Facebook's suppression of our Page continues unabated. The Financial Ombudsman Service will update Declan every three months on the progress of the complaint he submitted last February following the non-payment of his salary by standing order
28/10/20
NatWest have also confirmed via email the letter was sent and the method - via post. I have no reason to doubt what they have told me, nevertheless, as mentioned your complaint will now be fully reviewed by an Ombudsman including any information/evidence provided by NatWest. This may take some time but I will keep you updated every three months on the progress.
Pritti Darbar | Investigator | Financial Ombudsman Service
Our Church and State website has no less than 59 Nobel Laureates on it despite the never-ending assault on our email; see paragraph 2 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar (updated today).
Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms formulates what is the core of free speech. "Everyone has the right to freedom of expression." In an important interpretation of this article, the European Court of Human Rights in Handyside v. UK (1976) indicated that this "freedom of expression" should be construed as follows. It "is applicable not only to 'information' or 'ideas' that are favourably received, or regarded as inoffensive, or as a matter of indifference, but also to those that offend, shock or disturb the State or any sector of the population". Such are the demands of that pluralism, tolerance and broadmindedness without which there is no "democratic society" (see Cliteur, 2010).
On Wed, 7 Oct 2020 at 14:11, Declan Heavey
Dear NatWest Complaints Team,
I wish to complain that this morning my wife was unable to transfer money to my account because the payee name wouldn't verify with the account details.
Please can you acknowledge the bank's error in this regard, which was subsequently resolved by a member of your team.
Yours faithfully,
Declan Heavey
This is the third complaint Declan has submitted to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) this year for resolution. It was the second time in two months that Declan discovered that NatWest made an error with the spelling of his surname. On 10 August, NatWest Complaints wrote to St Mungo's CEO Steve Douglas CBE about the bank's error in the electronic transfer on 30 July of Declan's payment of £1,850 to St Mungo's by court order - a cashier at NatWest Stratford Broadway branch manually changed his name from Mr Declan * Heavey to Mr D * Henry without his knowledge. It was left up to Declan to resolve this matter himself after St Mungo's responded following the confirmation NatWest sought from them by confirming only that the customer reference on the payment couldn't be changed by them. Nonetheless, on 16 September, an investigator at FOS wrote: "I understand your worries in that NatWest keyed the reference for your payment incorrectly, but given the evidence I've reviewed, I'm satisfied NatWest acted fairly." This was Declan's reply to her initial contact with him:
27 August 2020
Dear Ms Smith,
Thank you for your email. Please find attached a copy of the payment instructions, which include the correct reference. You will find all the information you require in the one attachment, but if you would prefer better please let me know.
Please note that firstly I am unhappy that the cashier at NatWest Stratford Broadway branch manually changed my name from Mr Declan * Heavey to Mr D * Henry when sending a payment of £1,850 to St Mungo's by court order. I am also unhappy that NatWest referred me to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) before my complaint was resolved. It was left up to me to resolve this matter after St Mungo's responded following the confirmation NatWest sought from them by confirming only that the customer reference on the payment could not be changed by them. It was only after I provided St Mungo's with a copy my FOS complaint that the matter was finally resolved by me (not NatWest).
NatWest have acknowledged their error in part. They have not acknowledged that I was left to resolve this matter myself. I do not believe that NatWest has adequately compensated me for the distress and inconvenience caused; the latter both in terms of my time and the effort it took from me to resolve this matter as quickly as possible. On 11 August 2020, St Mungo's wrote: "I acknowledge receipt of £1,850 from you and have allocated this against your account." I only received this effective receipt for the payment after I provided them with a copy my FOS complaint. But I do not need to hear back further from St Mungo's about whether they received the payment.
Yours sincerely,
Declan Heavey
Tell us about your complaint - what happened?
On 10 August 2020, NatWest Complaints wrote to St Mungo's CEO Steve Douglas about the Bank's error in the electronic transfer on 30 July 2020 of my payment of £1,850 to St Mungo's by court order - a cashier at NatWest Stratford Broadway branch manually changed my name from Mr Declan * Heavey to Mr D * Henry without my knowledge. Within possibly a couple of hours of NatWest's email to Mr Douglas, I was informed by St Mungo's that the customer reference on the payment cannot be changed by them. I am still seeking from St Mungo's the confirmation NatWest sought from Mr Douglas; namely, that "the payment has been correctly allocated on their records in the customer name of Mr Declan * Heavey", to quote from NatWest's subsequent email letter to me (attached).
How have you been affected - financially or otherwise?
