This topic was closed on 11 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 10 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

This topic was closed on 09 March 2019. If you have a problem which is similar to the issues raised in this topic, then please start a new thread and you will get help and support there. If you would like to post up some information which is relevant to this particular topic then please flag the issue up to the site team and the thread will be reopened. - Consumer Action Group

Anyone?

Oh yes, when I handed the keys in, I also handed a letter informing of my updated address, and had it confirmed by the Executive Office.

Hey all Going through a messy divorce, lost my job, and in the end could not keep the house afloat. Want to sell but wife would not agree, in the end I knew I had to let it go. I communicated with the bank, they were ready to take voluntary repossession, but then my ex blocked that. But eventually her block was lifted and I handed keys in June 2015. Since then I have had no letters from the bank, no communication, yet in that time the house was put on the market, sold and the mortgage has been settled and closed. The excess - who knows? The house sold for estimated(Zoopla) £182000, and it had about £32000 outstanding, so there should be some equity..... but I do not know how much or where. Have they broke any rules? I am pretty sure I should have been notified of certain steps, voluntary or not.

Well, natwest have been screwing around "investigating", then sending letters saying "we tried to contact you, if we dont hear by.. we will assume you no longer wish to ..." Its going around in Circles, so looking at starting a claim under the BCOBS, effectively November Natwest cancelled our debit cards, direct debits and told me to go to the bank the following day and clear out our account, at the bank they would only authorise £2000 withdrawal and after alot of discussions and a lengthy time I got my wages. The email to Les at RBS kicked off the investigation, but its going no where. I see they failed in these areas - Unexplained peremptory closure of accounts Refusal to offer basic bank account without good reason Not sure on the second point, but they closed our accounts and told us to bank else where, then a few days later appologised and re-opened the accounts, we then went through months of Direct Debit issues, our home insurance was cancelled by the provider for non direct debit payment, the entire policy was cancelled, and a £50 admin charge slapped on top of £73 outstanding payments. The day after this our upstairs toilet feed pipe burst overnight, causing dammage to the bathroom floor, kitchen ceiling, estimated at between £500 and £1000 damage. All in all this event has cost us about £1800 in excess charges from suppliers (non direct debit payments, late payment charges), damage to floor/ceiling, and not to mention 2 days lost annual leave to sort things out, and all the hassle, phone calls, emails etc. So tempted to go small claims, whats everyones thoughts on that? Is there a chance? Many thanks

Thanks all, story so far. Natwest are really playing around, spoke to head of complaints, who then passed it on to someone else, promised many call backs and promised to re-instate the account and services. Promised new cards sent by special over a week ago. So far - nothing... no new cards, just have access online to accounts, and not they have sent 3 letters, 1 to say its being investigated, one to say a direct debit has bounced with charge, and one to say the accounts are now with collections and any money paid in will go to the arrears. Collections are only offering to spread the arrears over a 2 year period, I asked could the mortgage not be extended for 6 months in length of term to add them to the end effectively - No not possible. So far they are being complete idiots, and I am seriously considering taking to small claims over the hassle. Those I have direct debits with have so far issued late payment fees, non direct debit fees total over £100 so far, and 2 have issued default notices (insurance companies!) CitizenB read through your useful links, hence my thoughts of just going straight for them in court.

Thanks so much and thats a great idea, I will do a SAR immediately, done a few in the past. Had a call about an hour after my email from the head of complaints, and will be speaking with him again tomorrow after he has reviewed from their end. Its amazing to think that I had great faith in Natwest as a bank and service provider, over the years they have been more than helpful, and now they have completely destroyed all the good from before. How can I ever have faith in them again with my hard earned money?

