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On 9th September I transferred £399,000 from my Santander savings account to open a one year bond with Virgin Money. But the funds have not arrived.
Santander keeps saying it’s waiting for Virgin to get back to it after filing a recall request, and Virgin says it doesn’t have the money.
It’s every penny my elderly father and I have. It was intended to give me and my three children a pillow and help with the purchase of a house.
I am a single parent and utterly appalled at the way I have been treated.
RB, Glasgow.
Life savings: A reader was left terrified after Virgin Money managed to lose their entire savings of £399,000
Sally Hamilton replies: I can only imagine the horrible sinking feeling you must have felt when your £399,000 piggy bank disappeared.
The situation was made worse because you were not sufficiently reassured about the whereabouts.
Because banking scams were rife, you couldn’t be sure that your money hadn’t been intercepted by thieves. Sleepless nights weren’t the half.
The ping pong game that ensued between Santander and Virgin Money over the location of your missing money pushed you into the depths of despair.
You even took advice from a lawyer.
When you contacted me for help, you explained how you suffer from depression and that the worry about the incident had affected your mental well-being as each day went by without any resolution.
I decided to try and get the reassurance you needed by contacting Santander first as they were the sender of the money.
The bank was adamant that it was Virgin I should pursue for an answer.
This I did and lo and behold the next day Virgin confirmed that it had now found your missing money.
It was quickly credited to your savings account and finally put you out of your misery.
Santander told me it correctly executed the transaction on the day you requested it.
When you reported that it had not arrived at its destination, Santander asked Virgin four times to investigate its whereabouts.
After my involvement and nine days after you first went after the missing money, Virgin finally said it had discovered the money and confirmed the surprising fact that the money was received on the same day you transferred it.
A spokesman for Virgin Money said: ‘We are very sorry for the concern caused. The payment received from Santander was initially not recognized by our payment systems as a savings deposit and therefore took longer than usual to process.
“We are working closely with Santander to determine why this was and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
I felt that this apology was not enough given the suffering and worry you were going through.
I can’t imagine what would have happened if you had transferred that money for something more urgent than a best-buy savings bond, like a down payment on a house.
Such a transaction could easily have failed if it had not been made on time.
Virgin said it would consider compensation, but added that the process could take up to eight weeks. I was stunned.
In the end, it came back in about half that time – with a bid of a measly £250.
In my experience, a minor inconvenience would result in that level of reward while you feared you’d lost your savings, which isn’t exactly a trivial matter.
Sometimes the only way to encourage providers to improve their systems and customer service when something has gone wrong is if they feel it in their own pockets.
I asked Virgin to reconsider.
It mulled for a few more days and then agreed to also reimburse your £390 legal costs as you had taken the help of a lawyer.
I hope Virgin has learned a lesson that communication is key to keeping a customer happy.
As for customers in a similar situation, when making a large transfer I would suggest taking a belt and braces approach such as taking screenshots or photos of each stage of the transfer process that can be presented to the bank should the need arise. something go wrong.
As an aside for all savers: it can be risky to place large amounts with one banking organization.
If a bank gets into trouble, funds are only protected up to £85,000 per institution, so it may be wiser to spread your money across several providers.
Currys team DID NOT KNOW how – now I want a refund
In July 2019 I took my HP laptop to a Currys Leicester branch to be repaired. I paid £60 for the repair service by the ‘Team Knowhow’ who promise to refund you if a problem cannot be rectified.
The technicians couldn’t fix the laptop because they couldn’t get the replacement parts, so I asked for my money back.
I understood that the pandemic was making life difficult for companies and I took that into account.
After calling and sending numerous letters and emails I still have not received my money. It has now been over three years since I made the payment.
I suspect my time, paper, ink and stamps have overtaken the value of the £60 refund, but I have to take a stand.
MW, Lutterworth, Leics.
Sally Hamilton replies: I contacted Currys on your behalf and they told me that the only route you hadn’t used to get your money back – a visit to the shop where the repair was attempted – was also the only way to get your money back .
Although this was mentioned in a letter you received explaining why the repair couldn’t be completed, you thought your £60 would be credited automatically once you picked up your device.
It’s not clear to me why this couldn’t be explained to you over the many subsequent contacts with the company, not least when you picked up the laptop in person at the store.
How easy it would have been to arrange the refund on the spot.
A spokesman for Currys said: ‘We are very sorry it has taken so long to process MW’s refund. We apologized to her for the inconvenience.’
It refunded you the £60 and also gave you an extra £60 as a goodwill gesture.
- Write to Sally Hamilton at Sally Sorts It, Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT or email sally@dailymail.co.uk – include telephone number, address and a note addressed to the offending organization giving them permission to talk to Sally Hamilton. Please do not send any original documents, we cannot take any responsibility for that. The Daily Mail assumes no legal liability for answers provided.
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