Alliance & Leicester - my experience

fast_track

I recently remortgaged to the A&L who asked for my credit card details so they could charge £280 to carry out a valuation, as we are thinking about moving we thought we'd live with it so we could get an independent report as to the value of our home. However, the mortgage was completed and no one had been in touch. This morning I received my Barclaycard bill to find £280 had been charged. What follows is the bulk of the text of the letter I had to send them as it is not possible to make any sort of complaint by telephone to this organisation:

Complaint ref your organisation –

29/03/2005
To The Manager
Alliance & Leicester plc
Customer Service Centre
Carlton Park
Narborough
Leicester
LE19 0AL


Dear Sirs,

I have recently remortgaged to your company from the Abbey National. There were a number of charges associated with this including a £280 fee for a valuation. The remortgage is now complete and although I have not laid eyes on a man with a tape measure I see that £280 has been charged to my Barclay card account.

I rang your customer services number who said they had no record of this charge and gave me the number of your new mortgages unit. They told me that someone might have looked at the outside of my house but it was not policy to give me (the person paying hard cash) the results of any visit. I live in a terrace so there is not a lot you can see from the pavement. I said that I wanted, in writing, a breakdown of charges and to make a complaint. She transferred me back to the customer call centre I spoke to in the first place. She did not give them any details and I was expected to run through all the security items for a third time. When I finally persuaded the operative to listen he said he would refer this to a supervisor. I was put on hold for a very long time, (charged to my phone bill). Eventually I gave up. My husband then thought that he might be able to talk to someone as he has a phone number for his internet A&L account. However, nobody replied. I looked at your internet site which suggested that I ring my nearest branch. I rang Portsmouth as your site suggested and there was no reply.

I rang our local estate agent and asked what one would normally expect to happen when a valuation is carried out. They told me that I would expect a report detailing comparibles and that someone, with a tape measure, would visit and inspect the entire property at the very least.

I expect to have the valuation fee refunded to my Barclay card plus £50 compensation for the time and telephone calls this has cost me, I also expect an apology and a full explanation of the reasons why your customer service is so deficient. I expect this to happen by next Monday at the latest. I have already contacted Barclaycard to ask them to assist me in this dispute which they have agreed.


Finally I expect, when I need to contact a financial institution, to be able to (a) talk to someone on the phone and (b) talk to someone who understands the basics of customer service. I.e., problem ownership, listening and understanding. Your company does neither.

Yours faithfully




Cc – Guardian Money
Martin Lewis

I would like to know if anyone thinks that there is any more I can do to retreive my money or challenge this completely outrageous behaviour

payless

Many remtg deals state that you do not recieve a copy of the report - although that fact should have been made clear by the adviser / in the paperwork

Although - most of these involve no fee or refund of fee paid ( did you not get this on your deal ?)

lisyloo

Hi Jane,

I think you have misundrestood what you are paying for here (although there is no excuse for poor customer service).

The "valuation" you are paying for is not for your benefit.
It's for the benefit of the lender to assess whether they consider your home sufficient security for the loan.
You are not entitled to know the details (although I did get a copy of one A&L did for me).
Sometimes lenders do a "drive by" valuation. This means there is not necessarily any need for anyone to come inside your home with a tape measure.

It is not the same as an estate agents valutaion.

I agree that it's a bit of a "rip off" when they don'd do much for it, but it's up to them to decide what's sufficient for their purposes. If the surveying company are familiar with your street and the mortgage is low, then they might not see the need to do much at all.

However A&L should still deal with your queries and answer your complaints.

mrcow

When we remortgaged with C&G, we had a "free" valuation. We weren't entitled to the valuation report either, although I don't suppose there was much of a report, as the guy was only in our house for all of about four minutes.

It finished with him asking us how much we thought the house was worth, and when we told him, the reply came "Yes, sounds about right to me."

If you would like an idea of the current market value of your home, you're better off asking a local estate agent for a valuation, which they will provide for free.

I don't know how far you'll get with asking for your money back or the compensation...after all, you've agreed to pay the fees set out to get your remortgage, and A&L have provided you with such. The valuation was for their purposes (not yours) to assess their risk of lending against your property. It's not the same as a structural survey, which you would normally have carried out on any property your were considering purchasing and which indeed would come in the form of a full report.

As for their customer services, well it just ranks incompetence.

Good luck with your complaint. I hope that you get more satisfaction from A&L than I did last year whilst trying to switch current accounts to them (but that's another story :mad: ).

johannamse

OMG...we had MANY problems when remortgaging with A&L. I would never use them again. They get my vote for most rubbish financial institution of the year!

fast_track

I remortgaged, as I have done before, using London & Country, I am supposed to get £300 cash back but that £300 went on solicitors fees for the conveyancing, I also was not lent what I asked to borrow ie, £41,000, they only lent that less £25 which I assumed was for the office christmas party less another £50 , no idea what that was for, the other nice thing was that I found I had to pay a further mortgage payment to the abbey plus 10 days interest because I might use my direct debit guarentee and recall the payment that we made. How does everyone feel about armed revolution to bring down the financial institutions and retraining call centre operatives so they can do a proper job

simonjfisher

The £25 & £50 fees should have been listed on the Key Facts Illustration you were given at the outset. If they are not the lender/broker are responsible for them not you.

You should get the payment for the extra 10 days back if it covers a duplicated period.

MarkyMarkD

I don't see any basis for your complaint. The valuation fee is declared up-front on the Key Facts Illustration. It's for the lender's benefit not your own - it's not a SURVEY for your benefit but a valuation to see if it represents adequate security. And it's quite reasonable for the lender to do no valuation at all, or a drive-by, if they consider it worth the risk - it's for their benefit after all.

If you are borrowing a low LTV and they drive by to check it's not fallen down, they probably don't need to do much more.

And you provided your credit card details FOR THE PURPOSE OF CHARGING FOR A VALUATION - and they then charged your card for a valuation.

The element of surprise was because ???

Alt

I have also recently re-mortgaged with A&L and also was charged the £280 valuation fee. This fee was promptly refunded upon the completion of the mortgage. I should also say that the Key Facts Illustrations I was given was the most cpmprehensive and easy to read document I had seen compared to my last 3 lenders. It even gave the commission sum paid to my mortgage advisor!

lisyloo

My remortgage with A&L took 11 weeks.
I got some compensation (about £150) for lost interest.

However I did have times, names and dates of numerous phone calls e.g. plenty of evidence.

Fairdo_2

I would agree with lisyloo and with payless in their first posts to you.

The valuation is for their benefit and they are not obliged to pass on a copy of that report. However, it should have been made clear to you and it should show in black & white in the "Key Facts Illustration".

Paylesses question is a valid one as I thought most of A & L's remortgage deals offered refund of valuation, so you might have wasted time and effort over something you may get back!

As others have said in their posts, there is no excuse for poor service, but at the moment, it does seem to be the way of the world.

I spend all day dealing with incompitencies like this, most days.

I would suggest for future reference, that you read all accompanying paperwork, take notes of any conversations (including dates and names) and ask questions if you are not sure.

Good luck with the answers you require.