Portman Update

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Remember that gruelling one and a half hour session my wife and I endured in the office of Portman trying to get some sense and redress from them?
Well, Donna Smith, Mortgage processing unit claims to have investigated our complaint. Unbelievably, in what she makes clear is her final letter, she says that although Katy Barnes recalls our visit,
“There is no record of the conversations that took place there”.
No record!! My wife and I saw Katy Barnes take notes. She also claimed to make two phone calls to head office. She then made one phone call to me with many promises of action.
Portman may have no records, but I do. So does BT. Every call is logged.

Donna Smith invites us to take our matter to the financial ombudsman.
He will have many questions. Uppermost will be “Don’t you think your record taking and keeping of records leaves a lot to be desired?

Abbey Guilty Of Hounding Customers

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Sign up to Abbey, tick the boxes that say you don’t want to be contacted with information about new products – and still get weekly phone calls from their call centres day and night.
I have had 6 such calls in as many weeks.
I have now been told I have to phone a special number to get all this stopped. Its called the “Customer satisfaction line”. Don’t you just love it?

I have taken to tape recording all phone calls and face to face interviews with everyone as what the representative says to you when in selling mode is often false and misleading. Unless you yourself have a record of what took place you don`t have any comeback whatsoever.
Its just your word against theirs. And these days the customer is looked upon as always wrong.

Pushing Blogging To The Limit

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I have not posted recently because I have been acutely depressed. Despite my attempts to get my life sorted before treatment so I could have a fighting chance at overcoming my illness I am still hounded by the ordinary affairs of life.
I am currently in dispute with my mortgage provider. As yet I am publishing no information as to the details but for the record it looks a brilliant story of lying, incompetence and sheer bloody mindedness.
As I say, I was becoming depressed over the matter because I felt like a helpless victim being mercilessly crushed by a monolithic corporation.
I was even suicidal.
But then I remembered the Blog!! My own website where I can freely vent my own frustrations and warn others of this foul firms practices. I suddenly felt a surge of power and a feeling of YES I want to live and hound these bastards as they have hounded me. I will push the power of blogging to the limit in standing up for the rights of the common man.
I will expose corruption wherever it may be. I will expose it fearlessly as I have nothing to lose. As Soltznetsin said,
“Tell the totalitarian authorities everywhere not to make that one fatal error of taking away everything from the common man. Because you will have just made him free all over again”
I have faced death and I don`t fear it. I can now live without fear. These people can do nothing to me as I expose them for the merciless tyrannical practices they employ.
There is hope in this sad tale though.
I can reveal that many staff at this as yet unnamed firm are leaving as they cannot stand the practices the firm is employing.
If only Germans in Nazi Germany had employed such conscientious measures we may not have had the second world war.
Like the prison guard at Auschwitz said,
“I never killed anyone I just opened the doors of the cattle trucks and helped them out”
I await this firms next step. You might all end up seeing my picture in the papers after all. If they choose to try and gag me it will be headlines. They say the internet is a free place. They use that excuse to allow pornographers and subversive elements to have their say.
Well, lets just see if Joe Blogger can have his say.

MartinB said...
Go for it Paul!There is a tendancy for large corporations to forget that the reason they exist is down to lots of small people like ourselves. Many require an occasional painful reminder to put them in their place.The old business addage that 'it takes an awful lot to win a customer, and next to nothing to loose one' definitely applies. If they refuse to treat you fairly, publish the lot and we will see what effect it has on their reputation and customer base.Martin 3:29 PM
Karl said...
Received your backup files. We can now republish your blog from anywhere in the world.Its good to have you back. I knew you couldn`t stay away. Once a journo always a journo.There are a lot of us watching this one. Don`t let them wrong foot you.Why didnt you tell us you were ill?Karl.
8:05 PM
Gioia said...
There is power in numbers. Stand strong and be powerful. Have your say, for you have many friends, whom also have many friends. And so the ripple effect happens.I love you as alwaysGioia x
9:26 PM
nick said...
Some time ago I concluded that all financial institutions are designed to screw the common man out of as much money as possible, regadless of their ability or incompetence. This is why a system designed to be the secure equivalent of a mattress hides behind a plethora of jargon, incomprehensible to mortal man and as open to interpretation as the collected speeches of John Prescott.Just a thought - I have noticed, through my own financial dealings that one company seems to be behind a huge number of others (often using accepted banks as a front). I suspect a dubious set of practices, probably in terms of monopolies and mergers, which go unrestricted, as we all know Governments need money.I tried to put all my finances with one bank for cohesion - I now find that this is anything but true - they use the same corporate logo, same letterhead, but are not 'under the same banner' as I was once told.Oh - by the way - when I complain, they 'note my comments' - but never do anything or feed back to me. Their directors remain hopelessly unidentifiable - but probably impossibly wealthy!Oh - should I name them? Well let's say my bank claims to operate throughout the country from the seat of Government (8,11 abbreviated to 3,4) while the monopoly cames links to the monarchy from north of the border (5,4,2,8). I should write cryptic crossword clues!!
9:59 AM
Paul said...
Yes, you are right there is no cohesion although they are all linked. In my business account I used to bank with Royal Bank of Scotland but when they took over Nat West they kept changing the rules on whether you could pay Royal Bank of Scotland money into the Nat west for free.It changed from month to month. Sometimes I would go into the Nat West and there would be no problem other times they would say we don`t do that anymore.All banks apear to be owned by the Arab world.The reason they allowed all the Bin Laden family out of America after their favourite son had just ordered two airliners into the world trade centre was because if they held the Saudis resposible they would leave the States and take 20% of its wealth with them.If you haven`t seen Michael Moores documentary on 9/11 it really is a must see.Nice to see you back,Paul.
1:27 PM
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Portman Takeover Staffordshire

