Claiming back phone bill costs from a bank

mcmeeks

Hi, just wanting some advice. I went abroad on holiday and my debit card didn't work on two occasions. I informed the bank that I was going abroad and on both occasions I was able to use a secondary card on the same ATM machines. I spent in total over 150 GBP ringing the bank to resolve the issue and they refused to ring me back despite me asking (and actually nearly being in trouble with the police for not being able to pay a bill).

I have complained and spent hours on the phone to people who don't have decision making authority and I am at my wit's end? Should I just write off this money, or is there another way I can go about getting it back?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

tomtontom

You need to mitigate your losses - could you not have called them via Skype etc? They may offer you a small goodwill gesture, but £150 is excessive.

wealdroam

mcmeeks wrote: »

Hi, just wanting some advice. I went abroad on holiday and my debit card didn't work on two occasions. I informed the bank that I was going abroad and on both occasions I was able to use a secondary card on the same ATM machines. I spent in total over 150 GBP ringing the bank to resolve the issue and they refused to ring me back despite me asking (and actually nearly being in trouble with the police for not being able to pay a bill).

I have complained and spent hours on the phone to people who don't have decision making authority and I am at my wit's end? Should I just write off this money, or is there another way I can go about getting it back?

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

Good to see you had a backup plan. Taking that secondary card was a great idea.

As you were able to use that secondary card, why did you 'nearly get in trouble with the police'?

As you were able to use that secondary card, why did you feel the need to even phone your bank?

LilElvis

It's happened to me a few times when I've been in Africa, even though I've rung the credit card company in advance to notify them of my dates of travel. A quick call to a geographic number and the block was removed in minutes. There must have been something more going on for the matter to have resulted in a phone bill of that magnitude.

SnowTiger

mcmeeks wrote: »

I have complained and spent hours on the phone to people who don't have decision making authority and I am at my wit's end? Should I just write off this money, or is there another way I can go about getting it back?

Put it in writing and send them a letter.

Also consider opening an N&P Gold Classic account.

N&P doesn't charge a fee for using the card abroad and their customer service is excellent.

You can request a call back here.

They called me back on the Philippines mobile number after I locked myself out of Internet banking and helped me regain access.

AJXX

How many calls and when/why?

For example if you knew you could just use the secondary card from day 1 that the main card didn't work I would question why you continued to call racking up such a huge bill.

meer53

Make a complaint and send them copies of your bill. If you really did spend £150 on calls, they should refund no problem. Without the bill you have no chance of getting £150.

agrinnall

They may refund you because banks are pretty spineless, but if it's a bank that I use, or even worse, one that I have shares in, I would be very disappointed with them. You had absolutely no need to ring them while you were overseas, and certainly not to run up a bill of that magnitude.

pendragon_arther

LilElvis wrote: »

It's happened to me a few times when I've been in Africa, even though I've rung the credit card company in advance to notify them of my dates of travel. A quick call to a geographic number and the block was removed in minutes. There must have been something more going on for the matter to have resulted in a phone bill of that magnitude.

Exactly. There may be trolling ahead...

Zandoni

Phone your bank again and briefly explain your problem, then ask to speak to someone with more authority in the UK. If they are not able to help, tell them you would like to escalate your complaint to a higher level still.

meer53

Zandoni wrote: »

Phone your bank again and briefly explain your problem, then ask to speak to someone with more authority in the UK. If they are not able to help, tell them you would like to escalate your complaint to a higher level still.

Making some assumptions there aren't you ?