Cheers all! I was confident she hadn't got a leg to stand on but it's good to hear the same from you lot. Good point about what would she be claiming for? She hasn't lost anything, so does she want to see me in court because her daughter cried!? All because she wouldn't pull her thumb out and buy the horse when she had the chance. Oh well, carry on horsey talking. I don't mind my thread being hijacked for horse talk!

Hi all, I have just sold a horse to a lovely family. However a woman came to see him last weekend, loved him and came for a second time on Tuesday. Loved him again and offered me a frankly insulting amount of money. I told her no and she went away to think on it. She spent the next couple of days trying to haggle with me over the phone. From Tuesday to Friday she did her best to get the price down, and i continued to say no. She knew that i had a family coming to see the horse on Friday afternoon. So Friday morning, she calls me to say she wants the horse. I said OK, but you MUST get a deposit to me ASAP! She said that her husband would deliver a cash deposit sometime over the weekend, but time and day was not confirmed. I did not cancel the viewing on Friday afternoon. These people came to see the horse, tried him and loved him and said they would collect him with cash this morning (Saturday) which they did. They left a cash deposit on Friday. So the horse is sold. The original woman is fuming, but my opinion is that we agreed a price of which i would accept for the horse subject to her leaving a deposit to secure the sale. She wasted a lot of time trying to haggle me down when she could have just got a deposit down. No money changed hands with this woman, and now she is threatening me with solicitors. I'm not worried about it as she did not secure the sale. As far as i'm concerned she could have changed her mind at any moment and after all the fuss she made it wouldn't have suprised me. What are your thoughts? Would be interested to know if i am correct in thinking she did not secure the sale so Hard luck!! I was sorry to disappoint the little girl, but i'm not passing up a genuine sale for someone who has been messing me about all week. Comments appreciated.

Just in case this is useful to anyone........... Absolutley typical of HSBC's [edit]. I have transfered all my dd's and so's to my new current account, with the exception of the loan payments. (Loan with HSBC.) So i ring customer services to find out how i can transfer those payments to my current account with halifax. Young lady listens, and puts me on hold to speak to her manager. Comes back and tells me they will have to have a good look at my account, and into the matter of loan payments, as she said "A loan with HSBC must be paid from an HSBC account." I explained allready that Mr Colin Langdale at Arlington Service Quality says that HSBC are withdrawing thier banking facility as of 4th August. So how exactly am i supposed to make the payments? Anyway, she says she'll call me back. 20 minutes later, her manager calls me to explain that after she has scoured through all information on my account, there is NOTHING she can see, that suggests the account will be clsing on the 4th August. She even questioned the letter i had recieved, and told me it would be best to call them to sort out the loan payments. She was quite helpful again, informing me that if they wanted to be really ***** they could withdraw the loan facility. Well, i'm not too worried as i'm quite sure they dont even know i have one. In fact, they know nothing. The letter they sent withdrawing thier banking facility was perhaps a load of ******. Just a spiteful reply to thier having to refund me. Do you think????? I have seen people on this site who are still watching thier open HSBC account, long after it should have been closed. What a [edit] "organisation." Thier indescrepencies and ***** service never fails to astound me! [MODERATED: Please do not post libelous comments on this site]

Oh, Thanks Digger. I may well use that. Do you know much about them? Will it cost me anything to go through them? Cheers!

Sharpcircle, COVER YOUR BACK! I also have a personal loan with HSBC, aswell as the current account and a Visa card. The letter about withdrawing thier banking facility was specific only to the current account. They are perfectly happy to continue taking money from me in loan interest, payment protection insurance, card charges and interest etc. I will be transfering the visa balance to a 0% with Halifax, meaning my only tie with HSBC will then be the loan. The payments for which will be taken from my new halifax current account in future. I would need to look into whether they can withdraw the loan facility. If they can, and do then i will have to take another loan to cover it. Actually, as the loan will be my only tie with them, i intend to chase them down for the terrible service, stress inconvenience loss of earnings etc. I will inform them that as the loan is my only tie with them, i will request them to pay off the loan in full as way of compensation. I dont know if this will be succesful, but the service has been so appauling i reckon i might be in with a chance.

Hi, i just got all my money back from HSBC. (See my posts, Equimo vs HSBC.) They ignored my first letter. They responded to the lba with an offer below what i requested, so i refused and demanded the full amount. It then took them a couple of weeks to respond. I was due to issue the claim, but held on when i was told on the phone that they had recieved, and were dealing with my letter declining offer and demanding full refund. So, two weeks after claim deadline they offered full refund. I accepted, and they then informed me they were withdrawing banking facilities in 30 days. Beware!! Make sure you have a back up account to use if you need it. I'm fine, i have one. I'm writing back to demand they close my account immediatley as i wish to waste no more of my time with them. They will pay up. Keep at it, but cover your back!

