Abbey (merged)

Felix_the_Foccer

Begins the long process a little while back ...

Gets the (what by now appears the Abbey way) the letter saying 'Thanks for the complaint, it'll take 4 weeks to look into it, maybe more'

Anyway, gets my County Court claim 'issued' online on 11th April 07 ... 15th April, I get a letter off the Abbey (them replying to mine of 8th March, where I asked for and detialed £1500 worth of charges plus interest .. ).

Their letter claimed they had looked into it, the charges were in fact correct, but out of goodwill they were offering me £35 ... (£35?? £35 .. ????? Where on earth do they pluck that figure from?!!!)

So I rang their complaints unit and asked them, the best reason he could come up with was that it was the reviewing officers decision ... and he said he couldn't take it out (I said 'I don't want it, I want £1500 of charges back!')

ANYWAY ... gonna hold out for the court result, if Abbey make a defence or not, even if they do I'll still meet them in court, (hoping they won't turn up).

CAN I now change my claim to charge £5 per letter I've sent and an amount for each time, not often granted, that I've had to ring the ShABBEY ?

Thanks in advance. :beer:

Felix_the_Foccer

gillymca wrote: »

Sorry I know I should be following what is happening, but what is the timescale for them to respond and which letter do i send next? I have tried to read through all the messages but I get confused. Sorry please help.

I think they have 40 days in which to supply you the information for the last 6 years of charges, assuming you've paid the £10 fee etc, after that you could, in theory, take them to the Information Commisioner (I think).

Once you have details of all your charges, write to them as Martin has detailed, giving them 14 days to respond to you in full etc. I diaried mine, even giving them an extra day or so, so they couldn't moan ... and am now awaiting to see if they defend my claim of £1600 inc costs ...

It's important to stick to your timescales though, and not theirs, otherwise you'll still be trying to claim and the London Olympics will have long since been and gone.

Good luck.

michelleshoc

Finally decided to at least get list of charges (still undecided what to do due to complicated situation). The letter was received by them RD 12th March. Got last 12mths statements back 12th April. Today received a letter apologising for the delay and included a nice neatly printed table detailing all charges & previous refunds since Jan 2004 - Dec 2006. Assuring me that anything previous to this would be forthcoming and because of the delay would refund me the £10 (they never actually cashed it lol)

Has anyone else had it this way.

Thanks
Michelle

missjules

michelleshoc wrote: »

Finally decided to at least get list of charges (still undecided what to do due to complicated situation). The letter was received by them RD 12th March. Got last 12mths statements back 12th April. Today received a letter apologising for the delay and included a nice neatly printed table detailing all charges & previous refunds since Jan 2004 - Dec 2006. Assuring me that anything previous to this would be forthcoming and because of the delay would refund me the £10 (they never actually cashed it lol)

Has anyone else had it this way.

Thanks
Michelle

Michelle, I received exactly the same letter today. Their 40 days is up though tomorrow so i will give them until thursday before i fire off a letter telling them they have another 7 days in which to send me all the info otherwise I will report them and take them to court for non compliance. Let me know how you get on as we are at the same stage of the merrydance.xx:beer:

kev2b3

HI Michelle
had the same letter from abbey today and the £10 refund.
so far i have had statements from 2004 to 2006 so i am waiting for the rest, i wonder how long this will take.another delaying trick i wonder?

kev

loops33

Hi
I decided to post for the first time,after receiving the same letter as both of you,wondered what they were playing at!

loops33

hmmmm dont know what happened there but how long do i leave it before sending of another letter?

Twinkly

gillymca wrote: »

Sorry I know I should be following what is happening, but what is the timescale for them to respond and which letter do i send next? I have tried to read through all the messages but I get confused. Sorry please help.

The process you need to follow to reclaim your charges is laid out in steps, with template letters, in Martins article here:
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1141050760,24632,

If you dont understand anything after reading the article then ask in the forum. I wouldnt advise only using the forum for the information you need but any questions you have will be answered here if you need further information and, sometimes more importantly, a bit of support along the way. Good luck

lillywhizz

Hi all.

We've done this process from day one, to the letter, 14 day timescales etc. Lodged our claim with MCOL, received Acknowledgement of Service yesterday, stating that Abbey intend to defend all of the claim, signed by a solicitor. The court letter says they now have 28 days in which to file a defence.

I've a feeling this is going to go to the wire, and we'll end up going to court. If this is the case, what do I have to prepare as my case? Just my statements with all their charges highlighted? Or is there more I need to do?

Any help would be appreciated....

Lillywhizz

Twinkly

michelleshoc wrote: »

Finally decided to at least get list of charges (still undecided what to do due to complicated situation). The letter was received by them RD 12th March. Got last 12mths statements back 12th April. Today received a letter apologising for the delay and included a nice neatly printed table detailing all charges & previous refunds since Jan 2004 - Dec 2006. Assuring me that anything previous to this would be forthcoming and because of the delay would refund me the £10 (they never actually cashed it lol)

Has anyone else had it this way.

Thanks
Michelle

I hadnt seen it before either and received the exact same table of charges this morning so I came in here to investigate
They explain in my letter that they are "working to provide customers with the information requested on a timely basis by introducing new processes and systems." Further that they have refunded my £10 too.

It looks like this is the way they are coping with the high demand for details and it is welcomed by me personally. The nice neat list has saved my poor eyes trawling details presented any other way. The charges totalled on each column at the bottom are easily added up then the refunds totalled at the bottom easily deducted, very quickly giving the amount for reclaim..

The table of charges needs to be cross referenced slightly with the 14 months of statements also received but I have got to give them credit for a job pretty well done there.

This might not be a popular view but I am prepared to allow them slightly longer than the 40 day deadline for sending my details. It is clear they are working to finding a solution to cope with extra demand and not once do I feel I have been 'fobbed off' in this process. Having watched the Whistleblower program on BBC1 a few weeks ago and seen how Barclays treated their staff so badly I genuinely feel that the staff at the bottom of the ladder having to deal with our details requests deserve a little compassion in what must be a never-ending demand. Yes I know the banks didnt hesitate to charge but I blame the banks policy for that, not the everyday staff working to support their families just like everyone else.