ARGH!!!
So I paid off MBNA in FULL on the 31st December because I wanted those bastards out of my life by 2011. I was free! I used what was left in my account to hurl at La Redoute as they are next on my list. I left myself with about a tenner in my HSBC account for emergencies.
Well today... I am off work with a back injury (nothing to do with work but sitting in an office for 11 hours a day does not exactly help). I was sitting here, thinking of ways to avoid doing uni work when I decided to check my internet banking to transfer that extra money left in my account to La Redoute (those swines may as well have it and I'll walk home if the trains get cancelled...). I log in to see that MBNA have taken £45 out of my account!
Hello, unauthorized overdraft! I haven't seen you since Paypal allowed my account to be fraudulently emptied.
Livid.
So I called them which involved a 20 minute wait, listening to their shitty hold music. I explained the problem and they agreed to refund the money but it would take 3 to 5 working days. Thanks.
When I asked about bank charges, they basically said that was my problem as they can take the money, whether my account is clear or not. Err, NO YOU CAN'T!
After asking how I went about making a complaint, I was told I was speaking to the complaints department and then was transferred to a manager. She stated that it was all in the direct debit terms that was played to me in an automated message when I took the card out. NO! I took the account out at a gig in Cardiff. No automated messages there!
Now, I work in the financial sector for a company bigger than MBNA and we would NEVER take money when someone does not owe us any. That is really bad business practice. I explained this but they were not interested. I even used all of the correct buzz words (I know them well) that normally get people to listen but nope.
So I told them I was going to the financial ombudsman and left it at that.
Next it was HSBC...
Oh how I hate calling them. I have no problem with outsourcing as I can understand most accents (part of my job involves talking to the public). My issue, though, is that the good people at HSBC generally struggle to understand me. I have just a standard, slightly "posh" English accent. I would say I have no accent in that I speak proper English with no regional hints (except when I'm angry and then it's Brummie-Welsh all the way). It is very rare I ever get through to the Swansea call centre (hardcore complaints generally work though) so I have to brave India.
The lady today, though, was actually very helpful. She struggled with my name (well, my title as she tried to call my Mrs... oh how I long for the PhD...) but that was it. I explained what had happened and they agreed not to charge me as, in the meantime, my mother had transferred the money to cover the unauthorized overdraft. She explained that even though I WAS overdrawn for a few hours, as long as it is back in credit by the end of the business day, it's fine. So very lucky I was off work today.
I am so annoyed, though, as I have worked so hard to get out of debt and by MBNA doing this, I could have had my credit rating harmed again.
So next?
Financial ombudsman.
Why?
Principle.
I still think what MBNA have done is bordering on the very dodgy. After asking around, no one I know has ever heard of a company that do this as your account is clear, no need to take money.
And what else?
The Financial Ombudsman Service fine companies £400 for every case they INVESTIGATE, whether the consumer is correct or not.
If I don't get any compensation or acknowledgement that I was right in this, so be it. I will still smile, knowing that MBNA will be fined £400 purely for not listening to me.
Because that's the funny thing. There were no bank charges in the end. If they had said they would pay my bank charges upon receiving proof of them (would have been about £30), I would have left it all at that and just accepted that MBNA do business different to everyone else. But, no. They could not see my point of view. So it goes further.
