very angry Barclays customer! Pls help

alpha1_2

I have had a terrible xmas with no food, no money to pay rent, no money to see family, I basically have no money because of a upgrade on computers in Barclays have messed up my account so 3months of wages can not be transfered to my account!

Anyone else had a similar problem or can anyone advise on what I can do?

I did go into the bank on thursday last week and the bank manager said it should be sorted out by monday but I still have no money. I am very angry and feel there is nothing I can do?

omega27

I think I'd goto my local branch, and shout "Give me my money, please" very loudly until they sorted it out. You could also point out to them that you'd like to claim your money back under The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (part of the Financial Services and Markets Act (2000)). FSA might be an option too.

alpha1_2

Can I do this even though there is no money in the account and its just transfers and cheques that are not clearing into my account?

The bank has said it is there fault and apologised but they have not sorted it out yet either.

omega27

Well at least they've admitted it, but why haven't they offered you a free overdraft for the duration? I mean, a day or so I could understand - but 3 months?!?

alpha1_2

its a savings account that my wages go into and dont have any other accounts to transfer

omega27

Can't believe that a bank can get away with not doing anything - have you explained to the manager that you were destitute over Christmas & can't afford to live without the cash?

Have you not taken it further - if the local manager isn't going to do anything, take it further. Complain to the call centre, write them a strongly worded letter. Tell them that you're going charge them the same rate they charge for an unauthorised overdraft (a whopping 27.5%!), plus £30 for every transaction that wasn't unpaid.

Write to the local paper, your MP, the FSA, anyone who'll listen!

Rjohnmatt

Get every details of the attempts you have made to contact them, the name of the manager etc and your financial loss/hardship incurred as a result of you having to borrow money from someone else including the interest charges that you have had to play.
Write to your local trading standards and then with a copy of what they advise, whether you should take them on in the Small Courts.

MarkyMarkD

You are trying to use a bank savings account as a current account, which isn't a very good idea in the first place.

You could have opened a basic bank account with Barclays, or another bank, in very little time.

It's not obvious how it's Barclays' fault that you couldn't get your three months of back wages. If your employer had screwed up somehow, meaning they owed you such a lot, they should have provided some other method of payment if mysteriously your Barclays account was out of action.

Jay-Jay_4

Sounds very strange to me :-/ do you have more details of what methods of payment were used and where this money is now.

Banks don't like to have money sat in their suspense accounts when they can get rid of it and clear their accounts :-/

Were you wages paid by Autopay, BACS, cheque?

Your first point of contact is your Customer Services Manager, there are strict guidelines that say that they have 2 days to respond to your query. Give them a chance to resolve your complaint and then tell them that you will be contacting the Banking Ombudsman.

alpha1_2

Can someone suggest how else large amounts of money can be paid to me apart from a bank cheques and bank transfers that have been tried?

The money is on hold waiting to be cleared by Barclays and the bank manager has said it is Barclays fault due to there upgrade and they mentioned I am not the first person this has happened to. They have suggested to close my account and open a new one for me which they are doing to see if that works.

I can not open a new account with a new bank as I rent and all household bills goes to landlord to prove where I live but if I order a P60 I think thats what its called from my employer then I maybe able to open a new account.

Jay-Jay_4

In banking terms a transfer is a one off payment... ie: a transfer from your current account to your savings account.

Wages are usually BACS payments, the same kind of thing but instead of asking each payment to go directly from one account to another, one huge debit is made to your emoployers account, the funds then all go to a place called CLEARING HOUSE.

When the money gets there it is split up into all the different employees wages and sent to their banks.

If for some reason an amount cannot be credited to a persons account it will 'reject' and go to a suspense account. Somebody will then physically find the correct account and apply the credit. If an account cannot be found then the money is returned to your employer.

So if this is how you get paid then your money should be sat in a suspense acount unless it has been returned to your employer.

If you are paid by cheque then unless you have an account to pay the cheque into, there's not a great deal that you can do.

I feel that there should've been some attempt to get your money to you in the circumstances you have described but without knowing your particular position it's hard to see what they could do apart from pay you cash over the counter.