HSBC (merged)

Rex_Mundi

Cazzdevil wrote:

I'm assuming that I allow them the 4 weeks yes?

No, you move onto the next step of your claim when your own deadline is up.

Cazzdevil

Woohoo! Thanks. My claim is an estimated one though because they've not sent me my old statements despite me ordering them in September. My first letter has asked them to send me a list of the charges if they dispute the amount, but if they don't send the list how do I deal with this when it comes time to submit my claim?

Also (sorry), the estimated claim is for £6400, so can I submit two separate claims to keep them in the small claims track? Two lots of 3 years as it were... I read this on another post somewhere but wanted to make certain before my deadline is up.

kwizzy

For info: I was told by a judge in the past that £5000 is not a fixed ceiling - more of a guideline. Costs will will often raise the total above £5000 anyway. This type of claim will probably still be allocated to the small claims track.

Rex_Mundi

Cazzdevil wrote:

Woohoo! Thanks. My claim is an estimated one though because they've not sent me my old statements despite me ordering them in September. My first letter has asked them to send me a list of the charges if they dispute the amount, but if they don't send the list how do I deal with this when it comes time to submit my claim?

Now you are on very rocky ground. When you issue a court claim, you will very likely be asked to show proof of the charges. You don't have any! How did you estimate your claim?

Cazzdevil

There was an article on the BBC website explaining it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm

I took the total of the charges from the statements I have and divided it by those months (17), then multiplied it by 72 (6 years) to get an estimated total.

I know for a fact that I've had regular charges over the last 6 years, but as I say - I ordered my archived statements in September and Abbey keep fobbing me off saying it takes 4 - 6 weeks, then 6 - 8 weeks, then up to 12 weeks and when I phoned them in the 17th week they said "oh I don't know what's happened to the order, I'll place it again", so it's gonna be ANOTHER 4 - 6 weeks before they arrive. I'm sick to death of waiting for them so I thought I'd get the ball rolling at least.

nickmack

Cazzdevil wrote:

I ordered my archived statements in September and Abbey keep fobbing me off saying it takes 4 - 6 weeks, then 6 - 8 weeks, then up to 12 weeks and when I phoned them in the 17th week they said "oh I don't know what's happened to the order, I'll place it again", so it's gonna be ANOTHER 4 - 6 weeks before they arrive. I'm sick to death of waiting for them so I thought I'd get the ball rolling at least.

Did you request these under the Data Protection Act as recommended by the instructions? They have 40 days to furnish your request.

Any longer and you should lodge a complaint with the commissioner.

This usually gets things moving, however if they still don't play ball, you can ask the court to force them to provide the information.

Cazzdevil

Yes I did it the suggested way, they sent me a form to fill in and to authorise the £10 charge from my account, but when I phoned they kept saying they were experiencing delays and it was taking longer than usual, and finally they said the order had gone through but they didn't know why I hadn't received the statements - they hadn't even taken the money out of my account so the order obviously hadn't gone through.
They're peeing me off unbelievably.

The trouble is, every time I phone I can't get the person in the call centre to understand what I'm querying, I try explaining the situation from start to finish but they can't understand what I'm talking about so I end up going round in circles. I asked to speak to the supervisor last time but she was neither use nor ornament either!

Grrrrr.

Rex_Mundi

Cazzdevil wrote:

The trouble is, every time I phone I can't get the person in the call centre to understand what I'm querying, I try explaining the situation from start to finish but they can't understand what I'm talking about so I end up going round in circles. I asked to speak to the supervisor last time but she was neither use nor ornament either!

Ideally you shouldn't be making any requests over the phone. A letter can be produced at any future stage in court as evidence if there is any wrongdoing. Recorded delivery is even better.

Cazzdevil

I did make the original request by post, but I phoned them 3 times to find out where the statements were as it had been much longer than the timescale they originally quoted.

nickmack

Cazzdevil wrote:

I did make the original request by post, but I phoned them 3 times to find out where the statements were as it had been much longer than the timescale they originally quoted.

Don't phone, if the 40 days is up since the payment was taken, then tough for them. File a complaint with the Data Commissioner, otherwise they will continue to fob you off.