caro v smile ***WON***

[Fully_charged]

Trust me smile will refund your charges........

[caro]

I am sure they will refund in time. I have decided to give them another week and then phone again. If there is no progress then, I will start putting pressure on and issuing deadlines.

 

On or around the 22nd of June I have 2 Moneyclaims which I am almost certain to need to do with other banks, and I couldn't afford to do the smile one as well. As you say, they will refund anyway.

 

Thanks for your input guys.

[caro]

Well I phoned Wednesday and Alex Hope of the Complaints Team was in a meeting so a message was left for him that I wanted to know what was going on. Then I had 2 emails from Jayne Jones saying my complaint was still being investigated and they would get back to me.

 

Phoned again 4 pm Thursday and asked for the complaints team. Apparently they work from 8 am to 4 pm and they had just gone home. I asked for a direct number to them, but apparently the complaints team don't speak to people unless they have specifically asked to speak to the customer themselves. Apparently we mere customers do not have the same priveleges. I get the feeling they are a bit busy at the moment.;-)

 

On a lighter note, I got my funniest charge today and can't stop tittering about it. I made a £5 donation to BAG, but had insufficient funds so they didn't pay it and charged me £25! I might have been upset if I didn't know that I will get it back, but I will have to stump up a decent donation then to make amends. Forgot my bank charges were due off today but I don't get paid until tomorrow. That means more charges next month. Ho hum:rolleyes:

 

Enough of this messing about being nice and emailing and phoning. I will now do what I should have done in the first place to reclaim my charges the BAG way, using the template letters from the library.

[caro]

Well folks, I'm not quite smiling but I have got a very big grin on my face! I have come to the conclusion that phoning smile is pretty useless, but I actually managed to find someone helpful yesterday who phoned back when he said he would. I had phoned to complain that smile had gone over the 28 days they allow for their complaints procedure and heard nothing. For those who haven't read my thread I thought I would try being nice to smile as they are reasonable with me, and didn't follow the usual process. Please do not do this. The call back said my complaint would be dealt with within 5 working days. This has happened

 

I have just logged into my account and there is an adj commission of £1,000.50, the amount I claimed. YIPPEE!!

 

Also an email saying the amount I said was correct and a goodwill payment had gone to my account. I still need to chase up the interest, £75 for my smile visa card and a few charges since my original claim, but this is my first money back so I am dead chuffed.

[Dave J]

Nice one caro well done. Smile are ok I suppose but you really do need to take control with them. Enjoy

[caro]

Thanks Dave, I plan to take control now. Just getting my facts together to do a proper prelim to claim the rest of it using the tried and tested methods.

 

I can't decide whether to use the money for something sensible, like putting it towards a car that I really need, or treating myself and the family. My daughters 18th birthday is next month and my son starts uni in September, so we can certainly use it. I'm not used to deciding how to spend real money.

[closey]

Well done Caro, I'm really pleased for you. Excellent news

[caro]

Yes thats great news Caro - well done. Enjoy the money (doesn't sound like its going to last long !) :-)

 

Too true! I have decided not to do anything hasty at the moment and just take my time deciding what to do. I really need my money from Yorkshire Bank to make a big difference.

 

Thanks for the good wishes all.

[caro]

Well smile have paid another £20 to my current account and are refunding £75 to my visa, but added this

 

Please monitor your account carefully to make sure you don't exceed your overdraft limit in the future. All our charges and tarriffs are available to view on the website. If you exceed your overdraft or incurr late payment fees etc again, we may issue you with notice to close.

 

Now I've had most of my money back their request will be a lot easier to comply with.

[gargoil]

Good stuff! Squeeze them for every penny as rest assured thats what they'd do to you!!

[caro]

Had all the information in response to an emailed SAR. Because I had to chase them for this after 50 days they did not charge me.

 

Note to self - use snail mail. It's quicker.

 

Going away next week and pretty busy at the moment so it will be a while before my prelim gets sorted. I had a bounced DD last week and a £25 charge so it will be interesting to see if they decide to close my account. I wonder if they will pay up as easily second time around, or if they are getting tougher now.

 

As an ethical bank I would hope that they would not sink to the depths of taking retaliatory action. Parachute has been open with Nat West for ages now

[yvette18]

Hi Caro,

 

I have just completed my MCOL to Smile and about to make payment. I feel very nervous about it, what if they want me to go to court? The idea of it scares me.

 

I wanted to ask if you can still make a claim against a bank even if you closed the account years ago? I was with Yorkshire bank until 2004 could I still go back to them following the same procedure as I have with Smile bank?

 

Thanks

Yvette

[caro]

I think it's unlikely in the extreme that Smile will be a problem, and yes you can take on closed accounts. I made the mistake of having a YB account until 2003 and have a case pending against them.

 

I imagine you will have your Smile money before Christmas. I closed my account with YB in 2003 and filed MCOL against them on 21at June this year which is nowhere near settled. You can and should claim against them, but they are a much harder nut to crack. It gets easier the more you do this though as you keep learning and that gives you confidence.

 

Take a peek in the Yorkshire and Clydesdale Bank forum to see what to expect. You will find the guys on there very supportive as we all go through their rubbish together.

[caro]

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