Hi,

Just to let you know that I will now not go thru Scottish Widows for a mortgage. I believe in customer service even though it is dead/dying. Your trials with these people are not in vain as I am spreading the word about them and what they have done to you to all of my friends/associates. These companies should not get away with this and they do constantly.

Also please be advised never to go with British Gas as I have lasted 2 years in dispute with them and now am taking them to court. RIDICULOUS!!!!

Good luck with your life.

Wow - interesting stuff!

I once took a call at work; managed to intercept someone who had been harassing my employers (at that time) over evidence I was due to give in a Court Case. Unwittingly, they came through to me, and I would have loved to have been able to flick a switch and record them!!

Still, maybe it will become more and more common, as people start to want t protectthemselves in teh same way that Banks and such do - after all, why shouldn't we?

Cat

Having done some homework i have found a website which gives up to date advice on the current legislation-it also happens to sells voice recorders as well!
http://www.telephonerecorder.co.uk/legal/home.htm

The legislation is from the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 ("RIPA")

You are actually correct that you do not actually need to inform anyone about 'home' recordings, but will have to obtain consent ONLY if it will be divulged to a third party, e.g. Financial Ombudsmen!

Well isn't that good to know!

Thanks once again. Someone else said that about telling them so they'll be polite. We'll have to agree to differ on that - I want them to be 'natural' so they can drop themselves in it if that is their attitude. Otherwise my thought is you tell them, they're nice for the record then forget all about doing anything.

As far as I can recall that is the case, in anycase warning conversations are being recorded helps people you are dealing with to behave and be polite to you!
I got a tape based one from Crucible Technologies for just under £50
see: http://www.crucible-technologies.com/
works very well, only drawback is it records everything so you can end up recording long converstions with your friends and relatives!!

Thank you! Is that definitely accurate for the individual as well as the institution? Could you recommend a device? Regards, Fedora

Having looked into the idea of recording my own telephone conversations, I have there are many different devices available on the internet. Most plug into your phone socket and then into your phone and can record conversations automatically without the need to press any buttons!
However, just be aware that in order for it to be legal you need to warn the person you are speaking to that the conversation may be recorded.

Congratulations on coming out of an awful situation with a moral victory. A story I hope will amuse you. A few years ago I was due a cheque from a Scottish mutual assurance society. Essentially it messed things up. Now I wasn't worried about the delay in getting the cheque I was worried about it being lost or whatever and the institution not either owning up to what had gone wrong or not knowing. i kept in touch with them by letter, fax and phone calls - I always think it's a good idea to have as much on the record as possible. Anyway one person in particular was responsible for the situation. She decided to rewrite history so I let her and her boss carry on and then I struck the killer blow. I asked if they'd like copies of my recordings of all the conversations. I didn't get any financial recompense but I was on cloud nine just long enough to see me through to the next institutional mistake.

All the best

Fedora

I wish to warn people about the disgusting and underhand practices of Scottish Widows Bank-now part of Lloyds TSB.

The situation was that we already customers of Scottish Widows bank and held a so called 'Professional Mortgage' with them. We were not sure of our financial position so we contacted Scottish Widows Bank prior to check affordability and entitlement. After several phone calls with a Mortgage Sales Officer providing all our financial details (the same as you would on an application form) who was liaising with Credit Managers, we were later pleased to be told that the remortgage was agreed.

However, after submitting our formal application I received a phone call by Shahida Aslam who is a Mortgage Underwriter for Scottish Widows who was ringing to clarify some details regarding our application, for some reason the records they held for some reason did not match the details we had provided (this was later found to be an error by the Credit Reference Agency). But astonishingly her explanation to why there was a discrepancy over some details was to unbelievably proceed to accuse me of trying to defraud Scottish Widows!! Adding that this situation had happened with her before, and it was later discovered this other person was attempting to defraud the company, and therefore I must be too!

Despite having pre-approval of the remortgage, she went on to say that they [Scottish Widows Bank] are now refusing our remortgage. I complained against this as well as the disgusting accusation which was made against me. I was so incensed about my treatment, rather than contacting Customer Services, I wrote directly to the Managing Director-Graeme Hortop outlining my complaint regarding the accusation at the outset, he replied and said the matter would be dealt with by Alexandra Sherry-Operations Manager. She however eventually replied in an untimely manner with an uncaring attitude because we were sent a letter assuring me they would "issue a full reply shortly", or an update at the latest by the end of the month. However we only finally received a reply 12 days after the latter deadline. The Operations Manager-Alexandra Sherry stated that after "I have now had the opportunity to investigate this matter further"..."the calls between yourselves and Shahida have been listened to and I can confirm Shahida has followed standard Scottish Widows procedure"! (Please note at this stage there was no mention on any missing recorded conversations)

I was bitterly disappointed by this response and requested copies of all our conversations. I eventually received transcripts strangely all other conversations were recorded but with one missing (despite many references to this ‘missing’ conversation being mentioned in all the other conversations that were recorded) the one whereby I was accused of attempting to defraud the company was conveniently missing!! -they also in my believe attempted to pervert the truth coming out by incorrectly dating the recordings as well!! This is absolutely despicable and appalling behaviour by their part.

As I was getting nowhere with Scottish Widows Bank, I complained to the Financial Ombudsmen, unfortunately due to the conveniently ‘lost’ conversation, they were unable to act. Although restrained in their response they had hinted from their assessment that what I claimed to have happened was more than likely what actually had indeed happened. It was a moral victory!!