My bank has failed to execute my monthly stocks DD

billy-the-kid_3

Dear all,
I hope you are all as well as can be in these testing times. I've not been on here for several years in all honesty.
Anyways to cut it brief, I have had an isa stocks and shares fund via my one and only bank. 
I have over the years monthly drip fed from my standard bank account anything from £100 - £500 per month depending on my earnings at any given time as I'm in this game long term.
I am seeking advice from anyone on here whether I've got grounds to complain as I have always had sufficient funds in my bank account to fulfill the direct debit instruction to my stocks and shares which occurs last working day every month.
However my bank has emailed me and sent a letter to me explaining.....
"Dear sir, unfortunately due to a system error your investment (£500) DD has been cancelled in error. We're sorry about this.
To fix this error we've set up a new DD with the same date and value as originally instructed going forward.
We will now take a DD on 16th November 2020 for October's issue."
Well today with the good news regards a likely future covid19 vaccine and the tremendous one day surge in the stock markets.
What have I missed out on?? Due to the fact I should have had another £500 into my stocks and shares pot.
Any advice welcome.

Alexland

Your loss will depend on your exact investment choices but it seems fairly likely you will have been impacted by the delay to invest. Last week was good for markets too. Maybe wait and see the unit price(s) it goes in at and compare it to the unit price(s) on the missed date so you can detail your actual loss in the complaint.

Thrugelmir

billy-the-kid_3 said:

Well today with the good news regards a likely future covid19 vaccine and the tremendous one day surge in the stock markets.

A surge of optimism is often replaced by pragmatism once people read the finer detail. Ain't out of the woods yet. 

billy-the-kid_3

Thrugelmir said:

billy-the-kid_3 said:

Well today with the good news regards a likely future covid19 vaccine and the tremendous one day surge in the stock markets.

A surge of optimism is often replaced by pragmatism once people read the finer detail. Ain't out of the woods yet. 

Which is why I said 'likely'. Any good news is forthcoming to me though as it's all been doom and gloom. Let's just all keep our fingers and toes crossed. 👍

billy-the-kid_3

Taking the actual potential difference between values of unit share prices out of the equation. Do I have grounds to complain the fact I had funds available and they did not fulfill a DD from their end.
As in under the direct debit guarantee? I'm pretty sure if it was my fault a simple I'm sorry wouldn't do??

eskbanker

billy-the-kid_3 said:

Taking the actual potential difference between values of unit share prices out of the equation. Do I have grounds to complain the fact I had funds available and they did not fulfill a DD from their end.
As in under the direct debit guarantee? I'm pretty sure if it was my fault a simple I'm sorry wouldn't do??

They've already admitted their error and if it's caused you demonstrable financial loss by your £500 not being invested during a positive market move then it's not unreasonable to expect them to stump up for that, which I'd argue is acceptable redress.  It's nothing to do with the DD guarantee though, but if you stamp your feet a bit they might throw in a token goodwill gesture - what are you expecting?

masonic

billy-the-kid_3 said:

Taking the actual potential difference between values of unit share prices out of the equation. Do I have grounds to complain the fact I had funds available and they did not fulfill a DD from their end.

If you can demonstrate a financial loss that occurred as a result of that error, then you have a right to be put back into the position you would have been in if the error was not made. Did you also have an automatic investment instruction set up? Make a note of the price of your investment(s) at the time this normally would have executed and the price you can eventually buy the investments at, then request they compensate you for the difference - as originally suggested by Alex.

billy-the-kid_3 said:

I'm pretty sure if it was my fault a simple I'm sorry wouldn't do??

I don't believe your bank would impose any penalty on you if the direct debit was unpaid due to you cancelling it in error.

Alexland

I would agree unless you demonstrate a loss then it's not enough to be worth a complaint unless you are just hoping they give you something to stop complaining.

billy-the-kid_3

eskbanker said:

billy-the-kid_3 said:

Taking the actual potential difference between values of unit share prices out of the equation. Do I have grounds to complain the fact I had funds available and they did not fulfill a DD from their end.
As in under the direct debit guarantee? I'm pretty sure if it was my fault a simple I'm sorry wouldn't do??

They've already admitted their error and if it's caused you demonstrable financial loss by your £500 not being invested during a positive market move then it's not unreasonable to expect them to stump up for that, which I'd argue is acceptable redress.  It's nothing to do with the DD guarantee though, but if you stamp your feet a bit they might throw in a token goodwill gesture - what are you expecting?

Thanks for the feedback guys. In answer to one of you yes I have an automated DD instruction for the same amount every month. It's part of my ISA allowance I then put the rest (if I can afford to) into a cash ISA with same said bank.

My thinking was that if a DD is setup that's a contract and if you don't fulfill a contract usually there's penalties.
I'm not the usual complaining type but have complained once before when my card was wrongly stopped and couldn't use it for several days. All I got then was £30. 

Alexland

billy-the-kid_3 said:

My thinking was that if a DD is setup that's a contract and if you don't fulfill a contract usually there's penalties.

Remember the primary users of DD are councils and utility companies collecting bill payments and if they fail to try and collect their money on time that's their problem. As a customer you wouldn't usually care if a DD was collected late.

billy-the-kid_3

I'm no expert with regards stocks and shares so I guess all I'm thinking of doing is taking a screenshot of the online investment hub on the date DD should have been taken out in October and on 16th November another screenshot and see if I've lost out.
Would the hub give me enough detail to work this out?
As it's an asset management worldwide fund I never actually know what shares I physically buy/sell.