Author: Ricky

The day after I wrote and published my previous post, I compiled another letter to Barclays, Leicester, pointing out to them what I wrote in that last post – that I cannot view their update to my complaint CRYX28K7KH because I have had no access to Barclays Online Banking since 27^th August 2022 and that access requires a current debit card which I do not have.

Less than an hour after I returned home from sending that letter by registered post, my phone rang. The call was from a UK phone number unknown to my phone. After a brief message saying that the call might be recorded for quality control or training purposes, a female voice spoke saying it was Barclays Bank calling and could she speak to Mr Yates. There then followed a few security questions asking for my full name, date of birth and my address.

The lady then told me that Barclays had sent me an update to my complaint, ‘As you have probably seen.’ I rather pointedly replied that I had not and could not see it for the reasons outlined in the first paragraph of this post and the latter part of my previous post.

She then explained that Barclays had two reasons for not agreeing to transfer my money to my HSBC account. The first was the one that I had deduced. That the certified bank statement they had received, had the date of 6^th September 2022, (the date Barclays unilaterally closed my account), making it more than three months after the date it was certified – 13^th December 2022. It was actually sent to me on 14^th November 2022 and I had already sent them a photocopy of the letter, with that date, that accompanied the bank statements.

The second reason was that my claim form had an incorrect unique reference number (URN). The correct URN was meant to have been sent to me in a letter sometime in late August, one of several letters they say they have sent which have never arrived. I do wonder if they were ever sent.

She then told me that in order to prove my address, they needed another bank statement or utility bill with my full address, that was less than three months old and had been sent to me through the post. This of course, would need to be certified by a Czech notary and, no doubt, the certification translated by an officially recognised translator. As I had not received the correct URN, they would send it to me again by post, for me to complete a new claim form with the correct URN, and then send it back to them. When I asked about sending the URN by registered post, the reply was, ‘Oh, we don’t do that’.

I responded by firmly pointing out that both mistakes were made by a trained member of Barclays Bank staff. The advisor I dealt with in their 2 High Street, Nottingham branch had stamped the bank statement and I’m fairly sure I showed him the accompanying letter. And the same advisor had found what they were now saying was the incorrect URN and had written it on the claim form. I have a photocopy of the claim form and you can see the different forms of handwriting. I filled out the details, but he filled in the URN.

Basically, she was telling me that I had to go to the trouble and expense of correcting these two mistakes. I very firmly responded that as a Barclays staff member had made the mistakes, it was Barclays responsibility to correct them, not mine! When she didn’t accept my argument, I asked if I could speak to someone more senior. She then promised that she would do so and phone me back the following day.

Therefore on Wednesday 29^th March, I kept my mobile phone very close to me, in the expectation of receiving the promise second phone call. It did not materialise. The following day, I had another appointment with my GP in Prague. I was sitting on the train at Decín hl.n., awaiting its departure when my phone rang. It was the same lady from Barclays complaints department. After once more successfully confirming that she was talking the correct person, she told me that she had spoken to someone more senior and that they had agreed to transfer my money as I had requested, three and a half months ago, subject to some further security questions. I had difficulty restraining myself from singing the Hallelujah Chorus down the phone.

The further security questions included, what was the last payment into the account and what was a regular payment into the account? The answer to both was my Church of England pension. She also wanted confirmation of the full details of my HSBC account into which I was requesting payment. Fortunately, I had my HSBC debit card in my wallet with all the details on the back. With the questioning successfully completed, I was promised I would receive a letter in confirmation of all of this and that the money would be transferred within the next fifteen working days.

Whether I will ever receive the promised letter is an open question. During this whole saga, Barclays claim to have sent me at least five different letters but I have only ever received two. The initial letter of 10^th February 2022, telling me to close my account or they would do it for me. And the letter of 14^th November 2022, enclosing the printed bank statements I had requested. All my letters to them have been received, because I sent them by registered post.

Likewise, why it should take up to fifteen working days to transfer money from one UK bank to another is beyond me. I am tempted to ask whether they do it using a carrier pigeon. But I will be regularly checking my HSBC account online after Easter, to see whether the transfer has finally taken place and that this is the final instalment of the saga. As I said at the beginning of my first post, one more wonderful ‘Benefit of Brexit’.

PS – Despite the date of this post, I assure readers of my blog that this not an April Fool’s joke 😉 And yes – I have actually managed to write and publish two posts only five days apart 🙂

On Friday 2^nd December 2022, I discovered that the age of miracles is not quite yet past. Forty-two days on from when I had made my request, there sitting in my mail box was a large envelope containing detailed statements of my now closed Barclays bank account. A week later, I set out as planned and travelled to the UK. Armed with those statements, together with my passport, on the morning of Tuesday 13^th December I once more visited the 2 High Street, Nottingham branch of Barclays Bank to set about regaining access to several thousand pounds of my money.

Having explained at the downstairs front desk, what it was I wanted to do, I was told I needed to meet with one of their advisors on the first floor. There were three people ahead of me so I would probably be waiting around thirty minutes. Having waited so long to get to this point, I decided that I could happily cope with waiting a further half-an-hour 😉

In due course I was summons by a male advisor who, though not particularly friendly, was fairly efficient. His main concern was that he wanted to see a more recent second letter I had been sent, as it contained a claims reference number. I assured him that the only letter I had received was the first one dated 10^th February 2022, (but not received until mid-March), telling me to close my account or Barclays would do it for me. This is yet another example of the difference between what Barclays say they will do or have done, which bears no relationship to reality 🙁 Fortunately, he eventually, found the required reference number on the internal Barclays computer system.