Hi all, Cannot believe my week, but its been terrible. I have been a Natwest Mortgage holder since 1997, and we had our ups and downs through various life challenges, but for the past few years no problems, and I always praised how good their customer service was when there were any issues. A little background to this... January 30th, my wife gave birth to our first child, but all was not rosey, he had to go to special care, and wife and son were kept in hospital for an extended time. But eventually they came home. The stress of this was not a good start to the year, especially as my employer asked me to leave due to this as I would not be able to do the 12-14 hour days I was doing before the birth, and I was now inconvenient. See my previous threads, it resulted in a successful out of court settlement in July. Any way, fast forward to May, and I received the worst news I have ever had, my mother has a terminal lung disease, and realistically had 3 months, optimistically 9 months. With the birth of my first son (and me turning 40 in 2 days) I could not believe life could be so unfair, my mum had been praying for years, we had tried many times, and now finally she will not get to see him grow up. So I took the decision and made her a promise that despite her living in a different country and unable to travel, we would make the 600 mile journey as much as possible. My wife and son have made it 3 times in a few months, and I have been over there more than here. Because of this, life has been a blur. And the unimportant things have been put to one side. Poor son still does not have his own room as I have not had time. I started a new job in June that allows me to work from home if I am not required in the office, so it works well, has allowed me to work from my mums. So now on to my problem. Tuesday this week, now I am back in the UK, I had to go to our office in London, and on the way I stopped at Tesco to get some lunch, but my debit card would not work, each till they tried it in reported "Chip error", so I tried it in their cash machine, which resulted in "Card retained" showing on the screen. I rang natwest, and was told there was no problem with out accounts as they were in credit, and would I like a replacement card, which I said yes. Inconvenient but it will only be for a few days. Later in the day my wife tried to get some much needed nappies and food in our local co-op, only to have her card retained. She was utterly embarrassed as she used to work there part time and know all the staff, and there was a big queue behind, she had to leave, she rang me and I got straight on to Natwest. Again "There are no problems, would you like a replacement?", I pushed to find out why, said surely there must be a reason, I was put on hold, and then she said there was a "portfolio" on the account and she needed to transfer me. She put me through to credit services, who after going through all my details, checked my accounts and could find no reason for us to be put through to them, he advised going in to a branch. So I did, and the advisor there did the same thing, "no problems, would you like new cards". And I left it at that. Roll on to today, this mornings post was a letter from Natwest Collections dated the 26th July 2012 (did they walk it from birmingham?) with a First Arrears Notice attached and a note stating that due to the issues in June some letters may be delayed! Really? I would call 5 months a hell of a delay. As I was about to ring, I also received an email from my ISP saying my direct debit had been cancelled, this got me a bit worried, so I logged on to online banking to find out whats going on and also check our Mortgage payments. Only to find "There is a problem, please try later". Nothing new, so tried the app on my mobile, again same error. So I ring the number, and after a bit of digging, she tells me that because we are 6 months arrears with our Mortgage, our accounts have been frozen, banking withdrawn and how was I going to catch up? I said to her, surely one letter is not enough, and one that is dated 5 months ago. She said "has your Relationship manager not been in touch?" Relationship Manager? What? She then asked did I have a business account, to which I said yes, a few years ago, but it got closed this year as the business was wound down, what has that to do with my Mortgage? She had no answer, except he should have managed the arrears. I said so who is he? Because I have never spoken to anyone with that title, nor had a call from, or letter, or email or anything. In a panic I banged off an email to work to see if tomorrows pay run could be changed and could my wages be paid else where, nope too late. The advisor at Natwest said I need to call them tomorrow to get authorisation to withdraw my money and I now need to bank elsewhere. I went through everytning that has happened, and she asked if I wished to make a complaint. Too right I do. I asked why my mortgage was not paid, and her response was the direct debit was cancelled in June, without my knowledge. Her response was "It wasnt us".... so who did it then? And wasnt that around the time they had all the computer issues? She said there was nothing more she could do until this is investigated by the complaints department. Which will take a minimum of 5 working days. So here we are, 9 month son is down to 5 clean nappies left, and enough food for today. Now surely they cannot simply withdraw service without notice? Surely as a responsible lender they should have told us? She did say on the phone "didnt you notice your mortgage was not being paid" Well no, I had other things to deal with like taking my old employer to tribunal, and the imminent death of my mother, and her care. The entire time I was away my wife was checking our mail and notifying me of any problems, but we had no notifications from Natwest. I have banged off an email to Les Matheson @ rbs as he is the only contact I can find high enough up the food chain, and copied in Watchdog and the Financial Ombudsman but I dont know where to turn now. I am half tempted to launch small claims, the inconvenience, embarrasment and distress is unreal, so far today I have managed to do NO work and cannot concentrate. Anyone have any further advice? Have had a quick read through the BCOB and also had a look at the FSA MCOB (Mortgages and Home Finance) Any help gratefully appreciated. Brad

Thank you, it has been a hell of a stressful year, with various complications and the hassle from these guys, but its all over now, and the only thing that is causing stress if poor little guy has started teething... hey ho... still joined the tree hugging hippys with a Prius...

