Halifax branch       HBOS      Halifax      www.halifax.gb    November 11th  2011

I made the awful mistake of trusting the Halifax bank or HBOS by handing in a cheque in person one day.

I only took the time and effort to hand it to a member of staff to save a day or so on posting as we were all in a hurry. The people who sent the cheque had already waited a week for postage. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Waiting for over 20 minutes in the queue at Greenford, Middlesex with my car park ticket likely to run out of time and facing a clamp or parking fine I was pleased to hand the cheque over the counter in person. Then I discovered after she had written a receipt out that it could take UP TO 28 DAYS TO CLEAR ! What ! For a cheque from Canada ? Surely it was part of the British Commonwealth with our Queens head on pictures and things ? At worst apparently all foreign cheques could take up to 28 days to clear. Could be true of the Zimbabwe or Nigerian cheques maybe but surely not of the Canadian dollar ?? A quick decision was needed - take the cheque back and try again elsewhere knowing that I had already wasted an hour and still risking a car park fine or clamp I decided to leave it in the "trusted" hands of The Halifax !

WRONG ! Bad mistake.

Now I had to get home and ring Canada to explain that it could take up to 28 days to clear (they did'nt believe me at first but we both agreed at the end of the conversation that the emphasis would have to be on the "UP TO" !

WRONG !

Checking my on line account everyday so I could phone Canada again to say it had cleared, it was them that rang me after two weeks asking what was going on. I had the pleasure of saying nothing at all and it would be pointless phoning the Halifax as they had said it might take up to 28 days. 

Three weeks later I was getting very anxious as we needed to post the goods to the customer and book the holidays for my two young children. They had not had a holiday in 3 years and my job with the airline was finishing soon, so cheap flights were going to end.

On the 14th March, the 24th day after the cheque had been handed over, just to make sure I could cover my credit card bill when I booked everything on plastic, I rang the number of the clearance centre on the receipt. THEY EVENTUALLY TOLD ME THAT THEY HAD NEVER RECEIVED A CHEQUE !!!  THEY TOLD ME TO RING THE BRANCH I HANDED IT INTO !!  This was all costing me time, stress and money. The local branch was useless. More time, stress and money.

THE SHORT STORY IS THAT THE HALIFAX (HBOS) HAD LOST MY CHEQUE !!! LOST ? GONE ? CASHED BY A STRANGER ? NOBODY SEEMED TO KNOW OR CARE ! 

 Disappeared from their highly secure premises and personnel !

 Never to be seen again !

Another expensive call to Canada to tell them to stop the cheque (time and money for them) and start again was the best advice that the bank could offer  !! Canada obviously wouldn't believe me. I lodged a verbal complaint with the head office the same day.

But the story of the inept and uncaring Halifax continues !  The "investigation" into the case came up nearly four months later with an amazing "we lost your cheque" letter !  Nothing I didn't know already ! No letter / form / questions about out of pocket expenses or inconvenience ! That was about it, except for an offer of thirty pounds as full and final settlement, which wouldn't even cover MY phone calls. The third party in Canada lost much more than that. I lost an important deal, time, money and reputation.

My last phone call to the Halifax seemed to make it appear that this is not unusual and happens often. Their answer was take it or leave it and a very quick offer to contact the ombudsman if not happy. This made me realize that the first financial law lords would have no power to scare the bank and would only waste more of my time and money. 

If the Halifax lose at least a million pounds for every pound that my children lost then it will all be worthwhile. They seem to have passed that already. What has the poor old Lloyds bank bought into ? 

   To be updated  and CONTINUED as soon as possible      BACK TO FIRST PAGE

Line123.co.uk      Line123.com      Halifax savings      Halifax.gb      www.Halifax       Halifax branch