View Full Version : HELP! Abbey National
What a useless bunch of incompetent s***es. Couple of months ago our account was subject to several fraudulent transactions that escaped Abbeys' notice. Including one attempt to purchase £815 worth of PC equipment in another country which the online company had noticed a problem with and put the money back into our acocunt 2 days later.
Upon seeing this on our statement we called Abbey but thanks to it being the weekend they were not taking calls so we had to go to Lakeside to visit the branch. We showed the person there the printed statements and she checked her systems and agreed that there was transactions occuring which were fraudulent so we filled all the forms in and she sent them off and we also rang the Abbey Fraud department to confirm everything.
Several weeks later we were contacted and told the money was being put back into our account and that they were also placing the £815 into our account for 3 days to make our interest back up.
Unfortunately on the 9th June Visa was due to take the £815 back from our account to put our account back to it's original amount, at this point both they and Abbey failed to notice that they actually took the money twice in the same day.
Our account is now £815 short, into it's overdraft and about to bounce our monthly direct debits which are due to go out. This will no doubt incur penalties and fees from the bank and from the people trying to take payments. Abbey are aware of this as we went back to Lakeside Saturday and spoke to them again but Elaine has just got off the phone to them and it could be another 48 hours before they call us back and anything from a week upwards before they put the money back. Basically they don't care.
How on earth can a bank be allowed to do this? We have no access to money from our main account, our DDs are about to start bouncing and Abbey don't care enough to call us back and admit to c*cking up. Even the girl at the branch could see the double withdrawal on the account.
Anyone know where we stand and if there is anyone we can complain to in order to try and get our money back BEFORE we incur £100s in penalties? It's Rebeccas' wedding at the weekend and to be honest Chi is about to have a bl**dy breakdown :(
My advice to you would be to go to your nearest large "real" Abby and make a scene. Abbey are know for doing things in their own time (and their own "special" way).
When I worked there 6 years ago they were slow, underhand and sly, even with their staff. It took me a year to get them to remove a black mark from my credit file taht shouldn't have ever been there and they only did it when I complained to the Data Protection Ombudsman. :( They didn't even write to say they'd done it.
When I worked there the best way to get the manager to do anything (not that they can do much it's all done by phone to the service centre) was to go in and make a scene so other customers could hear. I saw that trick work several times. Women in tears, men thumping desks and all because they couldn't be bothered to do stuff in a timely manner.:(
As for the charges - they'll be refunded eventually. :(
Hey Paul talk to Bex.She gave up working for them because she hated working for them in the end...they made her injury much worse with their attitude.
Hey Paul talk to Bex.She gave up working for them because she hated working for them in the end...they made her injury much worse with their attitude.
They really are bad to work for :(
Wicked_and_Crazy
16-07-2007, 17:25
You shouldnt incur any penalties. If the penalties are as a result of a DD cockup then the bank has to reimburse you
Abbey know they have messed up, as far as I am concerned they have allowed money to be taken in error and they should put it back and then deal with Visa themselves afterwards. Trouble is Abbey don't want to take responsibility for this mess.
etccarmageddon
16-07-2007, 18:44
I hope your stresses end as soon as possible. I'm with the nationwide and never had serious problems with them and when I have needed to get in touch the call centre is always open and the branch staff are competent.
greencreeper
16-07-2007, 20:31
Letter arrives. Feels like a card. Not my name on the envelope but it is from Abbey and I bank with them. Lo and behold - a card for a basic account, with Abbey, in some woman's name. Possibly the previous tenant, though she does have several names :erm: Phone Abbey - "You're not the account holder". Well no - clearly. My voice is a shade higher than your average bloke I'll admit. "We can't do anything because you're not the account holder" HELLO! FRAUD ALERT! Total impasse. So I took the card into the Commercial Street branch in Leeds. "You're not the account holder". What gave it away? The lack of a floral print dress maybe? No handbag possibly? "We can't do anything because you're not the account holder" Hmmm. Two weeks later, I receive a pin number for the card. I phone Abbey - same story again. "You're not the account holder". I've given up. I can only assume that, for reasons unknown, the previous tenant has managed to open an account with Abbey :shrug:
Useless *******s, like you say :rolleyes: Good luck with sorting them out - might take time though :rolleyes:
Just write on the envelope - no longer at this address - and post it back (without a stamp).
They'll soon get the message. They should ahve stopped the card and put a stop on the account till the customer goes in with ID for her new address but hay ho. :(
Wicked_and_Crazy
16-07-2007, 21:29
I hope your stresses end as soon as possible. I'm with the nationwide and never had serious problems with them and when I have needed to get in touch the call centre is always open and the branch staff are competent.
I with Nationwide, i've had the worst nightmare ever with them when sorting a mortgage, taking 2 DD's in a month, adjusting the payments when the agreement was that theyre fixed. Then you talk to the call centre and you just wished they had a brain cell between them. Appart form that theyre pretty good :)
Paul, you should do what i did when had a problem like this, i complained to both parties and they both refunded the money ;)
Well, Chi has just got out of Abbey and the only thing they will do is extend the overdraft facility. Talk about take the P. All they offered was a leaflet about their complaints procedure and they just use the excuse that the whole situation is in the hands of the Fraud department and that they (Abbey) can do nothing. Looks like we are in the smelly stuff till our wages go in and by then DDs will be bouncing all over the place :(
superbiatch
17-07-2007, 12:27
Well, Chi has just got out of Abbey and the only thing they will do is extend the overdraft facility. Talk about take the P. All they offered was a leaflet about their complaints procedure and they just use the excuse that the whole situation is in the hands of the Fraud department and that they (Abbey) can do nothing. Looks like we are in the smelly stuff till our wages go in and by then DDs will be bouncing all over the place :(
Hi Paul
I too suffered exactly the same experience as yours with Abbey. Make a complaint, this really did give them a good kick up the ars*
I got all the BS about fraud not communicating with any other dept but you'd think they'd speak to you considering its your account! It took many days of screaming, shouting and threatening to leave before i finally got a satisfactory outcome.
