k.
My account went into the red and several DirectDebits and StandingOrders were refused. My bank accepted responsibility and said i would not be charged for going into the red and wouldn't be charged for the 'bounced' DD and SO payments.
3 weeks on and i have been charged the fees and am told it will take upto 14 days to reverse them.
My questions - should i expect compensation from the bank for putting my account into the red by around £75k for the week & if so, what amount would be reasonable.
And, as i have a letter from the bank confirming they wouldn't charge me any fees, and as they have, other than getting those amounts reversed - should i go after further compensation?
Considering i spent many, many hours on the phone to the bank both when the £90k went out and when the fees were added, i feel i am owed something above the fee reimbursement. There is also the 'mental anguish' of having a very negative bank balance.
Appreciate any comments,
Thanks,
Andy.

noah271007

Hi andy065

Sorry to hear about your post! Which bank was this?

I am very surprised (first time ive heard this) 90K was authorised manually and went through even though you had i guess 15K in your account. I would have expected the system to notify there is no available funds in the account for the tune of 90K...and it would have realised an error have been made at that point! It is very damaging and it probably messed up your internal score with the bank. Also have you check your credit reports? If there is late payment markers on the file, you can sue them for damages.

You should write to the bank head office, or the customer services the fact you went through the mental anguish dealing with what appear to be a BIG bank error and yes, righly so demand compensation! You should consider contacting the FOS for their advice (although they are known to be slow and often sides with the bank). If the bank's response is not satisfactory for you, then take them to a small claim court for compensation. You can also get compensation for damages to your creditworthiness if they have marked your account with late markers on your credit file! If you need some guidance on this, please let me know and I will get back to you asap.

RayWolfe

My alarm clock didn't go off this morning. It made me late for my breakfast and has put me out for the rest of the day. I'm now so anxious that I think I'm going to sue the Clock Makers Guild.
Stuff happens. You are not out of pocket. Get over it. The world has become a compensation paradise.

simon_templar_2

Ray, compensation culture does indeed seem to be the norm. Mistakes, errors, accidents all happen mostly due to a human and always will do as nobody is perfect. You often here the old spent hours on the phone line and cost loads in phone calls, with a lot of phone companies offering free calls the chances are a lot wont have incurred any charge for the call!

People used to want an apology and the mistake put right asap. Now the first thought is how much money can i get out of it.

Mikeyorks

RayWolfe wrote: »

My alarm clock didn't go off this morning.

This post rings more alarm bells than your alarm ever did, Ray.

Think the OP needs to pull the other one ... that's where the bells are!

andy065

The bank is Abbey.
It was their error. I spent hours of my time trying to ressolve their error, having to explain the entire situation to every different person i was put through to. I'm self employed and so while i was trying to sort the problems, i was unable to work for and invoice my clients - therefore it cost me in time and money.
If i had accidentaly taken £5000 from my account instead of £500 and by doing so was charged for returned DDs and SO, then it would be my fault and my expence - any letters the bank would have sent i would have paid for. But when it is their mistake, are you suggesting my time is worth less than theirs?
They took 10 days to fix it, during which time i had no access to my accounts as they cancelled my card - they said they cancelled it because they thought some fraud had happened - but i had already phoned many times to explain and fight for my money back BEFORE they decided to cancel it. So i had no money for the 10 days just before Christmas.
They are supposed to be a professional organisation looking after our money. How can we rely on them to do this, when they can issue an authorisation code for £9k but actualy let out £90k!!
If people don't kick up a fuss in cases like this, do you think anything will ever be fixed?

Inactive

I believe that you are entitled to some compensation Andy, given the circumstances, Abbey acted appallingly ( no surprise there ).. I believe that we are generally a nation of soft touches, we do not complain enough and we generally put up with this rubbish service, that is why the banks etc. get away with it.


I wish you every success in any claim that you make.;)

andy065

Mikeyorks wrote: »

This post rings more alarm bells than your alarm ever did, Ray.

Think the OP needs to pull the other one ... that's where the bells are!

Mikeyorks - are you suggesting i'm making this up? I can assure you they took £90k when only £9k had been authorised. They promised no charges or fees would be taken, then they took charges and fees.
I was without money for 10 days due to their error, i had fees charged by the DD and SO companys as they didn't get paid due to the insufficient funds, and of course the mortgage payment couldn't be paid either.
Don't realy see how that compares to your alarm clock not going off Ray??
My first thought was how i could get back my money that they had effectively stolen, sure i knew i would get it back - but had no idea how long it would take and what effect this would have on my credit rating.
Your bells are sounding rather muffled now Mike!

Lokolo

Ever be fixed? It was one typing error, hardly a massive fault with their system that makes it occur for everyone.

I never understand why people phone up for things like this, surely you may as well spend the time going to branch and sorting it out with someone in person.

I reckon you are entitled to call charges you had to make, other than that nothing.

The charges are also done automatically, they won't stop them because the system will still add them. All they can do is then refund the charge after its been taken out. So its not like you lost any money is it?

andy065

Noah and Inactive - thanks for your support, i appreciate it.

Inactive

Lokolo wrote: »

Ever be fixed? It was one typing error, hardly a massive fault with their system that makes it occur for everyone.

It may well not be a " massive fault that occurs to everyone ", it was a massive fault for the OP that was handled very badly by Abbey, why should he tolerate that level of incompetence?

Why should he not be entitled to compensation?