Dom Pannell's Blog

Rick Astley flashmob - tonight

That's right, you can take part in the world's first 'Rickmob'.

All you have to do is turn up at 6pm precisely on Friday 11th April at Liverpool Street tube station. Once you're inside and the horn has been sounded you have to sing Rick's hit 'Never Gonna Give You Up' at the top of your voice.

And just in case you don't know all the words print out the lyrics below and take them along.

Have fun!

We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We've know each other for so long
Your heart's been aching
But you're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

give you up. give you up
give you up, give you up
never gonna give
never gonna give, give you up
never gonna give
never gonna give, five you up

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

--

The world needs more of this kind of thing.

Banking Woes 3: Capital One, the revenge

So I've had another written response from Capital One. Presumably they're now an avid reader of this blog, as I've decided that rather than run up considerable phone bills being given contradictory information by people in C1 call centres all of whom to date have put me on hold for at least three minutes, I'm just providing them with a link to this blog.

Anyway, this is what they wrote:

"Thank you for asking us why you can't access the money that has been in your account for the past two weeks. When we receive your payment, we add it to your account straight away to show that we've received it. However, if the payment is large we may need to allow up to 10 days for the amount to clear. That's why we don't make the credit amount available to you immediately. Unfortunately, we don't record on our system whether the payment was made by cash or cheque. So the only way we can release the funds, before this time, is for your bank to send us a fax confirming how you made the payment. As soon as we receive the fax, we call the bank to confirm the information they've sent and then release the credit amount straight away. If you want your bank to ever do this, our fax number is 0115 843 3440. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this causes you. This safeguard allows the payment to clear, and if it doesn't, avoid any unnecessary overspending and charges being added to the account. Please let me reassure you that we're not suggesting this is the likely event in your case. I hope I've clearly explained this. If not, or you need any other help, please call us on 08458 400 400*. We're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (*Please note, calls to 0845 numbers will be charged at a local rate. The cost will vary depending on your service provider. Calls may be recorded/monitored for training purposes.)"

I love the line that says "we don't record on our system whether the payment was made by cash or cheque." I remember this same argument from three years ago when I paid cash into my credit card account in order to have it to hand the following week - Capital One told me then that paying by cash would take longer to clear than electronic payment, so nowadays I only transfer money electronically from a bank account using cleared funds.

As for cheques... do they still exist?

The upshot of all of this is that Capital One has been sitting on my money for more than a fortnight now. In the meantime they have cancelled a number of standing orders including Spinvox (problematic because I don't actually know how to listen to voicemail on my mobile phone) and my mortgage (problematic because I don't want to be made homeless).

The written response above directly contradicts what I was told the last time I called their helpline and I basically feel I've been fobbed off with disinformation from the outset.

Staff in Capital One call centres (claim they) don't have access to all information about their customers, which is why it is difficult to counter the contradictory explanations they offer. Having worked in a call centre myself once (I had a summer job working for Orange) I will say that they have been well trained in their key task - preventing disgruntled callers from speaking to supervisors who are empowered to take effective action.

Harumph!

Now where did I put the phone number to the Ombudsman?

[EDIT: I noticed that a payment went through yesterday and I was finally able to make a payment to Spinvox using my Capital One credit card today, so I reckon they've finally removed the block that I was assured had been removed five days ago. I make that 15 calendar days/9 UK banking days since the money arrived on my account. Thanks C1, you're great!/EDIT]

Banking Woes 2: Capital One the ugly sequel

I'm sorry, oh avid reader, I advised you that Capital One had made amends and sorted out my credit card (click here and scroll down to the section below Charlie Chaplin).

I was, in fact, wrong.

I have spoken to the lovely people in Capital One's call centre at least five times, each time requesting that they remove the block on my card and give me access to nearly £1500 of my money. Each time I get a different response.

According to Sandy, the fault is mine because I should not have transfered a large sum onto my account and, consequently, am subject to a FIVE DAY delay.

The eloquent Fiona agrees with Sandy that it is my fault, but informed me that I must wait FOURTEEN DAYS before the money will clear in my account and I would have access to my cash on April 8th (I nearly choked on my coffee when she said that, but I resisted the temptation to correct her mathematics).

Intriguingly, Ronnie took a different tack. He acknowledged that the money had cleared onto my account (it's been showing online since April 19th), he also accepted that sufficient time had passed for me to be able to access my cash and he spoke to someone in the authorizations team to have the block on my account removed. Bingo!

That was on Sunday 30th April. Today is Wednesday 2nd March. Last night I was once more told that my card has been blocked. I was trying to pay for dinner for the potential client I had invited.

I don't know what is happening with my account, but it looks as though Fiona may have been right.

The written message I received from Capital One last week says the following:

"Thank you for contacting us about your recent payment I'm sorry that we weren't helpful when you called us. We should've answered your question correctly the first time and I'm sorry that you've had to contact us again about this. I can confirm that we've received a payment of £2,000.00 and added this to your account on 19 March 2008. Please note that when you make a payment you should allow 5 working days for it to be credited to your account. It then takes 24 hours before it will show on your account service screen. Your transactions were declined as your transactions were referred for manual authorisation as you have paid extra money to your account."

Does anyone have the address of the Banking Ombudsman, please?