Barclays - It beggers belief - what a bunch of wally bankers.

Cook_County

This is really interesting - I am Attorney for an Aunt with dementia. She invested with numerous financial institutions but Barclays takes the biscuit for failure to respond so she may be losing out on interest currently as well as a tax refund I have to file for her by 31 March. (Sadly I can't ask her because she won't remember what she put where and when, which is what I am trying to find out for her.)

I too have had letters from Liverpool and 5 other Barclays addresses this year and have written well over a dozen letters. I am seeing that a stern letter to the Ombudsman in April may be needed given their useless responses (and I thought it was just me)!

cashbackproblems

Barclays share price rise over the last few months has paid for a new car so i cant really complain about them!!

John_Pierpoint

a tax refund I have to file for her by 31 March.

I am a little bit worried about the date of your dead-line.
As I expect you already know HMRC (Taxman) is in the process or reducing the number of years one can go back for a claim.
BUT under the old rules I had an experiencem in a situation similar to yours, that cost several hundred pounds:
I thought I could go back 6 full tax years BUT it is only 5 years and 10 months (presumably to allow HMRC a couple of months to sort out the claim before the end of their 6 fiscal years).

Cook_County

You are correct that in this case the deadline is actually 1 April 2012 (not 1 April 2010). The law changed in Finance Act 2008 and the change is pretty confusing, but I still want to get the form filling out of the way. See here:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/about/deadlines-taxpayers.htm

And yes, I have received a standard letter from Barclays today saying how sorry they are I have had to complain....

John_Pierpoint

I have managed to get my 3 specific complaints addressed - I have had a complete list of transactions and two extra cheques.
I have also reconciled the variable monthly payment cheques for 16 months prior to death. (found them scattered about in various other financial institutions).
I don't think Barclays or I want to go back into the Woolwich records, which are probably on a computer tape in a basement somewhere.

What a struggle - talk about the 80/20 rule.
(It crops up everywhere - when you have handled half the tasks, you are no where near half way through the project; meet the 20% "awkward squad" that require 80% of the total resources.)

Come on FSA get back to an adequate level of internal audit, if London's reputation has any chance of surviving.

Eyesparky

I am embroiled in a never ending nightmare with Barclays concerning an estate I have been dealing with. They are the only bank that consistently get it wrong (others have their moments but you get the impression that they are attempting to get it right). It is impossible to ever get in touch with someone capable of enacting anything or even giving simple required information. On the one occasion I managed to speak with a senior director relating to an issue I was promised it would be resolved immediately ... 3 months later and the issue continues with no resolution. It really shouldn't be this difficult ... if ever a company was ripe for being taken over and ripped apart to remove the endless inefficiencies then this is it. If I ever get everything resolved I vow never to do business with these people on any level again.

portlandboy

Hi,
All of the posters here may like to read the following threads too:

ITC legal Services - Avoid Them -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1935955
ITC Legal Services & Barclays Bank - Dodgy -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1935955

Barclays Bank have assigned their deceased customers' accounts to a very dubious company called ITC Legal Services (as mentioned above in a post by Super09, an ex employee of ITC). They are NOT solicitors and most of the staff have no legal backgrounds either.
ITC Legal services will call the executors of the deceased account holder and suggest that they are the largest probate company in the UK - they lie. They will tell you that they offer a "fixed fee" probate service - they lie. They will suggest that they will obtain probate within 6-9 months - they lie. They will tell you that they are cheap compared to banks or solicitors - they lie.
They WILL rip you off if you allow them to act for you to obtain probate and many of the problems encountered here are likely to be as a result of their disgraceful work prectices.
The links above should be a warning to anyone who has an account with Barclays, or who's relatives have one.

angrygirlie

portlandboy wrote: »

Hi,
All of the posters here may like to read the following threads too:

ITC legal Services - Avoid Them -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1935955
ITC Legal Services & Barclays Bank - Dodgy -
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1935955

Barclays Bank have assigned their deceased customers' accounts to a very dubious company called ITC Legal Services (as mentioned above in a post by Super09, an ex employee of ITC). They are NOT solicitors and most of the staff have no legal backgrounds either.
ITC Legal services will call the executors of the deceased account holder and suggest that they are the largest probate company in the UK - they lie. They will tell you that they offer a "fixed fee" probate service - they lie. They will suggest that they will obtain probate within 6-9 months - they lie. They will tell you that they are cheap compared to banks or solicitors - they lie.
They WILL rip you off if you allow them to act for you to obtain probate and many of the problems encountered here are likely to be as a result of their disgraceful work prectices.
The links above should be a warning to anyone who has an account with Barclays, or who's relatives have one.

