Ifonic Claims Ltd Swansea - 86yrs old apparently £990 out of pocket!

[CerberusSco]

Just realised that. Sorting them now & I have removed them for the time being. Apologies.

[citizenB]

Mr Stanford, you ask why we actively discourage our members from using Claims Management Companies.

 

I would suggest this is thread is one reason. One very good reason why we do this.

 

Then go on to claim

 

 

Our response rate appears empirically to be better than the direct approach. However I am not able to provide hard data.

 

You receive no special treatment as CMC when making approaches to the bank or the Financial Ombudsman.

 

You have advised (as part of your advertising puff) that your largest success to date is obtaining the sum of £19,000 for a client. Please look round our "Success "Forums and you will see that with Free advice and assistance from our members, others have managed to obtain many larger sums ! Indeed one such member obtained £60,000 !!

 

Further more, we do have the hard data

[CerberusSco]

Uploaded & re-attached as .pdf

 

I haven't uploaded every single document as it's time consuming & space consuming, but you'll get the jist of it.

 

Taken from my original post:

 

The documents contain the following:

 

Welcome letter & T's&C's

x2 - Letter of Engagement - Allowing Ifonics to deal with this claim, which is unsigned

Client Information - Containing very basic details about my father in law (address, telephone number etc)

x11 - Letter of Authority - Giving authority for Ifonics to act & reclaim PPI on my father in laws behalf, also unsigned

x11 - PPI Questionnaire

 

I am also in the process of acquiring the bank statement which shows the actual payment being taken from my in laws bank account and I will attach that either later on today or tomorrow.

[citizenB]

Just realised that. Sorting them now & I have removed them for the time being. Apologies.

 

Apologies not required. It must be very frustrating to post up only to discover that no one can see or access your documents

[citizenB]

Sadly the final page, terms and conditions has scanned quite poorly and I personally am unable to read it. I am sure there are others here who will be able to comment further on the documents you have posted up.

 

What I am still at a loss to understand is why, monies were taken from your FiL's account, before these documents were signed and returned to the CMC ?

[dx100uk]

Sadly the final page, terms and conditions has scanned quite poorly and I personally am unable to read it. I am sure there are others here who will be able to comment further on the documents you have posted up.

 

What I am still at a loss to understand is why, monies were taken from your FiL's account, before these documents were signed and returned to the CMC ?

 

so am I !!

 

dx

[Cliff Stanford]

You receive no special treatment as CMC when making approaches to the bank.

It has certainly been our experience that we have had successful claims where the bank has rejected an initial approach by the customer.

 

You have advised (as part of your advertising puff) that your largest success to date is obtaining the sum of £19,000 for a client. Please look round our "Success "Forums and you will see that with Free advice and assistance from our members, others have managed to obtain many larger sums ! Indeed one such member obtained £60,000 !!

Of course. By the very nature of this forum, you have highly intelligent members who are well able to argue their own case. They don't need us. In fact I'm considering adding a link to our web page to your helpful "how to" post for customers who want to go it alone. Would you have any objection to that?

 

Furthermore, we do have the hard data

I'd be very interested to see that data as it would be really useful to be able to gauge our performance over time. In return, I'd be happy to make data available to this forum.

[CerberusSco]

Sadly the final page, terms and conditions has scanned quite poorly and I personally am unable to read it. I am sure there are others here who will be able to comment further on the documents you have posted up.

 

What I am still at a loss to understand is why, monies were taken from your FiL's account, before these documents were signed and returned to the CMC ?

 

Yep, which makes me think that Cerys-Angharad Ltd. trading as Ifonic Claims have committed Advance Fee Fraud.

 

As regards to the T's & C's, I'll re-scan them and upload them again.

[dx100uk]

You are entitled to your opinion that our business practice is disgusting. However we have never "spoofed" or "diddled" anyone and I will continue to refute such allegations.

 

Frankly, I find the practices of the banks disgusting: they have systematically overcharged for a useless insurance; they have fiddled interest rates; they do everything they can to defend the indefensible. If the banks didn't "diddle" the customers, claims companies would not be in business. With whom are you more disgusted?

 

stop changing the subject...

 

WHY are you charging an advanced fee of £990 , when there is NO SIGNED CONTRACT.??

 

nice comment about the banks spoofing people out of PPI - then along comes CMC's like yourselves - that spoof them even more!!

 

EVERYTHING you claim to do, can be done for FREE quite simply by anyone.

 

but you charge £990 upfront fees AND then take 22% of any PPI refunded!! nice earner !!

 

i'm surprised you've not discovered the other to money earners here

 

charging 20% vat and tax on the 8% stat int portion and keeping that too!

 

disgusting.

 

dx

[citizenB]

Mr Stanford, I have a couple of scenarios I will put forward. How would your company respond/act if this were to be the case with one of your "clients"

 

A customer has an outstanding balance with the bank that contains arrears. The banks have the right of offset and will insist that any refund is used to repay the outstanding arrears/balance. The claimant then has no actual refund. But, will still, because of a contract with you, owe you money !! Presumably this client is already in dire straits and has no money. Presumably you aren't going to let your fees go ? Yes/No

 

[Cliff Stanford]

Sadly the final page, terms and conditions has scanned quite poorly and I personally am unable to read it.

