Has anyone successfully claimed back their bank charges from Abbey?

[Bubbaloo]

I'm trying to help my mum claim back bank charges from Abbey and we sent off the first letter last week asking for statements from the last 6 years.
She has received a reply this morning to say she can only have statements going back 14 months as everything else is microfiched.Not too sure what to do now-should she ask them to get the statements from the microfiche machine and insist they send them to her? Does anyone know if she is legally entitled to her statements for the last 6 years and has anyone else had this reply from Abbey?
Just wondering whether they are "trying it on"
Any advice as to what to do next please?.
TIA.

Bubb, we are trying to claim back charges from the abbey too. We sent a letter asking for a summary of the charges we have incurred over the past six years, though, rather than the statements, and quoted the Data Protection Act in the letter which makes it clear that they have a legal duty to provide this information. Only sent the letter about 10 days ago though and no reply yet.

Will watch with interest and let you know what (if any {hmm]) response we get.

That's very interesting.We sent the template letter from the consumer action group website,also stating the data protection act 1998.I also thought they had a legal obligation to provide this info,but now after their letter I'm not so sure.The reply they sent my mum was very long winded and to be honest,neither of us really understood it,apart from them mentioning the fact that she can only have info dating back 14 months.Be interesting to see what reply you get from them.

Hi, my oh is trying to claim back from Abbey too. He also sent off the template letter on mse website and also received a reply like yours I think, I remember it said something about 14 months and microfiche. I'll ask when he gets home but I think they were saying they'd send the 14 mths statements and then a list of the charges going back 6 yrs. Could be wrong tho.

Thanks for that.
I've since looked on that site again and it says if your request is incomplete in amy way then the bank has a valid reason for not complying and that you should complain to the bank giving them 7 days to reply,otherwise you will begin a complaint to the information commissioner aswell as county court action,under the data protection act.I've told my mum this and she has now sent another letter,stating the above,so will be interesting to see what they have to say now.]
I do think they are trying to pull a fast one though as they've obviously had lots of requests from people asking for this info,but if they can give you a list of charges dating back 6 years,then surely they can give you your statements.I also wouldn't trust them if they said "your charges have been x amount over the past 6 years",as they could give you any figure,not neccessarily the right one.

Bubbaloo, we had a letter from Abbey this morning. We have to provide proof of change of address then they will send out the info we asked for. We only asked for a summary of the charges though. They have a legal duty to provide this information; I don't think they have a legal duty to provide all the statements. They can't hide any of the charges from you, that's illegal!

Hope you get the correct information this time; if not, then ask for a summary of the charges. Money Saving Expert site is the best one for information we have found.

Thanks Miaou-that's most helpful.

My mum has now sent off another letter,so if they don't comply then I'll tell her to ask for the summary of charges instead and see if they agree to that.
Let me know how you get on with them.

Hi Bubbaloo - had another letter from Abbey containing statements going back 14 months. This is what they said about the rest:

"Any previous transactions have been archived onto microfiche and it is not possible to provide you with a computer print out of this information. However, we have made arrangements to send you a list of archived transactions between 2001 and 2005, under separate cover."

So it looks like we will be getting some kind of record of the information. Will let you know when it arrives (and what format it's in!!)