Bank admission of fault, yet not prepared to put things right

jul64marty

Hi

I have a problem with a major high street bank. Basically they made an error which cost me a lot of money, inconvenience, stress and a medical problem. They have acepted full liabilty for the financial issue and inconvenience, however they will not accept the stress or medical. They have made an offer of compensation, which of course comes only with a disclaimer, but this falls short due to what they wont accept liabilty for. The bank are clearly at fault for the medical and stress issues - where next?

dmg24

Without knowing the specifics of your situation, it is likely that the bank's t & c's will somewhere limit (or exclude) liability for consequential loss. If this is the case, then you are lucky to even get them to offer compensation for the inconvenience.

Even if they are admitting some liability, a court would look at whether your illness was reasonably foreseeable. I think this may be difficult to prove in your case.

As I said, without knowing more specifics, it is difficult to give any more specific advice.

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

jonesMUFCforever

Have you exhausted the bank's complaints procedures?

If so and you are still not happy consider contacting the banking ombudsman but like previous poster has said he will probably only deal with the banking side and you may have to get legal advice as to whether you should take legal action against the bank for your stress and medical condition.

Remember they have deep pockets and unless you can get a no win no fee solicitor on your side you may have to stump up many thousands in fees with no guarantee of winning.

jul64marty

As for the specifics, the bank gave me incorrect advice, which resulted in me being stranded in a third world country without any access to my funds. Instead of the adventure we had planned, we ended up having to go without basic provisions, such as food and clean water. Whats more, the advice the bank gave me was specific to the extend that I purchased a special account [for quite a large fee] and they even gave me the name of the bank where I could acess my money free of charge. The medical involves a complaint that I could not afford to have treated until I returned home [I was only able to do this by finding a british couple and borrowing money from them to get home]. By the time I received treatment, the infection had become so deep rooted, it took three courses of antibiotic to even touch it, and it is still recurring today almost 10 weeks later]. The stress factor is due to a. not being to meet the basic provisions while in the county [Cameroon], and b. being in pain all the time I was there. The bank have admitted their error and have offered compensation to the tune of providing enough money to return to the country and have another holiday. This is not important to me - getting them to admit to the rest of the problems they caused is the main factor.

jonesMUFCforever

Did you go to Cameroon without money?What was the nature of the incorrect advice?
Did you have insurance for your trip?
Did you have a card where it is possible to wire funds out to you in an emergency eg AMEX and MBNA (they provide this service on my A&L card).
Did you not think of contacting the British Embassy or Consulate?
What was the 'special acount' and what was the fee?

You need to provide more information to get accurate advice.

jul64marty

I asked the bank which was the best way to access my funds while over there [yes I did have sufficient funds in my account to cover any eventuality that could have occured while away]. They suggested I upgrade my acount, which I did, and they sent me a card that I could use while away [the representative even asked me the name of the town I would be staying at, to check the usablity of the account and card]. When we got there we found that the card was not recognised in Cameroon [the bank later told me their representative had made a mistake]. I took out travel insurance with the bank as well, but unfortunately this was no good in Cameroon either as any medical treatment must be paid for at the time over there. As for contacting people and trying to get help, with the little money I had on my person I found an internet cafe and contacted the bank to alert them of our desperate circumstances and to appeal for immediate help with getting to our money. They got back to me the next day to ask me for a few personal details [DPA], and then took 10 days to respond after that, despite me telling them we had no money for food or for fresh clean drinking water. As for British consulates etc, well they arent very reliable in Cameroon and everything is very corrupt. At the end of the day I asked the bank for expert advice, which they were all to eager to give to me for a price. They are very sorry for the incorrect advice I was given by the inexperienced [thats the term the bank have used] representative, and have offered to cover the cost of returning to Cameroon, but that is not the issue here. They are saying that it is not the banks fault that I contracted an infection and that it has nothing to do with them. I disagree to a certain extent, and although I agree that is is not the banks fault that I contracted the infection [a bladder infection], it most certainly is the banks fault I couldnt get it treated, and the fact that I was forced to drink the local water supply, whether it was that which caused the infection or not, could surely be questionable.

jul64marty

p.s. The bank have refunded me the price of the account upgrade after I requested it be cancelled when I got home. The bank also apologised in writing and by telephone on my return. Their letter stated that they hoped their written apology would be sufficient and that the matter could be deemed as resolved with this, their final response. I then referred it to the Ombudsman. The bank contacted me within days stating that they did not want to ombudsman involved and that the letter of apology was not meant to be the final response and that it had been sent out in error, and was indeed an inappropriate response.

jonesMUFCforever

So you did go to Cameroon without funds.You relied totally on getting funds from a bank or cashpoint = is that right?
You did have travel insurance which might have helped had you followed the claims procedure.Did you through a medical practioner over there attempt to claim?
British consulate not very reliable - corrupt - did you contact them?
I feel that the bank is right in saying they are not responsible for your illness - you might have contracted the same disease in Spain!
You make no mention if you had any other cards that might have been accepted there.
Whilst an offer of hundreds of pounds in compensation (presumably it must be this to cover another trip there) is insufficent to you I feel that you will struggle to get more.
You could well carry the dispute to the Banking Ombudsman but what if he feels the same way as the bank what then?
I do not know if you are a seasoned traveller (and I think the answer to this would have a bearing on any bank defence if it came to court) but I would not do any of the things that you did.
I would take responsibilty for my own actions by checking on the internet, travel agent,Foreign office etc what the situation was re cashing over there and I would have certainly taken some currency and as many different cards as possible.
Just my thoughts.

jul64marty

Well I took some Euro over with me to last me the first day or two, but as for the rest, it was in my account. If you had done your research before posting, you would by now know that the Cameroonian franc is not available anywhere in the world but Cameroon and is unrecognised in the UK, so you cannot take the currency into Cameroon. Even if you did manage to have some CFA [Cameroonian franc] from somewhere, it would be confiscated at the airport on entry to the country if found on your person. Euro is recognised in a very small proportion of the country, just enough to get you through the first day or two while you find accommodation and get local currency. Unfortunately though, the exchange rate for Euro in Cameroon is only a quarter of what they are worth [ or whatever they decide to give you on the day], so taking large amounts of Euro costs you a lot of money. Not only that, if you go through custom control with large amounts of money in Cameroon, it is questioned, and is usually taken by airport police. I explained all this to the bank before waiting for them to get back to me with my funding options. so I think I pretty much did my homework. As it happens Cameroon only recognise one type of card, unfortunately the one I didnt have. As for doing my research I liaised with the bank for 8 weeks about accesing our funds, prior to going and took the advice they gave me. The travel insurance was useless, and yes I did seek treatment through a practitioner, but no treatment was available without money [incidentally, whatever they feel like charging you]. As for the consulate they are not contactable in the sense you think they are, you have to go to their offices [which mainly consists of one or two people employed by the cameroonian government in a small room, if they are open], and as that was a 30 mile journey through territory where Cameroonian police stop you and bribe you at the drop of a hat, it was not an option. I did try phoning them but to no avail. I am not a seasoned traveller as you put it, but this was not a holiday in the normal sense. I do voluntary work for endangered species and went over to photograph wild primates. As for checking with travel agents - you cant buy a holiday in Cameroon in any travel agent, or get any advice on it either, I tried. And finally, I already agreed that it was not the banks fault I contracted an infection, and as you rightly say I could have caught it in Spain. The difference is, that in Spain, and with good advice from my bank on how to access my money and an insurance policy that was actually worth the paper it was printed on, I could have got it treated

Clive_Woody

What level of compensation would you consider to be reasonable?

What are you trying to get the bank to admit liability for?