To be absolutely raging at Barclays?

[GenderApostate19]

We are trying to get the deeds to my late FiL’s house, we need them because the house isn’t registered so can’t be sold without the deeds .
They are stored with Barclays but in archive storage for 20odd years, thankfully we had the paperwork in order to trace them, they confirmed they had them on July 31st. I’ve rung weekly since the end of August I understand that everything is slow due to covid/wfh etc.
I rang at the end of September and was told, after 2 hours on hold and them having problems even finding the details, that the deeds were ready to be sent out special delivery and would be with us no later than October 6th.
No notes/records were ever made about my previous calls, despite me requesting it, every time I rang it was a nightmare of being put on hold whilst the person tried to contact half a dozen different people to try and find someone who could access the right system.
I rang this morning and it’s literally back to square one, nobody knows what happened to them after being taken out of storage 🤬
A ‘manager’ is meant to be investigating and getting back to me by tomorrow, I’ve asked for a fast tracked complaint to be told it could take up to 40 days !
Everyone I’ve spoken to has been wfh with no ability to transfer me to a manager, or even anyone actually in the office of the right department.
I even went into my local Barclays thinking they would be able to directly contact a relevant person but no, they can’t do that apparently.
I want to run away screaming, I must have spent 20+ hours on the phone to them.

Had a similar problem with my phone company. I’ve only just been able to fix it last month after being in contact with them since March. Like you, I spent hours on the phone, being told I would have call backs, that it’s been escalated, that they’d leave notes on the system etc, to no avail and having to start from square one each time. You have nothing but my utmost sympathy.

Is Barclays helpline based overseas by any chance? Because my phone provider is and I can only think maybe they’re not held to the same standards as we are here. I’ve worked in a few callcentres - one as recently as a few years ago in between jobs, and dated notes and times were left after every single call - even if it was something basic like “account holder phoned to check bank balance. Provided bank balance to account holder”. So it was particularly frustrating dealing with a company that had no records of my many, MANY, previous calls. Good luck.

Had nothing but problems with Barclays! They let someone open an account in my name and take a credit card out and run up a huge bill! They did no I d checks on this person, can not be proven but looks like it was someone working on the inside as they passed the person through security checks even though the person gave ridiculous answers! Changed banks in the end!

Good luck hope you get it sorted.

What is the position if there were no deeds?

YANBU that is wank

Perhaps try the ombudsman?

Barclays are a nightmare to deal with on all levels IMO

It’s six months into the pandemic, companies should have sorted proper systems and processes now to deal with these things, including allowing calls to be transferred to managers when required. But I can well believe they haven’t. The managers are probably loving life not having to take over calls and in no rush to sort it out.

The ombudsman generally expects you to complain to the company directly first and 8 weeks is the maximum time for the company to investigate (Though many will be much quicker). The ombudsman staff are also working from home and taking months to deal with complaints at the moment, and they will have to ask Barclays for information to investigate anyway. Going straight to them isn’t likely to speed things up tbh and Barclays may also insist on leaving it up to the ombudsman to resolve if the complaint is with them rather than trying to sort it with you directly.

So I would complain to Barclays first, making it very clear the impact this is having on you and your family and the urgency required due to the house sale. List all the times you’ve contacting them about it and what they’ve told you. Tell them you will go to the ombudsman if they don’t resolve it urgently. If Barclays fob you off then go to the ombudsman, again clearly stating the impact and listing all your attempts to resolve it directly with Barclays.

Good luck OP I really hope it gets sorted quickly for you!

No deeds means having to have them legally reconstructed, which takes time and £2000 ish. Of course Barclays are now legally liable if they’ve lost them but it’s just the hassle of having to get it done and potentially not getting full legal title.
If they only grant possesory title then it’s ten years before it can be upgraded and you would need to provide indemnity insurance to a buyer, it’s a massive Pita that we just dont need.
We’ve got 50 years of history of ownership in paperwork, thankfully they never threw anything away so I have the original bill for conveyancing in 1971 and the paperwork when the mortgage was paid off in 1997 plus 50 years worth of bills. I had the presence of mind to create a folder for this scenario, everything to do with FiL’s Estate has been an utter nightmare.

Cut out the middle man & email the CEO with your complaint.
[email protected]

He won't directly deal with it directly but it will be bounced up the queue a whole lot quicker. Also stress the time & energy it's taken to get to this point and that you expect to be compensated.

You have to go through Barclays complaints procedure before you can go to the Financial Ombudsman, unfortunately.

Hope it's resolved soon.

My parents are having this exact problem but with a different bank. They’ve been paying for a safety deposit box for over 20 years but apparently the bank have no record of this 🤔 they have lost the deeds. They are now having to have them redrawn up and because of the type of property it is it’s a complete nightmare and ££££! My parents aren’t the complaining type and so won’t go down the ombudsman route but I am 😡😡😡😡

I would like to compliment a small local solicitors firm for what they did for me in lock down (as opposed to the mess of Barclays)
I needed some information on a boundary fence (who owned it) I havent contacted this (village!) solicitor for about 15 years & they had changed hands. When I rang the lovely PA (lockdown time please note) who said that they held these at a different office but they would get it the deeds delivered (!) over in couple of days.
She copied the relevant pages & map & marked the copy & photocopies them & sent it by email within 2 days.
That's service! As opposed to big companies
Check whether they have twitter or facebook - I am not kidding - I did this with another company doing a personal message
I second sending to the ceo but also contact one of those Money advice people (can't think of name at the moment)

I used to work in the deeds department of a bank. If the deeds are lost they should replace them unless they’ve got records of them being returned upon redemption of the mortgage.
I can’t remember the cost of replacing the deeds but it was less than £100. That was just under 20 years ago though.
They need to replace the legal deed but not the pre-registration documents.

Oh and write a complaint letter to the chief executive and send recorded delivery. Might not work for Barclays but another finance company I worked for fast tracked the investigation and response of those complaints

Tweet Barclays about it and use emotive language. Or something similar. I work in a similar line of work and people who use social media or contact the CEO do get prioritised.

In future confirm every telephone conversation in writing. For now, you need to get a written complaint in and mark it urgent, emphasising that every day they waste is potentially costing Barclays more money. I completely agree with suggestions about contacting the CEO. It might also be worth contacting one or more of the newspaper money advice pages as that can wake up banks quiet effectively.

Just to end this saga, Deeds just turned up out of the blue by courier, good job DH is home, I’m at DD’s looking after my (poorly 🙁) Grandson.

I emailed the CEO as suggested last Friday and also raised an official complaint.

Really glad the deeds have turned up OP! That must be a big weight off your mind.

Don’t let them fob you off with the deeds finally appearing. They should still compensate you for the inconvenience and stress, make sure they’re aware of the impact (any delays or additional costs, hours spent on the phone not just to barclays but anyone else you’ve had to deal with as a result of their cock up, and obviously the stress and emotional drain of it all in the aftermath of a bereavement). I’m not saying give them a sob story worthy of the daily mail, but just factually state the impact to you and DH/family. They won’t be able to take it into account unless you tell them about it.