lioness v Sainsbury's Bank Card Services ~~SETTLED~~

[lioness]

A claim that I issued at court on 13 September 2006 and settled on 16th October 2006, a day before the deadline for the defence to be lodged.

Will date each post as it happened.

[lioness]

13 September 2006

I issued my claim against Sainsbury's Bank (visa card) at MCOL today. Claiming £291.95 charges and interest, plus £29.24 county court interest, plus £50 court costs
TOTAL £371.19.

[lioness]

15th September 2006

Notice of issue of claim received from court. Defendant has until 3rd October to reply.

[lioness]

19th September 2006 letter received

Received letter today from Sainsbury's (Margaret Rae, Complaint and Consumer Guidance @ Pitreavie Business Park, Dunfermline) :

Dated 18th August 2006 [received 19 September - she must have meant 18th September]

Dear [lioness]

I refer to a letter received on the account. [Well she could have been a little more specific - does she mean my court claim or one of my earlier letters?!]

Naturally from the outset I would like to apologise that you have found cause for complaint about the charges applied. I am sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you. [etc.etc. blah blah blah]

However, I am sure you will understand that like other organisations we incur costs for managing your account for late/unpaid payments or overlimit situations. The bank believes it is fair to pass these costs on to the accounts affected, rather than absorb them into other areas of our organisation, penalising all our other customers as a result.

[blah blah..]

To show our commitment to you I am prepared to offer you a refund of charges to the value of £187.50. [where did that figure come from I wonder?]

If this is agreeable to you please sign and return the enclosed acceptance form to allow us to complete the refund to the account.

I trust this clarifies our position however should any of your concerns remain unresolved please let me know what you'd like me to do to put matters right. We are keen to resolve your concerns.

If I am unable to do so, you will also find enclosed a copy of our Complaint Leaflet that provides details of how you can contact the Financial Ombudsman Service for help. However, if I don't hear from you in the next eight weeks, I will assume you are happy and close my file.

Should you wish to discuss your concerns further, then please telephone me on the above number.

Y/S...

Enclosed form for me to sign:

ACCEPTANCE FORM

In Full and Final Settlement

I, [lioness]
of [address]
confirm that I accept the offer of £187.50 from Sainsbury's Bank in full and final settlement of my complaint regarding Credit Card charges on any of Sainsbury's Bank Credit Card accounts. This will be paid into my Sainsbury's Bank credit card account only.
Signature........
Date..........
HBOS Use Only
Solve It [I like it!] Reference: xxxxxxxxx
Authorised by........
Colleague's Initials.........
Date received.........

[lioness]

19th September 2006 my reply

Dear Ms Rae
I am in receipt of your letter dated 18th August 2006 but dispatched on 18th September.

In this letter you refer to "a letter received on the account." Not surprisingly I am unclear as to which of my letters you are referring. If it was my letter of 7th September I must point out that your response has exceeded my timescale, and court action has already commenced.

If your letter is in response to my court claim of 14th September, please note that I am not prepared to accept your offer of £187.50 to settle my claim. For your information the claim number is 6QZ63316 and was issued in the Northampton County Court. The court has directed you to reply to the claim by 3rd October.

Y/S
lioness

[lioness]

3rd October 2006

Sainsburys acknowledged claim online today (in the name of HBOS) at the last minute. They now have 14 days to defend

[lioness]

11th October 2006

Had a letter from HBOS legal services in Halifax today, saying that on a commercial basis its not worth their legal costs to defend my claim, and without admission of liability they will repay (to my account) my charges of £237, my 8% county court interest of £29.24 and my court costs of £50 but not the £54.95 interest on charges, because it is "not supported by Halifax plc's records".

I have replied today by letter, enclosing my spreadsheet of charges and interest, informing them that the £54.95 is the interest attributable to the charges, and that I want it all back. Said I will settle for a cheque of £372.87, being the up-to-date figure including county court interest accrued since my claim was lodged at MCOL.

[lioness]

18th October 2006

No relpy to my letter and no defence filed so I have today requested judgement by default for £373.29.

[lioness]

20th October 2006 my letter

RECORDED DELIVERY
20/10/2006
Dear Ms H
I refer to my letter of 11/10/2006 concerning my claim, and note that I have not received a reply.
The court deadline for entering a defence expired on 17/10/2006. Judgement has been entered by default.
I hereby put you on notice that I intend to issue a warrant of execution on Monday 30/10/2006 if I do not receive a cheque from you in the amount of £373.29 by that date. You should be aware that the cost of the warrant, currently £55 I believe, will be added to the amount sought.
Y/S
lioness

[lioness]

24th October 2006

update - I applied for online service on 20th Oct because I thought it would be good to check my account to see if they make any refunds without having to wait for my monthly statement. Received the password code etc today in post, just went online and they have paid the whole lot into my account without writing to me. Now part of it was paid into acct on 16th October (which was before the default judgement was applied) but a little amount extra in respect of some of the sec 69 interest was paid into acct on 23 Oct, which was after judgement.

Does anyone know if I need to write to the court to explain that payment was made into my account without my knowldege (after all my letters were quite specific in that I required a cheque to settle and said please do not credit my account) but that if I had known this I wouldn't have asked for judgement - or am I ok to just leave it unless they shout? I'm guessing that the little extra they hadn't paid in sec 69 interest means that technically they hadn't discharged the debt in full but in that case should my judgement have only been for the last few pence remaining?

they have paid me £373.29 in total so it is all now settled.

[lioness]

25th October 2006

had a letter from HBOS today

23/10/06
Thank you for your letter dated 20/10/06.
Following your letter dated 11/10/06 I arranged for a cheque to the value of £372.87 to be sent to you, which I understand you have not received.
I have now arranged for a cheque to the value of £373.29 to be sent to you under separate cover and I would be grateful if you would kindly confirm receipt in due course.
Legal Services - Retail Division.

they've gone mad!

[lioness]

26th October 2006

Sure enough received a cheque in the post today for £373.29. I have banked it and they can just deduct the settlement they applied to my account seeing as I specifically asked them not to credit my account. I will now send a letter to the court saying that they have paid in full.

Another one bites the dust...