Alliance and Leicester - incompetent and moneygrabbing

wibbler

I have been with Alliance and Leicester for nearly four years, and have 3 current accounts with them.

I tried to close a dormant current account the other day. Despite me confirming which account it should be several times to them, they managed to close my MAIN current account by accident, just before the end of the month when all my direct debits come out! That was 6 days ago - and despite my many phone calls, they still haven't managed to reopen my account. O2 have threatened to cut me off for non-payment, my mortgage has gone unpaid and incurred charges, Paypal have deactivated the bank account link, my replacement boiler has had to be cancelled, I have been unable to buy anything and have suffered the embarrassment of borrowing money off friends.

I cannot imagine how they could have messed up any worse. They have offered no compensation. I am about to send a severe letter of complaint - is there anything I should invoke/mention to maximise the potency of the letter?!

(This is on top of taking £125 of charges last year for standing order timings that were in fact completely fine - they won't give my money back until after the court case, despite admitting their liability)

Angry of Surrey

RadoJo

Write to them - they did a similar thing to me last year, and closed an account I had only just opened, after I had switched all my payments to my 'new' account. This was just before Christmas and I wrote to them explaining what had happened, how inconvenienced I was, and that I wanted them to try and convince me that I had done the right thing in bringing them my business. I got compensation for all charges I incurred and a sum for the inconvenience, but I suspect they won't offer - you will have to ask!

N9eav

On another matter, My OH accidentally went overdrawn by £7 last month and got charged over £50 in charges. A short phone call and they re-imbursed everything and gave her a £250 overdraft just in case. Sometimes it's the computers that run things and take no account of personal circumstances. People can sort it out...

Somerset

I don't like Alliance & Leicester at all - they do seem to be 'confused'.

I tried opening an online saver in Jan. I'm now on my third set of I.D. with them and still waiting. The last time ( 3rd ) I actually went into the nearest branch 13 miles away, in frustration - they reviewed the 2nd returned set of I.D. and said it was fine, nothing amiss so ?? but did the 3rd set via branch.

I also called them yesterday chasing up the closure of two business accounts. The letter, plus cancelled unused cheques plus cut up visa card were all sent guaranteed next day delivery over four weeks ago ( RM tracking confirmed next day delivery ). Strangely the CS girl I spoke to said the accounts were still live because her system showed my correspondence had only been received last week and it takes up to two weeks to close them ! They are totally crap - I didn't bother arguing or explaining, I just want the accounts closed. Tbh I was just relieved their system actually showed the correspondence received. And thats a sad indictment of what I expect from A&L - incompetence, delay and trouble.

PROLIANT

Hi all, just opened an A&L Premier direct current account and just got all my stuff through the post this week, very prompt in opening the account and it does what it says on the tin, depending on your credit score with the bank you will either get a 3 in 1 or a 2 in 1 VISA debit card...yes a VISA debit card and not an Electron Card, i have just recovered from ID theft and Experian have been working on my behalf for over a year now trying to clear my name, still got a very low credit score but no adverse data so as long as you don't have any ccj's or defaults or history of fraud they will likely open an account for you, like I say you will not receive an Electron Card, at minimum like myself they will give you a Full VISA debit card and a cheque book, after 4 months of wages going in they will give you an overdraft aswell as long as you don't rack up any more adverse on your credit files, for your information they use Experian for there credit search and they will use Experian for an ID check as well, excellent service from A&L so far and they seem to be S**t hot on security with your money and accounts too. Hope this information is of help to anyone trying to rebuild your credit.

Somerset

See my post 4 above.

I give up !!! Third set returned to me this morning. Says the address on the utility bill (BT) doesn't match their records - but it's correct ?? I really can't be bothered any more - I've already wasted too much time on them. So their new application forms are ripped up and binned.

Btw the business accounts are STILL open. I've had new visa cards and pins on them. I phoned thursday to see if they'd closed, but no. So the instruction to close, posted guaranteed next day delivery and tracked, didn't reach them ( per system ) till three weeks after it did. Okkkkkkk, then I was told they take up to two weeks to close - and we're now past those two weeks.

Crazy - I can't open a personal account I wanted to open, and I can't close two business accounts I want to close. Ok lesson learned. I will hopefully soon be a very happy ex Alliance & Leicester customer.

moonrakerz

A couple of years ago my son recovered bank charges from A & L (after issuing a summons !), in a fit of spite they then closed the account.

Since then they have been sending him a statement every couple of months saying that because he isn't using the account enough they are charging him a "fee" in accordance with the Ts & Cs !!!!