HELP!: Bank deducts wrong amount for issued cheque

darbooka

I was horrified (more from the principle than from the financial discrepency) to find that my bank deducted (and apparently paid out) the wrong amount for a cheque that I had issued. The cheque was distinctly made out in the amount of XX.00 "only" and the amoun taken out was for XX.48 . Albeit not a huge difference, BUT nevertheless an incorrect amount that does not correspond with the amount on the cheque I had written, and an amount greater than the amount I wished to pay.
Considering the fact that I do not wish to "donate" this amount and/or pay even 1 pence more than the amount on the cheque, and the fact that it will take me perhaps 1-2 hours to drive to the bank, prepare copies of the receipt of the cheque, cue for customer service etc etc can I claim back the extra expenses of putting it right?
Further annoying is the fact that the bank only has non-local 087X numbers for customer service and ringing them will probably cost more than the discrepency. But again, the bank is legally obligated to take only the amount on the cheque and not a penny more.
What kind of costs am I entitled to claim and what advice can fellow-moneysavers offer?

MarkyMarkD

Oh come on, grow up!

You want expenses for submitting a claim for 48p???

What has almost definitely happened is that the recipient of the cheque has altered the amount - don't ask me why. The chances of a cheque amount getting mis-read as xx.48 instead of xx.00 is so close to zero as to be not worth worrying about.

I don't see why you think you have to visit the branch to resolve it, but I think you should stop wasting time over something so trivial.

Wig

Look on say no to 0870 and find an alternative number for your bank. Then phone them up and ask that someone from your branch to phone you back or ask them to put you through. Your cheque will be now in a file at your branch, they will be able to check the cheque.

Or deal with it next time you're in your branch. I don't think you should be looking to claim your expenses, but the next time you're in your branch bring the subject up (with the manager) and ask them what they expect you to do in such a situation, where trying to get it sorted will cost you more than the initial mistake you are trying to get fixed.

Bendybops19

MarkmarkD - i do think that what you posted was a tad harsh.

Ok, it is only 48p, but that fact that it has happened is worrying! It could easily have been for an extra £48 if who over has done this is able to alter the cheque!

Def go to the brach and get this sorted, i know its not alot of money, but it is YOUR money!

I am not so sure you should be trying to claim extra expenses really, but that is up to you. I am not sure u can claim anything else.

darbooka

MarkyMarkD, the fact is that when a customer writes a cheque they are entirely entitled to rely on the exact amount of that cheque being paid out precisely and not a penny more. In addition, it takes virtually the same time and effort to contact the bank and have them correct an illegally overpaid cheque whether the amount of the bank's transgression was 1 penny or 1,000 pounds. If it was a customer that erred and transgressed an overdraft limit by a small amount, in many cases the bank would not hesitate to slap on a penalty charge. When the bank errs, it too needs to be responsible for whatever it reasonably takes to put it right. Mutual precision and reliability by the parties are essential attributes of banking and when the bank errs there is no reason to demand that the customer "donate" any time or expense to the bank regardless of the size of the bank's transgression.

Wig, the bank is actually refusing to recall the cheque because they say it wouldn't be cost effective to do so. They said normally they'd charge 4 pounds to do that and if the customer proved correct they'd refund it. I invited them to charge me even more than that because I am certain they will be proved wrong but they declined. They are willing to refund the "alleged" overpayment and give me "the benefit of the doubt", but as a matter of principle I refuse to be the one in any doubt. I want to prove the bank made an unappropriate overpayment and for the bank to acknowledge their mistake. The bank contended that if the receiving party was overpaid then it's either because of them or their bank or the cheque clearance service but my bank is refusing to take responsibility. They also dispute the fact that I had to travel to my (nearest) branch to speak with someone and say I could have phoned (premium number); however, it is not a telephone banking account and a customer has every right to travel to the branch to discuss a bank error and show the evidence to bank staff in person.

