Help with complaint to Halifax

Scaredy_Cat_3

Thanks Opinions4u and Franco78!

I have just rang the number on the letter I received and the lady there confirms that both accounts are set up at 8%. She says once I fund the accounts I will receive a letter confirming this - but of course I can't fund them until I have taken the ID documents into my local branch.

So I'll take the ID stuff in on Tuesday morning and then go next door to my bank and set up the s/o to fund the accounts.

So, looks like all is well - thanks so much for the advice. Now I can relax!!! Do you think I should put in a letter to confirm this conversation or just keep a note of it in my file?

opinions4u

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

So, looks like all is well - thanks so much for the advice. Now I can relax!!! Do you think I should put in a letter to confirm this conversation or just keep a note of it in my file?

Just keep a note of date, time and name of person you spoke to if you have it.

Scaredy_Cat_3

opinions4u wrote: »

Just keep a note of date, time and name of person you spoke to if you have it.

Of course I have it!!!! :rotfl:



Thanks!

Scaredy_Cat_3

Aaaaaarrrrggghhhhh!!!!!!!

What a carry on! I rang the online dept on Saturday, and they confirmed I was getting 8% and will get confirmation when I fund the account.

Went to the branch today to show them the ID and they said 6%. When I queried it with them, they said they weren't really sure as their system just showed the latest rates.

So, just thought I'd ring the lady in Complaints AGAIN to make sure. Now she tells me that the account wasn't opened until after 20th so I get the lower rate. I said, no, I opened it online on 15th, not my fault if you had a backlog and didn't get round to opening it until 27th.

She now says the only way to get me the 8% is if the account is internally funded! I have a Halifax account that I don't use, but if I transfer the funds from my main account into the Halifax one every month, and then send it on to the children's Halifax accounts that is a major hassle for me. I wanted to be able to amend the amount online each month depending on how much money I have spare. I can do this once with my main account when I do all my finances. If I then have to wait a week for it to transfer to Halifax and amend it again, that's ridiculous. PLUS this was not mentioned when I opened the account.

I really feel they are messing me around here. I have explained my position to the lady in the complaints dept and she is going to look further and ring me tomorrow, but really - surely this is wrong? Surely I should get the rate that was in effect on the date I applied online, and whether it's internally or externally funded is irrelevant????

Please help - I am getting to the end of my tether with this.

opinions4u

Once the first deposit hits the account (cash, cheque, standing order or whatever) they can use a manual process to backdate it.

If they choose to do this it will trigger the higher rate.

If they refuse, ask for a letter of deadlock and pursue it via the ombudsman.

Sam37

On page 9 of the T&Cs it says that the rate is fixed (for 12 months) on the date of the first deposit.
(The 60 day price guarantee for the ISA was explicitly stated in the info, but the info for this account does not mention it)

I always find this type of condition rather tricky, as you never know what you sign up to, especially since you are not completely in control of the speed of financial transactions.

Your best bet is probably quoting the person you talked to on the phone who did promise you the 8%.

rb10

Sam37 wrote: »

On page 9 of the T&Cs it says that the rate is fixed (for 12 months) on the date of the first deposit.

I always find this type of condition rather tricky, as you never know what you sign up to, especially since you are not completely in control of the speed of financial transactions.

But the first payment can be made by cash or cheque in a branch, so you always know then what the rate will be, and if you don't like it, then don't put any money in.

Scaredy Cat, can you ask the lady you have spoken to who is dealing with your complaint to put a note on the system saying that when you make your first deposit, it is to be backdated to whatever date, to get the 8%. Then when you go to the branch to pay in your first deposit, they can see that note, which should allow them to do the manual process mentioned by Opinions4U to backdate it.

Scaredy_Cat_3

Sam37 wrote: »

On page 9 of the T&Cs it says that the rate is fixed (for 12 months) on the date of the first deposit.

I always find this type of condition rather tricky, as you never know what you sign up to, especially since you are not completely in control of the speed of financial transactions.

Your best bet is probably quoting the person you talked to on the phone who did promise you the 8%.

That's dreadful! I rang up the first time to complain because they hadn't sent the details out to me by end of April. I opened the account on 15th and do my finances at the end of the month, so I was anxious to set up the s/o. I hadn't been given an account number so couldn't put any money in until I received their letter. Surely it's not my fault they took so long to open the account? They sent me a confirmation email on 16th saying they had everything they needed.

I am furious about this. I know on the sums I can afford to save, the 2% difference won't have much impact, but it's a matter of principle now. I really feel like they are messing me around.

Scaredy_Cat_3

rb10 wrote: »

But the first payment can be made by cash or cheque in a branch, so you always know then what the rate will be, and if you don't like it, then don't put any money in.

Scaredy Cat, can you ask the lady you have spoken to who is dealing with your complaint to put a note on the system saying that when you make your first deposit, it is to be backdated to whatever date, to get the 8%. Then when you go to the branch to pay in your first deposit, they can see that note, which should allow them to do the manual process mentioned by Opinions4U to backdate it.

The thing is, I wasn't able to put any money in until they gave me an account number - which I received (eventually) on 1st May. Even after that I still couldn't put money in until I had taken the proof of ID to the branch (which I did this morning).

I will certainly ask that they backdate my first payment so that I get the correct rate - but I feel they are being unfair here. I opened the account in good faith on 15th April - not knowing or suspecting that the rate was going to go down - and in any case I figured that I would get the rate in force at the time I opened the account. I feel if they are going to say it's dependent on the date money is put in, well that's their fault for delaying and not giving me the account number until now.

rb10

Scaredy_Cat wrote: »

The thing is, I wasn't able to put any money in until they gave me an account number - which I received (eventually) on 1st May. Even after that I still couldn't put money in until I had taken the proof of ID to the branch (which I did this morning).

I will certainly ask that they backdate my first payment so that I get the correct rate - but I feel they are being unfair here. I opened the account in good faith on 15th April - not knowing or suspecting that the rate was going to go down - and in any case I figured that I would get the rate in force at the time I opened the account. I feel if they are going to say it's dependent on the date money is put in, well that's their fault for delaying and not giving me the account number until now.

Exactly - so the key thing to getting the 8% rate is fooling the system into thinking that your first deposit was before the rate changed.

The first step towards doing this is to get someone from Halifax (i.e. your contact at Customer Relations) to put a note onto the system saying that it's ok for your first deposit to be backdated to a certain date, due to a Halifax error.