Lloyds TSB, like banging your head against a brick wall!!

Candigirl69

I have been having problems with Lloyds for around 4 weeks now, I was just wondering if anyone had experienced anything similar.

I've banked with LTSB without problems for a couple of years. I know they have a bit of a bad rep, but they'd always seemed fair and willing to help with me! Must have been "honeymoon period" or something coz they ain't so helpful now...

My problems started with me posting a cheque in the in branch cheque deposit box (I normally use ATM o/s branch, but both were out of order hence massive queue in branch and I was strapped for time) and then them failing to add it to my account for 2 days, so it took 6 working days before cash was available. Then, the same day as the cash cleared, they took £97.00 for having gone £11.00 overdrawn, which was an oversight on my part admitably, but didn't seem very justified for such a small amount! I wrote to them to make a complaint, as I had been given NO notice of the charges, they just took it. I stated in the complaint letter that I would like them to refund the charges. A few days later I was told they'd refund it. I checked my account a couple of days later, refund still absent. So I went in branch (again) to have a chat with the manager, he said it would be in for the next day. Went in the next day, took out my purse to hand over the card, and oh dear no card... I was told they wouldn't even check the balance without my card. I went home hunted high and low for the card, rang the lost or stolen card number and reported it. Then I got round to thinking, I don't recall the manager having handed me my card back. I didn't take my purse out with me at all in the period between visits, no one had visited my home, so unless I have a ghost, I'm almost certain that the manager forgot to give it me.. He did seem very flustered, so it's possible. So I asked the branch if it had been handed in or found there... Nothing, but they were VERY impolite and rude, which I think was very uncalled for given the situation.

Anyways, went back to branch on a Saturday, spoke to a really nice clerk (total shock to me, I was begining to think at this point that they'd given all LTSB staff a personality and common sense bypass), who let me withdraw some cash just on my signature whilst I was waiting for my new card. It was only £50.00, but it was enough to see me through!

Needed cash again on Monday, thought everything would be OK as it had been on Saturday... How wrong I was. I was told that the clerk had gotten into trouble for processing the transaction on Saturday and that until my card arrived I couldn't withdraw any cash, unless I had photographic ID, which unfortunately I don't. As I am recently divorced I have applied for my passport to be changed back to my maiden name (my bank account is in my maiden name) and still hasn't been delivered yet and as I do not drive I have no Drivers Licence.

I must admit, I did lose it a bit with them yesterday. I know that they're protecting my account from Identity Theft, but surely a little common sense would be benefit the system too??

So thank you LTSB, I'm skint until Royal Mail decide to honour me with their presence at my door!

Could anyone advise me on what I should do for my next step.. should I make another complaint? I feel like I've been really messed about here!

Thanks in advance for any help!

premierfella

Sorry to read your tale of woe.

If the branch staff (apart from the Saturday) were following procedure, and if I have read the post correctly, any further complaint can only relate to:
- staff attitude and your disappointment in their poor customer service;
- non-refund of the charges as promised (unless the refund has now been processed).
(AIUI you are not absolutely certain that the manager kept your card).

There is seldom any harm in spending a few minutes writing a complaint letter - you might feel better after it and there is always the possibility of a token monetary gesture from the bank. I doubt whether anything else would be gained though.

Re: the delay in crediting cheques posted via cheque deposit box - I have (very occasionally) had such cheques disappear for many days before suddenly appearing on my Lloyds TSB account. Its not a perfect system and I accept when using it that there is the risk of human error meaning that the cheques will be deposited late or lost - for me that is better than joining the queue.

Jackinbox99

Ive had mixed experiences with LLoyds TSB. Ive had a personal account with them for 40 years. And in fairness I have not had to ask them any taxing questions or queries and it seems to do what I want. I pay money in, take it out, use the online banking and thats that. Therefore I have never changed. I have had some "interesting" experiences with their indian call centre in the past which nearly had me moving my account elsewhere.

However, in comparison the rest of my family have had such bad experiences with TSB that a few years back my family closed down all their accounts (about 12 different accounts) with TSB and moved to another bank.

jonesMUFCforever

The £97 worth of charges would have been for excesses and returns from May - nothing to do with the cheque late clearing.
You would have had notice at the bottom of your last statement.

