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Parcel delivery insurance is prohibited under section 57 – Consumer Rights Act – Read about It Here and in The Times.

Prouty99

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Everything posted by Prouty99

  1. Prouty99
    Now I have all of the old paperwork out, I have found a forgotten clerical medical pension that I have that seems a bit dodgy to me. Brief history of the policy; Originally taken out with United friendly in the 80's, who were then bought out or merged at a later date with Royal London. This is /was a mutual with profits. In 2007 I was contacted by an independent financial advisor who said he would take a look at the pension as I was considering transferring the pension to an occupational scheme. The advisor advised me to transfer the existing funds (admittedly not much at the time) into a clerical medical personal pension plan as it would be 'a better option' and 'pay a better amount in the long term' Firstly, CM have never contacted me for a review from 2007 to 2015 (considering the volatility of pensions this seems dodgy) Secondly, as far as I can make out the transfer fee was £4k Two things stand out in the small print on the initial review documents; Assumed growth rates: "Compared with your current plan, the new Clerical Medical plan would reduce your fund by 17.8% Minimum transfer accepted You do not have a particularly large transfer value to invest for your retirement, and so you need a plan which will accept a low minimum stand alone single premium Unfortunately, this plan has one of the highest on the market Policy Fee You should choose a plan with a competitive policy fee Unfortunately this monthly policy fee for this plan is above average compared to other plans on the market. One off installation fee You should choose a plan that has a competitive stand alone administration fee, if at all Unfortunately, one of the highest fees applies to this plan. I went with his advice at the time, and forgot about the pension as I later joined the company scheme anyway, and just never paid anything else into the private one, but over the last couple of weeks I have been tracing things including this and after reading the small print it seems like I was really stiffed on this policy. Luckily I still have all of the paperwork for this one, including 'independent review paperwork' with the name of the advisor should I have any grounds to take this further. Why would someone strongly advise a policy that costs 4K, and loses 17.8% ? I wasn't aware that pension policies charge a monthly fee either (£40 per annum), or installation fee (£100). Thoughts anyone ? Just to add to that, if you read the other thread http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?444060-Tibbett-and-Britten-group-workplace-pensionpost I made about the Tibbett & Britten pension scheme, this is the scheme which I was considering transferring the funds to, and it was a final salary scheme, so I guess it was a foolish thing to do by not transferring into a company scheme at the time, but the way things turned out the final salary scheme was wound up in 2012, so in hindsight a stupid decision, and bad advice at the time has actually turned out to be a decision that has worked out I guess. At the point of sale though it was stupid advice, and a stupid move for me to believe that advice.
  2. Prouty99
    Thanks for the replies on this, I have checked the database on this issue, and have come up with two possibilities; SX929 TIBBETT & BRITTEN LIMITED PENSION SCHEME -THIS FUND WILL BUY DOUBLE PENSION AT RETIREMENT S0929 TIBBETT AND BRITTEN LIMITED PENSION SCHEME -ADDITIONAL VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS I guess that the 5 digit numbers at the start are the group scheme policy numbers, and the NI number added to this will give you a full policy number. I'm not sure which one is the pension that I'm looking at, but i'll give them a call and see what they say. Its such a mess of companies involved, as aside from Tibbetts, and the Equitable life thing, the pension scheme was wound up by DHL (transport and distribution company) I have a feeling that I will be sat in a long line waiting for a very undervalue compensation claim, but I will let you know how I get on.
  3. Prouty99
    Oh dear, It seems that the Tibbett & Britten pension scheme was really an equitable life program... Needless to say I have moved this to the pensions forum http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?444344-I-have-been-sucked-into-the-Equitable-life-vortex&p=4722326#post4722326 May god have mercy on me with the equitable life scandal, I'm in a very long line hammering at their door for compensation it would seem
  4. Prouty99
    Good grief.... I have started to investigate an old workplace pension with an organisation called Tibbett & Britten who did transport and logistics for Asda (pre-Walmart). In 2001 Walmart came along and kicked out Tibbett and Britten as it wanted to do the logistics thing in house now it was partnered with Asda. The pension became frozen. Forward wind to 2008, redundancy loomed (compulsory), and the site closed. Recently we have been wondering what happened to that pension, never had any paperwork from them. So after some digging it seems that the Tibbett & Britten pension scheme went into winding up proceedings around 2009, and DHL were the trustees of the winding up. After more digging today it seems that the although it was a Tibbett & Britten pension scheme (workplace), the pension itself was Equitable life... This has opened a barrel of worms, as the Equitable life stuff (unknown to me or the wife), turned into a real fiasco, with millions owed compensation, and all kinds of nastiness going on. The pension ran from 1992 to 2001 before being frozen, and after some research it seems that this exact timeframe is right at the heart of the fiasco. So this is where I am up to at the moment. What I want to know is if anyone else here has been down this road already with equitable life payment scheme, and although this scandal is well documented, what are the realistic chances of getting any compensation before we are old, toothless and grey ?
