BEWARE! THE BANKS ARE OUT TO GET YOU!

[Tizer]

We too signed up with CPP when it first started, as Hartley says, to provide a one-stop phone call to set in motion cancellation and replacement. Then it changed and we abandoned it. Yes, `honest financial institution' now seems to be a contradiction in terms. We hear on the news this morning about carpet and sofa companies - instead of fabricating carpets and sofas they are fabricating lies about the so-called discounted prices they offer. Tesco too was in the news yesterday for false claims on discounted prices. Of course most of us know this goes on but that doesn't make it acceptable. As someone said on the radio this morning, we should be able to trust what companies tell us. `Buyer beware' is always a sensible approach to take but we shouldn't have to `beware' of big companies, we're in the 21st Century now, not Victorian times.

[PanBiker]

Agreed Tiz. I have an idea I had that CPP for a while but am not going to go into a frenzy of reclamation. I shall wait and see if I get a letter... It won't be a lot, if anything at all.

So will I, I was very glad of their services a few years ago when transiting through Nice railway station. I was targetted by a proffessional pickpocket gang and had my wallet and cards stolen when boarding the train down into Italy. I had no mobile signal due to the tunnels on the route until we had to change trains at Ventimiglia where I used a landline to contact them. It was 35 minutes since I had been robbed and the pro team that targetted me had spent £2,900 within the first 15 minutes of having my cards. Apparently the pickpockets hand straight off to a buying team who split the contents of the haul up and then hit the shops. I arrived at my holiday destination for a two week holiday with £3.46 Sterling in loose change in my pocket.

The buying teams work against the clock giving themselves 15 to 20 minutes of buy time before they dump the cards usually before any chance of being challenged. Family photo's and other personal stuff probably went down the drain somewhere in Nice. Not a happy experience and as the victim you feel violated. I thought that I was reasonably streetwise and security savvy at the time but there is not a lot you can do if you are targetted by the pro's. Another of our group had her travelling cash purse stolen whilst crossing the road to the station.

One call back to the freephone number in the UK sorted it and I had all my replacement cards waiting for me when I got home. I was given full instructions on what I needed to do regarding police reports and the like (which is another story) in order to reclaim my losses. We were offered a £500 money transfer but declined as Sally still had a few Euros and an untouched debit card.We were with a group of very good friends who stepped in a payed our hotel bill to ease the strain on our finances.

Credit card companies covered the whole lot apart from the 320 euros cash that I was carrying as well. We got all of that back bar £50 excess from our travel insurers.

[Stanley]

The sofa and carpet firms made sales and reductions into a joke. High time someone reined them in.

[Tizer]

I thought that I was reasonably streetwise and security savvy at the time but there is not a lot you can do if you are targeted by the pro's.

We felt the same when we were targeted by a professional gang with a distraction strategy on a main street while on a weekend break in Amsterdam in the 1980s. I would never have believed they could do it, but they were a very well organised, clever team...it's a shame to see such skills being used on crime when these people could have been contributing to society instead of taking from it. But it was all motivated by the need for money to buy drugs.

[hartley353]

In 1985 an Algerian looking gentleman attempted to pick my pocket in a Paris railway station,fortunately I became aware of his interest and was ready for the attempt, as he made his move I introduced him to a Glasgow kiss. The look on his face as he staggered back holding his face with a profusely bleeding nose was a picture, I wonder how many folks held on to their cash that day as a result of my actions.

[Stanley]

Got my letter advising me I may be due for a refund for PP insurance. Very complicated but I shall not be ringing one of the companies up who are offering 'help'.
Wonga report post tax profits of £62million. A sign of the times, instant money for cash-strapped consumers who don't necessarily look beyond their immediate problem.

[Tardis]

Wonga is not regulated by banking regulations

[Tripps]

I did an over the counter transaction on in the bank branch Wednesday. On Thursday I got a phone call at 6.30pm from a company called Network Research, (08000 128015) to do a follow up survey. I said I was perfectly happy with the transaction, and that should be sufficient - I was not interested in marking every aspect of the encounter out of ten.

