Can You Trust the Banking System ?

I read an interesting blog recently about the attitude of the banks towards their customers and felt compelled to follow up on this with some real life events.
As background, I am a former Credit Management Consultant and am fully conversant with the subject matter this blog contains.
Issue 1
A couple visited their local bank to advise them that they were moving abroad and to cancel all Direct Debits on the account. The Branch Manager advised them that she would also cancel the account Maintinance Charge as they would no longer be able to utilize the facilties this provided. - A happy customer, but not for long. They soon started receiving notification that their account was overdrawn and that additional bank charges were being raised. How this arose was the bank did not cancel one of the direct debits and as there was insufficient funds in the account, were "bouncing the DD" This of course incurred additional charges and so the overdraft continued to rise, attracting more and more charges. To make matters worse, they continued to charge the maintainance fee so adding to the debt.
More and more letters were sent, then it was the turn of the debt collection company. Despite advising what was happening, the debt collectors nor the bank done anything about it. Then it was the turn of the solicitors advising that they were being taken to court. Again, the response was ignored, and the account passed to another 2 different debt collectors. Again they were advised that the problem lay with their client and were also told that a letter was sent to the solicitor over a year prior stating clearly the nature of the dispute and that any legal action taken would be defended in court. Next they receive a reply stating that the bank had no record of the letter sent to the solicitor and that if the debt was not cleared, then legal action would be taken. The couple told them "Go ahead with your legal action and we'll see you and your client in court." They told them they would be counter claiming for harrassment both by the debt collectors and the bank. Can you guess what happened next - I doubt it because this defies logic. A further letter was received from the debt collector stating that the case was now beng passed to their "Home Collections Depatment" who would be visiting them shortly. However, the piece de resistance was that their client had agreed that they would offer a "Subsantial Discount" if the account was settled. Very kind of them, but why offer to discount a debt if your charges are correct? Also, a nice little break for the "Home Collection Department" - a nice little trip to SPAIN. I'll see them in court.
Issue 2
Another couple found themselves in some financial difficulty and could not afford to keep up with their Credit Card repayments. They asked the bank to freeze the interest so that they could get things sorted out. The response was NO. They wrote asking them to reconsider as this was causing them much distress as they had never been in this sort of position before and had always paid their bills on time. The bank never replied and eventually a notice of summary proceedings was received. In between times, letters were being received from the bank advising them of how much was outstanding. The funny thing about this is that each letter - which were received on almost a weekly basis showed differing amounts - yes " added interest you may say" but NO. The amount outstanding was on numerous occasions LOWER than what was stated the week before. Letters were also received from Credit Reference Agancies advising that their credit status was being affected due to the outstanding debt. Fair enough you may say but when the debt was against a Personal Account and not a JOINT one, why was the partner's details passed to the reference agency and why was their credit rating being affected for a debt (which we hasten to added was accpted) was not in their name. In response to the notice of court action, they again responded explaining the situation and also stating that the bank had broken the law by referring the partners details to the Credit Reference Agency - what was the response from the bank. Yes you guessed it - NOTHING - instead a further notice advising that the next stage in litigation was being started and that they should get a solicitor. My advice to them was don't worry about it, by the time I've finished with them, the ones who will need the solicitor is the bank. I look forward to the next stage of litigation starting when I can represent this couple in court.
Issue 3
Finally one of them get it right.
Another couple discovered to their horror that instead of being given a credit card which they would be able to pay off at a certain amount each month,they were given a short term loan payable in full a few months later. There were insufficient funds in their account to cover this but the bank took what they had and put through a "Dummy Payment" on the "Credit Card" to clear the debt. The couple found it hard to meet the terms but this time instead of pursuing them through the courts, the bank done the right thing and "Wrote off the Debt" as they realised that the situation was caused by a mistake on their part. Well Done this bank - you got it wrong but done the decent thing about it, but it should never have happened in the first place.
So Can You Trust the Banking System?