I paid off my £423 credit card bill but the cash is missing
I WENT into my Lloyds branch on November 21 and paid off the £423.41 owing on my Sainsbury’s Bank credit card. I got a receipt showing this.
My next statement from Sainsbury’s Bank showed it had not been paid.
Lloyds says it sent the money, but Sainsbury’s Bank says it did not get it. I have spoken to both parties several times and each blames the other. SOMeTIMeS when I receive a letter, I just want to get hold of the customer services bosses and knock their heads together — figuratively, at least.
Could the banks not talk to each other and get to the bottom of the issue, rather than throwing it to you? Customer service? More like self-service!
Once I passed your letter to both of them, it was sorted out in a couple of days. It turns out that you were the source of the error, but this does not excuse the poor response you received.
You had two beneficiaries at Sainsbury’s Bank set up on your Lloyds account and when you paid using an ATM, you chose the wrong one.
Lloyds says it tried to reclaim the money on your behalf on several occasions after you made contact on January 9, but Sainsbury’s Bank didn’t respond.
Sainsbury’s Bank admits its call centre did not deal with your six phone calls properly and should have done more to assist you.
The money has been credited to your account and the fees that were charged have been refunded. Sainsbury’s Bank has also put a note on your credit file, making it clear that you had not defaulted at any time. On top of this, it has added £75 by way of apology.
This is a reminder to those of us who use DIY banking to ensure that, when sending money, the account number matches that on the bill. As you — and, I suspect, many others — discovered, it’s all too easy, when we have more than one payment to the same source, to choose the wrong one. LAST September, I arranged for my car to be insured with AA Insurance and set up a direct debit. In November, I got a letter with a default notice saying the payment had been declined.
My bank told me this was because AA had not instigated the direct debit.
I rang the AA three times, waiting in a queue. I emailed and got no answers. I then wrote and enclosed a cheque to cover the November and December payments, thus giving them time to correct their mistake.
In December, I got a call from AA Insurance, asking for the payment again. I said I had sent a cheque. I was told AA had made a mistake, with a number of customers affected.
I was sent a cheque for £20 with a promise that problems would be resolved. In January, I received another letter saying I had defaulted on a payment and my insurance would be void if it was not paid by January 27. P. R., Surrey. IT SeeMS the AA’s systems had broken down. After a word in the right ear, your problems have been sorted. A spokesman told me: ‘The AA is transforming its systems with a multi-millionpound investment to streamline processes for customers. As the systems come on stream, rarely an error like this happens.
‘We recognise letters warning insurance cover might be stopped if payment isn’t collected can cause alarm, as it did with Mr R.
‘ Their prompt and very responsible action in sending off cheques has resulted in overpayment of Mr R’s cover.’
Those overpayments have been refunded and they phoned you to apologise. The AA has also paid a goodwill gesture of £60, including £10 to cover the cost of registered letters you sent. Both you and I have been told your direct debit has now been set up properly.
The spokesman said that experiences such as yours can help them ensure similar errors don’t recur and shows where customer relations can improve.
‘ We’re grateful to Mr R for his patience, while apologising for a mistake that should not have happened.’ I MARRIED my husband in 1967. Eight months later, he died on a ship run by BP. He was buried at sea aged 22.
I remarried seven years later. I called BP to tell them, thinking I was no longer entitled to the pension. I have now been told a widow’s pension is for life.
If so, I can retire. I am 71 and still working. Can you help? J. B., Kent. I AM sorry to say you were right the first time. BP found the policy and says, at the time, rules meant a pension stopped being paid if a widow or widower remarried.
This changed in 1985 so pension trustees could pay a remarried surviving spouse, but this came a decade too late for you.