I complained to the Bank today, and asked them why they gave my ex directory phone number, and details of my banking transactions to a third party. I asked if this was not a breach of the much quoted Data Protection Act.

As expected - they said it was legal - as Network Research was acting as their agent, and as we have discussed before, the Telephone Preference Service only covers sales, not surveys. Confusing though as the bank constantly remind us to be on guard for scamming phone calls.

Good outcome though - the bank have apologised for troubling me, put me on the "do not call again" list; refunded the cost of my complaining phone call, and given me £15 for my stress and inconvenience.

[hartley353]

On the last 3 visits to the bank to pay in cheques I have been advised that I may receive a phone call later in the day. No calls have been received as yet, but I do have a marker on my account to say that I wish to receive no cold calls or any post that is not normal to my accounts.

[Tardis]

Yes, my account has those kinds of blocker on it too. No spam

If I have any feedback, I am confident enough to deliver it myself

[Tizer]

As noted by Tripps, the banks are very good at messing up their own advice. They encourage us to ignore emails and phone calls claiming to be from banks and then deluge us with them, making life much easier for the scammers.

[Tripps]

The money was in the bank within the hour, and has been spent on a large bottle of "stress reliever" on which I shall make a start tonight.

[Stanley]

On a parallel matter. Why do Scan (who supplied my new monitor) want me to join their PR and Sales department. They must do because they keep asking me for reviews of service etc. Guess what I do with them. As for cold calls, not answering phone after noon deals with most, the rest are told to go away.

[hartley353]

I have no problem with offering a service review to companies who have met or exceeded my expectations, but will not play ball when they have given this service to a third party to collect. If they can't be bothered to do it themselves, they have gone down in my estimation.

[Tizer]

Mrs Tiz has written to M&S, yet again, to complain about poor delivery service. A few days ago I mentioned how they seemed to be duplicating her order (and her payment) but then later (corrected) emails resolved the matter as a split delivery. The split was into a small parcel which was delivered on Saturday by our postman and a large parcel which the M&S courier (City Link) stated would be delivered last Friday. She stayed in on Friday but the courier never came, yet the tracking system showed it up as `unsuccessful delivery'. We've had this before with M&S deliveries and written to the CEO saying that they need to sharpen up their control of the couriers who get away with too many false claims of this type. This time Mrs Tiz emailed M&S customer services about the failed courier delivery and got a reply saying the parcel was delivered by Royal Mail on Saturday; they've obviously not taken the time to read her email message properly, and she's having to write to them again now and tell them to read it carefully. The mind boggles at how much time is wasted these days by people not reading correspondence carefully!

[Tripps]

I think you may well find that Citylink is the problem rather than M&S. We have used them a lot in the past but lately they have been absolutely hopeless. First their delivery time estimate is from 0800 to 1730 with no better estimate being available. Others are better than this.

I have had a similar experience - parcel said to have been delivered when it wasn't , came next day - no apology - written complaint (email) ignored.

Lats week they came at 1720 after several hastening phone calls to the depot - I suspect without them it would not have come till the next day again. One of the calls revealed however that the driver had 150 parcels to deliver - that's a big ask in today's traffic. I looked in his van when he came - total shambles - parcels all over the place - he just threw them out till he found mine, the loaded them again!

Worth noting that this company used to be part of Rentokil and was run as a franchise operation with owner drivers. It was OK then. Later Rentokil took over and couldn't make a go of it - it dragged down the whole group. They sold it recently for £1 - plus some debt of course. I think the buyers were robbed.

I complained to the despatching company - I think that's the best way as if they get enough they will change carriers, or things will improve. Hopefully.

[Stanley]

I simply hate being locked into the house by a courier..... Complete loss of control over your life.

[Tizer]

Agreed Stanley, and the layout of our old house is such that when there's only one person at home he/she can't hear the doorbell from some parts, so it means being even more confined! The couriers sometimes arrive but won't even wait for us to get to the door before they leave.

