GT rant!!!

[kaza]

Hi
Sorry but I thought I should share with you all just how GT conduct their business and treat their customers!!!
We where issued a breach a few weeks ago, had to wait all weekend to contact GT as they are closed all weekend so Monday morning arrives and 3hrs of trying to get through I was told we have breached our iva terms and conditions because we hadn't submitted our equity realise information at month 54 of our agreement ....... Funny that all the information was submitted and I had written confirmation of this from GT as I had to make a complaint because GT had written back to me saying because of variation my equity release was now due in month 66 not month 54 and I was disputing this because there had been no changes to my terms and conditions! After a full week of stress and phone calls issue was resolved GT found my documents and agreed my review was due in month 54 and no extension was due to negative equity ....... Phew!!!
No such luck 10 days later a telephoned GT to chase up my promised letter and email to say that I was never in breach and it was an admin error by GT to be told they will chase it!! 2 hours pass by then I get a call from GT saying they are returning my call from 2 weeks ago about my breach (yes a 2 week wait for a return call about something as serious as a breach) to say I had breached my terms and conditions because I had not sent £12489 in from a paid out insurance policy!!! I had paid this back in 2012 ....... After several hours of waiting GT called to say they found the money but need proof of payment from the insurance company for Christ sake this obviously was sent with the payment!!
Thankfully I have kept all the original documents and copies of my letters sent to them they had this document back in 2012 where an earth have they been until now?? So I now have to send the documents again!!
What worries me is how an earth do GT get away with treating us this way?? I have been told two different reasons for my breach both of which are down to GT admin errors and not my failure in terms and conditions!!!
Annoyed is a very understated word is how I feel towards GT miss management of my iva!!
If anyone is starting out on their iva journey my advise is steer clear of GT at all costs and choose a small firm that you can actually speak to your IP if needed !!!
Sorry for my rant but I'm so so angry and felt I should share!!
Karen x

[luluj]

That is terrible customer service and in my opinion worthy of a formal complaint and if it were me I would seek some kind of special payment in recompense for the severe distress and inconvenience caused ! Mind you any payment they award they will probably decide it has to be paid into your iva as a bonus or windfall !
Hope it is resolved for you once and for all very soon.

[kaza]

thanks I do intend to make a formal complaint once I get this breach sorted!!! I haven't even mentioned that GT have miscalculated my annual reviews for the last 4 years and after years of disputing how my I&E has been calculated finally this year they have actually admited they have contacted all my reviews incorrectly and therefore forced me to have to work a minimum of 60 hours overtime each month just to me my iva payment and as a result have paid 100% of my overtime back and all my expenses back but GT response was well you can't have a refund because you could obviously afford to pay !!!!!! I was just going to let it go so I could just finish this hell of an iva off! I have had an extra year put on because of their muscalculation of my I&e I have asked for this year to be taken back and I finish payments at month 60 but they say it's legally binding that it's been extended to 72 so 72 is what I have to do ( because I was extremely ill in itu and had my kidney removed and was unable to work the overtime I needed to make my payments ) !! Any advise on if I can persue this complaint ??

[luluj]

Have you veen speaking to your IP or a caseworker ? I would be seeking a discussion with your IP on this.
I also would not hold back in ingoring them of past reviews and your belief they have been miscalculated ...... no reason why they cannot undertake a full.back tracking review.

[Adam Davies]

Hi

Horrible story

I think GT have fallen down with regards to customer service over the last year or so because of their huge IVA portfolio/workload

Good lesson in that you should keep all communication to and from your IP and have anything verbally confirmed in writing

Regards

[kaza]

Hi I've asked and several occasions to speak to my IP and each time been refused they even said your IP has 40,000 customers what makes you think he had time to talk to you!!! When I speak to customer services they apologise for how my reviews have been conducted but say because I made my monthy payment it was deamed I could afford it!! I don't want my money back I just want my iva done I only had the variation because of my time off sick obviously impacted on my wages (no overtime & half pay after 6 months) I never missed a payment even when I was down to half pay the only positive thing about my illness was that GT finally listened to my concerns over my reviews and realised after 4 years of basically talking to a brick wall that my basic pay was £700 a month less than they calculated it to be!! My payments have now been reduced to my true income but that wasn't done until month 54 !!! If they could just end everything at month 60 rather than make me do the extra 12 months I'd walk away a happy person! They have had about an extra £6k a year from this mistake plus £12500.00 from an insurance policy I have more than met what was expected to receive by creditors and the variation was forced by there mistake !!!

[Foggy]

I would escalate this to a formal complaint and then on to the regulators if needed.

