Hi Alchemy, I'd follow the same route as above - send them an initial letter explaining what's happened, just like you have in the post above. Hang on to the downloaded voucher but send a copy. If they don't cough up within 14 days, its a letter before action..I'm finding increasingly that calling them doesn't really resort to anything. See how you get on. Good luck.

Hi Anthony, I'd definitely send them a letter similar to the one I sent, and explain what you've put in the post about sending an email requesting info, and give details of when the Dec bill was received etc. Follow the course of first letter then Letter Before Action...from what you've said you've followed protocol so there is no reason for them to be refusing you your cashback. Let us know how you get on.

Hi there, sorry, not familiar with their Price Match deals...unfortunately you'll just have to keep trying to contact them. The only other thing I can think of is if you register online on their website and access your account details, sometimes this can then tell you which statements are due. Give that a try.

No probs, let me know how you get on, and don't be surprised if you have to send them an LBA before they cough up. Who knows, they may even pay up sooner!

Hi there, if I'm understanding correctly, they are saying that you've sent the claim in too early, yet in the letter (which I'm presuming is standard) they've sent it according to someone who's sent in their claim too late? If that is so, you absolutely can claim this cashback, and all future ones. I suggest you use the basic info from the letter I sent, but tailor it according to your circumstances, perhaps mentioning something along the lines of: 'I am surprised that I am receiving a letter from you making all future cashback claims null and void because you are under the impression that I have sent my cashback in late. How eager you can be to prevent people from claiming back what is rightfully theirs. I have spoken to your customer services on xxx with xxx who advised me that my claim was in fact EARLY. I am re-sending all the information for yet a third time. I would also like you to confirm to me in writing which future month's bills you require as you are obviously making this fairly easy to mislead people in their claims' Add the rest of the standard bits about if your money's not received in xx days, the court threat etc. I'd suspect you'll be getting your money pretty quickly after that. If you haven't done so already, I'd call them and get someone to clarify what they show on their system as the bills/dates you should be sending each other claim...with a name of the person, so that you can use this as back-up if they try to shaft you again. Hope this helps.

Waited patiently at midnight, read it all the next day, absolutely loved it, and yes...truly is the end of an era Demon, can't agree with you more

Taff, I think it'd be worth calling Barclays and giving them a nudge in the right direction. You may find that they're about to, or will arrange to send the acknowledgment in as it may have just been missed. Since you've also had a partial offer, it may also be worth asking them if they are ready to settle in full to save more time and hassle. If they say no, simply say fine, I'll look forward to hearing from you then...and continue as normal. I say this because sometimes you never know until you ask....although Barclays do tend to take it to the line. All the best

Congrats!! Well done, and good luck with the others

Canks, well done on getting your charges and standard interest back for the 6 yrs, obviously the CI and pre-6yrs was always going to be a tricky one if it got to court, but as I see it all is not lost, so a congrats is still due

I haven't heard of this Luke, but I would also ensure you get details from the girl in the branch that she was able to find your details initially. Get that in writing too, if you haven't already...before she forgets

WOOOHOOOOO, excellent news, congratulations...I bet you're relieved! Well done!

Honory that is excellent news, congrats and well done for hanging in there

Excellent news labella, really pleased for you...congrats

Just a standard fob-off benq, as SS-Lady says send off your LBA if you haven't done already. If you have sent it off, get ready to file a court claim.

Please try not to get nervous, honestly! If I could charge a penny for every time I see/hear someone say 'I may be the first one' I'd be RICH! Barclays will NOT see you in court, they do NOT want a judge to pull their defence apart, it hasn't happened yet, and is highly unlikely to happen in the near future. Hang in there...I promise you, like clockwork, Barclays will either call you days before the hearing, or just pay the money straight into your account to settle in full. They've just paid me in full for my 2nd claim against them, so it's very tried and tested coming from my mouth

Cheque for £1450.91 arrived this morning in an unmarked envelope, with no letter attached. They cut it very fine, as had I not received it by tomorrow, I'd be faxing the judge about their disrespectful attitude! So this one is also settled in full (except costs), including C.I., pre-6 yr charges, daily interest etc. Thank you all once again for your support and encouragement.

