Barclays advice needed quick

dopher

Hello can someone please help me I'm in tears I have an account with Barclays and they have charged me £120 for going overdrawn in the last two months my account is now £570 overdrawn which is £170 above the agreed limit. Three months ago I made a claim of £130 for charges they had given me, they wrote to me and and offered £100 as a goodwill gesture and because I was strapped for cash accepted. Now today I get a letter saying that I'm overdrawn again and they have charged me £120 so far I phoned them and tried to get it refunded but a woman I spoke to said I was not entitled to it as the letter they sent offering me a goodwill payment stated that I coldn't make any more claims I explained that I had 2 little girls and that with christmas coming I was stuggeling and wasn't asking for thousands but she said it was all my fault which I know it is but I also know I can claim it back, I asked to speak to her boss but she put me on hold and then came back 5 minutes later saying her boss was in a meeting and that I had to put my complaint in writing at which point I was crying to much to make any sense so I hung up. I don't know what I'm going to do can anyone please help.

DebDay

WHOA!!!!
Ok I not an expert but calm yourself down, pick up the phone and complain against the person you spoke to. Was she rude or abrupt? Did she upset or was it the situation? If it was the woman you can complain about her causing you undue emotional distress. They may be kind and refund some of your charges for that.
Like I said I'm no expert, might not work.
But I would definately try claiming the money back again.
I know how you feel went through it last year when i was pregnant. They seem to react differently to men though. When my husband phoned to give them hell for upsetting me they were nice as pie to him and got it all sorted. Know any blokes that could phone up for you?? LOL

Larumbelle

Can you type out the wording of their offer for me?

These charges are ILLEGAL, you cannont make them legal by agreeing to a 'goodwill gesture'.

You have a claim, whether this is going to be easy or difficult for you depends on the wording.

DebDay

You do HAVE to claim don't let them beat you. Granted it doesn't help you in the here and now but it means that they don't win!! Don't let them bully you!

Ps Silver Sorry but don't think that the charges are actually Illegal. They are just frowned upon by the FSA as they are too high.

dopher

Hi thanks for your kind words I'm trying to calm down it's just the wrong time of year to have to deal with this. The woman I spoke to was very how shall I say Professional she didn't insult me but kept saying that this was my fault and barclays would not keep repaying charges that were charged as a result of me going overdrawn. The last letter they wrote to me went like this
thank you for your letter of 21 october. I am sorry you feel our previous offer was unfair. In our letter of 13 october we outlined our position relating to bank charges and advised you that we did not agree with your view. nevertheless with the aim of bringing this matter to a close, i am prepared to meet your revised claim and hereby increase our offer from 65 to 100. once again this offer represents a gesture of goodwill in full and final settlement of your complaint and does not imply admission of liability.

DebDay

Simply by paying you any money they are admitting liability!!
I hate it when they try and wriggle out of things.
I would put a complaint in about that woman, if you got her name. She did not help matters with her attitude and it is a difficult situation to be in. They are supposed to act understanding, even if they have no intention of helping you. I should know have worked in call centres, not banks though!
Cheer up. If your kids are small they will be happy with small present if they are older they should be able to understand that money is tight. Try explaining it to them, if it is cleared up before Christmas you can surprise them!

Edinburghlass_2

Charges are not illegal but unlawful so don't go quoting illegal at them.

Forget the phonecall for the moment. Did you accept their offer in full and final etc etc or can you go back and say you accept it in part payment and are going to court for the rest?

If you didn't accept their offer in writing I would say you have a chance of going back to them and saying you have accepted it in part payment and will persue the rest through the court system.

If you accepted in full and final then you need to fire off another letter now saying you will claim for these most recent charges.

dopher

I accepted it in full I've just printed off another leter I'm going to post it now before I pick my daughter up from nursery.

dexters_mum_2

I also had a similar letter from Natwest in June ish when I claimed £114 in charges, stating I couldn't make any further claims against them for charges but I have just had £418 refunded from them again after threatening them with court action and it took about 3 weeks to settle.
I had to write to the branch manager to do this and they did try to offer a goodwill gesture of half but we held out for the full amount.

Best of luck, it is your money after all!

furndire

These offers are a load of **** They hope you will give up and go away.
This is where you will find help for people fighting Barclays.
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/barclays-bank/
I am so sorry you will end up not having a good Christmas, but 2007 will start off great, when you get revenge on Barclays.