Trouble with Halifax Bank

Legacy_user

We use Halifax Bank. On 23rd June, I transferred a three figure sum to my son-in-laws account and was given a full receipt, showing everything to prove it had been transferred. I have transferred like this monthly for almost three years.

On 30th July, he asked why the money hadn't been transferred. I sent him a photo of the receipt, he double checked and confirmed it was not in. That day, I visited our branch and saw one of their representatives and said I was far from happy. She took all the details and disappeared. On returning, she informed me there would be an enquiry. Then off she went for her lunch. Before I left, my phone rang and it was my son-in-law calling from Cyprus. He wanted to speak to a representative of the bank for an explanation. Said she had gone to lunch, however I was ushered into a room by rep No 2, where a three way conversation took place, hands free. The new rep said she would create an official complaint. We terminated the meeting with that.

The next day, Halifax rang me, told them I would visit the branch. It was then the first person I had seen, told me we were wrong to involve a second rep. I explained that the Cyprus call nesitated that. She then said she would register an official complaint. I was asked what I wanted. I said a written explanation of what had happened, an apology and a gesture of goodwill from Halifax that they had mislead me into thinking the money had been transferred when it hadn't. She said I would receive a written acknowledgment within a week.

Ten days later, no letter had arrived. I went to the bank. They said how short staffed they had been. I requested an urgent response by letter. With that, I started to leave and her parting short was "the manager will phone you with an explanation". I stopped in my tracks and said the reason I was pursuing this, was for a WRITTEN not telephone conversation.

I am still waiting. If nothing arrives today, I will be in there again tomorrow.

Halifax are failing me as a customer. I am rapidly loosing faith in them.

I'm wondering how this will end.

PS, post has been, but nothing from Halifax.

18cc

I may be wrong and perhaps others can confirm but I think Halifax have 6 weeks to respond to a written complaint if they don't or if you are still not satisfied you can then involve the regulator

soulsaver

islandman wrote: »

I'm wondering how this will end.

.

Me too, can't wait...

[Deleted User]

Why do you need a goodwill gesture?

Are you just after compo?

Were you transferring the money to a UK account or an offshore account?

It could been stopped and in pending at either end, and may not be the fault of Halifax

eskbanker

18cc wrote: »

I may be wrong and perhaps others can confirm but I think Halifax have 6 weeks to respond to a written complaint if they don't or if you are still not satisfied you can then involve the regulator

Close, but it's actually eight weeks and after that the complainant can escalate to the Financial Ombudsman Service rather than the regulator as such (the FCA).

Halifax publishes further info at https://www.halifax.co.uk/contactus/how-to-complain/default.asp:

How we'll handle your complaint

• We will do all we can to resolve your complaint on the same day.
• If we do not manage to resolve the complaint within 5 working days we'll write to give you an update and let you know when you can expect a full response.
• Once all the details of the complaint have been investigated, (we may call you for further details) we will issue a ‘final response’ to your complaint.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) gives us a maximum number of days to issue a final response:

• If your complaint relates to payment services or e-money (e.g. Direct Debit, Online Transaction) we aim to issue a final response within 15 business days after receiving your complaint. Should something outside of our control cause a delay, the FCA gives us a maximum of 35 business days.
• For all other types of complaint the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) gives us eight weeks to issue a final response but we will aim to get your complaint resolved well before this deadline.

If this relates to an international transfer of funds to Cyprus (as implied but not actually stated) then chances are it'll take longer to resolve than if it was something directly within Halifax's control....

System

!!! wrote: »

Why do you need a goodwill gesture?

Are you just after compo?

Not neccessarily. But, we feel there is something disappointing about the way Halifax has been performing of late. When my family were posted to Cyprus, they notified Halifax so all details/correspondnce/statements would have their change of address. Almost three years on, yet they still send one set of correspondence to their old address in UK. They called halifax from Cyprus to colplain. The call took 50 minutes. Finally Halifax admitted they were in the wrong and admitted the error, plus their correspondence showed my family had drawn it to their attention times before. They offered an amount and paid for 50 min phone call.

This latest episode, comes within weeks. Frustration dosen't cover it. I feel that Halifax in essence, lied to me when they told me the transfer of money had taken place and by giving me a receipt etc.

18cc

Yes if they said they've done it and gave you a receipt but it didn't happen it sounds like you might have grounds for a complaint depending if it was Halifax's fault or not rather than say the receiving bank

as esk says they have 8 weeks to sort it out

18cc

P.s. I said 6 weeks but I was counting it from the end of the first fortnight

System

Whilst it isn't relevant, I did say, it makes no difference to me which individual was resposible, I want to know how and why it happened and a reassurance it won't happen again.

I'm sure when anyone transfers money and they receive an official print off from the bank, not a mini-statement, that should be that. End of.

They have said it's an internal thing, even so, to be then told I would receive a letter within a week, twice and still no letter.

[Deleted User]

Has the payment now been received?

If you're doing a regular amount monthly why haven't you setup a SO?

agrinnall

You still haven't bothered to respond to the question asked several times whether this was a transfer to an account at a bank in Cyprus or to a UK account. The appropriate response to your question is heavily dependent on the answer.


But, if it's a transfer to a UK account, why bother to involve the bank at all, just do it online and then you know it's been done.