It most certainly is a good feeling, paid off some bills and bought a car as my old one was dying and was not big enough to carry all the gear you need for a tiny baby.. lol Again - thank you all who offered help, this is a fantastic forum for those in need of assistance.

Well its been a while and a long time coming, without going in to too much details, they eventually made me an out of court settlement offer, and after some haggling I got a very good settlement offer. The contract went between solicitors and today I received the settlement in my bank. Very happy and hopefully it may have shown them that employees have rights, I managed to get all my holiday pay and its all settled. Thank you all for the great advice received, and without the suggestion of home contents and buildings insurance I would never have thought of it.

Not knowing a legal side of this, but my own personal approach would possibly be - transcribe the recordings of key areas, then use these key areas as "quoting xxx saying..", then when it comes to taking the grevience further, you could use your "notes" as part of your complaint. After all, you recorded them for your benefit while being able to use them to jog your memory to complete your notes on the events? Or is that still close to the line?

There has been a turn of events, I was considering doing a tribunal form myself, but with a new job, new baby and life turned upside down, I barely have enough time to get anything done, never mind preparing a tribunal pack. However, my old boss sent me an email the same day, and I responded challenging him, and dropped in some details that he had promised to do on the back of our conversation where he gave me the choice of leave or be pushed, and that he had not done as promised, he replied with an excuse and did not contest it. My solicitors have since said this is enough to tilt the scales for them to represent me and do the tribunal, so we are now swimming ahead... all I want at the end of this is to make them stop and think, employees have rights, we have personal lives, and are entitled to them, and no employer should over step that mark without good reason, nor should they push you out because of the inconvenience of having a child.

Well, not so good news today, Solicitors acting from legal cover have said the case is 50/50 and they need at least 51 percent change to take the case, and my tribunal form has to be in on Tuesday to lodge a claim otherwise it expires. Really cheesed off, but what can I do, if they dont think there is a good chance of winning, what hope is there?

I got offered a contract before for RBS, looking after their web servers, nothing to do with online banking, but their internal and external sites, but without financial logons, as a contractor the money was excellant, and I would be billing them, not the other way round. They then hit me with we need to do a credit check, and their limit on defaults was £750 at the time. Consequently because I had defaulted on a store card (they defaulted after 1 missed payment!, still fighting to get it removed) the job offer was withdrawn. Spoke to loads on advice, but absolutely nothing I could do, in just three months in the job I could have cleared the default, but in the end, its still there hanging around my head. It really stinks how some companies take this to decide if someone is suitable for employment. I did speak to the FSA at the time, and they agreed it was not a position that required it.

Just a quick update, now the dust is starting to settle. Wife had our baby on the 30th Jan, after 72 hours labour, and it was not plain sailing, in the end had to be an emergency c-section, and little one was off to special care for a while. But all turned out great, and the little guy is doing great now both are home. I got another job eventually and started last week. And another broken promise from the old lot, my old bosses parting words were, if I left with head held high and didnt kick up a fuss he would do me a good reference, and when it came down to it, all he would confirm was the dates, and my job title, nothing else. What a sod. Not I have had that and my final pay, and spoken again with the house insurance, the claim is now being reviewed to be processed for legal cover, and I am going to pursue a claim, these guys think they are above employment law, but it is there for a good reason. They think that by paying you money they own you, one of the girls in the office was refused leave for her grandmothers funeral as it was inconvenient for the business!

Thanks all, anyone have any thoughts on the changes of working conditions? ie, allowing me to work from home for 12 months on a verbal agreement, then cancelling without notice or consultation? Still going through everything gathering as much as possible

Confirmed!

