General Chat

Derek If a Government department has a (possible)refund for you, you will be contacted by letter..........not by e-mail. Reg

my oh is always empting mine,she spends faster than i earn!kev

I work in a bank and we refund. I just wish that customers that come inside would be understanding of our need to ask for I/D as thieves that take form ATM's also try inside the banks and building societies as well...... but you wouldn't believe the amount of abuse we get when we ask for I/D when trying to protect the customers Joanne

How awful for you Lainey. I hope your bank sorts it out soon. Just before Christmas, my pensioner neighbour was a victim too. Every week she goes to Sainsburys on the Dial a Ride - same time and day every week - as do many others. She used her card to pay for her shopping and had never used the hole in the wall as she didn't think it was secure enough. She was always very careful when entering her PIN, covering the numbers etc. This particular day as she went into the shop she was approached by a man who she said 'was not all there' who asked her where the toilets were. After she directed him (with difficulty) she realised the cover on her shopping trolley was open and her handbag, which was buried under lots of stuff at the bottom, had gone. By the time she got home an hour later and rung her bank, her account had been emptied from various cash machines in the area and at the tobacco kiosk in the store!. At first the bank weren't going to reimburse her as they said she must have told her PIN to someone or written it down. She is a very astute lady who had been in business all her life and eventually managed to convince the bank she was telling the truth. The Police say that she must have been watched every week over a period of time, and that a gang were 'working' Sainsburys by watching people in front of them in the queue as they put in their PIN. On the plus side - her insurance company had instructed a locksmith and her locks were changed before she had even managed to get through to her bank!!! Sue xx

The bank will refund the amount to you providing you havn't given anyone your pin number. It happened to my son a few weeks ago he was waiting for his new card to arrive after a week he rang up to see where it was and he was told that it had been sent out to him and that various places the card had been used. So maybe a dodgy postman.

Hi Lainey, Sorry to hear of the problems you've had using a cashpoint. My grandson recently had similar fraudulent withdrawals from his account. At the times of those withdrawals (12 altogether, totalling over £600) he was [still is] working at a ski resort in the French Alps, and all payments were made, from his card details, in UK. He reported these incidents when his account ran dry. Thankfully his bank have reimbursed him to the full amount. They sent him, via me, a statement detailing every fraudulent transaction. He had to sign and return forms swearing that he had not made those transactions. (Among them were 3 debits each of £1 to a muslim charity! Generous/not very generous with someone elses money don't you think!?) Here's a useful tip that not everyone knows about, (similar to getting cashback in a shop). You can get cash over the counter at any post office using their chip and pin machine. No possibility of a false cover there, and, of course, you can shield the card from anyone else on the premises; and your card doesn't disappear and regurgitate. You can withdraw an odd amount - e.g. £15; £37; £111, doesn't have to be in multiples of 10. You can also choose your own denominations - tenners, fivers, pound coins, whatever. I use this method frequently. Main problem is you can't withdraw 24 hours a day, nor during the weekday hours of 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. when they all close for lunch. Brian, ;< O )

I do sympathise with you, this happened to my husband last year ,he had £1300 taken out of his account nearly cleared him out and we were waiting for a bill from vets for an operation on our dog at the time which we new was going to be over £900. He went through the Fraud procedure and about a month later Barclays paid him the money back. It is a worrying time for you and we felt very vulnerable, hope that it gets sorted for you soon.

I try to only draw money from ATM machines that are inside banks. Ann Glos

Thats awful, I feel really sad that our standards are dropping. I think I did the right thing this morning after receiving an email from (allegedly) HMCE-Her Majesties Custom and Excise offering me a refund of taxes, totalling £384. For a pensioner, it seemed like a gift, but I then opened the form to fill in and having had a look, I dumped the lot, I'd rather go without. Derek in France

I know just how you feel-the same thing happened to us a few months ago. The bank were really good and got it sorted quite quickly and gave us a free covering loan until their insurance was sorted. We didn't have to use it though as the robbers had accessed our account through a foney e-mail which OH had inadvertantly opened from 'the bank'!! They were sloppy though and we realised within a few hours so they were caught and we had our money put back within 48hours. I hope it gets sorted out as speedily for you--it's a horrible experience though. Take care Carol xx

As a pensioner, this is the sort of thing that I find so deplorable. What we do now is only spend cash. Each Thursday morning we go to the bank and draw out sufficient money to cover the week. I have never used an ATM machine, and yes, they are essential for people who cannot get to the bank, but I want face to face service for the bank charges I pay, that way I hope I am helping to secure the jobs at the bank. Kathlyn

How awful Hope you manage to get things sorted Claire xxx

Sorry to hear this and yes it is on the increase. I am like bob and prefer to use cashback in a shop even if I only buy a packet of chewing gum to get the cashback its better than using a machine outside. I must say though that now with most people using pin numbers as I work as a cashier I never bother checking the names on the cards where as before you had to check the signature and a couple of times I caught the wrong sex using the card. i.e Mr instead of Mrs. Maybe it was their partners cards but now if they know the pin number they are free to use them. I have even used my sons card on his behalf to make a purchase and nobody questions you about it so long as you enter the correct number. So in some cases fraud can be easier with the new system.

Sorry to hear of your troubles and hope its cleared up soon.......we ALL hope its going to happen to someone else....and never to me..but we can fall into the ''It cant/wont happen to me'' box. Is it better then, to take advantage of the Cashback facilty, rather than use the cashpoints? just a thought... Bob

If you've not already done so, ring the bank now - if it's a joint account make sure your husban is with you incase his card was used not yours as he hill need to speek to the bank. I hope they give you back your money very soon. My tutor had this about a fortnight ago, she looked at her balance and transactions online to find a large some of money had gone out but didn't reconise where, she rang her husband who was comuting to work by train to check that he hadn't withdrawn the money then contacted the back. They could tell her that her OH's card had been used and they would have to speek to him, so he had to sort this all out on the train but the bank said the money had been taken out in Indian and on a certain day. As he had used his card to perchase something that day in the UK and had his recipt, the bank agreed that use not his fault as the card couldn't be in two places at one. Just to let you know, chip and pin is not as safe as we were lead to believe, the BBC Watchdog programme reported on this, just this week (Teusday) they said if someone tampers with the card reader then your card details can be transmitted to a computer that another person has, then they put a dummy card in another cardreader and enter the details and you can pick up the bill - hidding your pin helps block them but it's still possable.

how awful for you i do hope you get your hard earned money back good luck joyce from hollandx

I feel for you, it happened to me last year, caused so many problems, i was lucky, although it took 8 weeks, i got the money back....horrible feeling. I hope you get it all back pdq. Donna xx

Julia, Penny, Jackie and Catherine Thank-you. I will add that the bank have been very good. I have now been given an emergency overdraft. I have to fill in some Fraud forms from the bank and the Fraud section will investigate. Once they have satisfied themselves that a crime has been committed they may refund my money. No saying how long that will take tho.

Sharon, Dawn, Tina Marie and Mary, Many thanks for your kind thoughts. I am trying to keep a positive attitude and keep smiling!

I'm sorry to hear this. I hope the bank refunds your money Julia