  5. Prouty99
    Well, well, it looks like Paratus have emailed me back about the GMAC issue, Good morning Thank you for your email. I will investigate your Redress claim. Can you confirm your current address please. Regards Customer Services Tel: 01344 854084 Lets see what happens (If anything)
  6. Prouty99
    I contacted the pension protection fund on this issue; Thank you for your email dated 8 April 2015. I note your request and can confirm your former employers pension scheme, the Tibbett and Britten Pension Scheme (the scheme) has not transferred to the Pension Protection Fund (PPF). From the enquiries I have made it appears the scheme wound up in November 2012. In this instance we would suggest you contact the Pensions Tracing Service (PTS) who may be able to assist you. The PTS maintains a database of occupational pension schemes and it services are available free of charge. They can be contacted at: Tel: 0845 6002 537 Pension Tracing Service The Pension Service 9 Mail Handling Site 9 Wolverhampton WV98 1LU I hope the above is helpful So I have sent an email to the pension tracing service, and will be speaking to the pension advisory service as well. I'm surprised that the people who were winding up the scheme did not publish what the terms of the winding up would be. I would have thought that anyone winding up a major pension scheme would need to make public what they intend to put into place, or their terms are. I have never had any dealings with a wound up pension before, so this is new ground for me. The pension is (was) a final salary scheme, so I am not surprised it was wound up really.
  7. Prouty99
    Thanks for that Emmzzi, I have dropped those guys an email also Lets see what happens
  8. Prouty99
    I checked this one out It seems that the deadline to write to them was in 2012.... I have just sent a message to pension protection fund, i'll see what happens with that one. I also sent a message to Tibet and britten but the email bounced back, so maybe I will try other avenues, I think the government have a pension tracing service, so I will give that a whirl as well I'll keep you posted
  9. Prouty99
    Hi all, Simple question really, it would seem that a pension I used to have (occupational) was with Tibbett and Britten group. The pension trustees apparently were wound up in 2012 as far as I can make out, but I still have around 8 years of contributions with this pension fund. What do I do ? How do I access my frozen pension funds from a fund that has been wound up ? This isn't my area of expertise, but I'm sure someone here is an expert
  10. Prouty99
    Ok, I had a reply... At least I know they don't intend to deal with this via email Good Afternoon Mr. Prouty Please forward any correspondence to – ParatusAMC 5, Arlington Square, Downshire Way, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG12 4AY . Kind Regards So it looks like the SAR route, no worries I already have the SAR written, so its just a case of posting it I will keep you informed as to my progress
  11. Prouty99
    Well, what can I say...... I received this reply within 24 hours. Dear Mr. Prouty99 Policy Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Thank you for your email which has been passed to me as your dedicated Complaint Handler on the Customer Relations Team. I have tried to contact you today; however there was no answer I therefore left a voice mail and sent you a text message. Firstly, I would like to apologise for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you. To ensure that I address all of your concerns, I have summarised my understanding of the issues you have raised below. Please can you read through this and confirm that it is accurate. My understanding of your complaint is that you are unhappy that you have been charges a Cancellation fee and a Direct Debit set up fee, when your policy was cancelled within the 14 day cooling off period. You are also not happy that you had to wait 11 weeks and 5 days to receive a reply from Asda Car Insurance regarding this matter, you believe this is unfair and would like this investigated. Firstly, I apologise for the problems you have experienced with your insurance policy. I can see that your policy was cancelled with effect from the 13th January 2015 at 11:15, 12 days after the policy had commenced. As your Certificate of Motor Insurance is a legal document we require for this to be returned before we are able to calculate and process any refund that is due. Your Certificate of Motor Insurance was received on the 22nd January and your refund was calculated and processed on the 28th January, within our 14 day timescale outline in our Terms of Business. In your email you have confirmed that you previous insurance company had automatically renewed your insurance policy, I therefore complete a search on the Motor Insurance Database and can see that you were dual insured on the start date of your insurance policy with us. I will therefore arrange for a full refund of the premium you paid for the deposit of this insurance policy to be returned to you. You paid a deposit of £125.21 and have received a refund of £22.04, I will therefore arrange for the difference of £103.17 to be issued to you. How to accept this offer Please reply to this email confirming that you accept this offer in full and final settlement of this complaint. As soon as I receive confirmation I will process your offer as a matter of priority. Please confirm that I have provided a satisfactory resolution to your complaint. Once again, please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you. If you wish to discuss the above offer or the details of your complaint, please do not hesitate to contact your complaint handler The moral of the story is, If you don't ask, you don't get..... Full refund....
