ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

Liz_Atkin

Hi,
Thanks for your quick reply, we actually went up to where she lives and spoke to her and she stormed off. ITC said that they had sent her an envelope to return the account by last Friday. Nothing happened. She is, we think starting to get early onset dementia but her doctor thinks not but we know her and the mother had Alzimers and she is definately got a problem. We are at our wits end. If we write, email telephone there is no comeback.
Liz

Liz_Atkin

Dear Portland Boy,
Following our conversation I text my sister in law and half an hour later my husband rang as he had heard from ITC as his sister had contacted them. He told ITC he was going to persue matters via the courts and 20 mins later he had another call saying they would write to his sister giving her 14 working days to send the accounts back and then they would release our portion. Well, we shall see. Thank you anyway as you made me act and hopefully we will finally get our share.
Liz

John_Pierpoint

Let us know how much the estate has been charged for their services.

portlandboy

Liz_Atkin wrote: »

Dear Portland Boy,
Following our conversation I text my sister in law and half an hour later my husband rang as he had heard from ITC as his sister had contacted them. He told ITC he was going to persue matters via the courts and 20 mins later he had another call saying they would write to his sister giving her 14 working days to send the accounts back and then they would release our portion. Well, we shall see. Thank you anyway as you made me act and hopefully we will finally get our share.
Liz

That's potentially good news! Today I was going to suggest that you ask ITC to release half of the estate since you had agreed the accounts. There is no reason for them to withold your inheritance once you had completed your part of the contract with them.
As John P mentioned above, it would be useful to know whether the "fixed fee" charges for ITC's services were in fact the same % rate that they stated to you and what amount they added for "disbursements" in addition to the "fixed fee". I found ITC had added nearly 50% to the bill for disbursements (and things such as "Directors signature" etc), on top of the 1.25% fixed fee. They later removed most of that as a "goodwill" gesture when I complained!!!
I'm sure that you will feel so much better when this is over. Roll on 14 days...

angrygirlie

Liz_Atkin wrote: »

Dear Portland Boy,
Following our conversation I text my sister in law and half an hour later my husband rang as he had heard from ITC as his sister had contacted them. He told ITC he was going to persue matters via the courts and 20 mins later he had another call saying they would write to his sister giving her 14 working days to send the accounts back and then they would release our portion. Well, we shall see. Thank you anyway as you made me act and hopefully we will finally get our share.
Liz

Hello Liz,

I have read your posts and I do hope you get a result immediately, but please stay on ITC's case if they go a day over the time frame they say. In my experience with them, I had to constantly chase them. I even had to chase my inheritance payout as I was told it would be distributed so many days after ITC received the signed accounts, but guess what!!!!! the money spent more days in ITC's bank account earning them interest and me at home checking my bank account for money that did not arrive when I was told it would. They even stressed me out right up until the end. I am curious to know how Halifax are involved now with ITC. Thats another company that need to be made aware of ITC's bad and misleading practices

trubble43

On may 13th and 16th i lost both parents and have had the misfortune to deal with itc
two weeks ago i sent recorded delivery off my notice to cancel their services and requested all my documents back (death certs, birth certs, wedding certs) i didnt hear anything so rang to ask whats going on to be told they dont return anything until their admin charges are paid, i asked how much it was they didnt know so i told them i wanted it writing within 2 days, thats was well over a week ago..............How do i get them to even send me a bill to just get my documents back:mad:

portlandboy

trubble43 wrote: »

On may 13th and 16th i lost both parents and have had the misfortune to deal with itc
two weeks ago i sent recorded delivery off my notice to cancel their services and requested all my documents back (death certs, birth certs, wedding certs) i didnt hear anything so rang to ask whats going on to be told they dont return anything until their admin charges are paid, i asked how much it was they didnt know so i told them i wanted it writing within 2 days, thats was well over a week ago..............How do i get them to even send me a bill to just get my documents back:mad:

