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Won case against Barclays/Woolwich with Financial Ombudsman Service
chris0241
Posts: 39 Forumite
I've had a Barclays/Woolwich mortgage for the past 2 years and used to make regular overpayments without penalty.
Under the terms of the mortgage I could make unlimited overpayments without penalty and these could be selected to shorten the length of my mortgage or reduce the monthly payments. I was told by the Barclays/Woolwich advisor when applying that this could be done easily in branch.
Each time I overpaid the branch issued a cheque and sent it to Woolwich mortgages along with a letter requesting my repayments were recalculated instantly and reduced. Despite reducing the borrowing the monthly repayments were NEVER recalculated. The first time I questioned the branch, then I questioned Woolwich. If they'd received the cheque then they'd definately had the letters! A rant in a city centre branch got me a managers attention who took a complaint and Barclays wrote to me within weeks, not admitting the errors but offering a £100 goodwill gesture. I accepted by recorded delivery but the payment was never forthcoming. A further 3 letters over 6 months went ignored.
In the end I went to the Financial Ombudsman to escalate my complaint and I was offered £250 for "expenses and distress caused by their errors".
The moral of this story is never give up, they'll treat us customers like dirt but get the Financial Ombudsman involved and they'll sit up and listen!
Chris
Under the terms of the mortgage I could make unlimited overpayments without penalty and these could be selected to shorten the length of my mortgage or reduce the monthly payments. I was told by the Barclays/Woolwich advisor when applying that this could be done easily in branch.
Each time I overpaid the branch issued a cheque and sent it to Woolwich mortgages along with a letter requesting my repayments were recalculated instantly and reduced. Despite reducing the borrowing the monthly repayments were NEVER recalculated. The first time I questioned the branch, then I questioned Woolwich. If they'd received the cheque then they'd definately had the letters! A rant in a city centre branch got me a managers attention who took a complaint and Barclays wrote to me within weeks, not admitting the errors but offering a £100 goodwill gesture. I accepted by recorded delivery but the payment was never forthcoming. A further 3 letters over 6 months went ignored.
In the end I went to the Financial Ombudsman to escalate my complaint and I was offered £250 for "expenses and distress caused by their errors".
The moral of this story is never give up, they'll treat us customers like dirt but get the Financial Ombudsman involved and they'll sit up and listen!
Chris
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