Help - Aggressive response from Northern Rock

[paulif]

oh yes its very convinient

the court is a 60 second walk from my current contract

[paulif]

sorry

[paulif]

anyone

?

[paulif]

please?

do i object to their requestr to attend the hearing by telephone?

or do i agree?

or do i do nothing except send me letter detailing my reasons for objecting to the stay?

[ncf355]

Hi,

 

I would be inclined to agree to the telephone hearing

 

If you attend in person you will be in a stronger position anyway

[GuidoT]

I would respond to the letter in post 227 above by saying:

 

1 NR requested the stay in the first place, so how can they now complain

2. NR can send a local lawyer and this reduce their costs

3. This matter is allocated to the small claims track, therefore it does not reduce your liability for costs, as there is no liability in any event

4. Then agree a phone hearing (subject to the courts agreeing) and advise that you will be turning up in person

 

Put all this in writing to them.

[paulif]

thanks

much appreciated

[paulif]

well after nearly 2 years of them trying to bully and intimidate me

and after a year of them disrespecting and attemtpint to thwart the court process i am finally gonna get a day in court

two weeks today

croydon county court 10am....

all support welcome

this is the hearing to decide on their application for a stay...

 

wahoooooooooooooo

i am sure they have other things to worry about but cannot for the life of me think what they are

[noomill060]

Just a note of caution- dont get too exited- the court will probably stay you case pending outcome of the OFTs test case.

[paulif]

going to court a week today

 

i will be apposing the stay on a number of grounds,,, moslty those mentioned in the letter i got off this site but also because they have been totally bullying me (and others) i really do believe they have used their corporate might to intimidate people and to thwart the court system

 

recent email exchange

Dear Ms Huntingdon,

 

I note with regret your continued refusal to engage in with me in a reasonable way to resolve these matters. I would appreciate it if you would review your answer below and respond truthfully and honestly to my original questions.

 

I will repeat question 1) which in my opinion is proof in itself that you have attempted to bully me in this case and I believe this is indicative of the way you have been handling similar complaints.

 

Please reply to all when you respond to this email

 

See you in court next Tuesday

 

 

regards

 

P

----- Original Message -----

From:

Huntingdon, Julie

To:

'

Cc:

Caldwell, Sarah

Sent:

Friday, September 21, 2007 11:28 AM

Subject:

FW: COURT CASE: Paul F v Northern Rock plc

 

 

Mr F,

I refer to your e-mail of 18 September sent to Sarah Caldwell.

In relation to the procedural aspects mentioned in your e-mail, default judgment was entered into and then set aside by the court. This aspect has already been dealt with and I therefore do not see any merit in going over old ground.

I refute your statement that

'Northern Rock engaged in the process of defending dozens of claims but settled these cases just before the court hearing'.

Northern Rock plc has previously dealt with all claims on an individual basis and on their own merits. However, in light of the test case brought by the Office of Fair Trading against a number of banks, and as referred to in Northern Rock's letter to you dated 13 August 2007, all litigated matters are now being stayed pending the outcome of the test case.

I also refute your allegation that Northern Rock plc has stolen money from you, behaved dishonestly, attempted to bully and intimidate you and abused the court system. These allegations are made without merit or substance.

I confirm that Northern Rock not behaved with lack of respect to either yourself or the Court. As stated previously, following your choice to litigate this matter, Northern Rock has complied with the Court process and dealt with this matter as it would any other litigated matter.

This matter is listed for hearing on 02 October when the Court will consider Northern Rock's application to have them stayed. I should add that the matter is not listed for a full hearing so the detail of your claim against Northern Rock will not be before the court or decided upon at that stage.

In relation to the questions you raise about the account itself, Northern Rock has only returned payments where there has been insufficient funds in the account to meet the payments. On occasion, payments have had to be returned because incoming cheques had not cleared.

I note that you requested an overdraft facility of £1,400. However, this was not granted due to there being insufficient credits being made to the account. You indicated on 26 May that your salary payment was due and that the overdraft would be a bridging facility until that had been received. Northern Rock asked for written confirmation of this by fax but unfortunately this was not forthcoming. Accordingly, the overdraft facility requested was not agreed.

Finally, I should point out that your decision to make a complaint against Northern Rock has not influenced how we have applied the terms and conditions of your account. All of our decisions regarding your account - whether relating to the overdraft facility or the acceptance of individual payments - have been made in line with usual procedures. We have reviewed your account in a manner that is entirely consistent with other customers.

