Can Halifax Investment Stop a cheque they have sent me?

Ludmilla58

Hi,
In May last year I decided to cash in a Share ISA for which I had been paying Halifax Investment Services (for many years) a fee for their management services. I needed money for repairs to a house my partner and I had bought. I was informed by letter that they had sold my shares for almost £8500 and would send me a cheque. A week later I received the cheque and deposited it in my bank. Five days later I received a phone call to say they had made a mistake and should have paid me £1695 and advised they would be stopping the cheque which they did. Since then I have been battling with them about this issue. They have offered a compensation fee of £500 and in addition paid £1100 for goods/services that we had contractually bought/entered into as a result of their negligent mistake. The whole experience has been very stressful and traumatic as initially we didn't know how we were going to meet the financial obligations we had entered into. I feel that £500 does not represent the anxiety caused and the disappointment over the plans we had made for the money I had been told and in fact received. Surely as so called professional financial advisers (for which they hade been charging me a fee for many years) they owed me a duty of care and should stand by the original figure they gave me especially since they had told me they had sold my shares for that amount. Can anybody help? Have any other people had similar experiences with this company.
Thank you.

dunstonh

I feel that £500 does not represent the anxiety caused and the disappointment over the plans we had made for the money I had been told and in fact received.

£500 is very generous and more than the FOS normally award.

Surely as so called professional financial advisers (for which they hade been charging me a fee for many years) they owed me a duty of care and should stand by the original figure they gave me especially since they had told me they had sold my shares for that amount.

They are not financial advisers. They were a product provider. A mistake does not give you legal right to the money unless you had reasonable expectation. There is a big difference in the figures. So, with the statements they sent you, did you not wonder why the amount was so different?

Onawingandaprayer

Did you not have even a rough idea what the shares were worth? There's a heck of a difference between £8,500 and £1,695. Surely you must have done a little working out in advance?

I think Halifax have been pretty generous...

Gadfium

So, in total, they have paid £1600? £500 goodwill and £1100 for services that you entered into without having the money to pay for those services?

Sounds like they've been incredibly generous to you, to be honest. Im not sure how you could think that the ISA was worth £8K when it was really worth £1.7K. Did you not check the shareprice and think "Hang on, this doesn't add up"?

Ludmilla58

Ludmilla58 wrote: »

Hi,
In May last year I decided to cash in a Share ISA for which I had been paying Halifax Investment Services (for many years) a fee for their management services. I needed money for repairs to a house my partner and I had bought. I was informed by letter that they had sold my shares for almost £8500 and would send me a cheque. A week later I received the cheque and deposited it in my bank. Five days later I received a phone call to say they had made a mistake and should have paid me £1695 and advised they would be stopping the cheque which they did. Since then I have been battling with them about this issue. They have offered a compensation fee of £500 and in addition paid £1100 for goods/services that we had contractually bought/entered into as a result of their negligent mistake. The whole experience has been very stressful and traumatic as initially we didn't know how we were going to meet the financial obligations we had entered into. I feel that £500 does not represent the anxiety caused and the disappointment over the plans we had made for the money I had been told and in fact received. Surely as so called professional financial advisers (for which they hade been charging me a fee for many years) they owed me a duty of care and should stand by the original figure they gave me especially since they had told me they had sold my shares for that amount. Can anybody help? Have any other people had similar experiences with this company.
Thank you.

I thought Halifax was a financial adviser. What was I paying them for if not their expertise? I do not follow the stock market, or read financial papers and just filed away the complicated statements. They said the error was due to some consolidation of the company whose shares I held. Halifax blamed the company for not advising them but a friend's son who is in the financial services sector say they should have known.

le_loup

Have you read any of the replies on here?

dunstonh

I thought Halifax was a financial adviser. What was I paying them for if not their expertise?

A financial adviser is a person. That person gives you financial advice. A product provider supplies a product. The product provider does not give you advice. The Halifax share service is non-advised. Halifax in-branch advisers were not authorised to give advice on that product.

You were paying them for providing a service. Not for providing advice.

I do not follow the stock market, or read financial papers and just filed away the complicated statements.

So, what made you buy shares rather than more conventional options suited to inexperienced investors?

They said the error was due to some consolidation of the company whose shares I held. Halifax blamed the company for not advising them but a friend's son who is in the financial services sector say they should have known.

They should have known but it doesnt mean they were. Especially if the share was not a commonly traded one. This would be the reason they have compensated you for the inconvenience.

Randomjargon

I score you 2/10 for trolling

Ludmilla58

These are shares I bought many years ago through a ShareSave scheme of the insurance company I worked for. I cannot remember how they came to be through Halifax Inv Serv.
However I would thank you for your reply as my concern was a legitimate one.

le_loup

You still haven't read the replies, have you?

Ludmilla58

Shame on you Randomjargon. I am not familiar with forums and have just googled trolling. What you have just implied about me is defamatory and totally untrue. If you have nothing better to do than insult people you have never met and have no knowledge of them or their circumstances, then I pity you.