Andy,

Sorry to hear about your predicament. As a former employee of aforementioned bank who decided to leave in the not to distant past (not sacked, not made reduntant chose to leave as I wasn't happy with how things were going). Your best course of action is going to be to ask your branch which service centre looks after your branch & their address. (you will be able to ask this over the phone too - dont give details just ask which service centre & address details)

Following this - using that address write to "Customer Service Manager, Customer Care Team" at the address listed.

State that you initally cancelled ad gold on x date at x venue and this was not done. When you spoke to someone previously they agreed the error & arranged refund etc (if money has been refunded to you there WILL be a case setup for this so there will be a permanent record) and detail that you expect the advantage gold to be cancelled and all charges incurred as a result of the non cancellation to be refunded. Of course, detail here is your friend - when did you speak to someone, were they in branch, on the phone etc?

Do NOT state that you will close the account etc if your complaint is not resolved as this does not assist your cause. Should you not recieve satisfaction within 2 weeks ask for the case to be escalated and for the address for the customer relations unit.

I hope this helps!

AndyNuttall1981:

No paperwork has been received by the bank relating to this or any other matter!

I assume you mean "from" the bank?

The importance of the correspondence is not in relation to the confirmation of the downgrading but in relation to the imposition of the unauthorised overdraft fees. Though I haven't checked, almost certainly that's in the account terms and conditions. I don't doubt you haven't received them but the issue is not that but what has happened to them, including perhaps that the bank never sent them.

That's an issue you may wish to explore.

One thing I would caution you about, the FOS will not look kindly on you regarding the "didn't know for 12 months the account had a £12.95/month fee", so you may wish to massage that a little, or preferably keep quiet about it.

Andy - As well as the good advice from Jalexa, also read this article below from Community.

It details how the FSA have now taken over the way banks behave and conduct themselves. The FSA may just want to make a lasting impression by flexing their new found powers.....starting with becoming involved in your case.

http://www.moneysupermarket.com/community/forums/t/new-banking-rules-help-consumers-39487.aspx

I've edited my original post to include a few more details if you would care to read that again.

In answer to your question, "There is a further angle to this which needs explaining. You should have received a series of letters before the charges were debited to your account. Any idea what happened to the letters?"

No paperwork has been received by the bank relating to this or any other matter!

"the bank seemed to have sorted this for me without any problems" how exactly did you come to that opinion?

I was informed that the account had been downgraded by the bank while I was in the branch trying to get the matter resolved the first time. I've been told 3 timed now by the bank that the account has been downgraded but, have never received any paperwork relating to this.

Also, when I originally opened the account, I wasn't informed that there would be a £12.95 a month subscription for the account. It was only when I received some paperwork relating to the account from the bank that I noticed I was paying to have the account. That was when I first went into the bank to get the account downgraded.

Thank you for your help in this matter

AndyNuttall1981:

First of all keep calm. This is a classic "one persons word against the others" case but all is not lost. The "there is no record" is a classic customer service retort, and not just in banking. It's quite possibly true but the issue is "why is there no record" and that's beyond the capability of the customer facing advisers and in truth even "senior branch managers" in RBS/NatWest.

Keep this simple, get the NatWest complaints procedure, make your assertion strictly in accordance with the procedure and wait 8 weeks. If you are not satisfied after 8 weeks refer the issue to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I cannot promise that FOS will automatically uphold your complaint but I expect the "there is no record" issue will be explored. It will cost you nothing but NatWest will be hit with a hefty case fee regardless of the outcome.

Make sure your complaint does not refer to the overdraft fees but only the failure to downgrade the account and cease charging the £12.95 monthly fee.

There is a further angle to this which needs explaining. You should have received a series of letters before the charges were debited to your account. Any idea what happened to the letters?

Finally, since it helps build the defence, when you say "the bank seemed to have sorted this for me without any problems" how exactly did you come to that opinion?

Never used this forum before but, here it goes:-

I opened an Advantage Gold account with Natwest approximately 18 months ago but, after 12 months, went into the bank and asked for the account to be downgraded to a standard current account. The bank seemed to have sorted this for me without any problems so, I thought nothing of it. I stopped using the account but, left it open in case I ever needed it. Approximately 3 months later I noticed that the account was £155 overdrawn and, upon further enquiries, realised that the bank had not downgraded the account as they said they had. I complained about this and the bank decided to refund me the £155.

Since then, the account has still not been downgraded and the charges have been mounting up again.The account is now nearly £400 overdrawn due to the bank taking the £12.95 every month for the last 3 months and then charging me the relevant unauthorised overdraft fees to boot. As I wasn't using the account and had been told by the bank that the account had been downgraded, I couldn't understand how this had happened. I went into my branch to find out what had been going on and to get the charges re-imbursed again but, they told me there was no record of me downgrading the account. Therefore, no banking error had taken place and i am liable to pay the £400 worth of charges that had accumulated in my account! I wasn't satisfied with this explanation so, demanded to see the manager who said exactly the same thing and gave me a phone number for the collections department to start paying the money back! I explained to her that this had happened before but, she just kept telling me that there was definitely no error on the banks part and that I would have to pay the charges myself.

I then rang Natwest to make a formal complaint but, was passed through to the collections department! I then proceeded to l them about what had happened but, they said I would have to sort it out with my branch althought, he did put a concern on my account but, not quite sure what that means although, he did seem to think I would be able to do something about it as last time it happened, the bank refunded me the charges.

I went back into my branch the next day and demanded to see the manager again. Apparently she wasn't there but, the lady I did speak to told me I would have to take it up with the manager but, she did agree to suspend any further charges to my account until the matter had been resolved.

I see no reason why I should pay them as this is not an error on my part. I was wondering if anyone knew of anything I could do to get this issue resolved? I'm not prepared to just take it on the chin and pay them until all other avenues have been explored.

Many Thanks