Help, I'm pulling my hair out!

Dippy_Luck

In August/September 2007, 'Capital One' kept sending me letters saying that as a loyal customer, they were offering me a 0% balance transfer deal. My existing 0% deal with another company was due to expire in just over a month, so I phoned and arranged for the outstanding balance to be transferred to the new 0% deal, I also asked them to transfer a further £700 from my Lloyds TSB card.

Around a month later I received a letter from Capital One apologizing that they had been unable to transfer £700 on my behalf that month. I was confused, as I hadn't asked them to make any further transfers, so I telephoned and asked what the problem was. It would seem that the person who originally set up the £700 transfer had set it as a recurring event, but this was obviously an error on their part. It then emerged that for some reason a further £689 (??!?) had already been transferred to Lloyds TSB without my consent. Capital One apologized, but said that in order for them to be able to recall this money, I would have to contact Lloyds TSB and authorize it being refunded. I did this, and rather foolishly thought everything would be sorted out.

When I received my next Capital One statement, I noticed that this money still had not been refunded to the account, and that I had been charged interest that month. I wrote and complained, and received a reply stating that although most of the interest was correct, they would refund it. No mention was made of the £689, so I assumed the refunded money would show on my next statement.

When I received my next statement, I was pleased to see that the interest had been refunded and none further had been charged, but dismayed that the £689 had not reappeared on the balance. Also, to add insult to injury, I notice that a further balance transfer fee of £20.67 had been levied to my account. This calculates as the exact fee chargeable for an amount of £689. I was livid, especially as during my initial phone call to Capital One, I had requested confirmation that no balance transfer fee would be charged on the £689, and was assured this would not happen as it had been their mistake.

Having received a letter from Lloyds TSB confirming the £689 had been debited from my account with them (confirmed on my subsequent Lloyds TSB statement), I wrote yet another letter to Capital One, reminding them of whose error this was, and asking that the balance transfer fee on the £689 be refunded. I also queried why the £689 was still not shown as being back in my account. Their written response was that they would look into the matter and get back to me.

This morning, I received a letter from Capital One stating that they had been unable to cash the cheque the bank had sent because it had been marked 'STOP COUNTERMANDED'. I contacted Lloyds TSB to query this, and was told that they had stopped the cheque because Capital One had told them it had not been received. They stated that another cheque had been drawn on 16th Nov to replace the missing one, but it would seem that the initial one must have been received after all, as they had obviously tried (and failed) to present it.

I telephoned Capital One and explained, but the very disinterested man on the other end of the line refused to confirm whether the second cheque had even been received. I demanded to speak to someone more senior, and the next person I spoke to told me that the second cheque had not been received, and, at my request, she tried contacting Lloyds TSB directly to sort the matter out. A few minutes later, she recontacted me and said they said they would not deal directly with her in that way, but she gave me another telephone number should they wish to contact her to confirm her identity. Apparently there was nothing further she could do at that stage, and I would have to take it up with them myself.

I once again phoned Lloyds TSB, and went through the entire story again (apparently it is virtually impossible to speak to the same person twice there). They confirmed the second cheque has not yet been cashed, but would only say that it should have definitely reached Capital One by the end of this week. They said they could not speak to Capital One direct as they are an incoming call centre only, and seemed unable to put me on to anybody who would chase the matter up on my behalf. They told me to ring them at the end of the week should the cheque still not have arrived. I was not happy, and expressed my dismay about the infuriating position I have been placed in. They then, rather surprisingly, suggested I apply to Capital One for compensation.

Completely deflated by now, I telephoned the lady at Capital One and updated her, for which she thanked me. She committed to ring me back Friday morning should the cheque still not have been received. But if this is the case, then I am back at square one again.

I have spent many hours, (and I dread to think how much money) on telephone calls (Lloyds TSB have a rather suspicious looking 0870 number) regarding this matter, not to mention the time and effort spent on the letters I've sent. This whole business has put me under a tremendous amount of stress, and all because of someone else's mistake!

I still do not feel any further forward, and I'm dreading Friday (judging from the above, I'm sure you'll see why I'm doubtful as to whether it's going to be resolved that easily). If I hadn't already paid Capital One the balance transfer fees (legitimate and otherwise), I'd just be tempted to transfer my balance to a new card and cancel the above accounts altogether.

Does anyone have any advice on how to get this thing sorted out once and for all, and also how to go about applying for compensation should I decide to go down that route?

I'd really appreciate any help you can give.

GeorgeUK

No idea about the compensation side of it, but i would write a letter to customer complaints and CC to head office detailing the above and your intention to make a formal complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

This has been going on for over 2 months by the looks of things. I'd also suggest looking at your credit history (free at experian) and see if anything has been flagged against you for late payment or anything else.

