ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

ljo

After 2 years 3 months, I am signing the financial documents. ITC,s charges are far higher than I was lead to believe and I have very little confidence in their work. After this length of time it wears you down and I just want "rid".In this time I don,t believe I have ever spoken to a Solicitor just a telephonist.
I contacted the Law Society, but ITC are not covered by their Regulatory body.Like many others I was given a leaflet at the Registrars.

John_Pierpoint

ljo wrote: »

After 2 years 3 months, I am signing the financial documents. ITC,s charges are far higher than I was lead to believe and I have very little confidence in their work. After this length of time it wears you down and I just want "rid".In this time I don,t believe I have ever spoken to a Solicitor just a telephonist.
I contacted the Law Society, but ITC are not covered by their Regulatory body.Like many others I was given a leaflet at the Registrars.

Did "your" estate involve payment of InHeritance Tax (IHT) and/or sale of real estate?

bakerboy98

I have had similar recent experiences with itc. I understand they are connected to barclays and other big banks and all customers with probate issues from these orgs are sent to itc in return for kickbacks. The whole sector should be investigated and be subject to stronger regulation but in meantime I would recommend going to a trusted lawyer. It is not right that people in a vulnerable state can be taken advantage of by unregulated organisations.

ljo

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Did "your" estate involve payment of InHeritance Tax (IHT) and/or sale of real estate?

no IHT, ITC not dealing with sale of property, could not wait another 2 years +

angrygirlie

eric_the_half-a-bee wrote: »

I have read this whole thread, and I now feel like I have "come home". What a relief at a time of great stress to find that I am not single voice in the wilderness and that there are others like me who have been given what I will politely call the "dirty end of the stick".

If only I had seen this thread BEFORE the process started! Luckily for me, the whole process is now complete and I can get back to a near-normal life and deal with my emotional loss without added complications.

What annoys me the most, is that I am normally a fairly robust sort of bloke who gives short shrift to West African Generals, snake-oil salesmen and unclaimed lottery prizes. I guess those things are easier to see coming if your eyes aren't misted up.

Now that I'm feeling robust again, I can't help feeling that there should be enough native wit / intelligence / determination and variety of skills within this group so that we can pool our resources and actually DO something so that others don't suffer a similar fate.

"Don't get mad, get even", "United we stand" "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts" "Nil illegitami carborundum" (Don't let the b*stards grind you down:rotfl::rotfl:) etc

All good things come to those who wait and I have waited for my moment so watch this space.

John_Pierpoint

bakerboy98 wrote: »

I have had similar recent experiences with itc. I understand they are connected to barclays and other big banks and all customers with probate issues from these orgs are sent to itc in return for kickbacks. The whole sector should be investigated and be subject to stronger regulation but in meantime I would recommend going to a trusted lawyer. It is not right that people in a vulnerable state can be taken advantage of by unregulated organisations.

ljo wrote: »

no IHT, ITC not dealing with sale of property, could not wait another 2 years +

InHeritance Tax adds complexity by a factor of about 3.
If there is no IHT have a go at doing the probate job yourself and you should be able to get it done in fewer than 6 months.
(Remember: Inheritance is like a garden - it needs a year to see what comes up)

angrygirlie

Well, well well. Some really bad publicity for ITC legal Services appeared in the Daily Mail on Wednesday June 2, page 45 in the money mail section.

Please may all source the newspaper article to read the full write up.
It explains how the bereaved are steered into ITC's clutches through leaflets given out at Registrars, GP's, hospitals, churches and funeral homes advertising the Bereavement Advice Centre. Here's a little bit of the write up.

The official looking document appears to be from a free independent advice service. But those that call a free helpline or visit the website are pointed towards ITC legal Services, one of the biggest probate providers in the UK.
ITC's fees can be much greater than similar services offered by local solicitors.

Chris Partington, from solicitor Slater Heelis, recently persuaded Trafford Council in Manchester to withdraw these leaflets from Sale town hall.
He is now trying to persuade Stockport and Manchester town halls to do the same. He says: 'this firm is preying on people who are going through a traumatic time, creating misleading alliances with GP's or local authorities, implying that there is an endorsement from these establishments is an insensitive way to establish sales leads'


After quite a bad write up about ITC misleading claims of their prices being competitive, Martin Trees (CEO of ITC) has the audacity to state that....

"We have mystery shoppers visits on a regular basis, and provide a world class service. Independent reports have shown that ITC is competitive with solicitors when assessed on the same basis. We are completely transparent about our charges and the fact that we support the Bereavement Advice Centre. The business we get from the advice centre does not even cover its running costs"

Well I think Mr. Trees should withdraw his claim to the company giving a 'world class service' :mad: and trading standards offender of 'transparent fees' :mad:
I dread to think what ITC's cr*p service is like if what I experienced was their 'world class service'

Maybe the jorno who wrote this piece should now look into ITC's services that echo their so called competitive transparent fees. This will make interesting reading for the public. I will happily tell him about the 'world class service' that I received!!!!!

I also was able to complain to my local registrar about being steered towards ITC's unregulated probate company by BAC and after the registrars investigation, the leaflets were removed from their office.:T

John_Pierpoint

The article is here:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1283225/Town-hall-coffin-chasers-targeting-grieving-families.html

If you agree with the reader's comments at the foot of the article, please click the green "rating" arrow. This will keep their comment appearing at the foot of the article.;)

ljo

AVOID ITC
I am paying £500+ vat because I descided not to use ITC to sell property willed to me. The estate agents fees were obscene. They are estate agents local to me, introduced by me and shown around the property by me. I know what they charge, and it is a lot less than ITC told me. So they are making more money out of us! ljo

angrygirlie

Getting close to 20,000 views on this thread.