Contract question - cancellation fee with the PPI CMM - issues
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koshie09
Posts: 6 Forumite
We have made a big mistake by signing up with the CMM company to reclaim the PPI. They have been hassling us for a while saying we won’t be successful on our own, a fee of 30% was mentioned over the phone. No surprise, their fees turned up to be a lot higher + VAT on top, so you would essentially have to pay them almost 50% of what you have been awarded. Given they sold this service on a false claim, never mentioned VAT etc. we have decided to pay the first invoice and cancel any relationship with them. However, they now want a cancellation fee in 4 digits!
I have reviewed their T&C on the website, there is no mentioning of the size of cancellation fee, neither there is info on the initial period. The contract is badly written. However, right at the end of the T&C they copy-pasted a paragraph from the CMM Regulator’d document on conduct of CMMs stating that you can cancel without fees within 14 days from the start of the agreement. This last bit is not linked to the contract, not a numbered paragraph. Can we cancel using their own contract claiming no referencing of the cooling off period or that last bit counts as part of a contract.
Company in question is Harringtons Advisory, T&C are on their web site.
Also, how can they charge a cancellation fee when there is no mentioning of the size of it anywhere! This company is currently under investigation but their authorisation has not been cancelled yet. We spoke to the rep at the Ministry of Justice and they think 4digit cancellation fee is very steep.
Any advice on the best course of action would be much appreciated.
I have reviewed their T&C on the website, there is no mentioning of the size of cancellation fee, neither there is info on the initial period. The contract is badly written. However, right at the end of the T&C they copy-pasted a paragraph from the CMM Regulator’d document on conduct of CMMs stating that you can cancel without fees within 14 days from the start of the agreement. This last bit is not linked to the contract, not a numbered paragraph. Can we cancel using their own contract claiming no referencing of the cooling off period or that last bit counts as part of a contract.
Company in question is Harringtons Advisory, T&C are on their web site.
Also, how can they charge a cancellation fee when there is no mentioning of the size of it anywhere! This company is currently under investigation but their authorisation has not been cancelled yet. We spoke to the rep at the Ministry of Justice and they think 4digit cancellation fee is very steep.
Any advice on the best course of action would be much appreciated.
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Comments
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You need to make a formal compliant about all the issues and if they don't respond to your satisfaction you can then take your complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.0
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It's difficult to say, if you signed a contract for them to investigate all your PPI then you are pretty stuffed. If you employed them to just do one complaint then write to them and say pretty much
"I am employed you to do a claim against XYZ bank, this work is now completed and you have been paid. I do not wish to continue to use your services in the future or proceed with any more complaints. Please do not continue to contact me and any further attempts will be flagged up to your regulator the Legal Ombudsman."0 -
Are you within the 14 days?
They are allowed ot charge a reasonable fee for any work they have done, but 4 figures does not sound reasonable.
Search this forum for Harringtons Advisory and see what you find.Shampoo? No thanks, I'll have real poo...0 -
Thank you, we'll be doing this but in the meantime we would like to cancel but they said the cancellation fee will be over 1K. I wonder how on earth they can charge these fees if there has been no mentioning of them and how this can be considered a reasonable charge? Do they have to stop the activity for the period of dealing with the complaint/ investigation?0
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It looks like we have ticked the box that they could do all the lenders. However, no one mentioned to us the cancellation fee at all all and we have not read their T&C until they sent the invoice to us. I think my question is more around legality of the contract structure which does not mention anywhere the cooling off period, has mistakes in referring to pargraphs and only at the end has the below text which is not paragrpahed in any way. Not to mention they breached the conduct rules for CMCs. We spoke to the Ministry of Justice and they said we can pay the fee first and then complain and try to claim it back. But something tells me once you pay the money you will never get it back...:mad:0
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Like I said you need to make a formal compliant. That way unless they don't resolve it you can then go to the Legal Ombudsman.0
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Similarly, if you fail to pay then you'll have debt collectors chasing you and ultimately a CCJ. You need to make a formal complaint which (when rejected) you can refer onwards.But something tells me once you pay the money you will never get it back...:mad:
You mention the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), but the correct organisation to complain about CMCs is the Legal Ombudsman;Legal_Ombudsman wrote: »Have you used a CMC to reclaim PPI or other financial products and received poor service? The Legal Ombudsman is here to answer your CMC queries and concerns. We resolve complaints about legal service providers and CMCs and our service is free.
It may be that your CMC has:
- failed to do what they agreed
- hasn’t handled your mis-sold PPI claim the way you expected them to
- has been slow in responding
- increased their charges without explaining why
- unreasonably refused you a service
- pressured you to accept a service you did not want
How to get in touch with your questions and concerns
We're happy to answer your questions in this thread, so just reply below and we'll get back to you.
There are lots of ways you can get in touch.- Use our live chat function Mon-Fri between 08:30am and 5:30pm: https://legalombudsman.live-chat-help.com/
- Call us Mon-Fri between 08:30am-5:30pm on 0300 555 0333 or on our minicom 0300 555 1777
- Email us on [EMAIL="cmc@legalombudsman.org.uk"]cmc@legalombudsman.org.uk[/EMAIL]
- Or write to us at Legal ombudsman, PO Box 6804, Wolverhampton, WV1 9WG
You can also follow us on facebook or twitter @Legal_Ombudsman0 -
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I will start the formal complain. A week ago i requested for their complain process document to be sent to me as it's not on their web site. However, we were told by MOJ that they have 8 weeks to respond to us. Onl;y after that we can file a complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. In the meantime they will carry on contacting our lenders and sending us even more invoices. If we want to cancel they want us to pay over £1K fee! They said they won't stop the process until the cancellation fee is paid. I can't believe we've put ourselves in this situation. So what shall we do?0
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You've already been told several times since post #2 of this thread.So what shall we do?
However, it may be worth considering exactly how much you stand to lose by NOT cancelling. Are the remaining PPI complaints for large amounts? Are you guaranteed to win these complaints? Will you definitely pay a four-figure sum in commission if successful?0
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