Thanks for the encouragement Lex. I thought my case was bad! I'm appalled by the whole saga, it disgusts me that so many people are shafted all the time, and only a small percentage of those people take it any further. I am NOT giving up without what is already a pretty good fight

Right, it's taken me forever to get respond to the letter I received from the solicitors in response to my letter. I hope it makes sense Thank you for your letter dated 20 March 2007. I apologise for the delay in responding but I have been very ill as of late. In response to the comments you made to my points, in my letter of 14 March 2007, I would now like to comment in return: 1. Status of Action Claim # xxxxxxxx Your comments are duly noted that the claim I issued is liable to be struck out as it has been pursued against an incorrect defendant. I am, however, perfectly within my rights to amend or re-commence a County Court claim to the correct defendant. Should the need arise, I may pursue this course of action. 2. Reconciliation of my pre-payment account Thank you for sending me a statement of my account. I have looked through this and further comments are below. 3. Request for a refund of £393.06 You were enquiring about which 140 weeks I was referring to as a basis for my claim to a refund. I thought my initial letter to British Gas made this perfectly clear. I was referring to 140 weeks from the date the meter was installed (25 June 2003) to the date the remaining debt was ‘wiped’ off my meter by ‘Steve’, when I called to complain for yet another time, on 03 March 2006. I enclose yet another copy of this letter for your reference. I note your comments about the factors which affect how a debt is deducted from a meter. These factors you mention are in contradiction with what I have been advised by British Gas Customer Services on a number of occasions. i) that credit is placed upon the meter on a weekly basis – I was advised that the debt would be deducted every week, even if I didn’t place credit on it weekly – in turn if there wasn’t ii) sufficient credit placed upon the meter, or if there was not enough credit in the meter, the relevant deductions would be made next time I placed credit on the meter, even two weeks worth if necessary. You also yet again make the point upon the basis that the debt has been ‘transmitted’ to the meter for the collection in the first instance, which (apparently you say) appears to be a particular issue upon my account. Once again, I am surprised that this factor still appears to be an issue. If you are disputing that the debt was never ‘transmitted’ or passed to the meter (if I understand you correctly) then how is it that I have managed to pay MORE than my standard gas usage on a pre-payment meter? I have also looked at the statement and this worries me further. As you rightly say, I cannot be expected to fully understand how the statement coding works, but certain things seem quite obvious within the transactions. Whilst you say that the transmission of the debt to my meter seems to be a particular issue on my account, there is clearly a reference to the sum of £306.94 on 27 June 2003 – the debt amount, which I can only assume, means that on the 27th, this debt was in fact transmitted to the meter after all. Throughout the statement of accounts, this debt generally reduces to a lower amount, until eventually on 03 March 2006, it showed as £13.65 outstanding. This ties in with my phone call to British Gas, when ‘Steve’ advised me of the same amount outstanding on the debt I owed. My concern is that if the meter was correctly deducting and reducing the debt amount, then why does the statement show that on 20 Nov 2003 there was £295.26 outstanding, yet three months later, the debt amount remaining was higher again – at £306.55. Then again on 01 Apr 05 the amount owed showed at £152.82, yet two months later the debt amount was higher, at £154.73. If you look at my letter dated 03 March 2006, this confirms and tallies with the conversations I had with customer services, who read the system to say I owed £6.13 (I believe I misheard by 10 pence, and they were referring to £6.03 as shown on the statement on 09 Feb 06). I was told at this point that in the next deduction, the whole amount would be taken, and the debt would be clear. But this didn’t happen. The meter was still making deductions, when I finally called and spoke to ‘Steve’ then we get back to this £13.65 figure. So once again, the debt went up, rather than going down. To me, this isn’t very difficult to deduce. The debt was managed incorrectly by the meter, and thus I have been overcharged and am due a refund. This is a pre-payment meter we are talking about. I placed credit on it, some of which was used, some of which was deducted for the debt. Somewhere along the line something has gone wrong, which is why we are in this position now. Unless you can explain why a pre-payment meter had so many glaring discrepancies, as shown from what I have highlighted of the statement of accounts, I still stand by my request for a refund of £393.06, and look forward to receiving payment from you in due course. I understand the meter dump information has already been requested. I look forward to receiving this too. Yours faithfully, Mrs. Crash cc: Roger Carr Chairman, British Gas Sam Laidlaw Chief Executive, British Gas Helen Alexander CBE Non-executive Director, British Gas Phil Bentley Managing Director, British Gas

