Barclays sent me 3,000 IDENTICAL letters in 3 days – there were so many I could barely open my door
A CUSTOMER was bombarded with 3,000 identical letters from Barclays bank.
Sylvan Mason was expecting correspondence telling her of two refunds on her account.
But she didn’t expect to be inundated with thousands of the letters — all saying exactly the same thing.
Sylvan, 80, even struggled to get through her front door because of the post piled up behind it.
The retired photographer was waiting for letters from Barclays — where she has banked since the age of 17 — detailing refunds of a £29.45 payment to Uber and £44 for an Uber Eats order she did not make.
But while she was out on Monday morning her doorbell camera caught the postman stuffing the first 633 envelopes through the door.
Sylvan, of Fulham, South West London, joked: “Barclays — the bank that keeps on giving.
“I went out for a short walk that morning, and when I got back, I could barely open my front door.
“It took me a good ten minutes just to get inside.
“When I finally managed to push my way in, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing — the hallway was entirely covered with envelopes. It was like a sea of white paper.”
Another 686 letters were delivered later that day before another postie arrived on Wednesday with four boxes in his van each containing about 400 letters.
And he warned her two more boxes of letters were at the depot waiting to be delivered yesterday.
Sylvan added: “I’ve seen the funny side of it. It’s a great talking point which makes people laugh. It hasn’t caused any harm, thank goodness.
“I know some people might not have been able to cope with it. Luckily, I’m in a good state at the moment.
“The shocking part is this mistake has likely cost over £1,100 in postage alone, not to mention the paper and manpower. It’s an appalling waste of resources and money.
“After my experience, I’m not so sure that computerised systems and fancy technology are money-saving for the consumer. This certainly never happened in the olden days.”
Barclays put a stop to the influx of mail after she called to complain — but Sylvan may still get more if they have already been dispatched.
Barclays has offered her £250 as a gesture of goodwill and helped organise for a company to shred the copious confidential documents.
A spokesman said: “A technical issue meant a significant number of letters were sent in error.
“We have stopped this from happening again and apologise for the inconvenience this has caused.”