Tony Hetherington is Financial Mail on Sunday’s ace investigator, fighting readers corners, revealing the truth that lies behind closed doors and winning victories for those who have been left out-of-pocket. Find out how to contact him below.
P.H. writes: We sold a property in Spain. The proceeds were transferred to us here in the UK, but we kept our Santander account open in Spain to pay utility bills and until we received a Spanish tax rebate.
In June last year, we asked to close the account and withdraw the balance of €7,000 (about £6,360), but despite phone calls and emails to the branch and to the Santander head office, we have had no response.
Long delay: Santander in Madrid, Spain, above, held on to the money of the customer, who was back in Britain
Your very frustrating experience highlights the difficulties customers can run into when they have a bank account in one country but live in another. Your account was blocked online, so a simple transfer to your British bank account became impossible.
You even gave your Spanish lawyer power of attorney to act on your behalf and close the account, but this failed too, even though he supplied Santander with copies of your passports and other proof of identity.
Five weeks ago, I asked officials at Santander UK if they could help by contacting their colleagues in Spain. To give them their due, they tried more than once but could get no explanation, let alone a transfer of your money. I think they ended up feeling almost as frustrated as you. Then a fortnight ago, staff at Santander in London copied me in on one of their emails to the bank’s head office in Madrid.
Using what’s left of my schoolboy Spanish (thank you, Liverpool Institute High School), I followed this up by sending my own email to the Spanish capital.
I reminded the bank just how long your problem with the account had dragged on, and I said that in the absence of any explanation or action, my only option would be to issue a warning that opening an account with Santander in Spain might lead to difficulties later. Slightly to my surprise, this worked. Helped by a further nudge from Santander in London, the bank in Spain contacted me last Thursday to say your account had been unlocked and it was arranging to transfer the balance to you.
A spokesman told me: ‘To protect customers from fraud, we require them to provide identification before completing certain transactions. In this instance, that delayed the closure of Mr and Mrs H’s account. We are extremely sorry for the time it has taken to resolve this matter.’
There are no more details, but I can add that Spanish banks often ask customers to renew the proof of their identity every several years. If this was the problem, then it should have been explained many months ago, along with a request for whatever further proof the bank needed. Your €7,000 should arrive very soon in Britain, but needless to say, if nothing materialises, then do let me know.
Police can help you trace your valuables
S.C. writes: I began to travel for work and left my laptop, Apple Watch and other valuables in my flat.
When I returned, I found my then partner had sold these valuables to a CEX shop.
I contacted CEX, saying they had bought stolen goods, but they refused to speak to me, even though I have receipts proving the items were mine.
A bad sign: The CEX chain deals in lots of electronic items such as laptops, game consoles and phones
The CEX chain deals in lots of electronic items such as laptops, game consoles and phones. It has told me in the past that it checks a database of stolen goods before buying anything, though this is no help when the real owner of the goods is unaware they are missing.
The company also told me: ‘We require customers to provide legal ID and sign a declaration stating the goods belong to them.’
So why has CEX not co-operated with you? It says it did respond to your enquiries, but the crunch point is that you have never reported the theft to the police. This means your former partner could simply say that the items he sold were gifts from you. In fact, CEX will not even confirm that it did buy the missing items, though it says it will tell the police if necessary.
You have explained that you are afraid to go to the police because you have previously suffered domestic violence at the hands of your ex-partner, and you believe that if you accuse him of theft, he will attack you. I completely understand your fears, but at the same time, I understand why CEX sees itself as caught in the middle of a private dispute. I strongly urge you to contact the police if you want a realistic chance of tracing your property or being compensated.
Car firm stalled on my fuel refund
G.S. writes: I have been trying for months to claim a refund of fuel costs when using the Drive Now car rental service.
I am due £47 and I sent receipts to the company with my bank details, as instructed, but their complaints department just referred me to a ‘team lead’ from whom I have heard nothing.
So, it seems I topped up their car, and someone else enjoyed the fuel I bought.
Back log: Drive Now issues fuel cards that can be used at Shell filling stations, but if you fill up elsewhere, Drive Now repays you later
More than one firm has used the name Drive Now or something similar, so let me make it clear that you dealt with Drivenow UK Limited, based in Streatham, South London. This is an offshoot of a German company, and none of its three directors lives in Britain.
Drive Now issues fuel cards that can be used at Shell filling stations, but if you fill up elsewhere, Drive Now repays you later. The company’s head of UK operations, Malkeet Sindhar, first explained that a back log of refunds had built up because ‘our accounts department has been relocating from Munich to Berlin’.
This sounded a lot like ‘the cheque is in the post’, and sure enough, three weeks later you had heard nothing. Sindhar then told me he was ‘surprised’, and would personally pay you without waiting for Munich or Berlin to sort themselves out. You now have your refund, plus a credit of some free driving time by way of an apology.
If you believe you are the victim of financial wrongdoing, write to Tony Hetherington at Financial Mail, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TS or email [email protected]. Because of the high volume of enquiries, personal replies cannot be given. Please send only copies of original documents, which we regret cannot be returned.
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