Can I ask bank to refund the money spent on calls to their 0845 number??

lolly-i-pop

Hi,

The short story is, Barclays made an error on my account, causing me to get a £22 charge. I called up their 0845 number to complain, and they sorted it fairly quickly, but the girl kept me on hold for at least 15 minutes, to 'check' that she could refund the payment, and then to 'check' when it would be in my account.

I only have a mobile phone, and so this call cost me at least £4. I would never normally use phone banking sevices, I only had to do this because of their error.

Do you think I should ask them to refund it? I was going to fill in a complaint form on their website. Do you think this would be good enough for them?

I might add in a threat to leave them. I'm quite keen on Halifaxs fiver a month account!

Thanks in advance

paddedjohn

No harm in asking, i would have asked them to call me back as soon as i got connected in the first place.

janb5

Try using www.saynoto0870.com which will often find an alternative to 0870/0845 numbers. Very useful as I am charged for these with NTL. I reckon I use it about twice a week and it has saved me loads particular with ringing government offices etc. HTH

miniemma

There's no harm in asking but...

lolly-i-pop wrote: »

I only have a mobile phone, and so this call cost me at least £4.

This is not the banks fault.

lolly-i-pop wrote: »

I would never normally use phone banking sevices, I only had to do this because of their error.

You could have popped into a branch.

Techhead_2

miniemma wrote: »

There's no harm in asking but...



This is not the banks fault.



You could have popped into a branch.

But neither is it the OP's fault that the bank make a mistake and only have premium rate numbers.

I have complained to Natwest about their policy of using revenue generating numbers (when calling to correct a series of mistakes). They refunded my expenses.

fluffnutter

Write a nice, polite letter, asking for an ex gratia payment of, say, £5 to cover expenses. I think you're likely to be successful.

sstteeww

lolly-i-pop wrote: »

Hi,

The short story is, Barclays made an error on my account, causing me to get a £22 charge. I called up their 0845 number to complain, and they sorted it fairly quickly, but the girl kept me on hold for at least 15 minutes, to 'check' that she could refund the payment, and then to 'check' when it would be in my account.

I only have a mobile phone, and so this call cost me at least £4. I would never normally use phone banking sevices, I only had to do this because of their error.

Do you think I should ask them to refund it? I was going to fill in a complaint form on their website. Do you think this would be good enough for them?

I might add in a threat to leave them. I'm quite keen on Halifaxs fiver a month account!

Thanks in advance

Remember, each person can have 3 reward accounts each. Transfer the same £1000 between each of these accounts and hey presto,£15/month for 1 minutes work :beer:

Louisdf

miniemma wrote: »

There's no harm in asking but...



This is not the banks fault.



You could have popped into a branch.

Live in the real world, most people have to work 9-5, and there's not enough time to go in a lunch break as usually the queues are stretching out of the door (at least in my Natwest branch.) Why should the OP have to pay for the banks mistakes?

miniemma

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as bluntly as I appear to have done.

Of course the OP should not have to be out of pocket for the banks own error.

I just think that if someone has chosen to only have a mobile phone then they must accept that fact that mobile calls cost a lot more to certain numbers or find an alternative way of contact.

Many landlines now include the 0845 numbers in their packages and so cost nothing to call but this took MANY MANY years to happen. Hopefully mobile companies will follow suit one day.

And of course, as Janb5 said, there's always saynoto0870 :money:

Techhead_2

miniemma wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't mean to come across as bluntly as I appear to have done.

Of course the OP should not have to be out of pocket for the banks own error.

I just think that if someone has chosen to only have a mobile phone then they must accept that fact that mobile calls cost a lot more to certain numbers or find an alternative way of contact.

Many landlines now include the 0845 numbers in their packages and so cost nothing to call but this took MANY MANY years to happen. Hopefully mobile companies will follow suit one day.

And of course, as Janb5 said, there's always saynoto0870 :money:

You really are coming across badly. People don't necessarily choose to not have landlines. Some of us have no choice.

miniemma

Techhead wrote: »

People don't necessarily choose to not have landlines. Some of us have no choice.

How come?