Falling victim to fraud is a hugely stressful affair. Your money’s been stolen by some unknown criminal and you’ve no idea whether any of your other accounts might be at risk.
The last thing you need is additional hassle from an unhelpful bank. But all too often that’s exactly what happens.
When my dad rang Barclaycard to explain his account had been accessed by fraudsters, it marked the beginning of a nightmare that lasted more than two months. Below, he shares his ordeal with loveMONEY readers.
Thousands taken from my account
When I first found out I’d fallen victim in January I contacted Barclaycard who blocked my credit card and sent another. But this was allegedly used fraudulently as well and was blocked so I had to be sent a third card.
Meanwhile, I had no idea what was happening to my account balance. At one stage I was in credit by £500, then on another I was in debt to the tune of £7,000, then £1,370... towards the end of my ordeal I was was £6,000 or so in the red.
I was told to wait for 10 days or so before my account could be credited, but I had to repeatedly start the process again.
What's more, some of the text alerts I was receiving were very misleading. One said the balance on a card I did not even have was in debt to the tune of a few thousand pounds.
When I next spoke to them, I was told that the balance from my current card had been transferred to a new one, which I was unaware of.
When I queried it, I was told that it was on its way. I was very frustrated with the whole ordeal.
Unreliable response
Every representative I spoke to tried their best to resolve my problem, but the time scale was less than helpful.
I was told on one occasion while on holiday that I would be called back in half an hour with a resolution, but it took about 10 days - and I still had to contact them again.
An ongoing issue was that two separate departments were dealing with the matter, which I was only made aware of in April! As a result, I was repeatedly receiving conflicting reports.
Concession from Barclaycard
Late last month I was contacted by a senior complaints manager, who said she was very sorry for the inconvenience I had been caused and fully understood why I felt the need to complain.
She said that she had listened to my conversations with the disputes team and accepted that there were errors and confusion linked to my case and that it should have been managed much better.
She also admitted that my online statement was very confusing, with debits and credits being added and subtracted.
Compensation
She asked the IT specialists to look at their system and see where the fault lay and I have been compensated to the tune of £250.
After my conversation with the manager, I received a letter a few days later, laying out my complaint and their apology for my inconvenience and worry and they have totally accepted responsibility.
While Barclaycard has been very apologetic, it has taken more than two months and I have not yet had concrete proof. I am waiting for my next statement.
Barclaycard response to loveMONEY
LoveMONEY contacted Barclaycard, which said it would not comment on this specific case for reasons of data protection. However a representative did say: “Barclaycard take all cases of fraud extremely seriously and we monitor transactions 24/7 to detect and prevent fraudulent activity from taking place.
"Where it does occur we begin investigating as soon as it’s reported and take all necessary steps to resolve the situation and ensure that the customer is never left out of pocket."