Portman House
Richmond Hill
Bournemouth
Dorset
BH2 6EP
I have decided to use this page to tell my story about the Portman building society.
The ' War on Terror' and 'Money Laundering' frenzies have given the powers that be a great excuse to curb the rights of the individual and give banks and other public institutions an excuse to take liberties.
I have had an ' instant access' account with the Portman building society for a number of years.
I no longer live in the UK but kept the account with a reasonable balance of around a thousand pounds in order to be able to do a bit of shopping if ever I had the need upon my return there.
In April 2004 I went to Harrow for a short holiday.
I went to the shopping centre and found a couple of items I wished to purchase and so went to the Harrow branch of the Portman building society with a friend of mine to withdraw some cash. To start with I just asked that they update my passbook to reflect the interest as I had not done that for 3 months. I was checked to establish that I was the account holder. Having established my identity I asked to withdraw a small amount, I was told that as I had not used my account for a while, I was not allowed to, and that my passbook would need to be sent to head office.
I objected but was told indignantly that these were the rules put in place to protect me, the customer, and that this was in the contract! (As it happens I don't think it was in 1991 when I opened the account there was a contract, and as it was pre 9/11, had nothing about dormant accounts - the ceiling of which is 6 months)I objected to this and said that I wanted to close my account NOW and please give me my money. I was told that in order to close my account they would need to apply to head office!
I signed the paperwork to close the account. I asked for a letter stating that I could not have access to my money and was told that they would send me one.
I then waited for my money to appear. After 4 months it had still not arrived.
I phoned the Portman and spent ages on the phone waiting in a queue and then being passed from pillar to post. I was eventually told me that someone would phone me back in the morning and my money would be sent out the next day.
Another 5 months passed.
When I again remembered my indignation;
I phoned again and spoke to a very pleasant chap called James. He listened and gave the right responses (he could in fact have a job with me) and promised to come back to me the next day.
He did. To tell me that I needed to send them a letter requesting my money ... again.
I objected and said that I would send an e mail - he said no, we cannot accept it. A fax would be acceptable, but to complain or retrieve my money to be placed in my bank account, I had to go to yet more time, trouble and expense.
Well I still haven't had the time, and so my money is still sitting in the Portman Building society, even though I filled in a form in their bank requesting it to be paid to me, in writing in their bank, on the phone twice and now here
... GIVE ME MY MONEY!
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