Dippy_Luck

Thanks George UK, yes, this has been going on since early September. I have written twice to customer complaints so far, but haven't tried copying in their head office or threatening the Financial Services Ombudsman yet, so I'll bear that in mind if things go pear shaped again on Friday. I've kept up all repayments throughout so I shouldn't have any late payments or anything like that flagged against me, but the credit card company hardly has a good track record when it comes to getting things right in my case, has it?

michilin27

Around a month later I received a letter from Capital One apologizing that they had been unable to transfer £700 on my behalf that month. I was confused, as I hadn't asked them to make any further transfers, so I telephoned and asked what the problem was. It would seem that the person who originally set up the £700 transfer had set it as a recurring event, but this was obviously an error on their part. It then emerged that for some reason a further £689 (??!?) had already been transferred to Lloyds TSB without my consent. Capital One apologized, but said that in order for them to be able to recall this money, I would have to contact Lloyds TSB and authorize it being refunded.

can't cap one do a recall of the balance transfer of £700

When I received my next Capital One statement, I noticed that this money still had not been refunded to the account, and that I had been charged interest that month. I wrote and complained, and received a reply stating that although most of the interest was correct, they would refund it.

why was the interest correct if it was on 0%? have i missed something?

This morning, I received a letter from Capital One stating that they had been unable to cash the cheque the bank had sent because it had been marked 'STOP COUNTERMANDED'. I contacted Lloyds TSB to query this, and was told that they had stopped the cheque because Capital One had told them it had not been received. They stated that another cheque had been drawn on 16th Nov to replace the missing one, but it would seem that the initial one must have been received after all, as they had obviously tried (and failed) to present it.

are you on credit on your tsb card? if so, as far as i am aware, they should be returning funds back to source via bacs system, should take more than 4 days.

Completely deflated by now, I telephoned the lady at Capital One and updated her, for which she thanked me.

how nice of her- ask her for her next pay wage too seeing as you seem to be doing all the work for a complete c**k up that was through no fault of your own!

I have spent many hours, (and I dread to think how much money) on telephone calls (Lloyds TSB have a rather suspicious looking 0870 number)

try saynoto0870.com for alternative numbers

Does anyone have any advice on how to get this thing sorted out once and for all, and also how to go about applying for compensation should I decide to go down that route?

not sure about the compensation but would be asking for some good will payment from cap one for phone calls made to both companies


let us know how friday goes- i had probs with cap one myself( was in credit- took 3 months for them to close and send out chq)grr!

take care

Dippy_Luck

Update on this - surprise, surprise, the cheque failed to arrive on the Friday, and I again had to telephone Lloyds TSB. They once again tried to fob me off with 'wait a few more days', so I demanded to speak to a supervisor. I had to repeatedly demand this until I was eventually put onto one, but he again insisted I 'wait a few more days'. This time though, he admitted that the cheque may have been drawn on the 16th but the bank had not posted it to me until the 21st November (it took 5 days to post a cheque???), and considering it takes 7 to 10 working days to arrive, there was still time for it to do so.

I told him I was unhappy with this and wanted the bank to pay the money directly into my Lloyds TSB account instead, in order that I could repay Capital One (who, incidentally, have still not refunded the balance transfer fee they have charged me on this money, despite me asking them to some weeks ago).

The supervisor said that 'even if they could do this, it would still take a further 7-10 working days to go through' (why?? I can transfer funds between my own bank accounts instantly online. So why does an actual bank find this so impossible to do???)

The supervisor insisted that I wait a further few days, for the cheque to arrive at my house. I queried as to why the cheque was being posted to me instead of Capital One, to which he replied that 'Lloyds TSB would only ever send such a cheque directly to the customer'.

I told him that Capital One had definitely received the first cheque direct from Lloyds TSB, but that a stop was put on it before they had been able to cash it, which was what had caused this problem in the first place. He responded by saying, "that explains why we cancelled the cheque, it should never have been sent directly to Capital One in the first place"!!!!

The supervisor insisted that the only course of action I could take at that stage was to wait the extra few days for the cheque to arrive, which it certainly should have by early the following week. Still unhappy with this I told him I now wished to make my complaint formal. I also said that I did not intend to ring any more 0870 numbers or be charged for any more fruitless calls to Lloyds TSB, I asked that he personally ring me by the following Wednesday at the latest, in order to confirm whether the cheque had or hadn't arrived. He agreed to do so, and said he would arrange £10 to be credited to my account towards the cost of all the phonecalls I'd been forced to make to Lloyds TSB.

Guess what? Wednesday the 5th December came and went with no sign of either a cheque, or a the promised phonecall. And it is now the 13th December, and I have still received neither the cheque or the phone call.

I contacted the Financial Services Authority, who told me that the bank have up to eight weeks to deal with an official complaint before it is referred to the financial ombudman, and they said they would send me an information pack, but I have not received this as yet.

I haven't had the time or energy to follow this up any further as yet, but does anyone else have any ideas as to the best way of getting this resolved as soon as possibe? I am unable to sleep at night and beginning to feel unwell as a result of all the stress these banks have put me under.

I was hospitalised three years ago with Crohn's disease, when I almost died. Thankfully, after a long and painfuly recovery, I was told to avoid stress at all costs, as it is a major trigger of this condition. I am terrified I am going to suffer a relapse as a result of all this, so I want it sorted as soon as possible. Any advice would be gratefully received. Thanks.