This matter continues to cause me distress and inconvenience because I am still dealing with St Mungo's for the confirmation sought to put things right for me. I have been dealing with this particular matter continually since 30 July 2020 and still there has been no resolution of my complaint against NatWest because of the absence of this confirmation from St Mungo's. There can be no resolution of my complaint against NatWest without this confirmation because of the increased concern generated by the absence of it. The question is raised: why wouldn't St Mungo's provide the confirmation sought by the bank at the highest level of the charity?
How would you like the business to put things right for you?
I would like NatWest to re-open my complaint until such time as it has been resolved and I have received from St Mungo's the confirmation sought to put things right for me. It is not inconceivable that this may involve NatWest having to write to Mr Douglas again. I do not believe that the £30 compensation that I have received from NatWest adequately compensates me for what has happened. Once my case has been resolved (and I have received from St Mungo's the confirmation sought to put things right for me), I would hope for a better acknowledgement of the bank's failure to deliver the level of service I am entitled to expect.
Case closed 16/09/20
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Headquarters in Gogarburn. The RBS owns National Westminster Bank (NatWest).
Declan has also had RBS's NatWest before FOS since last February following the non-payment of his salary by standing order. An investigator at FOS has found that the Executive Case Manager at RBS wouldn't have been reasonably aware when she paid Declan compensation on 17 February - in recognition of issues he had experienced in setting up two replacement standing orders on the Network for Church Monitoring business account - that there had been some error previously made by NatWest in setting up the replacement standing order for the payment of his salary. Declan's complaint about the subsequent cancellation of the standing order without his knowledge or consent that resulted in the non-payment of his salary on 24 February has been passed to the Ombudsman. His salary continues to be paid online by quick transfer from the business account to his personal account pending an ombudsman's final decision that will be published on their website. He was informed by the investigator on 28 October that he will be updated every three months on the progress.
FOS investigator: "NatWest have said although the cancellation was processed on the 12th February 2020, it wasn't uploaded for processing until later – so it didn't actually cancel until the 19 February 2020."
14 October: NatWest Bank: Declan's complaint about the non-payment of his salary on 24 February has been passed to the Financial Ombudsman for a decision to be published on their website. The never-ending assault on our email continues unabated
We have no pro se (in person) access to the courts
The following is the full content of paragraph 4 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar.
4. This eviction matter previously came before District Judge Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June, when both counsel for St. Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of Declan's claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St. Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St. Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
30 June: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 02/11/20)
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
The following is the full content of paragraph 4 under "Church and State" on this blog's sidebar.
4. This eviction matter previously came before District Judge Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June, when both counsel for St. Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of Declan's claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St. Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St. Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us.
30 June: District Judge Ruth Fine orders Declan to pay £1,850 in costs. St Mungo's are under no obligation to even vouch over the phone that we are clients of the Mayor of London-commissioned St Mungo's TST programme (WITH UPDATE 02/11/20)
Metropolitan Police Crime Reference No. 5330050/20. On 16 October, our flat door on the 2nd floor was vandalised by two thugs with a crowbar. Declan and I were in the flat at the time and fortunately our double locked door held firm. It's my opinion that they just wanted to break the door lock but didn't have enough time. The communal door lock downstairs wasn't broken. We're told that on 10 November the communal door lock will be changed and our flat door repaired. The police closed the case within two days of the crime due to a lack of evidence.
8 November: Part 1: Housing Ombudsman Service. Declan has complained to Lyn Brown MP about this statutory service. Our flat door has been vandalised (crime reference no. 5330050/20). And ISAF's letter to Facebook's COO in September has gotten no results (previous post)
We have perfect reception on free view channels using our aerial, but seldom with our second BT YouView box - today is no exception. The screenshot above was taken on 21 October and lasted six days despite a strong internet connection throughout the period. Last week, I recorded the same wipeout on free view channels for two days in a row.
1 November: Day 2: Will we ever know a good BT TV service? We now pay the British telecom giant over £800 a year. The Police have closed their investigation into crime reference 5330050/20 for want of evidence
From sidebar (see "Church and State", para. 5):
On 4 September, which also happened to be Declan's 60th birthday, the Housing Ombudsman Service set our landlord Peabody Trust a third and final deadline to respond to his Stage 1 complaint. Almost immediately that same day we were unreasonably threatened by Facebook that our Page would be unpublished by them. They have dramatically restricted the distribution of the page from 120-400K a week for years to no more than 8-9K post reach a week since 4 September. This has dropped to an unprecedented low 4-5K post reach for the week (less than 1K a day). What, when or how often I post has little or no effect on the supression of our post reach on any one given day.
17 October: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page
"Let me recommend an important web site churchandstate.org.uk. Operating out of London this well-designed and exciting web site covers church-state, population, climate change and other issues. Check it out." Edd Doerr (1930-2020), (then) President, Americans for Religious Liberty
