Seeking advise in regards to compensation for Bank error

k992061

Long story cut short, paid a sum of money into my account. Next day £900 is taken out as an adjustment by the bank saying I actually paid in £900 less that what they issued the receipt for. I have the receipt for the amount paid in, the clerk checked it including counting the money and weighing it.

The Bank come back to me saying that after investigating they are satisfied with the fact I had paid in less than they issued the receipt for and that a mistake was made counting the money so I land up £900 short!

I call them and said I am disgusted at this and ask them to re-open a case. I send them statements from the persons who gave me the money, receipts from the banks where the money came from in closed sealed packets, and copies of my paying in stub and paying in slip (which they sent me). I also asked for CCTV footage which they say is no longer available.

Finally it seems they agree the mistake is on their part after 2 months of trying to prove as much (Personally I think the cashier pocketed the missing money as their statement doesn't ring at all true). Today they mentioned compensation and I was wondering what would be a suitable request other than the £900 being paid straight into my account?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

rrf494g

my suggestion would be to base any claim for compensation on actual losses incurred in the pursuit of the correction. That's to say how much time have you spent on this matter, phone calls, letters etc. Only you know what value you put on this things, but at least you have a basis for the claim. The staff who deal with you are being paid to handle the complaint, so I would start by picking an hourely rate the the bank staff are likely to be paid, so that you can say that your time is as valuable as theirs. If the fault is clearly negligence on the part of the bank staff/processes then you have a good basis for a claim. Good Luck.

whitewater_2

well any compensation offered would be in line with loses to you and inconvenience caused. £900 isnt an inconsiderable sum and they have admitted fault now i assume??

Wait to see what there offer is, dont demand a sum as you might put the complaint handler on the defensive

pinkdalek

£900 could be an error somewhere else as it is also a transposed figure.

That means figures keyed the wrong way, usually easy to spot as the error amount is always divisible by 9.

For example how can the bank be 100% certain it is you where the error has been made, I mean the cashier could have paid £1000 somewhere when the true figure was £100. Or they could have paid £2100 when the correct figure is £1200 - the permutations are endless.

If you have proof of the amount e.g. receipts elsewhere, statements showing monies being paid out then why should you not be entitled to the correct amount. The bank may threaten to close your accounts, which quite frankly is out of order, but would you want to bank with them anyway after this incident.

I don't think the cashier has "pocketed" the £900 themselves, I think that's a bit harsh, but for the amount of the error it is too co-incidental in my opinion.

AsaD

How can they miss count £900? That's absurd, that is ALOT of money. I hope you get it back, if not, I would take it further, if what you are saying is true, it sounds like fraud on thier part. Maybe you should
Ask for £1500 for compensation, £900 stolen plus interest and phonecalls ect

whitewater_2

£1500?? not a hope.

the £900 plus maybe £50 will be as much as one could expect unless you can prove serious monetary problems

opinions4u

AsaD wrote: »

How can they miss count £900?

Maybe they didn't. Perhaps the bank thought the deposit was for £2,300 but was miskeyed as £3,200.

That's absurd, that is ALOT of money. I hope you get it back, if not, I would take it further, if what you are saying is true, it sounds like fraud on thier part. Maybe you should

I think the bank have already agreed to return it.

Ask for £1500 for compensation, £900 stolen plus interest and phonecalls ect

Now in most cases, £1,500 is absurd. Although there may be exceptional cases where additional costs have been incurred.

1) The £900 back.
2) Interest on the missing money. 5% for 6 weeks = £5.
3) Phone calls, car parking, petrol and letters - whatever the cost? £10.
4) Time pursuing it. £10 an hour is an FOS guide.
5) Other costs incurred. Did this force you to borrow on credit card, incur bank charges or lose interest by having to break a savings contract elsewhere?
6) An ex-gratia payment in addition to the above. I'd suggest £100.

So probably a figure under £200 in addition to the return of the disputed £900. My ex-gratia payment suggestion is because of the time taken to resolve it. Had it been sorted within a couple of days that would be significantly lower.

When I've dealt with a deposit dispute in the past, no adjustment has been made to the customer's account without the customer's consent. The only exception to this was when my cashier accidental turned a £10 deposit in to a £10,000,000 deposit. Head Office quickly agreed to bend the rule on customer consent in that case.

If the OP has pursued such a dispute to the FOS or the courts they would almost certainly have won.

k992061

The sum was rather large and the £900 difference was quite a difficult error to make. In the statement from the cashier they said they specifically remember that the stub they stamped was for an amount different to what they made the receipt out for which seems odd especially as it happened over 2 months ago, how on earth could they remember such detail from July!

Having read your messages I might try and see if I can get them to give me a premium account for a year or two rather than asking them for monetary compensation. It will give them the chance to show me that they can actually "look after" their clients before I consider changing banks.

I will let you know how it goes.

Thank you everyone for your responses.

jalexa

k992061 wrote: »

.. I also asked for CCTV footage which they say is no longer available.

How long ago was this? If very recently a better CCTV issue is what is the retention period? If within the "retention" period then "no longer available" would not be accurate. Perhaps they meant defective? Either way in a complaint situation I drive a wedge into any inaccuracy.

Another potential "inaccuracy" is "after investigating they are satisfied with the fact I had paid in less than they issued the receipt for"...

How can it be that one day and "capitulation" the next day.

I do not expect they will reveal (to you) the details of the initial "investigation", however they would need to reveal that to the Financial Ombudsman (or be slaughtered). A FOS referral would cost you nothing but the bank would incur a £500 case fee regardless of the outcome.

So either you accept the outcome and move on or "provoke" a FOS referral. The best form of "compo" is generally "ex-gratia", not "calculated costs". You accept the offer and move on. Given that the bank gets out of an investigation centering on either staff dishonesty or poor process, its cheap for the bank to settle. Personally, given the £500+ cost to the bank for FOS, I would tell then you would consider a £200 ex-gratia payment in full and final settlement following the reinstatement of the £900.

k992061

Thanks all for the advice, in the end I was offered £250 for this mistake which I will accept and give to charity. Thanks for all your help!

opinions4u

k992061 wrote: »

Thanks all for the advice, in the end I was offered £250 for this mistake which I will accept and give to charity. Thanks for all your help!

Please use Gift Aid!