Judith Proctor's Journal

 I have just spent over an HOUR on the phone trying to find someone at Barclays who can help with regard to Friday's Verified by Visa issue.

Because, after all that faff with Verified by Visa rejecting my payment - it still went through and has been taken from my bank account.  Which is really unfortunate as I went and bought the item in question from Amazon who never mess me about with things like Verified by Visa.

Even now, the best I have got after an hour is someone who says they'll send me a form to fill in.

I want my money back from Barclays - I HATE that bloody bank.

Some of you will remember the problems I was having with my bank in November.  It's still continuing.  It's getting to the point where I am seriously considering changing my bank.

I'm now on my third order for new stationary as they can't seem to get my name right.

In spite of assurances that only the stationary had been affected, it's now clear that at least one online record was changed as we've been getting letters from charities that we support explaining that our direct  debit/gift aid declaration is no longer .

I'm getting increasingly pissed off by reassurances from bank staff saying it's clearly a total coincidence that the Charities Aid Foundation wrote to me saying that our direct debit was no longer valid as Richard's name was no longer on our account, and that there was no possible way that the CAF could know the details of the account name.

That would clearly explain today's identical letter from the RSPB (which quotes the current incorrect account name with total accuracy), and the email I had last month from Paypal explaining my bank account was incorrect, and the letters that I'm confidently expecting to get from the Dorset Wildlife Trust and several other organisations that we direct debit to...

And in the meantime, Asthma UK aren't getting the money I want to give them as the CAF don't have the cash in my charity account to honour the payment...

In essence, Barclays sucks.  I'm seriously considering moving our bank account (and mortgage) to another bank.  If I'm going to have to redo all my direct debits in any case, then changing bank is no extra effort.  Any recommendations?  Good customer service is what counts here.