  12. Prouty99
    I have sent Asda them a very nice email, so lets see what comes back I'll keep you posted
  13. Prouty99
    Thanks for the reply, I guess that the pressure is off as the mortgage has been paid up some time ago. My strategy is a 3 pronged attack really, I want to sort out the exit fee, which I don't think will be a problem as this was part of the FSA criticism of them in 2009, then I want to go for the PPI, and as an outside chance I am also going to try for the over inflated late payment charges etc.... Do you think that this will involve 3 separate cases, or do you think they may just lump all of these issues into the same case ? By the way, after a 20 year stretch as a trade union official, I am used to dirty tricks, subterfuge, and blackmail
  14. Prouty99
    After getting my other half to go through a bunch of documentation, it turns out that she had a GMAC mortgage which was paid up in around 2008, and prior to this she was hammered with all kinds of charges for some time. After some searching around on the net, it seems that GMAC should have sent her a letter regarding the redress scheme in the wake of the FSA 2009 ruling on their unfair practices, but she doesn't recall ever getting any mail from them regarding this issue. I knew about the GMAC thing a long time ago, but myself and partner haven't been together long, and she had no idea until I asked her if she had any dealings with any of the companies that had been fined in the past. I gather that GMAC went pear shaped, and are now under another organisation (Paratus I believe), so is there any sense in starting the ball rolling through these people right now in 2015 ? I already battered Welcome finance on her behalf, which was a pretty quick and simple affair really, but I expect these Paratus people to be a more difficult process. The original redress telephone number has been discontinued ( 0800 030 4662 ), so I guess firstly it may be a matter of just contacting Paratus maybe Any thoughts anyone ?
  15. Prouty99
    Interesting, i would have thought that the direct debit setup would be the same irrespective of the length of insurance. I think a standard 'threat to take to the ombudsman' may force their hand given the cost of complaint from the FOS versus the cancellation fee Aside from this, i think that 12 weeks for a refund is excessive anyway. If i hadn't got in touch with them to prod them earlier on today, i believe i would have waited forever.... What do you make of the question about having multiple cover for the same car ? would multiple policies all pay out for the same accident ?
  16. Prouty99
    Now i am confused....Here's the policy wording, Cancelling within your 14 day cooling off period You have the right to cancel your policy during a period of 14 days either from the day of purchase of the contract, or the day on which you receive your policy documentation; whichever is the later. If you exercise this right and the cover has not yet commenced, you’ll be entitled to a full refund of the premium paid. If the insurance has commenced and provided that you have not made a claim or a claim has not been made against you, we will return to you the amount that you have paid us, after deducting: A pro rata deduction of the total premium for the time that you have been on cover. A £45.00 cancellation charge Where applicable, the Direct Debit arrangement charge. All policy add-ons will be cancelled if your main motor policy is cancelled. You will be required to return your Certificate of Motor Insurance immediately ---------------------------------- How can you take out car insurance and cancel within 14 day cooling off period when the insurance has not yet commenced ? Surely your insurance begins from the day that you take out the insurance (day 1). Furthermore, Outside the 14 day cooling off period Annual insurance policies are arranged for a period of 12 months and you’re required to pay the full amount stated. Where the insurance policy is cancelled outside the cooling off period, as long as you have not made a claim, or a claim has not been made against you, we will return to you the amount that you have paid us, after deducting: A pro rata deduction of premium for the time that you have been on cover. A £45.00 cancellation charge A pro rata amount of commission earned by us for placing the insurance policy. The full cost of all add-on products that you purchased. Where applicable, the Direct Debit arrangement charge. If the amount that you owe exceeds the amount that you have paid us, you will be required to make payment for the outstanding amount immediately. Failure to do so may result in us taking steps to recover the debt. If there are any unpaid monies when the policy is cancelled, we may also withhold documents such as No Claims Discount to which you’re entitled, until full payment is made ----------------------------------- So it would seem that inside, or outside the 14 day cooling off period you still get whacked for the £45 cancellation fee...., i don't see the point in having the 14 day cooling off period at all, cos it doesn't give you much of a right to any advantage at all. The direct debit arrangements were never utilised, and no first payment occurred before the policy was cancelled, but hey, lets charge you £27.50 anyway....