Candigirl69

Thanks very much for your posts! I'm in the process of writing the complaint out now.

@ jonesMUFCforever I have been refunded the charges back as I had NO notice, I haven't had a statement since April (I'm due one this month). In the letter they said that the charges were unfair and should not have been taken.

iereboy

No bank will ever state in a letter that their charges were unfair.

They would have sent you a letter on the day you went overdrawn.

ALSO, on the bottom of the bank statement of the previous month would be a notification of charges. You claim not to have recieved it. Why did you not call them to let them know so they could have sent you a copy of the bank statement you did not recieve.

As for charging you £97 for going £11 overdrawn, again get your facts right.

The max charge you will incurr is :

1 monthly charge of £15
10 daily charges of £6

Total charge is £ 75


Have you thought of having an easy saver with a cash card as a back up card?

jambosans

I agree with iereboy (re: bank admitting charges were unfair), if they had admitted charges were unfair it would have made the Test Case and subsequent Appeals much easier to resolve. Most banks position charge refunds as "goodwill gestures", which removes liability. Lloyds TSB like many other banks will have a policy in place for dealing with charges (e.g. small unauthorised overdraft qualifies automatically for goodwill).

Not receiving correspondence is not a Get Out of Jail Free card, banks often have clauses within their T&C's which state they assume receipt of letters a set number of days after dispatch. The burden of proof therefore is on the customer, as the bank will have an audit trail confirming correspondence is sent. That said, when someone complains citing their Fifth Amendment Right to receive all correspondence hand delivered it's often too costly, and too lengthy to counter argue, so goodwill is offered to end the complaint.

Fiddlestick

jambosans wrote: »

That said, when someone complains citing their Fifth Amendment Right to receive all correspondence hand delivered it's often too costly, and too lengthy to counter argue, so goodwill is offered to end the complaint.

What right?

The Fifth Amendment to what?

jambosans

Fiddlestick wrote: »

What right?

The Fifth Amendment to what?

It was a joke.

kev.s

had similar problems with these clowns, i'll kkep it brief.
i had to make a payment to a company, used debit card to pay it, company took details then advised it had failed so took details again, checked my account later to find they had took 2 payments, phoned them to advise, they said to contact my bank, called lloyds and told them it was an unauthourised transaction and was told that because i gave them my number they could take what they liked and it was upto them to refund it, when i asked them why they do not protect their customers money, their response was "be careful with your card" !!!!!!?? 2 weeks later still waiting for my money, account just waiting to get closed when i get it.

deanr46

Thought it would be easier to just post the last 2 emails I sent to Lloyds TSB. Top one I CC'd to their CEO, bottom one is addressed to their CEO and Insurance customer care. No replies as yet but only sent them about 2 hours ago. I absolutely despise them at the moment. It doesn't take 21 days to transfer funds from 1 Lloyds TSB account to another!
The reason I have stated I was in two warzones in first one then three wartime situations, is because I've been to 2 war zones including 2 theatres in the Gulf so only counted it once the first time but have actually risked life and limb officially 3 times, and was so enraged at their comments I felt they should know how often I have been in a dangerous position for my country, and how disappointed I am at how they have treated me. Only just noticed that lol
Anyway I doubt anything will be done about the way they have treated me. It's almost as if they had a little note on the computer next to my name saying easy target throw insurance at him. He worries his family won't be looked after if he dies or loses a limb. W*****s! Incidentally first time I CC'd the CEO I got a reply within ten minutes so well worth emailing him if you have issues.

From: deanr46
To: customer.care.insurance@lloydstsb.co.uk
CC: eric.daniels@lloydstsb.co.uk
Subject: Mis-sold PPI claim
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:29:30 +0100

