Sainsbury's Bank VISA

[martinwhite]

My DD bounced this month, and I got my statement this morning so thought I'd call to make amends. I explained that I wanted to pay over the phone because the DD didn't go through.

 

The person then asked if there was anything else I wanted to do on the account.

 

I said "I see on my statement that I've got an unpaid Direct Debit fee of £20."

 

"Yes, if the direct debit did bounce then you receive a charge for that."

 

"You do realise that those charges are unlawful don't you, because they're penalties."

 

pause.

 

"How do you mean? It says in your T&C that if we don't receive a Direct Debit then you do get a charge for that."

 

"Yes I do realise that but the standard principle of law is that because there is no actual loss involved for the company, you are unable to charge me a fee for that by law."

 

"What I can certainly do is pass that on to our customer care department for you. But it does say that in your T&C we can charge you so by law we can because we have informed you..."

 

"I understand that its in the T&C but it's also covered under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations. so, I'd like my £20 back please"

 

"As I said I'll pass that onto our customer care dept - you said it was the Unfair ....."

 

"Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations"

 

"I'll explain all that for you and we'll look into refunding that for you"

 

And then we spoke about taking the payment. Yes, the call was recorded on my mobile. Nokia 6230i, press options when the call starts and select record. you can record up to an hour.

 

It was plain that the woman I spoke to didn't have a clue about the row over penalties. Either that or a bloody good actress!

[martinwhite]

Followed up my earlier call the other day. It was recorded.

 

I enquired about the refund of my "fine" and eventually the person I spoke to said she would "take care of it". We'll see what my next statement has to show...

 

Whilst on the phone I asked if they made a charge for copy statements. she said no. So I said "I'll have all of them please then". LONG pause. "All of them?"

 

"Yes", I said.

 

"What for?"

 

"That's my business surely?"

 

"they won't release them unless you give a reason"

 

"fine, I'll make a request in writing under DPA then"

 

Bloody cheek!!!

[crawley_girl]

You should have said...

 

'Cos I have run out of Andrex...'

[martinwhite]

This topic was closed on 03/06/19.

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