The bank rep also insulted me by pompously making an entirely irrelevant assumption about what she perceived to be my accent, and then commenting condescendlingly that this is not the country where she thought my accent was from (as if I wasn't aware which country we are in, and as if people with accents from any country don't have exactly the same rights to good customer service as born-in-britain banking customers or anyone else).

eldbs

About a year ago I wrote a cheque to a charity that I support every month for £50 and posted it off to them. Some weeks later when I was checking my bank account I was surprised to notice that I was very nearly overdrawn, so I went back throuhg the line items and realised that there had been a cheque cashed for £500. I cross checked the chegue number against my cheque book stub and worked out that it was the one I had sent to the charity, so I called them up and they explained that they had only received £50 (I believed them as friends work for the same charity and they are not into devious means) SO I went in to see my bank manager, and explain the situation.

3 months later, the £450 was returned to my account and an appology letter was received from the bank (Barclays) explaining that someone had removed the wrong ammount by mistake. I wrote £50, and the recipients received £50, the bank took £450 - how's that for high bank charges :-)

Anyway, by this stage I was somewhat incensed having been chasing this on a weekly basis I rang their customer service and vented!!! After about 60 seconds, the poor guy on the other end asked me what would be an acceptable ammount for me to be happy. In the end they gave me £35 for my trouble.

Needless to say I am no longer a loyal Barclays customer having been with them for 10 years.

Wig

"not willing to Recall the cheque" this may mean they are not willing to recall the overspend amount from the other persons bank account. Surely you don't care about this?

The point I was making was that it is my belief the cheque will be in a file in your branch (unless over the years the working practices of banks have changed, maybe they now store all cheques in a central location), and they should easily be able to phone your branch look at the cheque and refund you the overspend.

It seems they are willing to give you the refund without even looking. Sounds good enough to me. But we as a nation should insist on having 0800 phonenumbers. Btw are you sure it's 0870? sure it's not 0845? Which bank are we talking about?

Jay-Jay_4

Wig wrote:

The point I was making was that it is my belief the cheque will be in a file in your branch (unless over the years the working practices of banks have changed, maybe they now store all cheques in a central location), and they should easily be able to phone your branch look at the cheque and refund you the overspend.

They don't use BOVRs anymore or keep cheques in house. They use Optical Readers and the items are sent to a central storage location (usually contracted out). It can take ages to retrieve cheques nowadays but there should be a copy of the encoded cheque on the system which could be made available to the OP reasonably quickly.

If it were me I would request a copy of the cheque to check the encoding (the printing on the bottom right corner) and get them to alter the debit to your account. There is a standard fee for this but this should be waived as it is for a bank error. Maybe a request a small amount of compensation ie £5 for your troubles (trips to the bank and phone calls) is in order.

darbooka

Wig, they explained that they are not willing to call up the cheque from wherever it's stored in order to inspect the amount written on it (and risk having to note that failure to ensure accuracy in paying out a cheque according to the amount written on it). The refund is now not good enough becuase of the enourmous and unreasonalbe hassle, time and expense that was entailed just to get to the point where they can consider and decide what to do about it.
Re the number, their branch staff and a Terms of Business document in the branch both advise an 0870 number. When you dial it, there's an automated message that answers (thereby presumably initating a phone charge for the connected call) and tells you to phone an 0845 number. The 0845 number was aswered (thereby presumably initating a phone charge again for the connected call) the first time before being hung up. A third call entailed enourmous waiting time which probably amounted to about 1/3 - 1/2 the time of the entire call.
The bank is Abbey.
Some may recall name change from Abbey National. In my mind it has changed from Abbey National to Abbey Irrational.

spotter

Abbey is a member of the British Bankers' Association. The BBA has a banking code and the relevant sections that might be of interest to you are:

9.8 Cheques
If, within a reasonable period after the entry has been
made on your statement, there is a dispute with us
about a cheque paid from your account, we will give
you the cheque or a copy as evidence. If there is an
unreasonable delay after you have told us about it, we
will add the amount of the cheque to your account until
we have sorted the matter out.

Section 15 covers complaints.

Banking Code

Anyway, good luck, hth

spotter