£5 a day. £200 for £1.36 OD.

[ukcrow]

After several court cases (some pending), I was hoping to put bank charges behind me, choosing to set up a Basic account with A&L.

 

On the 23rd of October i went overdrawn by £1.36 from a standing order debited from the account. I visited my local branch of A&L in Woking to enquire if i would be charged for this situation. I was informed by one of their employee's who accessed my account that "I would not incur any charge".

 

Having nil cash on me at the time i left the account to in its state. I checked my online banking on the Sunday 30th November to see that £100 had been taken from my account in charges. I imagine this is for two weeks and expect at least a further £75 plus.

 

Either way i felt a sense of anger, outrage and slightly sick. I ventured into the Woking branch, waited 30 minutes to be seen, to be told i needed to phone their 'no help services'. whom informed me that it was a branch matter due to my previous dealings. I was then told that they would have to register it as a complaint on some sort of a charter. I insisted that i wished for the situation to be addressed that day, but unfortunately the branch manager was away that day. My only option was to regrettably bring my account back into credit.

 

At the moment my account is in credit. Despite A&L having all contact details they have failed to contact me. I feel extremely reluctant to pay off the next batch of charges.

 

Should i let the account reach a status of collection agencies and challenge the charges via county court? How would others play this one? My main gripe is being told misleading information. The brach wont and apparently 'cant' disclose who served me.

[angel_1]

hiya ukcrow

 

so the complaint has been registered then and what have you had back from it? if they dont come back, with a final decision or nothing after 8 weeks you could refer it to fos

 

i dont know whether it would benefit you to go to the branch and see if you can identify the person who told you the wrong information - did you actually do any accounting on that particular day say put in cash or a cheque or obtain cash over the counter, ?

 

if they havent contacted you did you ever get a letter and a copy of their complaints proceedure leaflet you should have got that within 5 working days of the complaint at the very least, are you sure they have actually registered your complaint?/

 

I would personally write a complaint and put all the info and that you havnt had any responce and send at the minimum recorded delivery or registered post so you get a signature thier end, this way you have a paper trail of the complaint and when they do send their final responce and you are still not happy you can refer to fos, it cost s the firms at least 450.00 for fos to investigate the complaint

 

not sure what else i can advise other than good luck

 

im claiming my charges, have closed the account and never will buy anything from this outfit ever again, not even insurance, and it was 10.00 cheaper on the quote -

 

have a fun weekend ciao maz

[midge61]

Hi

 

I thought that basic accounts didn't incur charges. I also thought the gave you some lea way if the amount you went overdrawn was under £10.

That is what happens on my Halifax basic account.

 

I would check through the T&C's and then complain.

[HSBCrusher]

this is just typical of A&L, they are very agressive chargers (if thats a real word). I have been charged enormous amounts for going over by a few pence... its how they make money.... and it STINKS

 

I did manage to get back some from them the first time it happened, but now they just refuse to deal with it either by letter or over the 'phone.

 

take a look at my A&L claim in my signature.

[Hugh Jeffort]

Your not wrong there HSBCrusher, I went £2.50 overdrawn and ended up getting charged £375.00, I did negotiate the money back but it took months of phone calls, letters and conversations where I was made to feel like a criminal!!