Haha, thanks Lex, I am blushing now!!

Excellent news Lex, congrats and well done

Glad to hear it's all sorted...enjoy!!

Right peeps, I'm back. I didn't get the costs. BUT it was a really positive experience and I'm so glad I went, so all is not lost. There was a young and friendly guy representing Barclays, and he was already there when we arrived. He suggested we have a quick chat in one of the consulation rooms. He had never seen my bundle, and wanted to clarify that we were only arguing about costs. He was very impressed with my bundle and asked me if I was in the legal profession (LMAO!!) I was like noooo! Anyway we were called into the court room and a lovely smiley judge was waiting for us (kind-of bearded Dennis Sutherland). As soon as we sat down he said 'finally, a bank claim that has come before me'. The Barclays guy soon deflated his excitement by nervously (he was as bad as me!) explaining that they were prepared to settle the claim in full except for costs. He gave his arguments for the reasons why costs shouldn't be allowed, to which the judge then looked at me and asked 'to which your arguments are?' I explained as best as I could as said in my opinion the banks had never intended to take this to court, unreasonable behaviour and an abuse of the court process etc. I didn't say very much, in fact I forgot to mention Mullen V Hackney and the Lincoln Abuse order, but I think the judge understood where I was coming from, and thanked me when I was finished. After that he was the one who spoke the most, basically saying that rules for costs in small claims are quite clear and that the 'unreasonable' argument is very wide. He looked at my schedule of charges and because most of them were pre-6yrs he said Barclays made the right 'commercial' decision, albeit late to settle in full. He did mention that had this claim got to court, Barclays would have had sound arguments for the limitations etc. He also mentioned the penalty v service argument. Finally he finished to say that whilst I understand your frustration of them settling days before court, in claim after claim after claim, on this occasion he wasn't prepared to stretch to allow costs, because technically Barclays had done nothing wrong...even though it may seem like it. However I think that because my claim was pre-6yrs, and CI the judge did make a sound and fair decision, and I would say that in my opinion the same WOULDN'T apply to anyone else who may wish to try for costs, because I had already successfully done this so this got a bee in Barclays bonnet. The judge concluded with a stay order in which he advised Barclays to cough up the claim settlement figure within 14 days. He added, smiling to me, that should this not happen, you can re-apply for this hearing, and glanced across to the other guy saying somehow I don't think they will let that happen though. The Barclays dude said the cheque is in the post, we thanked each other and he left. As I was leaving the judge smiled again and said I was really hoping that this would be the first bank claim I could hear, but that's not going to happen. We said thanks, and left. In the lift the Barclays guy confirmed that a cheque for settlement should be with me within the next day or so. SO to sum up, whilst I didn't get costs on this occasion, this trip to the court taught me a lot...mainly that it's not as scary a place and situation as it looks and that the judges are really on our side. He didn't make me feel inadequate or stupid, or as if I shouldn't have wasted his time. He understood my reasons, but ruled the costs out on this occasion, which is fair enough.

haha, not to worry shanty, as I am being pernickerty and arguing on costs....they have agreed to pay the full claim, so I could have taken it and run

Thanks lthomp, that's very sweet and I really appreciate the support and encouragement. I just hope I don't let you all down

Nope, Barclays haven't called back to settle so it's off to court tomorrow morning, armed with a lot of ammo from Karne and Hags. Wish me luck boys and girls