Quote:
Originally Posted by Kano
We are all 100% legitimate players, all our money comes from poker.
Its unlikely you can know that but lets assume its true. If you do decide to push it further then dont kid yourself on this you dont want to create a storm and then find you are even unwittingly, involved with some dodgy stuff.
Quote:
He seemed pretty insistent that once they send out a Close Account notice, the decision is final. He said there is no appeal process and they will simply refer you to their terms and conditions whereby they can remove banking services from you at any time and for any reason it seems.
By no appeal process he means it doesn't fall within the domain of any regulator but that doesn't mean you cannot pursue it further although he will certainly try to persuade you you cant (no-one likes being held to account to hgher management). If you can be bothered you can make huge progress.
I have heard 'nothing can be done', 'you cant escalate it', 'my boss wont say anything I haven't' many times from senior staff at Banks, building societies, BT, Virgin media etc (even the MD of Wordperfect UK many years ago) and its never been true and several times once the right person has looked at it they have been extremely annoyed at the way their customer(s) were being mistreated.
This type of issue is particularly hard but if it was me I would seek to speak to the person who made the decision, they will almost certainly refuse and I would proceed to their boss or the head of department. The aim is to speak to someone who accepts responsibility for the decision (or is the boss of such a person) and ask for your case to be reviewed. Ask whether they have a policy against poker players which is perfectly legal, or transfers between poker players which is also perfectly legal or whether there had been a mistake in your case? - keep focused on them having made a mistake about a legitimate, loyal customer. Be polite confident and firm.
At some point it may help to make a complaint about someone refusing to speak to you or repeatedly not keeping committment you have got them to agree to. The good thing about complaints is they can be escalated and if the complaints department fails to do its job then make a complaint about the complaints department (this may sound silly but it can be very effective, I find that rather then deal with the complaint about themselves they deflect to the original complaint)
Pursue it all the way to the Directors office, there will be some high level trouble shooting team at that level. Make sure at each stage you have given the current level an adequate opportunity to investigate, update you etc. Dont be disheartened by them not doing stuff they promise to do as that will help you later.
If anyone says nothing can be done then ask them if they mean they cannot do anything or they could do soemthing but wont in your case. If the later then immediately escalate to a higher level. There is nothing that cannot actually be done, closing your account is not some great law of physics its a decision that can be made in error and can be corrected by someone senior enough.
End conversations with them having something to do which will result in them or someone else more senior contacting you. Most importantly keep a log of conversations: who when, promises both kept and broken.
a few other bits and pieces
- At senior levels apologise a bit for having to trouble them but explain how frustrated you are.
- If the usual switchboard becomes obstructive then call head office and ask for people by name.
- Dont bother with the branch chap, he cannot help and you will just be giving someone who sounds decent a hard time for nothing, you may even get him into trouble.
- If someone says something that sounds important enough or sounds like complete rubbish then ask for it in email or letter.
- part of your goal is to make its less trouble for someone senior to make sure you are dealt with then to ignore you. This is where the detailed log comes in to its own: a long list of failures to act as promised, repeated incorrect information given and several complaints will tend to get someone senior enough to insists someone a bit less senior just gets it sorted.
- if you can open an account elsewhere then its far easier to just let it go. Sometimes I just wont let them off the hook that easily but it requires purposeful bloody mindedness.