Tripps, yes Citylink is the immediate cause of the problem but we are complaining to M&S for the reason you state at the end...they are the despatching company and if they don't monitor the performance of the courier then they get what they deserve (but we don't deserve). We've had three more emails from M&S, two of them duplicates. The first apologises and says Citylink will deliver today - between 7am and 7pm, which means another day's confinement. It also states: "I have refunded your £3.50 delivery charge to your MasterCard. This will show on your account in the next 3-5 working days as a credit from M&S e-commerce. I do hope you will continue to order from us and I have placed a credit of £4.95 to your online shopping account. This will come off automatically at checkout and allow a free nominated day delivery. It will remain valid for 6 months." How generous of them! The next email states "We've processed your refund in the amount of £3.06 for your Order." Why £3.06 and not £3.50? They've knocked off 44p because one item was delivered separately (and on time) by Royal Mail.

[Tizer]

The City Link courier finally delivered the parcel this afternoon...and below is a photo of the state of the parcel that he handed us. Fortunately it was all clothing and was all present and undamaged, but it's just more evidence of the incompetence of this company. The photo has been sent to M&S. Why does a big company like M&S continue to use a courier with this poor performance? Well perhaps the answer lies in the fact that they have just extended the payment time for their suppliers from 60 days (which is bad enough) to 75 days, almost 11 weeks. The suppliers are up in arms about it, so maybe City Link is the only courier still willing to deliver for M&S.

[Tripps]

Having seen the way they threw everything out of the van to find my parcel - I'm not at all surprised. Interestingly - I went to Tesco about lunchtime today, and tucked away in a corner of the car park near the entrance was a Citylink van with the driver fast asleep in the cab. I must admit - felt a bit of sympathy for him - they must have very difficult time of it. Still - I won't use Approved Foods again until they change their carrier. I don't think they'll be too worried.

Reminds me of the time a small time disgruntled owner after a poor ride, said to the greatest jockey "Piggott- You'll never ride for me again" - to which the great man replied - "I suppose I'd better pack it all in then"

[Stanley]

Ah, Tiz. You've touched on a point there that has always bothered me, and I don't think it is too far off piste. During the last months of trading at Bancroft Mill we were hampered by the fact that Courtaulds extended their accounting period for incoming cloth to 90 days but insisted on 30 days for yarn sales to the mills producing the cloth. The sanction was that if there were any arrears yarn deliveries were stopped. Over the years there have been several proposals to have a common accounting period of 30 days with automatic interest payments on any overrun, I think 3% was quoted at one time. These moves never came to anything. This extension of payment is a pernicious practice and usually denotes a company which is in trouble.

[Tizer]

News such as this says it all...

9 September 2013: `John Lewis set to grab retail throne from M&S'
"Powerful sales growth at the John Lewis Partnership has put it on course to steal Marks & Spencer's crown as Britain's favourite retailer."
http://www.menafn.com/49840d08-6b5a-4b4 ... S?src=main

20 August 2013: `Marks & Spencer 'hit by glitches at new depot'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... depot.html

9 July 2013: `Marks & Spencer lost its way, says founding family member Sir David Sieff'
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... Sieff.html

[Tripps]

As usual the Daily Mash 'gets it'. Marks and Spencer

[Stanley]

I've always liked the John Lewis concept and I'm pleased to see it doing so well in difficult times. I see that M&S are pinning their hopes on their 'Autumn Range'. From what I heard on the Peston programme on shopping the other night this is not the way to go. Perhaps they haven't got the message yet....

[hartley353]

My preferred courier company will send me an e/mail on the morning of delivery. The e/mail will contain a delivery time within a 1 hour span and the drivers name, even when the snow was around it worked. If this system works for one, it can be adapted for all. The bad companies prosper because of lack of complaint, don't complain to the courier but their customer. Many years ago I turned many of my suppliers from Parcel force, though in the royal mails favour there normal small parcel sevice has of late been exceptional, small packets sent 2nd class arriving within 17 hrs.