Endowment misselling. DIY or claims assistance?

cringle

Need to claim for 1986 misselling of Standard Life low cost policy by Cheltenham & Gloucester (when what I went in for was a repayment mortgage and an investment a/c.....) I feel less hopeful because the date is pre FSA & therefore it may be easier to brush off the claim. Would I be safest using a claims assistance co. rather than a DIY approach?

mike_the_bike_2

Don't use these leeches..absolutely not necessary...If you have a legit claim look at the "which" site on how to make an endowment claim and put the proper letter together...If you are pre 1988 you need to claim stating that they had a "duty of care" to ensure they supplied you with the correct product

defender_of_the_weak

Thanks for calling me a leech mate.

Don't tar everyone with the same brush. Not everyone in life has the same access to information, knowledge, understanding or even time to do this themselves.

C & G have, in the past rejected pre 88's on grounds of 'we probably did enough' I think it may be down to which reviewer gets your case.

If you do decide to use a company look up details on the Guardian website which has a table of charges and company details

The which website is, IMHO, inadequate for anything but straightforward complaints against fair companies. After that it is a bit like their previous promotion of endowments, strong on message but lacking real substance and information.

But then, what else would you expect a leech to say

cringle

Thanks guys, but I remain worried...

If C&G turn down my claim will the Ombudsman consider pre 1988 cases or am I snookered?
Is it possible for me to hedge my bets and try a DIY claim, but later seek claims assistance help if my first try fails....

defender_of_the_weak

Try diy if you want to, the ombudsman should consider your case if rejected as C&G have, if memory serves, signed up to 'voluntary jurisdiction' on pre 88 cases.

Remember you are complaining about a failure in C& Gs duty of care to treat you right at the time of the sale and much of the which site will not apply as it is geared to post 88 sales

silvercar

I've just complained to L&G about a 1986 policy and they've sent me forms to fill in. So I guess they will accept pre-1988 cases.
They've also asked for £10 for copies of my file and then asked for masses of info that I don't have (like the name of the advisor!).

defender_of_the_weak

The £10 is an admin charge, fill in the forms as best as memory serves. L & G are, IMHO so incompetent that they reject cases they should lose and uphold cases they should reject. On recent stats you have a 70% plus chance of success anyway and if they reject your case you can reconsider your position anyway.

The quality of L & G complaint handling is awful, one of my colleagues has suggested that once they are allocated a case to deal with they then have to put their hand in a box and draw a ticket. 7 in ten say uphold, because thats what the regulator expects and won't make a fuss and 3 say reject so they just have to fudge the review to get it closed.

Fanciful I know but I have yet to come up with a better theory, given that we have not had a single case against L & G turned down by the Ombudsman in over 2 years.

elegy

its worth trying a claim, I have just been paid out by the ABBEY for a 1986 sale, I had to use the ombudsman and it has taken 3 years, but they sent me a cheque this morning.

I would'nt bother with an intermediary its not difficult. :T

mike_the_bike_2

Well Mr Defender ..If I called you a leech and you found it offensive that was not my intention, however I stand by what I said ...

Some other thoughts...but not mine

Does any one have views / experience of using agents to pursue a claim? Are your chances greater with them than doing it yourself, or is it just a question of it being more convenient to use an agent? What are the typical charges? Keypoint quoted us 29.375%.

If we do it ourselves, we're likely to use standard template letters from the likes of Which? Do we need a more heavywieght argument than they put forward?

There's no magic to it. These companies play on your fears, making you think you need to use them - you don't. The first thing you should do is decide why you think your policy was mis-sold - the Which? website gives you all the information you need.

If you conclude that your policy was mis-sold, then you should complain, listing all the reasons why you consider it was. Again, the Which? site is perfectly adequate, and the standard template letter covers all the bases.

If your complaint is turned down, but you feel this is unfair, you can go to the Ombudsman; to turn down your specific complaints the ins co will need evidence - if this evidence is inconclusive or doesn't exist, your complaint will be upheld. If the Ombudsman turns down your complaint, it will have to give you a good reason (even this isn't set in stone; a typical decision will be made by an "adjudicator" and you have the right of appeal to an actual Ombudsman). By the time this process is complete, you will have had several months to read up on the rules for deciding whether you were mis-sold! And the total cost to you? Nothing but your time.

Read up on the process (Which? and Ombudsman websites) and teach yourself. Ask back here for any assistance you need. With an average claim amount in the region of £3-£4k, you're looking at paying £1,000 for the "privelege" of using companies such as Keypoint, when in reality the service they provide isn't "expert" at all - to be honest, you'd getter better advice from here. I suspect £1,000 would pay for rather a lot of your time in researching and preparing your case.

defender_of_the_weak

Dear Mike the Bike

It is clear that as far as the world of endowments go, you are living the middle class myth, put forward by Which, the very organisation that was recommending these policies by the lorryload with best buys and recommended companies.

Yep, you can do it yourself and your chances of success will vary wildly from company to company, ignoring the specifics of this particular case.

The overall uphold rate is 65-70% for an initial case but can be as low as 7% or as high as 95% dependent on company.

The which site is far from adequate and fails to address many of the issues contained in mis-sales cases or provide any decent level of technical knowledge.

With regard to fees, if you think you are paying too much, as in all things, you picked the wrong company to deal with. This business is no different to calling an electrician if the wiring fails. Do you want to spend hours with a book and torch trying to find the problem or call a sparky who will have the lights back on in 20 minutes.

Is there any magic in it? Mostly this is simply a process and therefore you should pay a fee, if you wish, commensurate with someone taking the work from you, once you fall off the 'adequate' which website you can be in deep trouble and thats why people sometimes turn to experts for advice and help.

The trick is to find the expert