Abbey (merged)

paul_afc

would like advice Abbey, followed martins guidelines, got my bank charges, requested money back, 8 weeks later got offered a minimal fee that they put into my account though i rejected there offer.they still put into my account! there said they will contact me again in 4 weeks, spoke to financial obudsman who said will take on my case. was considering small claim court but was told only cases under 5k. anyone else having problems with Abbey.
thanks Paulafc

Jax321

skydivebuzz wrote: »

Forgive me for sounding a little cynical, but your first post on seems very sensational

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I decided to register for this site as this information could be useful to some people (I believe it’s about 1 in 8 people who reclaim charges) As I’m sure you can appreciate, it’s hardly good working practice for a bank worker to spend all day surfing the net posting on message boards<O:p</O:p
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skydivebuzz wrote: »

Does this mean that Abbey are willing to disclose the true ammount it costs them rather than the inflated fee they charge us?

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Abbey are currently taking part in a “fact finding mission” with the OFT regarding bank charges. This is near its conclusion and this information will be available through FOI act.<O:p</O:p
It’s expected that OFT will put a cap on charges (as with credit cards) and this will open the floodgates for all banks.<O:p</O:p
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skydivebuzz wrote: »

Do you really think they will risk going to court and being ordered to provide this information?

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As I said, the OFT will make this information public soon enough.<O:p</O:p
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saraharrow wrote: »

Think this is a person scaremongering for whatever reason

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If you believe that, then so be it. I posted on here because I didn’t want some poor sod turning up at court with only a few excerpts from websites relating to old (non banking) cases. When they got there, they found the full Abbey legal team waiting for them<O:p</O:p
Most people who take banks to court are very poorly prepared and I thought it might be useful if people knew that they could be in for a fight<O:p</O:p
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angelwillow wrote: »

Is this why they are giving me all sorts of different and crap excuses why they haven't even sent me my statements yet!!!!????

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you haven’t got your statements for the following reasons;<O:p</O:p
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• Abbey systems only hold account information for a year (on a rolling basis). Any statement that is required before this has to be sent away for offsite recovery<O:p</O:p
• Offsite recovery are grossly understaffed and they have been denied any more staff members (why comply with the law when you only need to refund the £10)?<O:p</O:p
• Abbey are currently working on a 60 day (give or take) when it comes to data subject access requests<O:p></O:p>

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I have posted this information because I want to level the playing field. Banks are more than aware that the fees they charge are “disproportionate”, but if and when they get told to lower them, it’ll cost you 50p for each card payment you make, 25p for every pay in and 15p for every bill payment or direct debit you make. As well as an account servicing charge (First Direct, anyone?)<O:p</O:p
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If you choose not to believe me, fair enough. Not really my problem, but if anyone requires any info on the inner workings of Abbey, I’ll be more than happy to oblige. Just PM me

wooziesuzie

Hi Paul,
I posted for some help with them too this evening on forum havn't been to f.o.s as yet. They seem to have just dragged their heals with everything, statements, four weeks another four weeks and now I get told to sod off!! Makes me wonder how many of Abbey fatcats are on their holidays with their nice bonus's and my money!!

saraharrow

if banks want to charge for card usuage, I think most people will go back to using cash. At least these charges are honest legal charges that you have a choice in, ie use card and pay for the priviledge or use cash and dont. Bills will cease to be paid by direct debit, and the reason for charges will cease. The banks dont defend because they are in the wrong, a test case will make them divulge their costs and its quite simple, they dont want people to know the true cost. they had made payouts of up to £35k - and this instance it has set a legal precedant for bank charges but how often does a bank allow someone to take them to court for amounts over 5k? rarely indeed. What they say to the staff, to the public and to the boardroom are often conflicting. Yes they are business, but if you lie to your customers and act fraudulently, how many will stay with you????

angelwillow

Jax321 wrote: »

you haven’t got your statements for the following reasons;<O:p</O:p
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• Abbey systems only hold account information for a year (on a rolling basis). Any statement that is required before this has to be sent away for offsite recovery<O:p</O:p
• Offsite recovery are grossly understaffed and they have been denied any more staff members (why comply with the law when you only need to refund the £10)?<O:p</O:p
• Abbey are currently working on a 60 day (give or take) when it comes to data subject access requests<O:p></O:p>

