Barclays have *lost* my money

gettingtheresometime

ItsComingRome said:

gettingtheresometime said:

I think I would be suggesting to Barclays that losing a customer's money isn't policy either.

If you can't get into a branch to get this sorted then my next telephone call would start off by asking to speak to someone higher up than the call handler and then ask them to invoke the complaints procedure.

There's obviously a good reason why Barclays won't extend a relatively small overdraft to the OP.

Realistically, going into a branch is going to be a waste of time, branch staff have typically the least authority in the organisation. The OP can expect to be handed a phone if they deal with this in branch.  Far better to do it from the comfort of your own home.

I appreciate that the staff may have the least amount of clout but hopefully there would be members of the public in the branch so that the organisation it's self would be shamed into doing something about it.

(Though following the further info given by the OP, the OP is cutting their nose off to spite their face in not accepting the O/D being offered)

lh8609

theoretica said:

Sometimes it is a matter of finding the words that work - I suspect the won't offer a free overdraft - but this sounds like the sort of mess up where once it is over and they know how big a mess it was they should expect to pay compensation which at least covers the overdraft fees and losses you have experienced.  Comes out of a different pot!

Thankyou for the helpful response, I’ll try rewording what i say to them if it’s not resolved in the morning which I suspect it won’t be.

lh8609

gettingtheresometime said:

ItsComingRome said:

gettingtheresometime said:

I think I would be suggesting to Barclays that losing a customer's money isn't policy either.

If you can't get into a branch to get this sorted then my next telephone call would start off by asking to speak to someone higher up than the call handler and then ask them to invoke the complaints procedure.

There's obviously a good reason why Barclays won't extend a relatively small overdraft to the OP.

Realistically, going into a branch is going to be a waste of time, branch staff have typically the least authority in the organisation. The OP can expect to be handed a phone if they deal with this in branch.  Far better to do it from the comfort of your own home.

I appreciate that the staff may have the least amount of clout but hopefully there would be members of the public in the branch so that the organisation it's self would be shamed into doing something about it.

(Though following the further info given by the OP, the OP is cutting their nose off to spite their face in not accepting the O/D being offered)

Hi just to confirm I haven’t been “offered” anything in light of this situation. Apart from a bunch of rubbish excuses. They’ve always given me the option to have an overdraft but I’ve always tried to steer clear of it. So what I meant in my earlier post was they will happily give me one I’m sure and charge me for it but I don’t feel like I should have to pay anything given they’ve *lost* my money. 

But I think I will seek to take the overdraft if it’s not resolved by Friday and will be pursuing for compensation to cover the cost of it as suggested by a previous poster.

lh8609

ItsComingRome 

So this is because they won't do it free?

If I were in such dire straits I'd be taking a fee-incurring overdraft so I could put food on the table and worrying about the (very small) cost later.

I'd also be considering whether having my emergency fund in a savings account that charges penalties for withdrawing was a smart idea.

I think that’s the best option for me right now, I just wanted advice on my rights since it’s my money and they’ve lost it and seem completely unbothered about fixing it.

Also it’s not an emergency fund it’s a huge sum of money for a house deposit locked away for a better interest rate, I thought they may let me borrow out of it without being charged (they were allowing this at the start of the pandemic) but apparently they can’t. Definitely going to set a little emergency fund aside for the future in an instant access account though. 

Whatever happens they’ve lost a customer, I’ll be taking all my childrens isas with me too. Disgusting that they can lose your money and say sorry you’ll have to wait 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

lh8609

Aylesbury_Duck said:

Could you withdraw the money you need from your savings, and then claim the penalty costs from Barclays once this is all sorted out?

Hi it’s a large sum of money in a fixed rate isa locked away for x amount of years (house deposit) so the charges are huge. I thought they might just let me borrow out of it given they effectively cleared my bank account but nope. They just don’t seem to want to help at all.

molerat

Take the fee charging overdraft then as part of your complaint cite the charges incurred.  If they don't wipe the charges and any marker from your credit file you progress the complaint to the FOS.

 A lesson to be learned here is not to keep all your eggs in one basket.  Ensure you have funds in at least 2 current accounts with different banks as well as an emergency supply of cash, you could have kept some of your house deposit money in a slightly lower interest account which you could call on if in a dire situation.

ItsComingRome

lh8609 said:

ItsComingRome 

So this is because they won't do it free?

If I were in such dire straits I'd be taking a fee-incurring overdraft so I could put food on the table and worrying about the (very small) cost later.

I'd also be considering whether having my emergency fund in a savings account that charges penalties for withdrawing was a smart idea.

I think that’s the best option for me right now, I just wanted advice on my rights since it’s my money and they’ve lost it and seem completely unbothered about fixing it.

Also it’s not an emergency fund it’s a huge sum of money for a house deposit locked away for a better interest rate, I thought they may let me borrow out of it without being charged (they were allowing this at the start of the pandemic) but apparently they can’t. Definitely going to set a little emergency fund aside for the future in an instant access account though. 

Whatever happens they’ve lost a customer, I’ll be taking all my childrens isas with me too. Disgusting that they can lose your money and say sorry you’ll have to wait 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Good.  You shouldn't need to rely on credit to get you through emergencies, and these problems will crop up from time to time.

Brie

The terms you need are:

Distress and Inconvenience - they have misplaced your funds and you are distressed as you have no ready cash which results in the inconvenience of not being able to buy food to feed yourself and your children.

Gesture of Goodwill - they are empowered to make a gesture of goodwill to acknowledge that you have a legitimate complaint which they are trying to resolve.

Temporary Credit - they could provide a small sum of money - perhaps half of what is missing - for 2 weeks while they try to sort out the issue.

Definitely log a complaint but do so in a very straightforward way giving a timeline of events - on X date I asked for a switch due to ex accessing my account without my permission, on date Z you initiated the switch etc.

born_again

What type of fraud required you to Switch accounts?

lh8609

born_again said:

What type of fraud required you to Switch accounts?

I guess you’d call it identity theft. Someone (my ex) using my bank details to apply for phone contracts.