[kaza]

Hi Andy

Sorry I forgot to add I have confirmation in writing regarding my I&e reviews have been miscalculated and from now on my reviews and I &e will be changed and as a good will gesture they have allowed max expenses for most expenditure and reduced my payment by 10% of my disposable income !!!

[luluj]

I would continue to complain articulating the true cost to you tge errors they made. Emphasise the struggle you clearly experienced whilst on half pay but managed to continue to pay your iva, probably I imagine going without other things .....
Personally i think you seeking closure with no extension is very lenient after what you have gone through ...really hope you can get this resolved.

[kaza]

Well just a little update GT have actually done what was asked of them an telephoned me with an update (something they said they will do on a weekly basis !!)
My update was to let me know that my I&E review information still has not been received by the review team as there is a 4 week bag log of opening post at GT!!! They cannot sort the issue of my breach out because they are waiting for me to send the confirmation of the amount the insurance company paid out (this will be the 3rd time I've sent this information to GT) and as the back log is 4 weeks it's at least another 4 weeks before they receive the info the need........ And the wonder why post gets lost!!!!!????
Today I received a letter confirming my equity realise was done and this aspect is all done but the letter was not signed!!!
I couldn't really speak when they phoned yesterday as I was out shopping and didn't want people around me to hear my business but if they keep to their word and call again this week I'm going to again request to speak with the ip and if this is again refused it's compliant time!!
Any advise on how a rise a complaint whilst in Iva and who I write to??
Thanks x

[Foggy]

Hi Kaza. From earlier posts, this is the GT complaints procedure (if it gets as far as complaining to the Regulatory Body (IPA, in this case)the complaint will be against the IP ( who is the member) not the company (who is not):

1 If a client expresses unhappiness with the service provided by this firm, then in the first instance the concerns will be dealt with by the manager responsible for the area that gave rise to the complaint and you will receive a formal response in that regard within one month of the date of this letter. Should we require additional time to investigate the matter, you will of course be advised accordingly.

2 If the matter cannot be resolved by the relevant manager, you can then direct your complaint to my designated senior member of staff Mr Paul Madden at Grant Thornton, Waters Edge, Clarendon Dock, Belfast, BT1 3BH.

3 If you continue to be dissatisfied with my firm's response to your complaint, you can then write to Ms Fiona Beighton - the Head of Quality & Risk Management who deals with any complaints arising from the firm's recovery department - at Grant Thornton UK LLP, 30 Finsbury Square, London, EC2P 2YU.

In the unlikely event that my firm is unable to resolve your complaint you can then complain to my regulatory body – the Insolvency Practitioners Association.

If you don't want to spend the best part of 6 months being passed from pillar to post there is the Government Complaints Gateway here:

https://www.gov.uk/complain-about-insol ... actitioner

[kaza]

Thanks foggy I'm confident GT will mess up again I sent them my review paperwork 3 1/2 weeks ago and it's hopefully still sat in the post room no doubt if that hasn't gone walkies they will conduct my review incorrectly like the previous 4 years. I'm still technically in breach as although both reasons for my breach to have been issued are not down to me but GT losing £12500 pounds I paid to them 2 years ago but know say the paperwork must be lost and my failing to provide equity release at month 54 when I had confirmation I had sent it and the where disputing the issue that it's month 54 not month 66 the review should take place so needless to say I've again sent of all required paperwork but have been told it's sitting in the backlog which is currently 4 weeks so are they going to fail my iva as they don't have correct documentation??? I have been told this will not happen as the issue of breach was a mistake on their part but I have no confidence in their ability to run a p up in a brewery!!! What's even more frightening is I have to deal with the closure fiasco yet!!

[kaza]

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Originally posted by kaza

Thanks foggy I'm confident GT will mess up again I sent them my review paperwork 3 1/2 weeks ago and it's hopefully still sat in the post room no doubt if that hasn't gone walkies they will conduct my review incorrectly like the previous 4 years. I'm still technically in breach as although both reasons for my breach to have been issued are not down to me but GT losing £12500 I paid to them 2 years ago but now say the paperwork must be lost and my failing to provide equity release at month 54 when I had confirmation I had sent it and the where disputing the issue that it's month 54 not month 66 the review should take place so needless to say I've again sent of all required paperwork but have been told it's sitting in the backlog which is currently 4 weeks so are they going to fail my iva as they don't have correct documentation??? I have been told this will not happen as the issue of breach was a mistake on their part but I have no confidence in their ability to run a p up in a brewery!!! What's even more frightening is I have to deal with the closure fiasco yet!!