I've just opened an account with Halifax, and need to sort out a higher overdraft limit before i swap over - thats what i'd advise you to do. This has happened to me twice with Abbey and it will not be happening again.
Good luck!
Complain Complain Complain - http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
joglynne
17-07-2007, 13:40
Paul you might find some posts of interest on this forum. http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/abbey-bank/
The sites a bit of a pain as you have to do a lot of scrolling down to get to the actual posts.
Jo.
Well Chi has just posted this on another forum she uses:
OK, so Abbey have extended our overdraft - it's just more debt at the end of the day, isn't it? I tried pointing out in the branch that they (Abbey) should be re-imbursing me, and then claiming the money back from Visa - 'it doesn't work that way' I was told!!!!
It is our problem though, we're still out of pocket, got a HUGE overdraft now and £400 charges! I know it (hopefully) will be resolved eventually, but it's not nice in the meantime. :(
Well Chi has just posted this on another forum she uses:
Leave them Paul.Loyalty is a two way street.
Generally I find the banks are pretty hopeless when it comes to detecting fraudulent transations. I had my debit card cloned goodness knows where about a year ago. Over 20 cash withdrawals were made all over London in about three days resulting in over £2,000 disappearing from my account taking me into overdraft. The bank did not detect anything suspicious. Then about six months later a cheque book was stolen through the post. Something in the region of 20 cheques were cashed over 5 days but once again the bank did not spot a problem and once again it was me that alerted them. I just called them in the nick of time because they had automatically authorised another cheque book to be sent out! As long as the money is there they are happy to pay out. I was not even expecting a cheque book but because of banks automatically issuing cheque books these days they make it so much easier for the criminals.
On each occasion luckily I got my money back quickly but it was annoying having to go to the police station to report it and the general stress and worry of dealing with the whole thing. I now make a point of checking my account every day. Also I very rarely use my debit card preferring to use my credit cards. I fnd the credit card companies are much more on the ball when it comes to detecting fraud but even so make sure I am extra careful when it comes to my cards and checking statements. One place I will not use a credit or debit card ever, unless it was an extreme emergency, is a petrol station.
Believe me Coggy, as soon as this situation has been resolved we are out of there, banks only care about 1 thing these days and it's not their service to their customers.
Once the wedding is over this weekend we will have more time to actually deal with the aftermath of this complete failure by the Abbey fraud department and there will be letters going to the head office, Visa's head office and the FSA is already involved.
I would recommend the Halifax.
Their retail fraud department left me a voicemail whilst I was on holiday. They had noticed some suspicious transactions on my account, someone tried to sign up to christian aid donations, buy a few things on itunes and top up a mobile phone.
The girl in the Halifax said that what they do is try and put through small transactions and once one goes through thats when they hit you big style. All of these were caught before they even debited my account and she said they won't even hit my account at all. She then cancelled my card and sent me a new one out with a different 16 digit number etc and left me their number should I ever notice anything suspicious.
Inconvient not having a card for about a week but better than having my account wiped out. And I just have to get pocket money from hubby and forget to pay it back. ;)
bucketbakereturn
18-07-2007, 08:39
hi
i just wanted to say i know exactly the stress and frustration u must be under through all this. We had our card cloned somewhere in France a year or two ago and transactions turned up in a shop in the Ukraine done apparently in person !
i am a long long term Abbey customer and i couldn't fault them at any stage. All monies returned, all charges cancelled regarding lack of funds for DD, interest etc. At all times we were kept informed and explained regards what the transaction codes meant.
feel for you, you'd hope being part of a larger group you'd have had a better experience.
superbiatch
18-07-2007, 09:13
Seems its happening all too regular these days. I have to say i found the police absolutely useless (as well as the Abbey). I live in Merseyside and was informed by the bank that my card had been used to purchase mobile phones on the net, and were delivered to an address in Guildford. Gave them all the information required, but nothing ever came of it. Someone must live at the address they gave, and most propbably signed for the goods in my name!
Six months later i got a disclaimer to sign from the bank claiming i knew nothing about the items purchased which i had to sign. I thought was a bit of an insult considering all the information i'd given them (crime numbers etc!)
Well so far al Abbey has done is increase the overdraft so that we don't incur any more charges for their mess. Shame they haven't refunded the £400 they have already charged us :erm: We have spoken to 2 other banks recently and the ombudsman about the situation and they have all stated that Abbey should have refunded all monies and then gone to Visa to deal with the issue, not the other way round. Between family members Abbey are going to be losing 8 accounts very soon. We have already been accepted for an account elsewhere and are mid-way through the transfer.
Sooner or later we will no doubt get back the £1200+ that Abbey have allowed to be stolen from us in the last 6 weeks (let's face it, taking money without consent or knowledge is nothing short of theft), you never know we may even get an apology but we won't hold our breaths for that one. Knowing how Abbey are operating we will probably just get another letter telling us we have breached our overdraft and need to pay it back.
Not the best way to prepare for a daughters wedding is it.
Ouch, sorry to hear about this, Paul. Especially, considering the timing with the wedding.
Hope it gets sorted ASAP and without any more stress, and then you show them how they've not met your expectations and ditch 'em for somewhere else.
Good luck with it all.
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