Has anyone been unsuccessful in claiming back their bank charges? (UK)?

I know a couple people who have got it all back- including one person who was refunded over Â£2000! I want to go for it but am paranoid about losing the small claims court fees if I don't win, and of them shutting down my account. Has this happened to anyone?
Additional Details
Great answers so far, thanks, can everyone say what bank they dealt with? I'm with Barclays.

Open another account first, then go for it. they always settle because they do not want to go to court. They won't like you for it, hence new account..

Yes it's amazing how persuasive you can be with a double barrel

I got mine back and I did not go to court. Admitedly it was only seven lots of Â£38 but I got it back even though the bank insisted I wouldn't because I kept on and on and on until I did.

Visit this website www.penaltycharges.co.uk This man Stephen Hone will help you get your money back in an easy way - good luck!!!!

I was listening to a broadast on Radio 2 about this a few months ago. It was really interesting. Apparently, a case like that has never gone throught the courts as (according to the chap on R1), it is unlawful for banks to make these types of charges. They are much likely to settle out of court. Threaten them with the small claims and see what type of response you get. You will probably have them close your account but set up an alternative with another bank before you start. Good luck

My work colleague did it and got Â£400 back without any problems.

I'm doing the same thing so good luck - I've had nearly Â£800.00 taken off me in bank charges this year alone! All for the odd couple of quid over my overdraft or a bounced cheque for Â£5.00! Did you download all of the letters from the BBC News website? If not have a look at this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6170209.stm

Drafts of all the letters you are need are here.

Good luck - I'll be interested to hear what happens for you.

I'm with Abbey by the way.

Firstly the small claims court fee is fairly minimal in comparison to the charges you have paid. Secondly you must at least apply to the bank for a refund first, then seek the advice of the banking ombudsman. The small claims court is kind of a last resort, however not one bank has been to defend themselves when they have been taken to court. Unless your fees have been applied due to some sort of illegal activity onyour account, i would say the odds are good that they wouldn't defend themselves in your case. I am currently having some charges refunded to me, about Â£300 and the bank have been quite good about it. I have tried to get them refunded in the past with no success, so this is a big turnaound for my bank. If you have exhausted all other avenues with the bank, then go for it, you have nothing to lose and a lot to gain.

Ello, i wont go into detail, i'm better giving you this web site, it is helping many epeople like urself win there unjustified charges back, you will have to read through the site and it is a forum, so there are many peeps on line helping each other, you have nothing to lose, the banks are the ones that lose, go to this site, and i'm 100% sure you will get all the help you require. good luck and you owe me a drink once you win . www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk

Don't know if this will help but this letter was in the Sun, it was e-mailed to me by a friend.......just fill in the details and send to your bank............you will need copies of your bank statements to show when the charges were made and hopefully you won't have to take them to the small claims court.........they may just pay up.
Subject: bank charges

Dear Sir/Madam

Penalty & unfair charges â€“ request for refund for:

BANK ACCOUNT NAME ............
ACCOUNT NO ..............
SORT CODE ...............

The following charges were applied to the account above:

1. DATE OF CHARGE, HOW MUCH AND WHAT IT WAS FOR.

GO INTO MORE DETAIL HERE ABOUT THE SPECIFIC AMOUNT YOU WENT OVER, WHY AND FOR HOW LONG

2. DATE OF CHARGE, HOW MUCH AND WHAT IT WAS FOR.

GO INTO MORE DETAIL HERE ABOUT THE SPECIFIC AMOUNT YOU WENT OVER, WHY AND
FOR HOW LONG

ETC, ETC

I am of the view that these charges represent a penalty and are therefore
irrecoverable at common law. In the Scottish case of Castaneda and Others v.
Clydebank Engineering and Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (1904) 12 SLT 498 the House
of Lords held that a contractual party can only recover damages for actual
or liquidated losses incurred from a breach of contract. This is also the
position in English law: Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Co Ltd v New Garage and Motor
Co Ltd [1915] AC 79.

Your charges do not reflect any actual loss; instead they appear to
represent a lucrative profit-making scheme. UK banks have recently given
evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Committee on how bank charges are
calculated: "The costs are going to pay for all the people we have who
pursue debt, collect debt, speak to customers and chase payments. The way
these charges are arrived at is by taking these total costs and making some
assumptions about the volume that is going to come through to arrive at the
individual charges" (2nd report, 25 January 2005, paragraph 50).

Accordingly, the charges applied to my account are not a reasonable
pre-estimate of the bankâ€™s loss in relation to my account. Your charges
would appear to represent a device to recover global losses (for example,
loan defaulters, bad debt write off, including commercial lending in, and
out with, the UK).

On a separate note, your charges appear to represent an unfair term of
contract which is contrary to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts
Regulations 1999 (SI. 1999/2083). My account falls within the ambit of
Regulation 5 of the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 as I
am a consumer. Your charges constitute an unfair penalty under reference to
paragraph 1(e) of schedule 2 of the said regulations:

â€˜Indicative and non-exhaustive list of terms which may be regarded as unfair
- 1. Terms which have the object of effect of - (e) requiring any consumer
who fails his obligation to pay a disproportionately high sum in
compensationâ€™.

0n 26 July 2005 the OFT stated that 'a charge is likely to be
disproportionately high if it is more than a court would be likely to award
if the lender sued the cardholder for breach of contract'. Because your
charges include a large profit margin, in addition to actual loss, they are
irrecoverable as an unfair term in contract. In addition, it is unfair to
require me to subsidise your global debt recovery costs and debt write-off.

Please refund these charges to my account within the next 7 days. I reserve
the right to commence court proceedings without any further notice.

Yours faithfully

Thanks for asking this question, you just saved me five points and earned me two more by doing it

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