Shocking Treatment by Barclays

tomleecee

I have several accounts with Barclays, and a Loan. I will finally pay my loan off this month after never missing a payment, and I have 2 ISAs and an Everyday Saver with them. I also have 2 current accounts, neither of which are overdrawn. So all in all, I consider myself a fairly decent customer.

So why have they treated me so badly over the last couple of weeks? Firstly, they decide to suddenly put a 'Fraud Prevention' stop on my current account just as I'm paying for a load of shopping in Sainsbury's. Because of that, my rent standing order failed to leave my account that night, and so I had to ring them and get the mess sorted out (still no explanation for the Fraud Block thing), and pay my landlord. Fast forward to this month and my rent doesn't get paid again. I ring up. They apologise and say they've sorted it out. Then, imagine my utter disgust when I get home form work today to find a letter telling me I owe them £8 for having 'insufficient funds' to pay my rent. A quick look online shows me that the cretinous fools have applied the standing order to my side account instead of my main one (which had sufficient funds). Can I claim this money back? Am I being treated badly?> I'm considering switching banks after all this.:mad:

InsideInsurance

Fraud prevention is normally for your benefit and is very easily sorted by one phonecall - they normally phone you within 5 minutes of the block being applied.

I agree it can be a pain and it happens to me every time I pay off any of my RBS cards. Speaking to them they've always said what has triggered it (but cant explain the over sensitivity my account has to RBS - after all, they're such a trustworthy organisations

As to the issue with the standing order.... what actually happened, the standing order failed once due to the fraud warning and you made an exceptional payment to the landlord. Who changed the standing order after that? Normally it would just have continued next month as normal without needing any other input/ amendment. I assume you asked them to do something to it rather than doing anything yourself online? Was it in branch or over the phone?

Generally the service from Barclays is terrible but the one thing their telephone service does do is absolutely triple check every instruction reading out source and target account details in full. Personally it irritates me as I have 1 current account and 1 credit card and I tell them to transfer £x from current to credit and they insist on reading the whole numbers out and I dont have a clue what the sort code and account number for Barclaycard are!

That said, it evidently doesnt give you much of a leg to stand on if they have read out that it will be coming from your "side" account and you've confirmed its correct.

CLAPTON

make a written complaint

keep is short and to the point

say exactly what you want them to do
ask for £100 in compensation

don't mention Bob

pelirocco

I have a business account with Barclays , and they often put a stop on due to fraud prevention , although Ive never known it to affect DD's or S/O 's . It can be a pain when there hasnt been any fraud ........BUT twice now they have down it when there has been fraud , so on the whole I am very pleased they so vigilant, on the whole we have had nothing but good service from them

Gonzo33

My parents had a payment stopped by Barclays as they thought it was a fraudulent transaction. However the transaction was an unusual one for my parents (large). They called and sorted it there and then (although were miffed the payment had been stopped at all). My parents have banked with Barclays for 45 years and that is the only issue they have ever had with Barclays.

I also bank with Barclays, and so far (touch wood) I have not had an issue either.

I am not sure why your standing order to pay the rent has been affected, so you definately need to go into a branch or write them a letter to deal with this.