ITC Legal services are based in 2 places

1. Warwick Rd, Stratford Upon Avon

2. Wychwood Court, Cotswold Business Village, Moreton in Marsh GL56 0JQ.

(itc Legal Services is a trading name of Independent Trust Corporation Ltd,)

So all Barclays customers who feel they are receiving a shoddy service in the administration of a loved ones estate (through Barclays bank recommendation), just check if the company dealing with you is not based at these addresses. Ask if they are actually ITC and then you will understand why they are incompetant and unable to carry out the most simple of tasks when they 'claim' to be the UK largest probate company.

DO NOT UNDER ESTIMATE THEIR INABILITY TO GET THE JOB DONE

lifesabeach1111

Hi if anyone has a facebook account please join us in our campaign agaist ITC and Barclays bank http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/group.php?v=wall&gid=104268162937758

saluja

Ref Barclays Bereavement 'Service'.... On reading your entry, I thought it was my story!!! Elderly mum died, all other financial organisations, bar SAGA, strangely, got sorted within a few weeks but I'm still battling to get funds from a Bond my mum had. I'd requested funds (the bond matures in june) ahead of maturity and was assured I could access funds without penalty. In the absence of any further word from them I contacted them on 16th March and was told cheque was on its way. Many communications later and I was told on 5th april I needed to provide instructions from myself and my sister (joint executor) to enable funds to be released - this is over 2 weeks AFTER I was told cheque was on its way, remember. Other funds, had already been released and I'd not been advised the need for further instructions from myself and sister. On 5th April, a supervisor assured me he would be able to CHAPS the money at no charge. Got signatures to bank on 13th /14th (I had to get sister's instruction by post as she lives a long way away). Local Barlcays couldn't / wouldn't / didn't bother to get info to bereavement service until friday 16th, and, of course, it's not been deposited in my / my sister's accounts. I'm livid!!!!! It's now a month since being told cheque was on its way!!

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

If you put a modest amount of your savings with Barclays; let us say 50,000 pounds, make sure you keep immaculate records and don't arrange to die before you have reclaimed your deposit.

I write as the executor of an elderly relative, who had a number of savings accounts with several financial organisations, a couple of dozen in all.
By last summer I had gained probate and liquidated all but one of these investments complete with details of interest and tax paid. I am ready make a final income tax return for the 15 months since the death and then settle up with the dozen beneficiaries mentioned in the will; providing them with a certificate of income and tax deducted, so they can report their new source of income.

Unfortunately the one investment with Barclays is proving to be a nightmare. I have been passed from pillar to post, from India to Liverpool via half a dozen other Barclays offices.
I finally managed to extract a hand written cheque from Warwick for a sum, that supposedly is the final balance on the account.
That was in November and it came with a letter promising details of the amount within 10 days.
Following two chasing letters, I have managed today to get a reply from the so called customer services department in Leicester. I already have several letters from Leicester that contradict each other, so I have very little faith in the intelligence, experience knowledge and training of any of the Leicester staff.
The 6 pages of the reply is completely useless and contains a repeated phrase "we are unable to provide you with a certificate for the period 6th April 20nn"
Sorry Barclays that is meaningless, a period can only be defined by its start and end date.
HMRC may like a certificate, all I need is an account print out showing, somewhere, interest added and tax deducted for the 14 months that Barclays managed to hang onto the capital after the death.

As there are 2,000 deaths a day in Britain, I would expect Barclays would have a well oiled procedure to handle the situation.

In my life time I have had a fair amount of experience in managing organisations from the bottom up BUT in the case of Barclays hydra headed organisation and faceless employees who sign with a squiggle, I don't know where to begin.

Is there any one with experience as a Barclays customer or as a current or former employee, who can tell me how the organisation is meant to function together with some ideas on how to get its staff to take responsibility for their work ?

John

If you need any more information about the joys of being an executor, go to "search" on the whole forum tool bar above, click "advanced" and put "Dog" in the key word and "John_Pierpoint" in the "find postings" field.