.ExternalClass .ecxhmmessage P {padding:0px;} .ExternalClass body.ecxhmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;} Dear Sir/Madam,
I recently made a claim for mis-sold PPI on the grounds that as I am in the Armed Forces, and the policy did not cover me. I am sure you can appreciate (especially in the current global climate) that I was furious when I discovered that had I been seriously injured whilst in the two war zones I have visited during my career I would have discovered too late that I was not eligible to claim, especially as I was sold the loans, and PPI in the Royal Parade branch of Lloyds TSB in the Armed Forces department of the branch. Basically you have knowingly mis-sold a member of the armed forces loan insurance, and then had the cheek to continue doing so every time I came in to increase my loan a total of six times (whilst charging me a premium to pay off the previous loan thus pushing me further into debt than I needed to be).
I received a letter back in about a week stating that my complaint had been successful, and that once I had signed the enclosed documents agreeing to the final settlement offered I would get a full refund plus interest. However after ticking the box requesting to be informed of the status of my request by text, I did not receive anything back for a few days, I telephoned the complaints department to find out why my letter hadn't been processed. The answer I got was that your offices are so overwhelmed that there is at least an eight day backlog just to scan the forms into the system, and that once the claim had been inputted into the system it could take up to 21 days (possibly more due to the backlog) to pay me back. It has now been nine days in total since I posted the forms and still no text to say my envelope has even been opened. Even allowing for the weekend I feel that it is unacceptable that it has taken this amount of time for you to open an envelope and scan some forms into a computer.
I have recently suffered a financial setback due to a mistake in my wages that has resulted in me being unknowingly overpaid over the course of a year. This has resulted in the Armed Forces taking large sums of money out of my wages as repayment. This has made my financial circumstances extremely tight and I would have been able to pay all of my bills just about if I hadn't incurred charges of £20 a day for being overdrawn. I understand that you require me to pay the charges because I owe you that money but what is extremely frustrating is the fact that you have admitted owing me money, and you are taking all this time to bother to open the envelope I sent you back straight away. This PPI claim could set my finances straight but instead of just getting on with it you are taking an age to pay me back, and I am not in the position that I can charge YOU £20 a day for not paying me back money that you owe ME. The fact that you have a branch in HMS Raleigh basic training and that you offer an account to trainees with the assurances that you will look after us because you are in a unique position to understand how the Armed Forces work is quite distressing, when you have blatantly tried to scam me with this insurance policy, and I feel it is totally unethical of your company to have the edge on gaining new customers in basic training when you pull this kind of stunt. I am seriously debating whether or not to make an official complaint to the Royal Navy, and feel it would be decent of you to volunteer the information to other serving members of the Royal Navy and Marines that have taken out loan insurance that their policy does not cover them. As a result I have totally lost my trust and confidence in Lloyds TSB as a company, and hope that you see fit to go some way towards restoring my trust by dealing with my complaint as quickly as possible. I have been looking at the money website forums, and am concerned that Lloyds TSB has been mentioned quite a few times with regards to delaying compensation claims, so I feel I have no choice but to raise my concerns by email as it is imperative for me that my claim is dealt with swiftly and efficiently.
Regards
________________


