Nationwide advice and help needed!

Sarajx

Hi there,

I'm basically asking if any of you can offer advice really regarding a lost bank transfer with nationwide.

We are a family having major issues with nationwide and customer service representatives. So as the wife of the man that has spent hours in branch and on phone I am looking for some help in resolving this issue before my husband has a break down at the lack of consideration from nationwide.

Basically we've been transferring some money to a relative over a number of months, totalling £2600. This agreement came to an end last year in october. This is when it came to our attention that the money hadn't arrived with our relative. After taking it up with theyour bank, they traced and found the money, brilliant we thought, but unfortunately they have been unable to give us our money back.

We have complained about the poor service, lack of communication, broken promises, customer service representatives failing to turn up, hours of our time spent in branch/on the phone (many many hours) and the list goes on, really it does. Then recently a customer service member was assigned to us from head office, we finally felt we were getting somewhere after months, she promised us again countless times the money, even saying she would deliver it to us in cash by hand, but yet we are still out of pocket and this is obviously causing problems as a knock on effect with our relative. We are desperate for this to be resolved, it is ruling our lifes with so many hours spent being told numerous stories.

Really it would take me all day to type into this thread the number of times we have been promised the money over night, this afternoon or the different excuses given to us for this then not happening.

If any of you have any suggestions where I can complain to or ask for help from I would really appreciate it, i'm desperate! Just so you know, so far i've complained to nationwide themselves countless times, watchdog, financial ombudsman (waiting to hear back) and even graham beale the head of nationwide.

Thanks for your time, I really do appreciate it!

Sara Kitchener

Bloomberg

Sarajx wrote: »

Hi there,

I'm basically asking if any of you can offer advice really regarding a lost bank transfer with nationwide.

We are a family having major issues with nationwide and customer service representatives. So as the wife of the man that has spent hours in branch and on phone I am looking for some help in resolving this issue before my husband has a break down at the lack of consideration from nationwide.

Basically we've been transferring some money to a relative over a number of months, totalling £2600. This agreement came to an end last year in october. This is when it came to our attention that the money hadn't arrived with our relative. After taking it up with theyour bank, they traced and found the money, brilliant we thought, but unfortunately they have been unable to give us our money back.

We have complained about the poor service, lack of communication, broken promises, customer service representatives failing to turn up, hours of our time spent in branch/on the phone (many many hours) and the list goes on, really it does. Then recently a customer service member was assigned to us from head office, we finally felt we were getting somewhere after months, she promised us again countless times the money, even saying she would deliver it to us in cash by hand, but yet we are still out of pocket and this is obviously causing problems as a knock on effect with our relative. We are desperate for this to be resolved, it is ruling our lifes with so many hours spent being told numerous stories.

Really it would take me all day to type into this thread the number of times we have been promised the money over night, this afternoon or the different excuses given to us for this then not happening.

If any of you have any suggestions where I can complain to or ask for help from I would really appreciate it, i'm desperate! Just so you know, so far i've complained to nationwide themselves countless times, watchdog, financial ombudsman (waiting to hear back) and even graham beale the head of nationwide.

Thanks for your time, I really do appreciate it!

Sara Kitchener

What an absolute horror story. I would suggest that you go to the local citizens advice bureau and see what they say. I would also tell the branch manager that if this case is not resolved soon then you will take your story to a newspaper, they love stories like yours.

Much to the disagreement and annoyance of some readers on this site I have always maintained that proper banks (The big four) offer a much better service than building societies and wannabe banks like Halifax etc. Good luck, hopefully you will be able to post some good news soon.

Joe_Bloggs

Welcome to the forum Sarajx.

From what I understand if the transfer between your account and your relative was between Nationwide accounts then Nationwide could easily fix the problem. If the receiving account is external to Nationwide then it is out of their control.

In the latter case it requires the diligence of the receiver to spot the bonus funds in their accounts and request that they are returned. Honesty plays an important part in fixing these issues. The anonymity of the receiver will be maintained by the receiving bank hence there is little that can be done to compel the recipient to return the money even if they still had it.

There may be other ways round this and other MSE forum members may have experienced a better outcome.

J_B.

A Similar situation.

missile

If you are not satisfied, WRITE a letter of complaint. You will get a response and ultimately you can refer your complaint to FSO.

See complaints procedure on NW website.

EarthBoy

We can't really help you because you haven't actually told us what the problem is. Why didn't your relative get the money? Were you paying it into the wrong account?

Sarajx wrote: »

We have complained about the poor service, lack of communication, broken promises, customer service representatives failing to turn up,

Sarajx wrote: »

Then recently a customer service member was assigned to us from head office, .. she promised us again countless times the money, even saying she would deliver it to us in cash by hand,

I don't believe they promised to bring you round the money in person. It just wouldn't happen.

MrsManda

Is the problem that you had put the wrong account details on the transfer or have Nationwide been transferring the money to the wrong account despite having the right details?
If you've put the wrong details on the transfer and Nationwide have been carrying out your instructions, it is not Nationwide which is at fault.
I know from receiving money which wasn't expected in my own account and querying it that if I hadn't called and said that the money didn't belong to us and must have been a mistake there'd be no way for the person who made the mistake to get the money back from me and presumably as its not fraud banks don't have to refund the money anymore than if you handed over cash to someone and realised it was the wrong person, your bank would give you that cash back.

You may have to rely on the good will of the bank or the honesty of the person receiving the payments - though if they haven't mentioned it already they're unlikely to now.
Nationwide should at least give you a straight answer as to the likelihood of them giving you the money back

Sarajx

Hi everyone!

Thanks for your advice so far!

Basically all account details were correct but for some reason there was a fault/error in the transfer with nationwide so it never left them to go to barclay's, instead being placed into a holding account with nationwide. They've obviously traced the money internally but every time they try to give us the money by internal transfer from holding account to ours it never arrives. At one point our account did show a credit of the £2600 but was showing as unavailable and they were getting their technical team to look into it, but have yet to resolve. So they then agreed to make the cash available in branch but again were unable, with the branch unable to give an explanation! We have a letter from nationwide admitting to losing the money and stating their very sorry for inconvience etc but they would take a further 14days to resolve their technical issues, that was about two months ago.

I've written letters of complaint with no response other than the letter admitting fault. So I have now complained to ombudsman and watchdog, as well as writing to papers. So waiting for someone to take up our story, hopefully anyway!

I didn't think of CAB so will definitely try that tomorrow, will try any route now!

And as for Earthboys response, sorry i didn't explain it clearly, the customer service representative was bringing the cash in hand down from head office and meeting us in branch. Several times this was promised but unfortunately never happened. One excuse or maybe geniune reason was that on one of the occasions she crashed her car on route. She was ok, but apparently had whip lash so obviously hasn't offered to do it again since.

Thanks everyone for all your responses and advice, I really do appreciate it.

Sara!

heloid

If you have already gone through their complaints procedure then you've done the right thing as the ombudsman is the next step. Keep chasing both and you will have your money back likely with some compensation if you press for it.