Co-operative Bank Shafting Me.

roebuck

Hi all,

This may take a while so please be patient if reading this.

Here goes.

Last Thursday the 7th November, i went to my local cashpoint to check my balance, and it said money available was £60.00.

As i knew that more money was due to go in the following day the 12th, i decided to get a couple of small things as little wrap ups for my daughter for Xmas, and put £10.00 in petrol in my car also, the total i spent was £28.00. nothing more, which left my balance at exactly £32.00.

Easy enough.

The next day Friday the 8th, i went to my Co-op Bank and before withdrawing my money, i checked my balance at there ATM in the bank to make sure my other money had gone in.

It had, £490.00 had been paid in, giving me a balance of £522.00.

As i had planned this day plenty in advance, i went to the counter and withdrew £520.00. as it was to be used for all my Xmas shopping etc.

Now i have a paypal account also, as i sell the odd bits on Ebay, and on Monday the 11th Nov i transferred £25.00 from my Paypal account over to my bank account, and on Tuesday the 12th i went to withdraw some of the £25.00 from my local cash machine, and my balance came up as only having £2.00 in it, i didnt think this that odd,as i have transferred money from there before and sometimes it has taken longer to receive it than some other times just assumed that this was the case.

However today 14th Nov i get a letter from the Co-op bank telling me that i am overdrawn by £28.00 for purchases that i had made, and that the funds were not in my account to cover them, and that they had paid them for me, and that i would be incurring charges.

How could this be when i made the purchases, i checked and had the said £60.00 balance, and i had paid for these items plus petrol on my card, non were declined at any point of purchase.

So i goes to the bank to discuss it, they inform me that there machine had given me the wrong balance.

How could this be, when the money was taken from my balance before withdrawing the £520.00.

When i informed them of the £25.00 paypal money that had still not been put in my account, they told me it had, but had been taken to cover the costs of the overdrawn purchases.

It gets even better, i purchased my petrol at tesco, and when i informed this person at the bank, and produced my receipt, she was very puzzled, then blabbered on that because the fuel payment was only for £10.00, tesco would approve the sale, but if it was for say £50.00 they would check if i had sufficient funds.

What utter twang.

The lady kept on telling me what she thinks has happened, much to my annoyance, i insisted she stop telling me what she thinks, more as i would like her to tell me what she Knows has happened.

The bank could not give me any explanation as to why this has happened, and has put a complaint in, "To Themselves i gather" and that i would hear in about Eight weeks, and that she would try and get my £25.00 payment paid back in, but could not promise.

Now after i left, i went to Tesco where i shop regularly, and know some of there staff, and i put it to one lady what the bank had told me regarding Tesco would pass the sale because it was only £10.00.

To which she said, if anybody paying on there card, was even 1p out it would not just decline the card it would prompt them to ask for another payment method etc

Now i dont know if this has happened to anybody else, but it sure as hell is annoying me.

I know the Co-op are in trouble but are they really sneaking in charges hoping people wont notice.

Thanks for reading.

Any help would be great as to what rute i should take.

agrinnall

There are too many different things going on there to take the time to work out what happened when, but I do have one question. Was the fuel purchase a pay at pump or did you pay in the kiosk? Pay at pump does indeed check that you have a positive balance before it allows the fuel to be dispensed, but if you paid in the kiosk (when you have obviously already had the fuel) then the transaction may well go through even if you don't have the funds at that time.

pmduk

You always run a risk of incuring charges if ou don't keep your own tally of transactions you have made on your account.

Retailers have a floor limit below which they might choose to not get prior authorisation.

roebuck

agrinnall wrote: »

There are too many different things going on there to take the time to work out what happened when, but I do have one question. Was the fuel purchase a pay at pump or did you pay in the kiosk? Pay at pump does indeed check that you have a positive balance before it allows the fuel to be dispensed, but if you paid in the kiosk (when you have obviously already had the fuel) then the transaction may well go through even if you don't have the funds at that time.

Yes i paid at the pump.

This is what the lady at the bank couldnt understand at first, that i had in fact paid, as my account had £60.00 in it.

roebuck

pmduk wrote: »

You always run a risk of incuring charges if ou don't keep your own tally of transactions you have made on your account.

Retailers have a floor limit below which they might choose to not get prior authorisation.

I always keep an account of what i have, right down to the last penny.

My account had £60.00 in it at that time.

callum9999

roebuck wrote: »

I always keep an account of what i have, right down to the last penny.

My account had £60.00 in it at that time.

Are you certain it had £60.00 of confirmed funds in it? I.e. there wasn't a cheque or anything that was showing but wasn't yet available to be withdrawn?

And banks generally refund these charges for a "first time offence" if you ask them to. You weren't rude at all to the operator were you? If she genuinely tried to get the charge refunded then maybe it's just down to the co-ops antiquated systems meaning you'll have to wait a day or so to process?

antrobus

roebuck wrote: »

.....So i goes to the bank to discuss it, they inform me that there machine had given me the wrong balance.....

Really? I know Co-Op Bank's systems are pretty carp, but I didn't know they were that bad.
.

roebuck wrote: »

.....The bank could not give me any explanation as to why this has happened, and has put a complaint in, "To Themselves i gather" and that i would hear in about Eight weeks, and that she would try and get my £25.00 payment paid back in, but could not promise......

Wait and see. But I'd take it to FOS if they don't cough up at least the £25.

BMN

Have you checked your statement online?
Would you be willing to let us know what it says (obviously don't post anything other than dates and amounts) - perhaps we can make sense of it?

roebuck

callum9999 wrote: »

Are you certain it had £60.00 of confirmed funds in it? I.e. there wasn't a cheque or anything that was showing but wasn't yet available to be withdrawn?

And banks generally refund these charges for a "first time offence" if you ask them to. You weren't rude at all to the operator were you? If she genuinely tried to get the charge refunded then maybe it's just down to the co-ops antiquated systems meaning you'll have to wait a day or so to process?

Hi

Yes i had £60.00 in my account, nothing outstanding, no cheques or anything.

She didnt try and get the charges refunded, she just said she would make the complaint,and try and put my £25.00 back, but said no promises.

It really was bizarre.

roebuck

BMN wrote: »

Have you checked your statement online?
Would you be willing to let us know what it says (obviously don't post anything other than dates and amounts) - perhaps we can make sense of it?

Sorry i dont do online banking.

I just dont understand how it can happen, the bank can not give me a full explanation, and i am out of pocket.

roebuck

roebuck wrote: »

Hi

Yes i had £60.00 in my account, nothing outstanding, no cheques or anything.

She didnt try and get the charges refunded, she just said she would make the complaint,and try and put my £25.00 back, but said no promises.

It really was bizarre.

Sorry, no i wasnt rude to her, she was quite nice actually, it is not her fault, but something is definately amiss with this.