A&L Ripoff Merchants

Alcmene

Well, they are a bank so this should come as no surprise.

I have an account with them which I have decided to close, I stopped using it as I do not like their Internet Banking system.

Anyway, I call them up to ask HOW to close the account! The person I spoke to told me that they could close it for me then send me a check for the balance. I explained that was not necessary as I have just transferred all the funds. She was like "oh OK" (first warning sign of incompetence). Then she said that they would be charging me £5 on the 5th June as the account had been underfunded in May. I was not happy about this charge but understand it IS what I signed up for and told her I would pay it, not a problem, so please close my account. THEN she said that I would also be charged in July for underfunding the account in June and that I would need to pay £10 before the account could be closed as otherwise it would be in overdraft, and they do not close accounts that are in overdraft.

mmmmmmm...she must have a crystal ball.

I asked her to explain the logic in this, she got flustered and said she was passing me on to "closures" to deal with this, then hung up on me.

Beware the evilness of A&L. The eternal question is, are they more evil than others.

What is the next step? There is no money in that account at all.

I think I will write to them on Tuesday and request the account closure.

flossy_splodge

Alcmene wrote: »

Well, they are a bank so this should come as no surprise.

I have an account with them which I have decided to close, I stopped using it as I do not like their Internet Banking system.

Anyway, I call them up to ask HOW to close the account! The person I spoke to told me that they could close it for me then send me a check for the balance. I explained that was not necessary as I have just transferred all the funds. She was like "oh OK" (first warning sign of incompetence). Then she said that they would be charging me £5 on the 5th June as the account had been underfunded in May. I was not happy about this charge but understand it IS what I signed up for and told her I would pay it, not a problem, so please close my account. THEN she said that I would also be charged in July for underfunding the account in June and that I would need to pay £10 before the account could be closed as otherwise it would be in overdraft, and they do not close accounts that are in overdraft.

mmmmmmm...she must have a crystal ball.

I asked her to explain the logic in this, she got flustered and said she was passing me on to "closures" to deal with this, then hung up on me.

Beware the evilness of A&L. The eternal question is, are they more evil than others.

What is the next step? There is no money in that account at all.

I think I will write to them on Tuesday and request the account closure.

You have my sympathy! I agree they are DREADFUL.
I too will be closing my account as soon as my year is up.
Good luck getting things sorted.

olly300

Alcmene wrote: »

I think I will write to them on Tuesday and request the account closure.

If possible use a method that you can prove that you sent the letter and it's highly likely they got it.

If the letter has to go to a PO Box get a proof of posting which is free from the Post office - yes you do have to line up - otherwise use recorded delivery.

If the worse comes to the worse and you have to use the regulator and/or take court action you have proof that that you sent the letter.

I've had problems with lots of companies including one bank (not A&L) and the fact that I sent the letter by recorded delivery means they couldn't argue that they didn't receive it when I either threatened them with further action or took them to their regulator.

emc

Alcmene wrote: »

Well, they are a bank so this should come as no surprise.

I have an account with them which I have decided to close, I stopped using it as I do not like their Internet Banking system.

Anyway, I call them up to ask HOW to close the account! The person I spoke to told me that they could close it for me then send me a check for the balance. I explained that was not necessary as I have just transferred all the funds. She was like "oh OK" (first warning sign of incompetence). Then she said that they would be charging me £5 on the 5th June as the account had been underfunded in May. I was not happy about this charge but understand it IS what I signed up for and told her I would pay it, not a problem, so please close my account. THEN she said that I would also be charged in July for underfunding the account in June and that I would need to pay £10 before the account could be closed as otherwise it would be in overdraft, and they do not close accounts that are in overdraft.

mmmmmmm...she must have a crystal ball.

I asked her to explain the logic in this, she got flustered and said she was passing me on to "closures" to deal with this, then hung up on me.

Beware the evilness of A&L. The eternal question is, are they more evil than others.

What is the next step? There is no money in that account at all.

I think I will write to them on Tuesday and request the account closure.

I also stopped using Alliance & Leicester recently, because they are by far the worst of the banking operations.

However in your case, is it not worth funding your account with the minimum £500 or whatever for May, just to stop them charging the underfunding fee of £5, and then closing your account?

WTFUK

If you have a premier account with these idiots the easiest thing to do to stop them charging you for not paying in £500 per month is to downgrade your account to a normal current account them apply for the closure. A&L are horrid!

Mrs_Ryan

thats what I've done... they downgrade instantly.

Organic12

WTFUK wrote: »

downgrade your account to a normal current account them apply for the closure

I've just done this. A word of warning though, A&L didn't tell me until the end of the conversation on closing my account that it would take "up to ten days to complete":eek:

What they actually meant is that it takes them ten full days to check nothing is owed (which even the customer services person said was pretty obvious I didn't) before they initiate payment to which ever account you ask the money to go to. I imagine the same time period applies if you opt for a cheque. So, it's ten working days plus 3-4 days for a BACs payment.

Had I been told earlier in the conversation that it would take so long, I'd have transferred all but £1 and then closed the account instead of allowing them to keep their mits on my money.

Should have looked up T&Cs I'm sure but I did open the account many years ago. I couldn't bear the thought of having to deal with them again so accepted the ten days and hope, as of the end of this week, I will never have to deal with them again.:j

rb10

Organic12 wrote: »

I've just done this. A word of warning though, A&L didn't tell me until the end of the conversation on closing my account that it would take "up to ten days to complete":eek:

You will find that other banks do this as well. It's because there could be payments that you have authorised that haven't yet shown up on the account yet.

jonesMUFCforever

rb10 wrote: »

You will find that other banks do this as well. It's because there could be payments that you have authorised that haven't yet shown up on the account yet.

I doubt this very much.
A debit card payment is earmarked immediately so there is nothing to stop a bank giving you the available funds immediately and closing the account once the transaction are posted to the accounts.

rb10

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I doubt this very much.
A debit card payment is earmarked immediately so there is nothing to stop a bank giving you the available funds immediately and closing the account once the transaction are posted to the accounts.

No, I know of one very large high street bank that does exactly this.

There is, of course, nothing to stop the customer from withdrawing all the money available on the day they want to close it, it's just that the account won't actually be closed for x days afterwards (not sure exactly how many).

dc110

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I doubt this very much.
A debit card payment is earmarked immediately so there is nothing to stop a bank giving you the available funds immediately and closing the account once the transaction are posted to the accounts.

Not necessarily if the retailer does not contact the bank for authorisation.

Or if a cheque has been written but not yet cashed.

All banks AFAIK do this for these reasons.