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Saturday, 10 November 2007 at 7:30pm 

A&L have now taken the 34 GBP charge for refusing the 11.53 GBP direct debit yesterday, as expected. Money from a regular source reached the account today, so the balance is no longer over the overdraft limit. However, it seems likely according to A&L's tariff that they are going to make a second 25 GBP "Unauthorised overdraft charge" for the 5th day on which the account was over the limit. Thus:

25 GBP Paid item charge
25 GBP Unauthorised overdraft charge (1st day)
34 GBP Unpaid item charge
25 GBP Unauthorised overdraft charge (5th day)

Total 109 GBP

I spoke to another one of their customer services creatures today, apparently they will not be making any discretionary refunds of charges until the outcome of the court test case, so this 109 GBP charge will sit on my account for several years.

Nonetheless I shall be writing to them to ask for them back, pointing out the timeline and the sheer obscenity of the magnitude of these charges. I look forward to winding down the overdraft in that account and leaving it dormant to cost them as much money as possible, while awaiting the result of the test case.

Hanging is far, far too good for these people.

In this case, Alliance & Leicester.

While I've been out here in Eindhoven, it seems all has not been well with one of my bank accounts. My water bill from Cambridge Water took my Alliance & Leicester current account over its overdraft limit. For this they have had the audacity to charge me a 25 GBP "Paid item charge", apparently for looking into this and deciding to pay the item, *and* a 25 GBP "Unauthorised overdraft charge". I spent a while on the phone today to their customer services person getting her to agree that in effect they were charging me 50 GBP for the incident.

50 GBP !!!!!

(Incidentally, no English pound sign on this Dutch keyboard)

I have to say this left me absolutely flabbergasted, and she, to her credit, managed to keep her cool while explaining to me very politely that, yes, this was indeed standard practice for the bank. Subsequently, I learnt that a much smaller direct debit for 11.53 GBP, which appears on my online statement as having come out of my account today, in fact hasn't been paid, and there will be a 34 GBP "Unpaid item charge" for this financial "service".

34 GBP !!!!!

So far then, this has cost me 84 GBP, and there may be other payments coming out of the account before money gets credited to the account either today or tomorrow. Which money, they can see from my past statements, comes into the account regularly at this time of month. I told her I wanted these charges reversed, and if they weren't I would close the account and cease banking with them. She said she didn't have the power to authorise such a decision, but would pass my comments onto the bank charges team. I commented that it wasn't her I should be getting annoyed with, and she sounded pleased to hear that, all the while keeping her own cool as the tale of charges unfolded.

I expect I won't hear anything back from them until I pursue the matter again, which I will do when I get back to England. Suffice to say, it seems likely that I will be ending my relationship with Alliance & Leicester and filing one of those "Reclaim your bank charges" type letters with them.

Current Mood: enraged

Today I travelled to the town of Dommelen near Valkenswaard to pick up a Commodore 64 and 1541 disk drive I'd bought on marktplaats.nl for 10 Euros. In the Dutch province of Noord Brabant, where Eindhoven is situated, you can buy an all day bus ticket on Saturdays valid for travel anywhere within Noord Brabant for 3 Euros. So the ticket was purchased and I enjoyed a fairly long ride out to Dommelen past more Dutch architecture. I just wish I had a camera to take it all home with me.

When I got the machine home I decided it was time to 'organise' my living room, which was previously arranged for the usual sort of corporate visitor who uses these apartments, and not very well either. Lewpen is arriving on Monday and I wanted the place suitable for a month of partying, coding and general chilled creativity. I think I've managed it, making full use of the 'dining' table for my laptop, C64 and the big Sony television. It forms one side of a three-sided creativity zone, the other two sides being sofas with a coffee table in the middle. Round the corner from the fourth open side is the typical Dutch style balcony overlooking Vestdijk, and with the hifi system set up on the opposite wall for a proper stereo effect, I think have managed quite a cool and (typically) unconventional living space.

One final comment - continental wiring! What a piece of crap. 2 pin sockets everywhere except the kitchen and bathroom, so everything in the living room is unearthed (woohoo!) and the plugs dangle precariously out of the sockets, especially ones with UK adaptors in them. Have we really got the best mains plugs in the world, in the UK? Hooray for British engineering.

As you may know, I am in the Dutch city of Eindhoven at the moment, working for a major lithographic equipment manufacturer. I have an apartment in the centre of town with a double bedroom and a single bedroom, and I am able to host visitors until the end of my time in the Netherlands, currently projected to be 1st October. 

Lewpen is arriving here next week, and I will post some pictures of the place if he brings his digital camera. Myself, I am hoping to obtain a Commodore 64 and a Philips MSX2 this coming weekend to keep me sane. I shall post separately on that subject in due course. I have already obtained a bicycle for the sum of 14 Euros, which is highly recommended in Dutch towns. I am becoming familiar with the pronunciation of Dutch words, in particular the soft 'g's and the vowel sounds.

One thing that amuses me is the Dutch convention of naming street names after kings, composers, painters, etc. One of the major thoroughfares on my journey to work is called "Karel de Grotelaan" - this translates as "Charlemagne Road". It's a pretty chavvy area by Dutch standards, though nothing like the worst excesses of the UK. Other names in this area include Grieglaan, Debussystraat, Offenbachlaan, Ravelstraat, Schumannstraat, Berliozlaan, Lizststraat, Brahmslaan, Haydnstraat, Bartoklaan, Messiaenpark, Boccherinilaan, Mahlerlaan, Bizetstraat, Scarlattistraat, Schubertlaan, Chopinlaan, even Humperdincklaan!