let down by Bank

[Dollie]

Can anyone advise me please - I paid two cheques into my bank account in mid- September at my local branch (Barclays.) I have checked my account online and find they haven't accounted for it - I can find no trace of the payment on my statement, but I do have their 'stamp' on my paying in book counterfoil. I will contact them tomorrow to complain but this has happened before quite recently with my son - do you think I am within my rights to ask for some compensation for their bad service. After all, If I hadn't checked my account, that money may have been 'lost' forever.

[bednobs]

not really. I think the best thing to do would be to vote with your feet and move banks (although they are all to55ers!)

[auzzie]

Yes complain, in writing. You are more likely to get a "goodwill" gesture if you complain to the bank manager in writing. I wouldn't bother phoning, you will only get an apology.
Do what bednobs says. Vote with your feet. I'm a freelance bookkeeper and have worked for several companies who have all had different accounts with different banks. They are all very much the same in as much as they look after number one, but i have found Barclays the worst for making mistakes.

[ELVIS68]

Don`t bother phoning as you`ll probably get a call centre in India...go to your local branch and see the manager..good luck

[spudqueen]

If I have a cheque to pay in I always queue at the counter so that I can get my counterfoil stamped, I never trust those stick it in an envelope and through this postbox things. Just goes to show.

[Ethel]

When I deposited several cheques at the same time, it just showed as 'credit' with the total.

I didn't realise it was the cheques until I spoke to my bank.

Could this be the case with you?

[jennyp]

That happened to me last year - I didn't get any compensation. It made me start to wonder if this could have happened before, and I hadn't realised. The only way I knew it had happened this time was because it was my own cheque I was paying from one bank to another. I certainly take a lot more notice now. You're right, it would have been lost forever, especially if you hadn't got an address of the person you had taken the cheque from - very worrying.

[Dollie]

Hi Everybody - thanks for your suggestions. I did phone this morning (telephone banking - think it was an Indian lady I spoke to) anyway she couldn't help. So went into my local branch at lunchtime. They confirmed that they'd had quite a few that this has happened to recently ! she went on to tell me that they put the cheques and paying-in book counterfoils through a machine like a 'franking' machine. It reads the code as it goes through but they have a new machine which can sometimes read numbers incorrectly so this is where the problem is. She thinks my cheques will have gone to the Bank Of England as they have similar numbers to mine, and it would never have come to light had I not noticed it. The bank are going to reimburse me. SO IT GOES TO SHOW.......... always check your bank statement. Thanks again everyone. Doll x