As this matter is likely to be stayed at the hearing on 02 October I do not believe it necessary for a discussion to take place in a public forum as you suggest. Indeed I note that you do not wish to engage the media or third parties in this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Huntingdon

Group Legal Department

Northern Rock Plc

Tel: 0191 2796363

Fax: 0191 2794747

E-mail:

julie.huntingdon@northernrock.co.uk

 

From:

Caldwell, Sarah

Sent:

18 September 2007 16:19

To:

Huntingdon, Julie

Subject:

FW: COURT CASE: Paul F v Northern Rock plc

 

 

From:

Paul

Sent:

18 September 2007 16:18

To:

Caldwell, Sarah

Cc:

Adam.Applegarth@northernrock.co.uk

Subject:

Re: COURT CASE: Paul F v Northern Rock plc

Dear Ms Caldwell,

 

Thanks for your email below.

I would appreciate if you could answer a few questions for me?

 

1) Why has Northern Rock threatened me with liability for costs when you know that my liability will be zero due to this being on the small claims track?

2) Why did Northern Rock not respond to the original court claim despite being informed by both myself and the court?

3) Why did Northern Rock not respond to the judgment by default despite being informed by both myself and the court?

4) Why did Northern Rock not respond to the warrant of execution despite being informed by both myself and the court?

5) Why has Northern Rock bounced several direct debits since I began court proceeding with you despite there being sufficient funds in my account

6) Why did Northern Rock renege on my agreed overdraft facility once I commenced legal proceeding against you?

7) Why has Northern Rock engaged in the process of defending dozens of claims but settled these cases just before the court hearing?

8) Do you feel the way you have behaved in my case has been respectful to both myself and/or the court system?

 

I would very much like to settle this matter with you as I have wanted from the beginning. I do not wish to engage the media or third parties in this matter. However I believe you have stolen money from me, behaved dishonestly, attempted to bully and intimidate me and you have abused the court system. You know this as do I. We are going to court 2 weeks today. Since you seem so sure of these matters would you be prepared to discuss them in a public forum ?

 

I look forward to your response.

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From:

Caldwell, Sarah

To:

'Paul'

Sent:

Tuesday, September 18, 2007 2:32 PM

Subject:

Paul F v Northern Rock plc

 

Dear Mr F

I refer to our telephone conversation this morning and believe that we were cut off. Unfortunately, we do not have a note of your telephone number on our file and therefore I was unable to call you back.

I note that you have recorded the telephone conversations with me yesterday and today and are seeking my consent to pass these recordings on to a journalist. I confirm that I do not consent to the recording being passed onto a journalist as I was not aware, at the time of the conversation, that I was being recorded.

I would like to make you aware that you are required by law under the to inform a person that they are being recorded prior to the conversation taking place if you are to pass the recording to a third party.

In the circumstances, I would ask that all future communications with Northern Rock plc be in in writing.

You appear to be seeking comments in relation to your allegations of Northern Rock plc's intimidatory tactics in respect of your claim, therefore, I would like to set out Northern Rock plc's position regarding this matter. You have chosen to litigate this matter and consequently Northern Rock plc's Group Legal Department have defended your claim accordingly. Northern Rock plc has not bullied or intimidated you and it refutes your allegations. Northern Rock plc has merely complied with the Court process as it would with any other litigated matter.

Given the above, Northern Rock plc suggests that you seek independent legal advice.

Kind regards

Sarah Caldwell

Trainee Solicitor

Group Legal Department

 

 

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LEGAL NOTICE

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments are private and confidential. This message is solely intended for a particular recipient, if you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from storing, copying, disseminating or using the information in any way. If you received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, viruses or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of transmission. This e-mail is not intended to create legally binding commitments on behalf of Northern Rock plc, nor do its contents reflect the corporate views or policies of Northern Rock plc.

Northern Rock plc, Registered Office Northern Rock House Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4PL. Registered in England, number 3273685. Telephone No: 0191 2857191

Northern Rock plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for deposit-taking; advising on and arranging mortgages and general insurance; and for introducing life assurance and investments.

______________________________________________________________________

This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System.

For more information please visit

MessageLabs | email

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

LEGAL NOTICE

The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments are private and confidential. This message is solely intended for a particular recipient, if you are not the intended recipient you are prohibited from storing, copying, disseminating or using the information in any way. If you received this e-mail in error please notify the sender immediately. E-mail transmission cannot be guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. The sender therefore does not accept liability for any errors, viruses or omissions in the contents of this message, which arise as a result of transmission. This e-mail is not intended to create legally binding commitments on behalf of Northern Rock plc, nor do its contents reflect the corporate views or policies of Northern Rock plc.