  17. Prouty99
    Looks like i've been stung here Took out a car insurance policy on 1st Jan 2015 with Asda money, not realising that my existing car insurance with Insurance factory had in fact rolled over from 2014 to 2015 therefore i was already insured and didn't realise it. Once i realised the error i cancelled the Asda money policy within the 14 day cooling off period, and returned my insurance document to them, expecting that i would be refunded the £125 i had given to them as a deposit, less any cancellation fee which i didn't expect to be much. On April 4th still hadn't heard anything. so emailed them so see what they were playing at as it had been 11 weeks, and 5 days since cancelling the policy without hearing anything from them via mail, phone, or email. They sent me an email stating the following; Hi XXXXXX Policy number: AMXXXXXXXXXXX Thank you for contacting me regarding your refund. The necessary calculations have now been completed. Please find below the breakdown of how this has been calculated: Paid: £125.21 Deductions: Days on cover (inclusive of Insurance Premim Tax of 6%) £30.67 Direct Debit Set up Fee £27.50 Cancellation Fee £45.00 The return Premium due is £22.04. Thank you again for contacting me, if there is anything else I can help with please let me know. Yours sincerely So there you have it. £22 refund for a £125 layout for a policy that was useless and not needed and ran uselessly for 12 days. Two questions spring to mind; Firstly, if i had an accident within that 12 days would i have been able to claim on both policies, if not then it was useless and may have been an invalid policy from day one Secondly i recall that during the PPI thing that one of the reasons for refund was if you had adequate insurance elsewhere aside from the policy you were being sold. Thoughts anyone ? Ombudsman maybe ? Does the ombudsman still charge the company that you lodge a complaint against, and if so is the charge more than the amount that i am looking to get back ?
  18. Prouty99
    This particular individual took the step to becoming a terp as he thought it was the right thing to do. It was never about being paid on time, or not. His opinion is that he was unhappy that the way that the country was being run way before any hostilities started. If he would have spoken out at that time he would have been killed, no question. With the Americans and British forces in the country it gave the opportunity to turn opinions into action, and do his bit to help, If the UK was being ruled by a dictator, and secret police 'disappeared' people for very little reason, then i would immediately join with any invading force intent on democratic change. It wouldn't matter how much i was paid beforehand. There are some people who are prepared to give up everything to have a chance to fight for the freedom of their fellow man y'know. It would seem that some opinions in this thread indicate that given these circumstances it would be better to continue taking the money, turn a blind eye when your neighbours disappeared, keep your head down, and support your friendly dictatorship...,but i digress..., as i said in an earlier post, the objective has been achieved, and irrespective of opinion on who is or who isn't a veteran, the objective has still been achieved regardless.
  19. Prouty99
    Hi folks, I had a strange end to this case... I had long negotiations with the HA, and they firstly seemed to agree that the room wasn't a bedroom, but later changed their stance to quite a strange opinion. The HA had protracted talks within the organization and seriously considered reclassifying their 3 beds to 2 beds and two to ones, but those talks collapsed. However the HA has now settled on a position whereas they will now charge the tenant for the bedroom tax, but the kicker is that they have categorically stated in writing that if the tenant goes into arrears due to the bedroom tax that the HA will not seek repossession on this basis alone. In practice after negotiation with the HA, the policy is that the bedroom tax is not classed as 'rent', therefore the HA cannot class unpaid bedroom tax as rent arrears. I also have it in writing that the HA will not seek repossession proceedings however large the arrears for bedroom tax alone. This is a very weird ruling, and not one that i expected (or sought), but the head of the HA told me that even if the tenant is 10K + in arrears for bedroom tax alone the HA will not be pursuing legal action ! I'm still mulling over this at the moment, and considering my next move, but the HA's firm position is that it does not have the resources to undertake multiple prosecutions based on something that technically isn't rent in the true sense of the word.
