Alliance & Leicester Blackmail

Mr_Duck_3

I have an A&L current account and due to the nature of my work i deal mainly in cash so all i used it for was a small donation, via direct debit, to charity each month. Over Christmas I became quite ill and forgot to leave enough money in my account resulting in me going overdrawn by £1.83. The first I realised of my mistake was 3 weeks later when my statement came through and A&L were trying to charge me over £100! (A&L are living in a different world if they think i'm paying that much!) That was bad enough but things were about to get alot worse.

I went to my local branch and they told me there was nothing they could do and that i'd have to phone head office. I phoned head office and explained the situation and informed them that I fully accepted the need of some kind of penalty charge but that I was not prepared to pay the amount they were asking. A very rude lady told me that their charges were perfectly legal and that I had to pay. Legal or not, £100 for going under £2 overdrawn in ridiculous. It was at this point that I requested that my account be closed, she refused saying that it could not be closed until the penalties had been paid. So I then asked that the direct debit be cancelled and she refused!!!!!! Again for the same reason. After 2 more minutes of basically banging my head against a brick wall I gave up and hung up. I subsequently paid £30 into myaccount to cover what I consider, a fair penalty.

For 2 more months my direct debit went out, after I requested it be cancelled, and of course the charges piled up until I recieved a letter stating that they had now stopped the direct debit and that if any more money was taken out of the account they would consider it theft!! (Pot, kettle & black spring to mind)

As of my last statement it has now risen to nearly £450, yet this month I have recieved nothing. They can take me court for all I care, I refuse to have any contact with A&L as i feel they are trying to blackmail me into paying, how can they possibly justify refusing my request to cancel a direct debit??? I WILL NOT PAY THEIR RIDICULOUS CHARGES!

Sorry for this long winded rant but has anyone had a similar experience?

natweststaffmember

Mr_Duck wrote: »

I have an A&L current account and due to the nature of my work i deal mainly in cash so all i used it for was a small donation, via direct debit, to charity each month. Over Christmas I became quite ill and forgot to leave enough money in my account resulting in me going overdrawn by £1.83. The first I realised of my mistake was 3 weeks later when my statement came through and A&L were trying to charge me over £100! (A&L are living in a different world if they think i'm paying that much!) That was bad enough but things were about to get alot worse.

I went to my local branch and they told me there was nothing they could do and that i'd have to phone head office. I phoned head office and explained the situation and informed them that I fully accepted the need of some kind of penalty charge but that I was not prepared to pay the amount they were asking. A very rude lady told me that their charges were perfectly legal and that I had to pay. Legal or not, £100 for going under £2 overdrawn in ridiculous. It was at this point that I requested that my account be closed, she refused saying that it could not be closed until the penalties had been paid. So I then asked that the direct debit be cancelled and she refused!!!!!! This bit is important and I hope damn well that you know the date you called them or that your phone bill has it on there.
Again for the same reason. After 2 more minutes of basically banging my head against a brick wall I gave up and hung up. I subsequently paid £30 into myaccount to cover what I consider, a fair penalty.

For 2 more months my direct debit went out, after I requested it be cancelled, and of course the charges piled up until I recieved a letter stating that they had now stopped the direct debit and that if any more money was taken out of the account they would consider it theft!! (Pot, kettle & black spring to mind)
Ok, firstly any charges that were due up to the point you paid £30 in I think should be refunded on the basis that the bank failed to cancel the Direct Debit when you asked them to.
As of my last statement it has now risen to nearly £450, yet this month I have recieved nothing. They can take me court for all I care, I refuse to have any contact with A&L as i feel they are trying to blackmail me into paying, how can they possibly justify refusing my request to cancel a direct debit??? I WILL NOT PAY THEIR RIDICULOUS CHARGES!
I think you could have argued the case with regards to the OFT and Treating Customers Fairly, since you were ill and unable to get to the bank.
Sorry for this long winded rant but has anyone had a similar experience?

Personally, I think you are liable for the £70 however, I think they caused the issues after that. A reasonable response would have at least have gone half way with you and to cancel the Direct Debit.
Difficult to advise here cos there is one part of me screaming "stop being an idiot!" and there is another part saying that the person at head office you spoke to refused to cancel the Direct Debit and that caused further charges to occur. There is three elements to this, legitimate charges(I use that in the most liberal form of the word), perhaps circumstances ie illness and inability to cover payments and bank error.
I think you need to be reasonable because at the moment you're not and so therefore you'll get nowhere. If the banks lose the OFT test case(I doubt it) then it is legitimate.
Write a formal complaint to them with regards to the circumstances behind not being able to make the payment. State what happened and your disappointment with the way the bank treated you despite being ill over christmas. Explain that the Direct debit was not cancelled. Explain the amount of the DD and that you did pay some money into that account and see what they say. BUT please do not be completely rantish when you write.

Mr_Duck_3

Thanks for the advice. I don't mind being charged for going overdrawn, that was my fault, but it's the amount i'm being charged that upsets me. I shall follow your advice and see what they say, thanks for the help.