The advisor then proceeded to make photocopies of my passport and of the first two pages of my recently procured bank statements. These photocopies he then stamped and signed, certifying that he had seen the originals and that they were true copies. In the meantime, I was given two forms to complete and sign. The first was to set out exactly what money I was claiming. The second was to explain where that money was to be sent – in other words, the full details of my new HSBC account.

To his credit, without me needing to ask, he then made a photocopy of everything he would now be submitting to the Barclays office in Leicester later that day, so that I had a complete record, should anything further go wrong. And he confirmed what also appears on the Barclays website, that the money should reach its correct destination within fifteen working days.

After waiting for over fifteen working days, including allowing for the Christmas and New Year public holidays, I discovered that my money was still not in my HSBC account. So on Monday 9^th January 2023, I phoned Barclays on the number that appears on their letterhead, and, after dealing with many minutes of robots, spoke to a human being, but, part way through the conversation, I was cut off. I phoned again, listened to various robots before eventually being able to speak to a lady called Melissa.

Melissa, after several different attempts, was eventually, able to access my account. She told me that my completed paperwork had arrived at Barclays Leicester on 15^th December 2022. However, on 23^rd December 2022, a letter had been sent to me basically saying that I hadn’t proved my address. At this point, I nearly exploded down the phone pointing out that that was exactly what I had done, during my visit to Barclays Nottingham. So Melissa agreed to follow this up and promised me that I would receive a phone call or email in explanation.

I waited for three weeks for the promised phone call or email, or for the letter of 23^rd December 2022 to arrive. With receiving no response, on Tuesday 31^st January 2023, I phoned Barclays once more. When I finally got past another series of annoying robots, the human being I spoke with could not even access my account. Instead, she wrote an email to the manager of the 2 High Street, Nottingham branch of Barclays, asking him to contact me by phone or email. I waited for a further three and a half weeks and still did not hear or receive anything.

Therefore four weeks ago, on Monday 27^th February, I wrote another letter to Barclays Leicester, and sent it by registered post. In it, I explained about my Tuesday 13^th December 2022 visit and all that had happened since – more to the point, what had NOT happened since, as outlined in the previous seven paragraphs of this post.

Although I still do not have a copy of their letter of 23^rd December 2022, I wrote that I think I have now realised what they believe to be the problem. As I explained earlier, the advisor I saw, certified my most recent printed bank statement for my now closed and frozen Barclays account. This was sent to me by Barclays Leicester on 14^th November 2022, arriving at my home on 2^nd December 2022, following a letter from me, requesting printed bank statements, dated 17^th October 2022. Therefore, at the time of certification by the advisor, it was less than three months old. But the statement is dated 6^th September 2022 because that is the date that Barclays unilaterally closed down my account, therefore making it look as though it was more than three months old.

I enclosed a photocopy of their letter dated 14th November 2022 which accompanied my final bank statements. I had this with me when I visited their branch at 2 High Street, Nottingham on 13th December 2022 and I’m pretty sure I showed it to the advisor. He should have also certified that letter. I then stated that, if I am correct in my analysis, and I suspect I am, then the mistake was made by a member of Barclays staff and not by me. I should not be prevented from accessing my money because of a mistake by a member of Barclays staff!

What is more, their own computer records should clearly show the date when that bank statement was sent out. It would surely only take less than a minute to check. But instead, it took eight days before writing a stupid letter which once again, I suspect was never sent. It would only need a little bit of common sense. But sadly, that is what appears to be completely lacking at Barclays Leicester along with common courtesy.

I completed my letter by saying:

I therefore require the following:

• A phone call or email, as twice previously promised to me but not fulfilled, to confirm that my analysis is correct &/or, an electronic copy of your letter of 23^rd December 2022. My home email server is perfectly safe.

• The transfer forthwith of all of my money to my HSBC account, as requested on 13^th December 2022. I have no intention of getting anything else certified as I was assured by a member of your staff that I had done everything necessary. If there was a mistake, it was a mistake by a Barclays staff member, not by me. Barclays are responsible!

• Compensation for the cost of phone calls, which depending on exchange rates, have put between £20 – £25 on my T-Mobile phone bill.

• A serious apology for the way this whole matter has been handled – A combination of carelessness and incompetence on the part of Barclays Bank plc.

Nearly four weeks later, on the afternoon of last Saturday, 25^th February, an email dropped into my Inbox from ‘Barclays Bank Alerts’, with the subject line: An update to your complaint CRYX28K7KH is now available to view online

Clearly my most recent letter has been received and is now regarded as a complaint with its own complaint reference number. The email goes on to tell me that to access this update, I need to use the Barclays App or Barclays Online Banking.

I have never had the Barclays App and, as I no longer have a valid Barclays account, I cannot get one. However, until my bank account was unilaterally closed by Barclays, I regularly used their Online Banking. To log into online banking, you need a membership number, which I do have. But you then need your debit card and a Pinsentry card reader. My debit card expired on 31^st August 2022, the same time as my account was closed. Expired debit cards do not work!

As I wrote, I asked for a phone call or an email. What do I get? An email telling me about a letter hidden online and inaccessible! And no, I cannot reply to the stupid email with advice it is impossible to follow. ‘Replies to this email are not monitored’.

Truth is stranger than fiction, so the saying goes. No! You could not make this up 🙁