  20. Prouty99
    You make some very good points here, although with regard to the interpreters you seem to keep coming back to the 'very well paid' argument, which you comment on based upon your own experiences with the terps, and i have my own opinions based on my only experience with a terp (which is the individual i have assisted), who gave up a career that paid 3 times the best wage he was ever paid as a terp in order to become an interpreter. He was already extremely well paid before he got involved with the coalition forces. As i keep saying, for him money was irrelevant. We do seem to have common ground with some of our opinions and you seem to be in favour of UK contractors getting equal consideration, which in principle i would agree with, at the very least in the case you mention. I'm sure that if this would have been the case i was supporting i could have helped in this case also. At the end of the day i can only deal with the case that is in front of me, and i have done that. We can argue back and forth all day about the pros and cons of who should get assistance or not, and voice our opinions either way, but the individual i have supported has achieved his goal, and is about to start a new life thanks to the armed forces covenant. Opinions about who should, or shouldn't have done what after the fact count for nothing.
  21. Prouty99
    I only notified RBL today in Manchester, and the county welfare officer i notified is only back in the office on Wednesday after the bank holiday weekend. RBL in Manc have already been supporting this person, but aren't aware of the new development to this case until today. I take it you have ties to RBL so if this is the case then speak to Dan Martin, or David Brown at Lowry house (RBL) Manc office for further info. Just because you technically haven't served in the armed forces doesn't necessary mean that you don't get MVIAPT, RBL, Live-At-Ease, and Civvy Street assistance...,and the fact that this individual didn't have a service number didn't get in the way of him achieving priority housing assistance with my help. Service number or not, this individual has sacrificed everything for the UK's campaign in the gulf conflict, not because of money, but because his opinion was that it was the right thing to do, and i think that deserves recognition (which has now been achieved) I am not a big fan of Mr.Clegg, but he made a valid point yesterday, "I think we have a duty of care to these people" Damn straight.
  22. Prouty99
    Just as an update to the case i mentioned at the start of this thread..... After meeting number 2 of the local authority Armed forces covenant steering group, the 'terp' i am campaigning for has now received official 'veteran' status, and has now been accepted by British Legion, Veterans Council, and MVIAPT service, amongst a few others...,Civvy street being one of them, and is currently receiving ongoing support from all of them for housing, mental health, welfare, etc He has also been escalated from the lowest local authority housing banding, to band 1 priority based solely on his 'veteran' status. As far as i'm aware he is the only Iraqi 'terp' in the UK to be recognised as a veteran under the covenant (even though that may only be at local authority level at this stage). All this backup, and he was still refused for an application for an armed forces discount card, and also for a veterans lapel badge, both refusals were taken after the organisations issuing these items asked for guidance from MOD (who declined based on his non-veteran status) How can a person be accepted with open arms as a veteran by MVIAPT, British Legion, Live-At-Ease, Civvy Street, and Local authority armed forces covenant steering group (populated by Colonels, Wing Commanders, Mayors, and MP's ), yet not be recognised as a veteran by MOD ? I think this is due to the fact that they don't want to create a precedent for the rest of the 'terps' be they Iraqi, or Afghan.
  23. Prouty99
    Thanks Stu, I will post any interesting replies from the local authority when i get them Thanks for the assistance, i owe you one Regards Prouty
  24. Prouty99
    Hi Stu, They have all the documentation to prove this, although the female lives with child in a 1 bedroom LHA flat, and gets child benefit for the child. Ex partner lives in the 2 bedroom flat, and the child visits regularly and has overnight stays to free up mum sometimes (as mum is also disabled, and needs a break at times) The problem is (and this has been confirmed to me by the local authority), that if dad got housing benefit rather than mum, there wouldn't be an issue. Dad would be classed as guardian, and bedroom tax would be withdrawn in his case. As mum has only a 1 bed, then she wouldn't be a victim of the bedroom tax to start with. In a perfect world they could just mutually exchange flats, that's it, problem solved. Although mum is disabled and the 2 bed is 2nd floor with no lifts.
  25. Prouty99
    I thought that the bedroom affected anyone who is in receipt of housing benefit, whether that is in social, OR private rented accommodation. I am waiting for the first press story about someone being assaulted by a lodger they took in as a result of these rules. It's only a matter of time.

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