@natwest_help Is advanced warning worth the bother?

[Outdoor_Joe]

Hi all

 

As usual, no posts until advice is needed but thats the way of these forums I guess, apologies anyway, ... and so to the matter in hand.

 

I am about to get involved in a messy argument with my ISP. They are apparently notorious for causing customers who want to escape their clutches a whole nightmare full of problems and when they do eventually relinquish the required migration codes and you get away from them, even close the account etc, they then hit you with a 'termination fee' that has been known to be a high as £300.00 ... I've checked, they have no 'process in law' that allows them to legally demand this payment especially when you have no contractual agreement with them apart from a verbal phone conversation where they trick you into agreeing that you would like to continue using their service for a short period ... That apparently can tie you into another 18 month contract ... well no, again, I've had it checked and it can't, it's not legal and unless they can prove a properly worded contract properly agreed by you, then they are breaking contract law however, I digress ...

 

Having read up on hundreds of complaints on 'which ISP's ' type websites, I read with horror that even though you are disputing that you owe them any money, they are just taking it through your debit card using the transaction code set up years and years ago when you first joined them. ( I've been with this ISP for 15 years so you can imagine, I'm not leaving lightly or for flibbertigibbet reasons)

 

So, I went on one of the above named forums and asked what would happen if I contacted my bank (NatWest) well in advance of the pending battle with the ISP commencing, explaining what's happening, and asking them NOT to grant any payments to this company other than the agreed monthly SO / DD so as to avoid large sums of money disappearing out of my account which will inevitably not only put me in a position of negative funds, but will also force other SO's and DD's to bounce and all the associated problems that come with that.

 

I was told that basically, I'd be wasting my time as NW dont really take any notice of any letters they receive and when presented with a transaction code they will pay out even when you've asked them not to, so just put up with it as the will refund the payments later so no loss.

 

Well, that's ok I guess, if you are lucky enough to have a good financial buffer in your account, but if like me you are forced to live pretty much hand to mouth, and £300.00 plus is nearly a months income, you really cannot afford to "put up with it" even if the bank do refund the payments at a later date.

 

So my question is this really, is there a contact within NatWest-SW that people can contact in such situations? .... After all, I'm trying to avoid foreseen problems with my account and therefore acting responsibly right? I find it hard to believe that NW would refuse to act as I've been with them a long time and never really had any big problems with them. .. I'm guessing (hoping) that knowing who to contact is the key to this one.

 

Oh and if there is anyone out there who knows, an email address as opposed to a phone number would be really appreciated as I'm currently unable to speak due to an illness.

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Jo.

[SabreSheep]

Im no expert on this but you could always write to their headoffice and keep a receipt of of postage AND DELIVERY. If they pay out large sums despite you not doing so you would have a claim under BCOBS and they would be responsible for ALL charges that resulted from that.

[Outdoor_Joe]

Thanks for that SabreSheep, I probably wasn't clear in my post but the whole crux of the question revolves around ... ' how do I make the bank understand that a company is going to try and withdraw money from my account after I have ceased to do business with them and I'd like the bank to stop them doing that as it's my money? '

 

In this case, the ethics are quite clear and I'm pretty certain I have the right and the moral high ground on my side so feel even more aggrieved if the rumor mill is correct in saying that NatWest will not take any notice of such a request, however, even if the moral or even ethical high ground wasn't mine, I don't really see that it's up to the bank to make moral or ethical decisions on my behalf. At the end of the day, it's my account, my money and if I don't want company a, b, or c to have any of it then surely thats my choice and to be fair, going on recent history, I think the banks are the very last people to be commenting on anyone's ethics right now.

 

OK agreed the simple way would be suck it and see and just email the first address i can find and see what happens. unfortunately, as explained in my OP I'm not in a position to take that risk. Before I take on this rouge ISP, I need to know that My Bank has my back and i won't end up with negative balances when they pay out on a 15 year old transaction ID. .... does that make any more sense than my previous ramblings?

 

I'd like to find an email address that although really at this stage doesn't need to go as high ads the MD, does need to be someone who's not just going to fob me off with "blah blah, this is our standard proceedure, blah blah" but is someone with a brain and the authority to see to it that my request is actioned