Money stolen out of account

Benni_2

Hey guys, sorry for the post, i've searched the forums to try and find peoples experiences with A&L fraud team, but didn't find any/many.

Last thursday at around 6:30pm 2 transactions took place on my account, one for £1,200 the other for £375 - I noticed around 9:30pm and proceeded to ring A&L for advice/help. They told me they'd be cancelling my card and will pass this on to the fraud team to investigate. I was told to expect a phone call or a letter but i've had neither.

On saturday i flew to Sweden on business and arrived home on Tuesday(imagine the hassle i had having to withdraw the last £200 or so in my account and trying to make it last for 3 days, was hard!)

On Monday the £375 was refunded to my account (It was spent at a site called wiggle.co.uk) but the other £1,200 is unaccounted for. Every time i ring A&L they tells me they cannot pass me onto the fraud team and cannot give me any sort of update as to the progress of refunding the £1,200. This is getting quite frustrating, is there anything i can do? I went to see someone at my local branch who just told me to ring A&L customer support who can help, and they obviously cannot.

Anyone have similar experiences? I'm glad to have the £375 back but the big transaction that has left a big gaping hole in my account is no where to be seen. A&L have "assured" me they'll refund the money but getting any sort of information of them is like getting blood out of a stone, it's quite scary how little info i can get out of them.

Never had this happen to me before and i do not understand how it's happened. I don't get paper statements, i'm super careful about what sites i shop on. Both transactions went out of my account between 6:30 and 6:33pm that day.. I got an email from "Verified by Visa" that told me my account pass code had been changed, i thought it was a spam email so ignored it, little did i know most of my bank account had just been stolen.

Any advice/thoughts i'd appreciate right now.

Regards,

Ben

td_007

I do not have experience specifically with A&L, but it seems that amount below a certain value (£500?) are quite quickly refunded but larger amounts (probably £1200 fall into the "big" category) take a longer. As A&L have assured that your money will be refunded at least you do not have to worry about losing the money, though it can be quite frustrating not knowing when you will get it.

hippey

Who is the other transaction from? Or is it just an authroisation at the moment, as if it is, you can't do much with them until the retailer confirms it.

Darth_Calculus

I also dont have specific experience with A&L, however, when I banked with HSBC, they offered me an emergency overdraft equal to the value of the fraudulent transaction. Perhaps you can ask for this, until the money is refunded.

DC

schoolrunmum

Hi Benni...your search button musn't work too well as I recently posted about A and L fraud dept! Anyways, if you haven't been sorted yet, come back here n let me know as I recently had 2k stolen from my A and L a/c, so I have a direct line nbr for their fraud dept. I have to say, I thought they were excellent. I noticed fraud on sun night, and all cash back in my bank by thursday..

Benni_2

schoolrunmum wrote: »

Hi Benni...your search button musn't work too well as I recently posted about A and L fraud dept! Anyways, if you haven't been sorted yet, come back here n let me know as I recently had 2k stolen from my A and L a/c, so I have a direct line nbr for their fraud dept. I have to say, I thought they were excellent. I noticed fraud on sun night, and all cash back in my bank by thursday..

Interesting. My money was stolen last Thursday and it seems to of arrived back into my account now.. Did you receive a letter from the fraud squad? I rang A&L up last week (tuesday) and they said they'd sent me some letters to sign.. they never arrived. If i have any major issues regarding my money i'd like to get hold of the fraud departments phone number.

Thanks for your help

schoolrunmum

Was told I'd get a letter, but nothing as yet....as long as I get the cash back I'm happy. Have kept the fraud peeps nbr for future ref if you need it...

97trophy

Darth_Calculus wrote: »

when I banked with HSBC, they offered me an emergency overdraft equal to the value of the fraudulent transaction. DC

Wow, hats off to HSBC, that's what I call good service.

sgt.tibbs1977

Would be worth asking for an emergency O/D whilst things are sorted. Sounds like they have forgotton about the second transaction. Unfortunately, the departments that you need to speak to with problems like this in the banking industry rarely have a public phone line. Personally I would follow any problems that you have in writing to ensure that the problem is being dealt with. HBOS lost a cheque from me and I rang them every month and was told that the issue was being dealt with, after several months I wrote in and was told they knew nothing about it and suprise suprise my phone calls were never logged! If you still cannot get things sorted then you will need to go through the formal complaints process then the Financial Ombudsman Service. But at this stage sounds like it is just a case of being patient and writing them a polite letter reminding them that you want your money back.