Then why not just say so? The excuses I've had are 'we haven't received the request' - not true as I have a recorded delivery note to say they have,'your account details have changed' - since when,they never told me before and my statement doesn't say so,'I don't know where you got that address to sent it to' - that would be your automated system when you phone the number on the statement ie 'If you want to request statements for charges through the Data Protection Act please write to............'
Sorry but Abbey have been and continue to be the most unhelpful and unco-operative bank/credit card company that I have dealt with over this matter and other 'problems' in the whole time of 'owing' an account with anyone.
Oh and by the way they haven't refunded my £10.
:mad:

saraharrow

If they cant comply with the 40 day part, then they should be reported and fined for failing to comply. If I dont send my paperwork to HMRC etc on time then its simple I get fined, of course after a few thousand in fines they might staff the dept adequately. Their staffing issues are irrelevant, its any excuse not to comply with legislation and to break the law, but its ok, they are a BIG business. Perhaps I should campaign for equal business rights regardless of the business size????

SarahJSch

I started talking gently, with a cheque for ten pounds and requesting all of my statements...that was 20th may, now screaming and been into branch twice, I still do not have them. Their delaying tactics were not deter me, looking at £4.000 + I will have them. just keep going. got the pacachute account. Good luck to all

miss-bonkers

miss-bonkers wrote: »

Hi all
i'm just finishing my court bundle, the clerk at the court has told me to send the court a file and abbey's solicitors because i won't be able to be at the court on august 14th. Does anybody know how to word the letter i send with my file, need to send it asap!!

Many thanks
Kim

hi all
thaught i'd post this again... looks like it was gonna get lost!!!
any help greatly appreciated!!
Kim

Jax321

saraharrow wrote: »

if banks want to charge for card usuage, I think most people will go back to using cash. At least these charges are honest legal charges that you have a choice in, ie use card and pay for the priviledge or use cash and dont.

Not quite Sara. If more people use cash, then banks will shift charges to cash/counter withdrawals. The simple fact of the matter is, banks will continue to make steady profits. If they get told they can’t do one thing, they’ll find other ways to get your money. The only way to avoid this is to not have any banks (never going to happen)<O:p</O:p
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Further to this, if no one wants to use a card, bang goes e-commerce, resulting in a loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and there goes the economy.<O:p
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I’m not defending banks by any means, but they are a business whose sole aim is to please the shareholders.<O:p
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saraharrow wrote: »

if you lie to your customers and act fraudulently, how many will stay with you????

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Unfortunately, we are in a case of better the devil you know. What are the customers going to do? Go with another bank who will do exactly the same?

angelwillow wrote: »

Then why not just say so?

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Would you be happy with that? If the bank told you that they knew they didn’t have enough staff, but they weren’t going to do anything about it? I’ve worked in the central complaints team, I know ALL of the excuses you are being fobbed off with. The normal one is “Abbey cannot be held responsible for items which go missing in the post”<O:p</O:p
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This is very true, except they normally go missing in the internal post system. Best thing to do would be to go to your local branch, hand in the request (get the staff member to photocopy, date and sign the request for your records) and go down after 40 days.<O:p</O:p
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If you make a complaint about your fee, the company policy is to refund the fee in the first instance. They’ll do everything they can to stop you going to the ICO.<O:p</O:p
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saraharrow wrote: »

If they cant comply with the 40 day part, then they should be reported and fined for failing to comply.

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I totally agree with you. It will happen eventually, but most customers complain to the FOS (ombudsman) and not the Information Commissioners Office. The ombudsman doesn’t really do much with the complaint other than tell the banks to release the statements, or else.<O:p</O:p

Beate

The only advice we can give you at the moment is to read up on today's news: All claims have been put on hold because the FSA is taking some banks to court in a test case. You can put a claim in with the FO, but it will not be dealt with until after the test case is resolved. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/bankcharges-testcase-quickguide.pdf