Dear Mr Daniels,
Please do not assume this is a typical complaint addressed to you to ensure the complaints division deal with my complaint effeciently. I would appreciate you taking the time to read my grievances with Lloyds TSB as there are quite a few, and I have spent a lot of time drafting this. It gives me no great pleasure to yet again make a complaint about Lloyds TSB. I appreciate that the complaints division got back to me quickly with my last complaint, and managed to find my letter on the very same day. I telephoned yesterday as even though I had ticked the box to be updated on the status of my complaint I have not received one text yet, and I wanted to be sure that things were still running smoothly. I was assured by the very friendly lady I spoke to on the phone that I would be receiving a total amount of £9333.53 in my Premier account, it was in the process of being put into my account and though it hadn't been cleared for that day but as it was a Lloyds account it should go through fairly quickly and that I should check again within the next few days. As you can imagine I was very happy with the amount that was being credited to my account, and the fact that it should arrive within the week. I then spent the afternoon working out which debts I could pay off with that amount, and how much I could keep for myself in savings
This morning I received the letter with the breakdown of how much I was to receive. The actual amount was around £6400 to my current account, and my loan is to be recalculated with a total amount of £2000 taken off my current loan. I was surprised at this as not only do these amounts not come to £9333.53 but they are also not all going into my current account. I then telephoned the insurance complaints division to confirm what the exact amount would be. The lady confirmed that the amounts I would receive were in accordance with the breakdown letter and that a mistake had obviously been made the previous day. Then I was given that (not even funny anymore) deadline of up to 21 days to be refunded. So not only have I been given the wrong information with regards to how much I was getting, but also when I will receive it. Don't get me wrong I appreciate that the amount I am owed is the amount I am owed but I do not appreciate people raising my expectations only to crush them, and then they throw another 21 day deadline into the mix! I also appreciate people can make mistakes. I'm less inclined to be angry as she was very friendly and thought she was being informative but it is still frustrating to have to re-strategise my finances, and discover that there is still no end in sight to this saga.
So far I have been given a 21 day deadline to open my letter which took 8 days, a 21 day deadline to calculate the amount I am owed, which took another 3 days, both of these actions were probably only dealt with more quickly due to the fact that I CC'd your email address. Now I have another 21 day deadline. All I wish to know is how much I am owed, when it will be in my account, and the courtesy of your company processing it as quickly as possible. I am aware that the insurance division is busy as there are a lot of people on the internet who are claiming from Lloyds and rightly so, and believe me I am informing the internet community of every letter and phone call with regards to Lloyds' handling of my complaint. I only complained last time because it took 8 days for them to open a letter, but this is starting to wear me down. I simply wish to have a straight answer without the mysterious "it's being processed, and could take up to 21 days" quote being thrown at me every time. That way I can plan ahead. I did receive a very nice apology for the time taken over the envelope, and £50 was deposited into my account which was appreciated but a quicker end result is a lot more desirable to me. I believe that it is far better to get good, prompt customer service than to have to resort to emailing the CEO to get somewhere. Surely once the amount is calculated it is a simple process to transfer the funds into my account, unless they are planning to keep the money for a month to claw back some interest. It's not helpful to me when my interest was calculated on the 21st of the month though.
Whilst trawling the money saving websites I also discovered that when I took my mortgage out the advisor had sold me 3 separate insurance policies which would have been much cheaper elsewhere, then tied me into them for 3 years. As this was my first mortgage I was fairly naive and thought that as the Armed Forces branch are supposed to help me, then they must be the most competitive she could find me. I should add that I was on deployment abroad at the time, and I only had limited time and resources to organise my mortgage on the phone with her. To add insult to injury when I upgraded to my Premier account nobody bothered to inform me that I was entitled to free home emergency cover with it, so I have paid about £250-300 over the last 3 years for cover I already have for free. I have contacted customer complaints about this so I expect I may receive some kind of acknowledgment of my complaint in the next 21 days.
I took out an account with Lloyds TSB Royal Parade, Armed Forces department as during basic training we were given a lecture by Lloyds staff informing us that they were in the best position to look after the Armed Forces, and I always thought that they had until I became more aware of how to run my finances. So far the Armed Forces department have managed to sell me 7 Loan insurance policies that would not cover me if I was seriously injured in theatre, and lets be honest here, people are being torn to pieces by IED's at the moment, so it is worrying that Lloyds staff are more interested in getting a commission than ensuring their Armed Forces customers are getting the right products. I was told today that I should have read my policy in more detail, and was given 30 days to cancel it. I imagine that would have also been the response if I HAD received an injury in one of the 3 wartime situations I have been in so far. It's especially nice to be getting that level of respect from Royal Parade. When they have medals to pin on their chest they are quite welcome to tell me such things but until then I would prefer they paid more attention to what they are selling me, and whether or not it is suitable. However I am obviously too trusting to double check these things as I don't expect my bank to try and swindle me. I have been sold 3 separate bundles of overpriced insurance, one of which was doubly covered, and the insurance company have mistakenly given me the wrong information about how much I was entitled to and when it will be received. It's the way I am told it will be refunded in a few days by one person, and then the next one is telling me 21 days (which has happened a few times) which is the most frustrating. Quite frankly the overwhelming number of mistakes from over the years that I have uncovered so far are destroying all credibility your company has in my eyes. I now urge you to speed up the process of my refund up so that I can start paying off all ties I have with Lloyds TSB as soon as possible, and switch accounts to a bank I can trust. It will still take a couple of years to pay off my loan and overdraft but at least I now know not to go into the Bank again when I need something important, which is what I used to do as I rather stupidly thought they were there to help me, and that I could trust their advice.
Regards,
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