Now I know why they're nicknamed "Shabbey"..

col32

Hi guys

Someone I know suggested I post this here, so here goes!

I've been in the process of trying to claim back some money that was taken fraudulently from my Abbey current account for over six weeks now. Abbey have messed up sending me a new card - twice - been utterly inocmpetent on the phone, have "chased it up" more times than I care to remember, and have cost me a small fortune in phone calls.

The upshot is, that (aside from looking for another current account elsewhere) I got so fed up with Abbey that I started writing it in a blog. It's long and messy, so I apologise for that - except there's no other way to get in all of what's happened!

http://shabbey.blogspot.com/

Advice, comments and support are all most welcome.

C

edited to add: one bit of advice I would like is relating to getting an account elsewhere. I have a fairly large overdraft with Abbey - will that affect my ability to get a current account somewhere else? I can't afford to pay it off, and don't want to get a loan (not sure how good my credit rating is anyway) so any advice about that would be greatly appreciated.

saxmund

Bank of Scotland are offering a free overdraft of £1000 for 4 months for transferees. This is presumably to help customers for the time when they're likely to have money in 2 different places. However, it might tide you over the move and then you can apply for one in the usual way. You can always leave the Abbey account open and the overdraft with them, just make sure you're on Preferred Overdraft option.

col32

Thanks, Saxmund.

I don't really *want* an overdraft, if you see what I mean, I just didn't want already having one to hampler getting an account elsewhere. Ideally, I'd get an account elsewhere, Abbey would freeze my account with them, and I'd pay them back so much a month. Don't know how crazy that is in the real world, though!

Tootsie_Roll

chrysalis

Please could you summarise your complaint on here, I didn't find your blog that easy to follow and apart from a debit on your account which could easily have been a 'Continuous Payment Authority' don't really know what your complaint is about.

I have lots of 'Abbey' experience plus know someone who works in the department you refer to.

col32

Sorry, Tootsie Roll - so much has gone wrong, it's difficult to summarise properly, but I'll try.

Firstly, I rang phonebank when I noticed that my card had been used without my permission, the girl cancelled my card, said she would order a new one, and didn't.

A week later, branch (who I'd been told to go to re: getting money back) said they would order me a new card (and husband, who they decided also needed card cancelling), but they didn't either. Phonebank later said they had been ordered when they hadn't.

Cards were finally ordered, and we got them three weeks after mine was initially cancelled.

Meanwhile, I hadn't heard from the card fraud department, who are it seems incredibly busy. I couldn't get through and after I'd sat on hold for an hour only to get a recorded message saying the office was now closed, I decided to ring the complaints department. Have done this several times, they have said they will "chase it up" and nothing has happened.

My complaint is that it is taking so long, (6+ weeks) and frankly I was banking on getting the money back before I go away at the end of the month, because the branch staff said I would get my money back within about ten days.

I'm not sure what a "continuous payment authority" entails exactly, but I did not give any authorisation for the company in question to do this. I never signed anything, or received anything in the post from them. I explained the full story to the branch staff member who filled in the fraud form with me, and she did not say anything other than telling me the money would be credited to my account within about ten days. (this was how she worded it, rather than my interpretation of what was said)

There's lots of other bits and pieces, involving charges by the bank and the way I've been treated by some staff members, but I'm guessing you only wanted me to summarise the fraud part.

Thanks for taking the trouble to read all this!

Chrysalis

Tootsie_Roll

Hey, please don't apologise; no need.

Can't really make any comment on how long it took to get a new card but I am concerned that possibly a new card will not make any difference if it is a Continuous Payment Authority (CPA). These are similar to direct debits in that you agree to having the payments taken out on a regular basis via your debit card - often though the fact you are 'agreeing' to this is buried in the small print so would advise you to check any documentaion you have. They are more of a pain to cancel though as only the company taking the payments can do that, the bank have no control at all. In addition cancelling one card has absolutely no effect as it passes onto the new one !!

As I mentioned I know someone who works in the card fraud department and although it will be cold comfort they are probably as fed up with the situation as you are. They lost over half their department following on from the Santander takeover and they just cannot cope with the amount of work coming in. As if things aren't bad enough they are also migrating to a new system which is never easy either.

Good luck.

col32

Well, the payments have stopped (touch wood, cross fingers and lots of other superstitious things) so maybe it wasn't that - or maybe the company in question knew they were pulling a fast one...

Kudos to your friend for sticking it out at Card Fraud - I think I'd have gone mad by now. I've not had the luxury of speaking to someone in Card Fraud, only Phonebank, the branch and the Complaints dept. The sad thing is, this is obviously affecting staff as well as customers, and can only reflect badly on Abbey.

At least I now know *why* it's taking so long!

Thanks