Halifax (New?) Delaying Tactics

[MacBoy]

All

 

I am nearing the end of 40 days since I sent off my S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) request and I have received no acknowledgement of my claim, nor has my cheque been cashed. I have been on the phone to various people at the Halifax this afternoon to try and give them the opportunity of looking into the matter, but nothing has come of it. It seems to me that they are trying to develop delaying/confusion tactics in order to put people off claiming.

 

There are three salient points here:

 

1. Helpful-sounding contact centre staff refer you to a telephone number, which they say is that of the DSAR team, where you will be able to leave a messsage and someone will subsequently respond. I was given both 01422 326398 and 01422 391152 - the latter was given to me by Legal Services!

 

This is not a messaage service. As I mentioned in another post earlier today, it is a one-way recorded message that makes the following useless statement: 'if you are callng regarding a Subject Access Request, please note that this should be with you within the next 40 Day given period.' The message repeats, then after approx. 2.5 mins the line disconnects.

 

2. After going back through the Call Centre treadmill again, Customer Care (which I'm informed is a different dept. to Customer Relations) offered me a 'free' alternative service, whereby they would 'escalate the claim for you with Customer Relations 'here and now'. Suspiciously, you will not be charged a fee for this service, you will get A4 list of charges instead of statements. They then tell you that this will effectively nullify the 40-day claim you have just made and the 40 day process will re-commence(!)

 

3. This effectively means that they are closing off any informal means of checking up on progress of the DSAR team, leaving 3 alternatives:

 

a) Accept their offer and lose 40 days (perhaps gaining extra interest later)

 

b) Capitulate and start your claim afresh (my own 'Lessons Learned' item from this was not sending my letter Special/Recorded Delivery - but that's my fault)

 

c) Commence Non-Compliance proceedings and stick to the process

 

I really would appreciate feedback and advice from wiser and more knowledgeable heads than mine, but at the moment, every bone in my body is saying - go for c) and carry on with process - and copy in DSAR Team, Legal Services and Customer Relations this time.

 

Hope others find this useful - and that it serves as a warning of a sea change to those who perhaps anticipated an easier time with the Halifax.

 

Regards

Mac

[Guest steve3pln]

hi there ,got a letter of halifax today stating its my fault i had charges etc etc usual jargon in the letter ,they still havent given me my req for full statements either ????. 14 days up on 12th of may from when i sent of recorded del ltr for non comp to statements .but tonight i will do the lba letter and it will go tomorrow .just follow the route on the stickies as per previous people you will get there in the end .again you are rightmac they are using delay tactics you are at the same time frame in this slow lane keep going dont give up bye for now