I have attached a copy of the terms as a pdf. They're also on our web site but I'm not allowed to post links to it.

[citizenB]

Next scenario..

 

Would you take on a claim that goes back as far as 1989/90 ? If not, why not. Or are you only looking for the easy cases.. loans and cards taken out in the last 6 years ?

 

If you are taking up front fees, what work exactly do you do for this. How many letters, phone calls, what sort of time is spent on a claim?

What happens if your are unsuccessful? Is the "client" down by his fee to your company, what sort of fight does your company put up or do you back down at the first sign of aggravation from the bank/financial institution ?

 

[Cliff Stanford]

Mr Stanford, I have a couple of scenarios I will put forward. How would your company respond/act if this were to be the case with one of your "clients"

 

A customer has an outstanding balance with the bank that contains arrears. The banks have the right of offset and will insist that any refund is used to repay the outstanding arrears/balance. The claimant then has no actual refund. But, will still, because of a contract with you, owe you money !! Presumably this client is already in dire straits and has no money. Presumably you aren't going to let your fees go ? Yes/No

 

We have certainly waived fees in the past where customers are in difficulty. We have an internal but unpublished policy on the matter.

[citizenB]

Also, I see on your website that your verification fee is £99.00 why was this elderly person charged £990.00 or is there typo somewhere ?

[citizenB]

Thank you for posting up the terms and conditions.

[CerberusSco]

It was £990 as it's £99.00 per agreement which totalled 10 agreements. They were pursuing people that my father in law had previously had no business with what so ever.

 

People like M&S & Tesco at no point has my father in law had any credit cards or loans from either of these companies.

[Cliff Stanford]

Would you take on a claim that goes back as far as 1989/90 ? If not, why not. Or are you only looking for the easy cases.. loans and cards taken out in the last 6 years ?

 

We will take on any claim where we can obtain sufficient documentation.

 

If you are taking up front fees, what work exactly do you do for this. How many letters, phone calls, what sort of time is spent on a claim?

We estimate an average of two to three hours' work in our back-office to process a claim. We obtain a DSAR (if necessary) to establish the relevant account details. We frequently call the customer and talk him though completing the questionnaire. We write a letter of complaint to the bank. And that's just the initial steps.

 

What happens if your are unsuccessful? Is the "client" down by his fee to your company, what sort of fight does your company put up or do you back down at the first sign of aggravation from the bank/financial institution ?

There are two types of "unsuccessful". One is where there was no PPI. In this case, yes, the customer is "down" by his fee. And we are "down" by the work we have performed. This is why we try very hard to ensure that the customer believes he may have been mis-sold PPI. The other is where the bank claims that the PPI was not mis-sold. Here we have a procedure to insist that it was, involving letters and phone calls to the bank and eventually, if necessary, a complaint to the FoS. This is where I believe a CMC comes into its own: the bank is much more likely to back down to us than to the customer.

[Cliff Stanford]

It was £990 as it's £99.00 per agreement which totalled 10 agreements. They were pursuing people that my father in law had previously had no business with what so ever.

 

People like M&S & Tesco at no point has my father in law had any credit cards or loans from either of these companies.

We didn't make it up. We believed your Father-in-law when he said he had these agreements.

 

Now we know the circumstances and the state of your Father-in-law's health, he has been approved for a refund. The refund will be made as soon as we can be sure that a chargeback has not been issued.

[dx100uk]

the bank is much more likely to back down to us than to the customer.

 

 

utter rubbish

 

a CMC holds no more cards nor more clout than any claimant going alone.

 

dx

[ashmk]

To the OP, please take a moment to tell BBC Watchdog about your complaint. There may be others who have been ripped off by this company and when they have enough complaints they will feature the company.

 

https://ssl.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mg74/contact

 

Might be an idea to include a link to this post in your message.

[Cliff Stanford]

There may be others who have been ripped off by this company and when they have enough complaints they will feature the company.

Have you actually read the thread? Nobody has been ripped off by "this company". I'd be more than happy to talk to Watchdog or any other investigative journalist.

[CerberusSco]

Already sent an email to Watchdog as well as making other people aware of this situation.

 

@Cliff: I turst this will be a full refund? As really it shouldn't of been taken in the first place.

 

Also going forward Cliff, I would like to ask that you make sure that people are of sound mind before pursuing with any claim. Your company needs to change it practices. I was also very serious in sending an invoice, as mentioned in my email yesterday, this is for my time, use of phone, laptop and electricity etc..

 

Finally, Cliff I will be submitting a full complaint to the ICO as pointed out earlier.

 

All this could of been avoided had you of dealt with me in a proper manner in the first place.

 

 

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Edited May 16, 2013 by citizenB

[citizenB]

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?88004-PPI-Successes

 

Our PPI success thread, this is not fully updated. As you will appreciate, we are extremely busy and PPI is not our only concerns.

[citizenB]

CerberusSco

 

I have unapproved the statement in the post above. I can see your personal details. I will edit properly and restore.. give me 10 minutes or so.

[CerberusSco]

Just as a thank you I have made a small donation to the site. I would of donated more, but it's all I can afford at the moment. I forgot to include my username though as I didn't see that option until I clicked submit when paying. Still doesn't matter.

 

@citizenB I didn't see anything that would be identifiable, apologies though & thanks.