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Staffordshire Staff Leave Portman Empire

When I took out a mortgage in 2000 I chose the Staffordshire because they were small, local and friendly. Sadly, they sold out to Portman, a huge conglomerate whose MD is one of the top paid Fat Cats in the country. Portman delight in telling you how successful they are as profits increase hugely every year – but where is this money coming from?
Me. And other suckers who have bought into Portman.
Hidden charges, stealth increases, false information and withheld information (or to put it bluntly, lying and incompetence) seem to be the hallmarks of the Portman empire.
Certainly there is no doubting the unhappiness of Staffordshire staff who are leaving Portman because they feel they can no longer work within this system. I admire such people and will be leaving them completely out of this story, despite the fact that they have been having to “Do things the Portman Way”, as one staff member told me.

My personal experience is that when trying to find out when my mortgage was up for renewal I was told on four occasions (two of which were by the mortgage adviser herself) that Portman would be in touch. Even when I started a course of chemotherapy for a progressive liver disease in February and wanted to see if I could sort out my mortgage beforehand as I was told by the consultant that I should have no stress on chemotherapy, I was told “Don`t worry Mr Wilcox, we will be in touch”
Amazingly, I discovered in MAY this year that my mortgage was up in August last year and that I had been on the highest interest rate unnecessarily for NINE MONTHS. So either by lying or incompetence or a mixture of both they have just made £500 out of me. Multiply that by all the lenders and you are probably looking at £250,000,000. Just for NOT sending out a letter.
Nice one Fat Cat!!
The mortgage adviser was repentant when my wife and I confronted her in her office A FULL HOUR AND A HALF OF STRESS I DID NOT NEED. She knew I was on Chemotherapy and I was obviously not well. After consulting all our records she eventually admitted liability for the mistakes and said she would be looking for a new deal or a reimbursement of the extra cash Portman had made by their ERROR.

Ah, but once we were out of the office we were informed the matter would have to go through the complaints procedure. I would hear in two to five working days acknowledging this process.
NINE DAYS OF WAITING. NOTHING!!
After further contact with the local branch the mortgage adviser is at a complete loss to explain why Head Office are taking no notice of her and can only refer me back to them.
Well, if Portman isn`t listening to its own people why on earth should they listen to me??? And, more disturbingly, why have a local office at all.
In true corporate tradition it would be “A prudent measure” to save money to get rid of expensive local buildings and staffing and just centralise everything. That way, as well as saving money by axing excess staff you don`t get irritating personal callers. Just more money made because of having to make phone calls to faceless minions trained to be as unhelpful as possible.
When you phone Portman you are paying for an expensive 0870 number for which Portman rakes off extra cash for every minute they keep you waiting. So not surprisingly there is little incentive for staff to give quick, clear concise advice.
The only thing they want is for you to borrow more money, an offer I get every time I go into the local branch. I went in for information which I did not receive, not to hear how I can be tied in to these bloodsuckers for a lifetime.
Frustrated, I emailed Donna Smith, Team Manager, Mortgage Processing for Portman and received a form letter showing that she hadn`t even bothered looking into the case but assured me of her best intentions at all times.
I love these meaningless phrases especially when they are in a communication that patently screams I don`t give a damn.
Needless to say my consultant nurse is none too pleased at all this unecassary stress at this critical stage in my life and is preparing a letter of complaint.

So. I`m still waiting. I won’t be holding my breath.
The serious implications of this disturbing trend in big business both for the public and society at large will be explored in my next post.
All facts here are recorded on tape or letter or email and are freely available.

Originally published as part of a blog written by Paul Wilcox and available on the World Wide Web at http://journojunky.blogspot.com/
ENDS.