Hi All,

Abbey charged me in total in excess of 200 pounds over the last 2 years, which was not my fault in the slightest. It was an ebay transaction which shouldn't have taken place.

Anyway i spoke to someone from india on the phone who agreed to cancel the charges on my account and put it back to zero. this has gone on for about a year because they keep charging me, and i keep having to phone up and get them cancelled. I got another statement through a couple of months ago to say my account was -100 pounds. i got so annoyed i wrote a letter of complaint to their excellent complaints centre who aim to resolve a complaint within 6 WEEKS of receiving the complaint. thats really quick??.... nope.

After chasing them up, and 2 months later i received a letter to say they are sorry and the charges were out of my control and it is all their fault basically and they will refund me all the charges and i can close my account if i can.

Guess what, i have received a statement today and they have charged me again my account is now -30.01 overdrawn. oh god, i haven't banked with them for 3 years.

what do i do? financial ombudsman? or go to the branch? i don't fancy being on hold for hours and then not getting anywere at all.

help!!

thanks, stu

sveaney:

If its more than 8 weeks since you first complained and you are not happy with the outcome you are entitled to ask the Financial Services Ombudsman to investigate. Really you have nothing to lose, its costs you nothing but will cost Abbey a hefty case fee regardless of the outcome. The only caution is the FSO can take from 6 to 12 months to get to your case such is the scale of disatisfaction with banks and inadequate FSO resources.

From what you say you seem to be entitled to take that step.

The only question I have is why were you not able to close the account when the complaint letter said you could.

thanks for your quick reply,

i didn't close the account when i got the letter because i have a bad credit rating anyway and i could always fall back on abbey if anything goes wrong with HSBC so i like to keep that option open.

I think as soon as i get this sorted, i will get my account closed though. am going into the branch on saturday morning to speak with the manager, im sure he will sort it when i take the letters and emails down. I will go to the FO regardless of the outcome as i feel i have been taken for a bit of a ride.