Who is responsible when the bank looses your money?

 Previously posted on https://www.publish0x.com in real time.


Part 1 .... Transfering my money November 2022.


I had not been in a UK bank for over 2 years when I first wrote this and it was not a quick
process.
 
 
I had a small ISA (Tax free savings account) that had not been touched for a couple of years so it had gone dormant, well that shouldn't be a problem as I had my passport in hand but no that was not enough, i had taken a pension statement as a back up but should I have to when I have a passport! The staff member filled in her form on the laptop, then went to get it checked, then came back as she had done it wrong, then re did it then got it checked again. She then said it was all ok and I should get my money in my account in 6-8 weeks! really WTF (I thought the Helium blockchain was slow!)
 
So part 1 done, second part transfer some funds into Revolut ( I love Revolut) so after waiting in a huge queue I get to the front and am now sweating......not a good look in a bank eh. So I ask the young man who looks about 15 if I could transfer some funds into my Revolut account and after asking if I was under duress (no it is hot in here and I have been here for over an hour already) he asked me what I wanted the money for and why I was transfering it so my answer was 'just things' and I actually said 'Your bank is not great and Revolut is far better'. 
 
Now it takes quite a while for me to get annoyed but after waiting a whole hour and a half just trying to get my own money, I was hungry (not good when I am hungry) and needing a bathroom I thought that was pretty damn polite of me when all I really wanted to say was 'You are all really ****ing incompetent' and 'none of your business'
 
Part 2 So after waiting the 6 - 8 weeks...... ( By now the banks in the USA needed bailouts!)

Well I know bank's have had their fair share of troubles recently but after my experience I am not surprised. The level of incompetence I have encountered is quite unbelievable. 
 
Back on the 6th November when I first went in the bank to try to get a dormant ISA transferred to my account. The ISA and the account I wanted it to go to are the same bank, so you would think it would be easy for them. My mum is also authorised to speak to them on my behalf as I am not in the UK that much. So after waiting for 8 weeks and still nothing, I asked my mum if she could pop in and see what was going on. Thanks Mum! So while my mum was in the bank they said they needed more details. Mum filled in the form again but only with the same information, there was no new information that they needed. This was back in January! So yes we have passed the 6 - 8 weeks time frame again.
 
So back to the bank I go as I am in the UK again. After waiting in a queue where some poor guy asks you what your problem is, with no privacy whatsoever I told him I was here because the bank had lost my money (I am sure the rest of the queue did not want to hear that!) So guess what, after 45 minutes he can't find the money either! So yes we filled in the form again. 
 
As my time in the UK is limited after getting back I phoned to make an appointment with a manager, firstly because if the funds still do not arrive I have an appointment to discuss this and secondly to discuss the amount of compensation I should be receiving for all this. I spent 28 minutes on the phone for them to say they will call me back with an appointment time and date, well it has been 3 days and that has not happened yet! I phoned again only to find there were no notes on the system about my appointment so another 37 minutes on the phone and now it is logged that I want an appointment as well as a completed complaint form!
 
I find this all quite unbelievable as well as shocking, but it is just another reason not to trust the banks! Now the plan for this money is that we would put it in BTC and look at the chart! Yes I could have used other funds and to some extent I did but that does not excuse them for not doing their job properly.
 
 
 
Now I know that when a lot of us talk to people about crypto, we either get the glazed look or the are you crazy look, these are people that trust the banks, the people that think their money is safe in the bank and that the bank's are trustworthy! Now as my name on here suggests I have not been in crypto for a huge time, but I have not stopped researching and learning in that time and that has just reaffirmed my belief that there must be a better way. I am glad we have embarked on our crypto adventure and feel happy to have acquired more BTC while it was under 20K. I think this will be critical in the future, more banks will fail, the CBDC's are coming and we have crypto.
 
Part 3 The bank finally found my money.

  Back in November 2022 where I wrote that the bank had 'lost' an ISA I had with them, I also wrote back in March how they still had not found my money Well I know eh that is quite a long time for a supposedly secure bank to have lost a customers money.
 
The bank in question uses the logo below.
 
 
Now I also spent a lot of time phoning up, trying to make an appointment with the bank manager, as I imagine most people would in this scenario, eventually though I spoke to someone who told me that the branch I needed to go to don't take bookings and you just have to turn up and ask to see the manager. (I had done this and was told I needed to make an appointment!)lol, so you see how this could be a bit frustrating.
 
Eventually I finished my work stint and off I go to the bank, I asked to see a manager and was told there was not one available but got sent to a booth to speak to an advisor. After asking a few questions like how did you lose my money? Do you think this is acceptable? The poor girl 'felt threatened' (I was not shouting or aggressive) and she said 2 people needed to be there for this conversation and lo and behold the bank manager joined us......I could not help myself and said 'Hello, you must be the manager I can't get an appointment with'. If I had known all you had to do to see the manager was ask difficult questions I would have done it sooner!
 
The manager was also clueless as to why this had happened and could not even tell me when it would be sorted out, just that it was being dealt with by a different department.
 
BUT they did finally find my money, It arrived in my account on April 3rd so that took a remarkable 148 days! yes you read that right over 21 weeks. I promptly then withdrew all the money apart from 97p from that bank, to an account with a different bank using the reference 'incompetence'.
 
I started a compensation claim a while back and I am guessing that will take longer to sort out than finding my money did so I am not holding my breath on that one, as this is the 4th letter I have received it is just the date it will be resolved that changes each time.
 
So I guess it is a win, I finally have my money but this should be a reminder to people that believe that the banks don't make mistakes, they do but most people just blindly trust them anyway.
 
Just under 1 week to go and I am sure I will just get another letter with a different date.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to comment.