Where is my money?!

£2600 disappeared from my account!! Fine! Here's my riposte: two fingers raised slightly apart at Flight Centre and Natwest Bank!

Despite of what has recently come to our attention -- having found out that I have go home in such a short notice -- what I discovered this morning shocked me to the point that I had to piece myself together from going into panic attack. I rose early and went to Flight Centre to secure what-they-found-to-be-the-cheapest flight available for July 10th, which was discussed over the phone last night with Sonya. I was ready to pay for it as I did not want to pay any more than 900£ for a ticket as the minute ticks away. I was assured by Flight Centre that all outbound flights to Asia on all airlines were ALL full and/or unavailable.

Just to be sure that I had the necessary funds to pay for my ticket, I stopped by to check my balance at my bank's ATM. To my horror, £2,621 DISAPPEARED from my account over night! Natwest was supposed to open its door at 09:00 to customers but it was not opened till 09:35. My horrors and shocks escalated by the fact that I could not see anyone in the bank about the sudden disappearance of my funds! I had absolutely NO idea who and how or what happened. I'd dread to imagine that I was at the time a victim of identity theft, which still is an all time high alert this year especially in England! The mini-statement spat out by the ATM only my balance of £320, instead of £2941! In the description, there were 3 transactions reading "POS", an abbreviation for Point-of-Sale, for the amount £873.90 each all on the same day July 3.



I know I have not spent any monies yesterday, at all! However, I did try to book the ticket with Sonya and attempted payment over the phone yesterday but all attempted payments did not go through for some strange reasons! This in effect meant that no monies were spent!

When the bank opened its doors, I enquired about the missing monies. They said my money is NOT "with" them! Then I asked where. They do not know! Nothing could be inferred from the 3 POS in the statement. Then I realized it could be Sonya.

I went back to Flight Centre and asked Sonya how much did she attempted to charge my card yesterday. She answered £873.90! I showed her the mini-statement and said to her,
"I thought you said the payments did not go through?! LOOK! THREE TIMES I was charged £873.90 each! It is no coincidence that this amounts up to £2621.70! Now I have got no money to pay for my ticket!"

"Danny, here are the receipts. They are all cancelled." I examined the receipts thoroughly and there are no doubts that they were all canceled or voided. That meant that my funds should not have moved from my account.

"So, where is my money?!"

"I don't know. We don't have your money. It's all been canceled. The payments did not go through. You have to check with your bank."



Furious as you can already imagine how I felt realizing that nobody knows where my money is, I barged back into the bank and demanded to know where my money is.

Sam S, the customer service advisor explained how the bank does not have my money. "If you return a good you purchased at a store, they will refund your money... as there is proof of payment. The money actually moved from one place to another...", she paused, "You must go back to Flight Centre and tell them to return your money. Obviously this shows that," looking at the three £873.90 transactions in my bank statement, "they have taken money from you".

Reluctantly, I went back to FC and this time I was determined NOT to leave FC until I get some answers no matter what it takes. £2600 was at stake! I felt robbed! Still, Sonya insisted that she nor FC has taken any monies from me! By this time, I had resorted to raising my voice and shouted at her and calling her names for her incompetencies. I demanded her to call Caroline, one of the bank manager, as I was overly furious and brimming with anger to go anywhere any more. I wasn't going to be pushed around for something that is not even my fault.

Apparently, as explained later by Caroline, the money is IN BETWEEN the bank and FC, just as I was running back and forth between these two god-forsaken place rime and over again early morning! They money is trapped in the bank system (computers) which was to be updated at midnight tonight. At this point my mind flashed a riposte: two fingers raised slightly apart. I demanded to that I WILL have access to my funds (even though it is not there) because I will not be able to fly back without a ticket AND I certainly do not want to pay extra just because I waited to pay the next day. Who knows tomorrow's flight ticket will cost me £1,200 for a return ticket!?

Whether my £2600 will appear by or on midnight tonight, I continue to wait. Perhaps tomorrow will be a better day to start.