Well had a meeting with one of the directors and choose not to record, however he started the conversation with "this is totally off the record and if you quote me on it I will deny it". The conversation covered many areas, and basically came down to two choices, the first is I resign and I will be on garden leave, and will only be contacted for emergencies, or the second is the other director will be keeping a very close eye, and any excuse for gross misconduct, or will make me an offer to change my employment to 2 days part time as the company cannot financially afford me full time. If I refuse the offer, then they will have to let me go. He also said other things, including if I take legal action, then my last pay will be held back. They want my letter of resignation by Monday. Not managed to check insurance yet, but will be doing so just in case.

Thanks, thats an option, problem with going off sick is the company will only pay me Statutory Sick pay, which is next to nothing lets face it. Got a meeting with my boss later to "discuss your email". Am I legally entitled to record our conversation?

Hey all, Been a long time since I was on here, but I really need some advice, I have done a load of research and know that my Employer is in breach of at least the Employment Rights act 1996, my Contract of Employment and Statutory Rights, but the list keeps growing. I started my current job Oct 2010, and in my contract it states I am entitled to 20 days annual leave plus bank holidays, leave year runs from April, and in my first year I was entitled to about 8 days pro-rata, how every they would only allow me to take 2, and would not carry them over, their excuse was there was too much work, and company policy does not allow it to carry over. This year I have had maybe 7 days at most, mainly a day here, there, and a long weekend. Since November 2010, my boss and I came to a verbal agreement that I could work from home as the work load was huge, and I was pulling in 10-14 hour days, then in January he set me a challenge of completing 6 weeks work in only 2, and if I did I would get £1000 bonus, this meant I was working 20 hours a day min. I did get the bonus, but thinking back I do not remember opting out of the 40 hours per week. Over the past 12 months I have continued to work from home, then around November the business is starting to fail, and the other Director is getting very annoyed having to put more money in to the business, and we are constantly getting the "I pay your wages ..." and on the 2nd of December they cancelled my right to work from home asking me to be in the office Monday to Friday during my contracted hours. My Contract lists my hours as "Your normal hours of work are those required to meet the needs of the business" My wife is currently 35 weeks pregnant, and there have been complications that we have known since 32 weeks, and each step I kept my boss updated, including because of these she requires weekly checks at hospital to see if baby needs to be delivered or if it can wait another week, she suffers Pelvic Girdle so bad she can hardly walk, so needs my support. I told my boss all this back in November/December and he showed no concern over me needing to go with her to the hospital once a week for quite a few hours of tests. Last week I have been feeling really run down, stressed, and suffering wierd side effects, so I went to my doctor, she sent me for a blood test, and told me to come back in a week, I told my boss and again he showed no concern or queried it. The following day he sent me an email saying the business was in a terrible state and it required all hands on deck to turn it around, and because of this, they could not allow me any further leave until the business is back to where it should be. The business has been trying to turn around since I started 14 months ago, so what he is essentially saying is I cannot have any leave for the foreseeable future. We have had other issues and problems over the past year, but they seem to have no idea on employment law. I have raised 3 verbal greviences with my boss in line with company policy, and 2 written ones (by email), the first he responded with "Too much to read, lets just move forward and be in the office monday". And the latest was "lets discuss your email tomorrow". Questions I have - 1. I know they are in breach of my contract, statutory rights and employment law, but even though it is not in my contract that I can work from home, does working from home for 12 months set a standard? I am basically looking at resigning, 1 director has already told me he trusts no one, and the other director told me that because the first cannot see me working, he feels I am not, and thats why it is cancelled. This job is really over, there is no trust in either direction, every verbal and written agreement has been ignored, so I am seeing an advisor on Thursday to go through it, but just wanted to clarify a few things. Currently gathering as much info as possible, thankfully these guys have put most of their mistakes in email, so easy to prove, including telling me that I cannot have leave, and if I take the leave I have asked for it will be treated as unauthorised and subject to a disciplinary. The woman at Citizens advice this morning was shocked, she said she had not come across so many blatant violations ever, and she feels I have a very strong case. At the moment I cannot sleep, dread going in to the office, live in fear of meeting one of the directors as his temper is scary, he flew off the handle one day in a meeting and drew back his fist at me, looked at the others in the meeting, realised, then punched the desk followed by "I pay your F**** wages". What do you guys think? Many thanks in advance for any advice, my main one is the working from home being revoked with no notice or consultation.