Abbey charge complaint

YorkshireBoy

hugo07,

When dealing with financial institutions, and especially those with a poor reputation for customer service such as Abbey, the best approach IMO is to ask once...then, if it isn't resolved within a reasonable timescale (in your case I'd say 3-4 days) you go straight down the complaints route.

You're guaranteed a resolution/clearance to take it to the FOS within 8 weeks. No stress...no hassle...no expensive phone calls.

All financial institutions must provide a complaints handling service. You'll usually find the details under "contact us", "complaints" on their websites.

hugo07

Thank you very much YorkshireBoy. Will contact Abbey's complaints section today

Thanks again, much appreciated.

LittleVoice

If you are able to get into an Abbey branch, you can use their dedicated phone points to contact their various services. There are usually seats available and you can take a book or newspaper to read while you hold the line

simongregson

Don't forget to ask them to refund all your costs, particularly if you have asked them to do the same thing several times and they haven't done it. £10 would probably be a reasonable amount, but I generally just list the various letters and phone calls that I have made and see what they offer, as often there is a standard amount of say £25.

Mark your letter 'complaint' as this means that your letter will be dealt with by their complains procedure.

It generally helps if you:-

State what the problem is.
State what you have done so far, preferably with dates
State what Abbey have said they would do (and haven't)
Tell them what you want them to do to rectify the problem (i.e. money back, reasonable compensation for your costs and inconvenience)

I wouldn't bother phoning for something like this, it is too easy for them to be useless and not actually do anything about the problem.

hugo07

Thank you all very very much.

I will be writing a letter using simongregson useful tips.

Very much appreciated

ABN

Had the same thing but for £2.78.

Phoned up and they admitted it was a mistake and had happened to a lot of customers. They promised it would be refunded so will have to keep a check on it.

Thing is, it would seem, that unless you actually noticed the charge and contacted them they would not have done anything about it.

Wonder how many millions they have made out of this "mistake"

maxi_isa

This has happened to me three times over the past few months.

The first was for just a few pence for "advance overdraft interest" and "instant overdraft interest". After several phone calls a credit was applied.

The second time, a month ago, the total was over £8. I went into my branch and they promised to sort it out and call me. Nothing happened after two weeks so I went in again but still no response. I called Abbey a few days ago and they agreed it was an error and will credit the account in approx 3 weeks.

My latest statement arrived today and there are more false interest charges of £20.

There is clearly a big problem at Abbey which they haven't been able to resolve.

hugo07

Many thanks for sharing your experiences with shabbey and sorry to hear you have had the same problems especially with alot more money involved.

There certainly is big problems.

Shabbey had the cheek to charge me again this week another 30p not alot but still my money.

Dreaming_Doris

Think they are having a problem with small amounts lately. Suddenly received a handful of credits which were "adjustments". Each individual entry less than 25p relating to interest on my current account. Later a series of matching debits. Then a letter thanking me for my contact advising them that I was a non-tax payer in the last tax year (which I had not done) . The letter assured me that they were endeavouring to sort the matter out but in the end the effect would be nil.

dollywops

DD's statement turned up and I was horrified to see that she was going to be charged £34.62 in instant overdraft charges. At no point in the period, or any other time for that matter, was she overdrawn.

I immediately telephoned the Chairman's office, but the young lady who answered the phone obviously had some sort of problem with me, because, having tried to go through security with my daughter, she failed her. She said the only course of action was to go into a branch. Our local branch, being the one, where, by mistake, after crediting my son's account with a cheque deposit, put in the branch deposit box, £200 just went out of his account. This is also the branch that, having deposited a cheque for £115 erroneously in my account, withdrew said amount without notification. I will explain. We use the cheque deposit box as the queues in this branch are horrific. I know what cheques I have given to OH to pay in, but I have no idea what cheques he pays in, ie reimbusement for petty cash, etc. When I saw the £115 deposit, I had no reason to assume it was not ours. When I saw a withdrawal from my account accessed via internet banking, just saying 'withdrawal Watford HQ', I was somewhat concerned, needless to say. A return phone call from the manager advised the mistaken deposit and confirmed that a letter of apology was on its way. When I asked why I was not informed of the mistake first, with notification of the impending withdrawal, I was told that as there were sufficient funds in my account, they withdrew first and wrote second. When I complained to the Chairman's Office, stating this and also pointing out that I had a number of cheques waiting to be put through, an apology ensured, together with £50 compensation. Therefore, going to the local branch was definitely not an option.

A suitable letter expressing my daughter's anguish and requesting an explanation was sent to the Chairman at Abbey House. This letter was duly forwarded to Milton Keynes. Yesterday, 23 May, a letter was received by my daughter dated 15 May.

Quote - 'There is an issue with our computer system, which is being investigaged at the present time. This situation occurs when credits to and debits to your account happen on the same day. So although you look at your account statemet it does not appear you have gone overdrawn, in fact you will have done for a very short period.' I have to be careful what I say, so I will just say this is a lie.

What actually happened was that a large sum of money was transferred from DD's esaver to her current account in the first instance. Subsequent to this transfer, a payment was made from her current account to another institution. At no stage during this process did her current account go overdrawn.

Quote - 'A check on your account has shown that there a number of 'same day' transfers done on your account in the past.' WRONG - prior to that same day transfer, there were none. After that, there was one, for which no doubt she will be penalised on her next statement. Since when does 2 constitute a number.

Quote - 'If you are considering further 'same day' transfers in the near future, this particualr problem may occur again if the issue has not been fully rectified'.

Following receipt of this letter, OH spoke to someone in the Chairman's Office and suggested that Abbey look at the debits from an account, before looking at the credits and that this would appear to be the problem. Said person could not disagree with that. Although a request was made for the writer of the letter to call my husband, that call did not materialise.

In the letter, an offer of £30 was made as a goodwill gester, and in full and final settlement. A request has also been made for the £34.62 to be put back into the account. Neither has happened yet.

OH will be penning a suitable letter demanding an apology and a true explanation of what is actually going on. I also have the paperwork from the Ombudsman and am seriously considering taking this further.

As an aside, DS's statement arrived on Wednesday, and Abbey were going to take £21 from him in instant overdraft interest. His first phone call to the Chairman's office directed him to telephone banking. He did this and spoke to someone abroad, who told him a mistake had been made. He would not be charged. In fact, on checking his statement, he saw that this money has already been credited to his account. Maybe they are sufficiently incompetent that the charge might not go through. His further phone call to the Chairman's office, resulted in an offer of £50 in compensation being credited to his account.

I apologise for the long post, but these are just a few examples of the incompetence meted out to my family by the Abbey. To date, their mistakes have netted myself, DS and DD in excess of £500 in less than 12 months!

For anyone who does not know it, the number for the Chairman's office for unresolved complaints is 01908 680227.