Yeah, i know. I'm sure Halifax will screw me too given the chance. The difference is, now i know exactly where i stand. I spent a few miserable years with HSBC, dreading my statements, feeling like they were constantly walking all over me, and thinking they were entitled to rip me off so badly. I know now i will never ever have to get caught in the charges trap again. Despite me being quite happy with Halifax so far, i am allready thinking of setting up another account somewhere else. Even if i just put a few pounds a month into it, i could be wise to cover my back that way. Of course, there must be people out there going through the same rigmarole with Halifax as i did with HSBC. So there may be people who cease to bank with Halifax through similar circumstances. To all those people, For God sake....... DONT GO TO HSBC!!!!!!!!

Yes, do!!! I was warned (here and moneyexpert) that they might do this. So i made sure i had something to fall back on. Fortunatley, i still had a Halifax Web saver account that i opened years ago but hadn't used. I just had to get it activated again. I spoke to Halifax, and asked about a current account too. Although the web account would be fine to use as my general account, i prefer to save money in it from now on. Halifax ran through the application for a current account over the phone. I must admit i was a bit worried about the credit check, because of the mess i felt HSBC had made for me. However, there was no problem. I'm sure it helped that i allready held an account with them. ***Letter from HSBC, recieved immediatley after i had accepted full refund.*** "Following a review of your account we have made a commercial decision to withdraw banking facilities. Pursuant to clause 12.4 in our terms and conditions, we hereby give you 30 days notice that we will be closing your account numbered ******** on 4th August 2006 and that you should please make alternative arrangements for your banking needs. To ensure a smooth transfer to another financial institution we reccomend that you make all the neccessary arrangements with them before the above date. Despite not being willing to extend banking facilities beyond the above date, we wish you well in your future endevours." Signed Mr Colin Langdale Senior Service Quality Officer. Arlington business centre, Leeds. HA HA HA!! So, i fish out the Terms and Conditions brochure. Clause 12.4 reads "If we wish to close your account we will give you at least 30 days notice in writing unless there are circumstances which justify us in closing the account on earlier notice." Blah blah.... Basically, they can do this so they will. Obviousley, now they know i will take no sh*t and slap them with a demand for refund every time they charge me, they wont make any money from me! Very interesting reading the Terms and conditions, especially if you have been treated as badly as i have. Clause 2.1 Confidentiality. In my experience, they either dont know or dont care about thier very own terms and conditions. HSBC, I haven't finished with you yet!!!!!

Hi all. I just love this revolt against the banks!!! Its soooooo satisfying. I have to tell you my story breifly. HSBC, of course. For a long time i have been dragged down by charges incurring further charges and so on. I was genuinley frightened to open statements, knowing i was getting dragged further down. This has gone on for about five years. Throughout all this, any attempts i have made to contact my branch and sort matters out were useless. The customer service team were quite useful, i'll give them credit. They were even quite sympathetic with me, but if my branch line was engaged, they would never answer messages left to contact me. Added to this, an appointment at a local branch was honoured by myself, being prompt in arrival, to be informed i would have to wait half an hour as the lady had just gone to lunch. I left the branch, FUMING!!! Another local branch displayed my personal details on a screen to all customers waiting in a que, while the young man popped off to attend to someone else. What was i supposed to do? Throw my coat over the pooter!? The customer service is completely appauling. Pants, crap, poo. So thanks to Mr Martin Lewis i found this site, and suddenly developed a huge amount of confidence knowing that i was not alone. So i took 'em on! With help from the template letters here, i asked for £1122 in charges to be refunded. I was ignored. I sent letter before action, and a long letter complaining about terrible service to some top bod in London. They offered me £960. Also my branch manager called me apologising for terrible service and vowing to look into my experiences. I turned down thier offer, explaining this fell far short. Also that they had taken a further £100 in the meantime, so i demanded £1222. About two weeks later, just as i was thinking i would have to file the claim, they offer me £1222. I wrote, accepted and requested confirmation when credited. Then they allmost immediatley decide to withdraw thier banking facility. I got the letter yesterday. So i go to the Halifax today, who i allready hold a web account with. They just about fall over themselves to take me on, and offer me a free overdraft. They will take care of all DD and SO transfers, and they want me to transfer my Visa HSBC balance to them and get 0% for twelve months!!!!! So, HSBC will withdraw thier facility as of 4th August. The next charges are due out on 22nd July. I am doing all DD and SO transfers myself, quickly. I will then write to HSBC and request that they withdraw thier services sooner than 4th August, in fact close the account on 22nd July as they are so sh*t i do not wish to waste my time with them anymore. Of course, i will keep an eye on how much they are going to charge themselves. In the meantime, i am going to pursue my complaints for bad service, and chase compensation for loss of earnings, breech of Data Protection, distress caused to myself and general very bad bad service. I'm compiling a list of thier negligence and incompetance, .............from thier very own codes of practise manual!!!! Whoooooo Hooooo!!! Kick ass! Thankyou Consumer Action Group! My donation is on the way.