Reclaiming on LTU (Lloyds Trade Union) Membership - Help Needed Please!

jones1328

Hi All,

A bit of an unusual one here (..and a little long, please bear with it). Please read on and give me your suggestions.

In late January 2005 I was released from my job at Lloyds TSB after just 3 weeks service, I was absolutely devastated at the time and it came as a bolt out of the blue.

About 2 weeks into my employment I was asked to sign up to LTU (Lloyds Trade Union) Group who are an independent trade union , looking after Lloyds TSB employees. I signed up for a subscription, with a monthly fee taken from my bank account every month for doing so.

Anyway, when I signed up for this membership I was told very little about the scheme and told it was probably in my best interests to sign up.

After I left Lloyds TSB, I'd forgot all about this LTU Group subscription as it was pretty much a "here, sign this paper - its in your interests to do so"

Anyway, last month I noticed a transaction debited from my account under the name 'LTU Membership' and wondered why I had never noticed this type of transaction before.

The reason I hadn't noticed it previously was because before last month the transaction was under the name 'Lloyds TSB Group' which I assumed was linked to the Premier Account fee I pay for my debit card every month. (which comes with travel insurance, breakdown cover etc etc)

After writing a letter of complaint to Lloyds Union Group (asking for a refund of payments), complaining about the following:


• Not informing me of my continued LTU membership upon leaving Lloyds TSB or at any time thereafter.
• Continuing to charge a rate based on that of a full time current employee even after my employment with Lloyds TSB had ceased.
• Not informing me of any revised membership rates from December 2005 up to the present day.

They responded stating:

"Since ceasing employment with Lloyds TSB 3 weeks later you would have had a 6 month free period where no subscriptions would have been collected.

In December/January of 2006 you will have received a subscription notifier advising you of the rate you would be paying following your 6 months free period and again the following year and so on.

The only way in which we become aware of a change in circumstance of a member is if the member themselves tells us. We are completely separate from the bank so they do not advise us of any changes for members of staff. "

Now, they sent me a copy of the subscription form and on it theres a bit of small print which states

"for the purpose of the Trade Union Act 1984, I authorise the Union to use my work address as my "proper address to which any communications may be sent"

So the reason I never received any letters informing me of:


1)my continued membership

2)increases in subscription rates

was because they were being sent to the Lloyds TSB branch which I had left previously and these letters were never forwarded onto myself.

Now, what I'd like to know is:

1) Can I pursue this any further? as LTU Group have pretty much stated they won't refund me any of the monthly payments taken from my account for a service I did not realise I had nor needed

2)Does the blame lie more with the branch of Lloyds TSB who would of received correspondance for me, but never forwarded it on.

3) Is there any piece of legislation or act I can use to take my complaint further?

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading!

roonaldo

sorry this it harsh. but this sounds like you have made a series of mistakes and look to blame someone else.

Where was your letter to trade union cancelling it? you said you forgot, which isnt their error.

You said you saw it coming out of your bank account and you thought it was the premier account fee, but surely that too was on your bank statement. This isnt the trade unions error.

It is also wouldnt be the responsibilty of your branch to forward post to you.

At the end of the day, the trade union havent done anything wrong.