Northern Rock plc, Registered Office Northern Rock House Gosforth Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4PL. Registered in England, number 3273685. Telephone No: 0191 2857191

Northern Rock plc is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority for deposit-taking; advising on and arranging mortgages and general insurance; and for introducing life assurance and investments.

[Bookworm]

1) Have you agreed to a telephone hearing or not?

2) Is this correct that the hearing is only to discuss a stay, not a full hearing? (Sorry, I don't have time at the moment to go through your whole thread to find out)

3) At what time is your hearing, and who's the allocated judge?

[paulif]

i did agree to the telephone hearing

i do not know who the judge is but my hearing is at 10 o clock on the 2cnd October

(i will check my paperwork so i can tell you who the judge is when i get home tonight)

[Bookworm]

Please do. I have appeared in front of 2 of the Croydon judges so far, so if it's one of them, I'll be able to shed some light on what to expect.

[GuidoT]

Regarding the email exchanges in post 237, whilst we all have strong feelings on the matter, you should tone down your emails, such allegations will generally get you no where.

 

In fact it could do you damage later on, a judge will not be impressed with your allegations to stealing, dishonesty etc.

[paulif]

i dont intend to email them again at least until i see them in court anyway

 

i do feel strongly about it and i appreciate your comments about it but i must admit in my email when i said "i believe that you have stolen from me...."

whilst it might be unwise i do feel it is somewhat justified as quite apart from the £800 or so they have "charged" me for going overdrawn, bouncing a cheque etc ... they have actually charged me a number of times when there was in fact money in my account. this is very easy to prove with my statements and contrary to their response...

perhaps i am getting too annoyed by this and i am finally moving my account... but OMG they way they have behaved has really shocked me...

and also do you think if i owed them money and baillifs came round here i would be able to dispatch the bailiffs by telling them i was about to apply for a set aside to a court order?

 

thanks for your help all throughout this thread.... much appreciated

[paulif]

Please do. I have appeared in front of 2 of the Croydon judges so far, so if it's one of them, I'll be able to shed some light on what to expect.

 

District judge Freeborough

[Bookworm]

Nope, sorry, not one I am familiar with. Darn.

 

Ok, listen, it's quite simple, and it is not good news: the judge I saw a month ago made it quite clear that they have had their orders from high on above, and someone in Leeds yesterday said the same thing. So prepare for fighting the stay if you can, but I'll be brutally honest: you have little chance to avoid it. My judge had a golden opportunity to bypass the stay request and award me summary judgment, she was fairly obviously on my side, (ironically, so was the barrister sub-contracted by the bank) and yet granted them the stay.

 

I am not trying to discourage you, just pre-warning you not to get too worked up about this hearing. (which is not to say you should just give up or go unprepared!) We, the consumers, have been over-ruled at the moment.

[paulif]

judge was very sympathetic (was a lady judge called Fink in the end)

but she that unfortunately she had to grant the stay

 

The barrister representing Northen Rock then applied to have costs awarded because of my "unreasonable behaviour".....

grrrrrrr

she rejected this ....

bless her

 

so now i wait

what happens after the test case

what about the charges northen rock are slamming on me as we speak?

what about court costs?

what about interest?

[Bookworm]

Ah, now her, I know, she's the one who granted Barclays their stay too (and told me that they'd had their orders).

 

What "unreasonable behaviour"? :-?

 

What happens after the test case.... hmm... that depends on the outcome. As does everything else. Interest will keep on accruing.

[paulif]

my unreasonable behaviour appears to be that i did not agree to the stay and so they had to have a hearing

thats me being unreasonable.

[GuidoT]

You are so difficult, if you do not roll over and die Northern Rock will say that you are unreasonable.

 

Anyway the stay outcome is (now unfortunately) to be expected.

[Bookworm]

my unreasonable behaviour appears to be that i did not agree to the stay and so they had to have a hearing

thats me being unreasonable.

 

:D

[TECHSPEC]

You should have appealed the stay, citing the fact that the management of Northern Rock is so poor, they may not be around at the end of the test case.

[noomill060]

Northern Rock is backed by HM. Government.

 

(Apparently!)

[TECHSPEC]

Not for bank charges im afraid. If they go bust, thats is for bank claims.

 

Besides, this government might not be around either