Egg trying to change timetable

chrisjw1972

I'm in the process of trying to reclaim credit card charges from Egg.

I wrote to them asking for a refund of charges on July 10th, and yesterday (July 16th) I received a letter headed "We've received your complaint".

The letter is obviously a standard one and makes no reference to anything in my letter. The trouble is that it says

Should we be unable to resolve your complaint to your satisfaction within eight weeks of receipt, we will contact you again and explain the reasons why. These timeframes are inline with regulations set out by the Financial Services Authority

This is in immediate reply to a MSE template letter in which I gave them 14 days for a full response.

I've drafted a letter saying that I do not find it appropriate for them to try to create a a new timetable. Should I send it, or would that be pushing too hard?

The way I see it, this bog-standard letter they've sent is just an attempt to stall for eight weeks which they clearly don't need.

chrisjw1972

Does anyone have an opinion or any experience with this?

natweststaffmember

Ok, this isn't a new timetable. Firms have 8 weeks to deal with a complaint or the complainant can take it to the FOS. The timescales on the letters means by following through that you will be suing them. There is no change of timescales, either you stick to yours or you let them take 8 weeks.

chrisjw1972

Thanks for your reply natweststaffmember. When you say that I can either stick to my timetable or let them take 8 weeks, do you mean that I should send my letter demanding that they stick to my timetable, or just act as though I hadn't received their letter?

natweststaffmember

chrisjw1972 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply natweststaffmember. When you say that I can either stick to my timetable or let them take 8 weeks, do you mean that I should send my letter demanding that they stick to my timetable, or just act as though I hadn't received their letter?

The choice is yours. You can't go to the FOS until 8 weeks have passed though(or you have received a Final Response) so that means if you follow through, then you are going to sue them.

chrisjw1972

I think I understand what you're saying, but just to clarify it, do you mean that if I insist on my timetable rather than allowing eight weeks (or until I receive their final response), then I would be saying that I want to go straight to court to sue them rather than continuing with the negotiation?

natweststaffmember

chrisjw1972 wrote: »

I think I understand what you're saying, but just to clarify it, do you mean that if I insist on my timetable rather than allowing eight weeks (or until I receive their final response), then I would be saying that I want to go straight to court to sue them rather than continuing with the negotiation?

Yes absolutely. You would sue them rather than go through the FOS

chrisjw1972

Gotcha. Thanks again.