Vent re:idiot bank

I'll apologize now for my vent as I am beyond furious.

I called a month ago to cancel my rent standing order.  They said it was cancelled.  What a surprise, the money got sent out anyway.  Idiots.  So now I'm out over 1000 pounds which I need as we are moving TOMORROW and I have to put a deposit down on our new place.

I immediately called on it when I saw it and they put a complaint through.  They were supposed to call me back to tell me what was going (no later than today) which of course they didn't.  I called them and they said 'oh right, well we sent you a letter and it should be resolved by 5 December.'

EXCUSE ME?  So I don't get any use of my money which YOU took out IN ERROR for the next MONTH?!?!?!?

There was massive shouting on my end and they finally agreed to supposedly fix it within the next 3-5 days.  I am not holding my breath but I suppose it's an improvement.

What is wrong with these banks?  Why is it so difficult to give some proper customer service?  You make the mistake and I have to suffer because of it?   

Vent away!!  I'd be totally furious, too!     I hope that money is back in your account in 3 days or less!

Ugh. Don't get me started. I hate banks and I do think the British ones are worse. But I have no idea how things may have changed in the US over the last 7 years.

I can't say much today, though, as I got them to refund a charge. So today I'm feeling a bit more love towards them.

Hope they get you sorted soon!

Ugggh. That is terrible. I hope it gets sorted out soon.

Thats awful! I hope it gets sorted soon.

I hate my bank! It just got bought out by another bank and everything has gone down hill fast. None of my debit card charges  show up on my online banking until days after I made the charge. With my old bank it would show up almost as soon as I had swiped my card. Sometimes my deposits show up twice, sometimes they don't show up at all. I'm seriously considering switching.

That's terrible. You definitely should not have to wait that long. I know you;reb usy with moving but if you can find the time I'd write a letter of complaint to their head office. You'll have your money back within days. Tell them you'll complain to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Geeta, that seriously sucks. 

no advice but you have every right to complain!  vent away.  i would insist on 1000 + interest + aggervation.

I think I will bill them per my usual hourly chargeout rate at work...over 350 pounds per hour.  Grrrrrrrrr.

This totally sucks. Does your bank rhyme with roids?? Cause mine does and I hate them too. I have a credit union in the US and I LOVE them!! I sent an email to my contact person there one day and never heard back. I ended up calling and she was extremely apologetic for not getting the email and said if I didn't hear from her within 24 hours next time I should assume she didn't get the message and I should call.

Hee hee, no, it's Barclays.  I have been generally happy with them until this, but to be honest I'm thinking this would have happened at any UK bank, not just Barclays.   

I never hated banks until today as well!!  I feel for you geeta.  DH and I are completing on a house so we have purchased some appliances online. The transaction would not go through and Comet told us the bank wasn't authourizing. We called the bank they said there was a fraud alert on our account and can we confirm the last transactions? The guy then told me the last 5 transactions which I confirmed we had made. He then said he was going to stop our cards and put our account on hold.  I said "what"  I just confirmed those transactions, we look everyday online at our statements there is nothing suspicious." Everytime I kept trying to argue with the guy he said he was putting markers on our account and if he ended up putting one more on it would be frozen. I told him this is not the time or place, we are moving house and need this money!!! He then said to go change my pin and call him back.  I did so and he released these so-called markers.  Then my husband had the exact same argument and everything as we have a joint account.  Somehow DH was able to get them to let the transaction for the appliances go through.  Ughhh! 

Geeta, did you get anything in writing when you initially closed the account?  If so, I definately would have a go at them and a proper complaint.  If that will help.  DH asked to be put through to the complaints department only to be told they don't tell with these complaints.   I wish you the best!!

I never hated banks until today as well!!  I feel for you geeta.  DH and I are completing on a house so we have purchased some appliances online. The transaction would not go through and Comet told us the bank wasn't authourizing. We called the bank they said there was a fraud alert on our account and can we confirm the last transactions? The guy then told me the last 5 transactions which I confirmed we had made. He then said he was going to stop our cards and put our account on hold.  I said "what"  I just confirmed those transactions, we look everyday online at our statements there is nothing suspicious." Everytime I kept trying to argue with the guy he said he was putting markers on our account and if he ended up putting one more on it would be frozen.

This is exactly what happened with my BF and he uses Barclays. They froze his account about once a month and when he phoned them they gave him the impression that he was supposed to be happy about this as they were protecting him against fraud. Uh, no, actually it was a huge hassle.

Geeta, did you get anything in writing when you initially closed the account?  If so, I definately would have a go at them and a proper complaint.  If that will help.  DH asked to be put through to the complaints department only to be told they don't tell with these complaints.   I wish you the best!!

I haven't actually closed the account.  I am naturally going to write them a very aggro complaint to go along with my phone call.  The dept. I was talking with was the complaints department; can you believe they actually had to register THEIR ERROR as a complaint from me??  Um, no it was an ERROR on YOUR PART.  The complaint is totally separate! 

I wrote to my landlord to let him know and he said 'Great, now I can book my holiday!'    Then he said he'd be happy to put the money back into my account if that was easier, which of course it is, but as far as I'm concerned the idiot bank should be doing the work, not me and my landlord. 

thats good you have an honest landlord!
When we moved I went into Barclays and used one of those self-service machines and cancelled the standing order myself.  The ex-landlord actually called the day it was suppose to go through to make a snide comment about how fast I cancelled the standing order well duh

hope you go it all sorted quickly geeta!!