Furious with Barclays Bank... (charges)

BeenieCat

I didn't get paid when i was supposed to (1st June) and as a result i had 2 direct debits bounce. I rang the bank straight away asking if i was going to be charged, they said yes, 2 x £8 fees.

Anyway i've been budgeting for this for 2.5 months now waiting for this money to come out, and have only gone right up to my overdraft limit yesterday, because my car cost more than expected to be repaired. As my car needed doing i went and emptied my account to be able to pay for it, knowing that on the 13th of this month i should have some more money coming in...

So typically, NOW they decide to take out the £16 which would normally have gone out on the day (1st June). As a result i've gone over my overdraft limit, by £15.74 and am now going to be charged ANOTHER £8.

Why on earth did they wait until i was at my limit, rather than taking it out earlier? I have filed a complaint but i'm sure i'll be fobbed off and made to pay this extra £8.

So did they do this on purpose?? Why didn't the charges go out before now? Any advice on how to handle this when i get a call back telling me i have to pay the extra £8...?

Lokolo

Right so you know they did it on purpose?

Theres someone at their desk waiting for you to go very close to the limit and then BAM, they do it.

Wow...

The reason they give some time, is to help get the money into account to then make sure the fees can be paid.

You say you 'budget for 2.5 months' yet you knew this money was going to come out sooner or later then complain when you spend the money and they take it....?

BeenieCat

Lokolo wrote: »

Right so you know they did it on purpose?

Theres someone at their desk waiting for you to go very close to the limit and then BAM, they do it.

Wow...

The reason they give some time, is to help get the money into account to then make sure the fees can be paid.

You say you 'budget for 2.5 months' yet you knew this money was going to come out sooner or later then complain when you spend the money and they take it....?

Did i say they did it on purpose? No.. i think you'll find i asked the question!

Clearly i'm p!ssed off that the ONE day out of over 70 days that i had the money there, they took it then so they could charge me. I'm getting paid tomorrow, they could have taken it yesterday or tomorrow, why today? It's suspicious IMO.

Lokolo

BeenieCat wrote: »

Did i say they did it on purpose? No.. i think you'll find i asked the question!

Clearly i'm p!ssed off that the ONE day out of over 70 days that i had the money there, they took it then so they could charge me. I'm getting paid tomorrow, they could have taken it yesterday or tomorrow, why today? It's suspicious IMO.

I would put it down to extremely bad luck! Hopefully something good might come along (play the lottery on Sat!) to counter it

crispy_chris

Its unfortunate but hardly malicious on Barclays behalf. If you calm down you could always try calling them and asking if they would mind refunding the charge as a gesture of goodwill as they should be able to see that you had the money in the account for many days prior to that.
Best time to call would be when you DO have the money in the account to cover those charges so as to say 'look I only had 2 days without the money in the account'.

They may be nice and refund at least one of them, if you're nice you never know your luck, you may get them all refunded if its your first time.

Just don't start the phone call to them as angrily as your forum posts as refunding the charges is wholely at their disgression.

dfh

Yes,unfortunately,they can make these charges.My experience has been that if you are polite they almost always refund unless you do it every month.I also tell them about how wonderful their customer service is and hope they will be as good as the last person I spoke to ! That helps as well.

BeenieCat

Yes i should definitely put the Lottery on this weekend

Chris - i rang them just before posting, the blokes english wasn't too great so not v.reassuring although i'm sure he's good at his job. I was calm though

Unfortunately it's not my first time, i've been refused quite a few times for refunds, and since the new £8 "guaranteed fee" charges came in they seem to rarely refund them at all.

They said someone will ring within 48hrs to tell me if they will refund, i already know the answer though and i'm SO miffed. Hopefully they'll ring tomorrow when i'm back in the black...

Another thing is, on my statement it says the charges refer to 19th June & 20th July, i have NO idea why, as they're only from 1st June - i was told to send these statements into DWP in the hope i can request they pay since it was their mistake in not paying me. However now i doubt DWP will entertain this now, as Barclays have said they're from other dates??

I am really polite on the phone, so as not to get their backs up, but i do like to rant on the forum

DevilsAvocado

Barclays will have sent you letters explaining what the charges are for (each transaction) and then pre-notified you of the date they will debit (on your last statement).

Pre-notification, rather than debiting at the time of the event, is now fairly standard amongst the banks.

BeenieCat

They sent me a letter but definitely with no date on it, i will have to dig out the letter but i can say with great confidence it didn't specify exactly when they were going out.

I asked when my next statement was due and they couldn't tell me?? I have no idea as i've recently switched to quarterly after being on monthly for ages

GiraffeMan

I understand from past discussions on this topic that the date of charges is confirmed on your account statement

iblametheparents

If you don't have a Personal Reserve then Barclays will not charge you for going overdrawn/over your overdraft limit if it is due to a bankcharge, as long as nothing else goes out that day.