"Intelligent Finance" BACS dead parrot sketch

DKP68

<ALL SORTED! I just suggested in rather overbearing language that someone might pick up the phone to speak to the receiving bank, and to their credit, they did and now my money is back. Why couldn't they have done it sooner!>

jimmyjones_2

I had a similar issue with the IF website a few months back. I made a bacs payment then the next evening nothing showed up in pending payments so i repeated the process... guess what - the first payment went through and the second bounced.

Fortunately after I sent a message requesting that the fee be refunded due to their shoddy website causing the problem and they did so "as a gesture of goodwill".

After many years I am thinking about leaving Intelligent Finance for the following reasons:
- No more freepost envelopes
- No more 24/7 customer services
- Website hasn't improved in years, if anything its got worse
- No Faster Payments
- Virtually no interest on current account any more
- Less competitive interest rates in ISA/Saving accounts

Unfortunately I am no expert and am not sure how you would get on with the Financial Ombudsman. I have always found IF customer service excellent and am surprised they haven't been more helpful.

ehlo

Faster Payments are coming on the 13th November as highlighted on the website and in the updated Terms they recently sent out .

I'm hoping that as Intelligent Finance is soon to be sold off the website will then see some improvements. Just hoping that any potential buyers won't slash the rate and just add a 'bonus' for new customers.

DKP68

@jimmyjones. Thank you very much for your reply. It makes me feel less self-doubtful about how I interacted with the website.

I wanted to collate the explicitly post-dated payments into a list, to check what was going out in order to avoid nasty surprises. I'm glad I'm not the only one to use the website in this way.

To their credit, Customer Services have been keen to communicate, but only to quote Parrot-fashion that BACS recall is totally open-ended and it is not technically their problem.

I'm going to the Ombudsman to get them to cough up out of their own funds and they can 'own' the BACS recall themselves at leisure.

I'm materially at a loss due to their website design, which I used in Good Faith, so I think that they are beholden in law to refund me.

DKP68

Update as of 31st October.

Heard from the recipient that he only has one BACS payment from me, so it sounds like the recall mechanism has worked. (Guy seems trustworthy; an electrician who came recommended).

No BACS refund today; two weeks on.

So the recipient bank (Barclays) are probably sitting on my £250, earning interest, until they can be prodded by law into giving it back to the rightful owner.

I know banks need capitalisation, but there are less unethical ways to do it than this!

DKP68

£250 still missing as of November 9th. Haven't had final letter from Intelligent Finance. Ombudsman complaint drafted and itching to be posted so that I can legally reclaim my money!

hillcats

Have you had the "final decision" letter from IF, if not then I would be on the phone for every damn second their phone lines are open until they were SO fed up of hearing my voice they would return the money just to get rid of me off the phone. Still push the complaint through the FOS this costs them money also for the services of the FOS you are using...

Also, save your pennies dont call their rip off 0844 money making number, see here for the geographical number http://www.saynoto0870.com/search.php

However, personally only had two small problems with IF resolved amicably, once I stated that I was in charge - not them !

DKP68

Yes, had the final letter from IF throwing out my complaint today. No surprise.

Apparently, I am at fault because tomorrow starts today at 2020, so if you post-date payments by a day, they suddenly go out of your account and aren't in the Pending List. UTTERLY RIDICULOUS.

Also, they don't take any responsibility for my missing £250, like paying me now and handing on the debt to their own internal debt-chasing

So, the Financial Ombudsmen complaint (already filled) is ready to go off 1st class tomorrow with some keenly worded argument about today being today and not tomorrow!

DKP68

Just phoned customer services and spoke to a rather defensive Scottish lady while I asked airily where my unlawfully misappropriated £250 was

They are doing the bare "legal" minimum to chase this sum up without any real appetite for anything to happen. Well that's very commendable.

I suggested that someone at the bank might actually say "right let's sort this problem out once and for all and phone someone who can get things moving". This seemed to be too revolutionary an idea.

She sounded embarrassed by the spinelessly negative customer service that I was being provided with.

At least there was a tacit point of agreement.

happy_bunny_2

wow, at least it will cost IF £500 for the FOS to look at the complaint.

Hope you get your money back.

I would change banks once this is sorted.

DKP68

Yes, I'm in the process of switching to Coop while mentally playing Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive"

I should say that I've been a loyal customer of IF for nearly a decade, when it had offset mortgages. Everything seemed fine. I was happy... I don't like being a petty whinger about when tomorrow starts; midnight rest of world not including IF, 2030 today if you are IF.

This is the first time that something silly has happened and I've been rather taken aback at the complacency and inertia of the bank's response.

When something goes wrong, that's the test of how you are valued in a relationship! COOP... be gentle with me.