I presume that you are likely to instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf to obtain the probate instead of ITC. If that is the case, then you should choose your solicitor and get them to obtain the documents directly from ITC. I'm sure they will not have any trouble in getting them.
If you plan to get the probate grant yourself then this may be a struggle that you need to seek legal advice on. Try your local CAB if this is the case as they may be able to add a little weight to the lever. Also mention this website to ITC's customer relations dept., as they have previously used it to show their "willingness" to help to solve customer problems.
ITC's post to follow below...

portlandboy

itc_Legal_Services wrote: »

Hello. We just wanted to remind you that you can call 0800 082 1139 (9am-5pm Monday to Friday) to discuss your issues directly in person. We are ready and willing to help you. Thanks very much,
ITC Customer Relations Team

Trubble 43,
The above post is supposedly from the ITC customer Care team.

simograll

There appears to be a common theme here. My mother died in October 2010 and left a will 2 properties and some investments. All very straight forward. I also consider myself intelligent and fairly good at paperwork, however i was and continue to suffer from clinical depression, stress, anxiety and panic attacks. I was referred to ITC by Barclays Bank PLC as a free guide to probate. The guys from ITC came as arranged and scared me into using their service (by this i mean saying what can go wrong if i do it wrong myself etc) I also didn't feel up to it in my condition. I was asked property values and these have been used by ITC, even though i have subsequesntly had them valued much lower! I was told that ITC would sell the properties, then told again that they add an extra £500 for each property that they sell! this is in addition to the legal/estate agents fees! They charge you £250 to "opt out".

After several long months of waiting they told me they cant sell the properties as they are park homes and as such they are assets (like a car or caravan) not property so just need to be transferred to me (as the beneficciary), they still intend to charge me for the property valuations although they acknowledge that the properties havn't been professionaly valued!
I have made 3 complaints in writing, which they only respond to in parts, i.e they dont respond to every point i raise in the complaint, which requires me to write again for a further response, and their response again omits points raised by me - you see my dilema!
In April ITC had a list of all my mothers assets and liabilities and said they would make an interim payment to me in May 2011. As i hadn't heard anything by June i rang ITC and was informed that i couldnt have a payment until the properties were sold, and they again offered to sell the properties for me?? Now the liabilities are in the hundreds and the assets are in the thousands, so i cant see any logical reason for them to withold an interim payment, especially as i was advised at the point of sale that this could be arranged by paying £25 (i think) for an insurance policy to cover any claim that may be made on the estate after payment had been made!
My expenses have been adding up, as i have to continue to pay council tax, insurance and mileage costs because i live in manchester and the properties are in wales, however a condition of the insurance is that i visit the property at least once a month. ITC have said that my expenses are the last thing to be paid, yet they are in the thousands of pounds!!
I have just sent another complaint letter to the MD of ITC Mr Trees, and await his response. But i find this organisation slow, un-professional, un organised, un knowledgable, lack lustre, box tickers and indifferent to their clients feelngs, needs or wants. I wouldnt recommend anybody uses ITC and i rue the day that Barclays bank referred them to me! I have written a letter to Barclays but they dont appear to have received it, another is on its way to them! I have also just got in touch with my local M.P Ivan Lewis to see if he can help!

Having spoken with Ivan Lewis's office, they suggested that to make real changes to unregulated companies such as ITC, people should start to write to large consumer groups such as WHICH or SAGA and even write to their M.Ps. As it was told to me, M.Ps make the Laws then hand them over to the Judiciary. If you want to change the Laws you have to get the support of M.Ps and they will only do this if there is someting in it for them lol, or if their is significant public support for it. So get get complaining where it counts, go and see your M.Ps write to consumer groups, if enough people do it we might be able to do something about it instead of just whinging....

John_Pierpoint

simograll wrote: »

My expenses have been adding up, as i have to continue to pay council tax, insurance and mileage costs because i live in Manchester and the properties are in Wales, however a condition of the insurance is that i visit the property at least once a month. ITC have said that my expenses are the last thing to be paid, yet they are in the thousands of pounds!!

I am a bit confused about these residential caravans/"Portacabins".
Were these some sort of holiday let investment?
Are they empty ?
Unfortunately "park homes" have a notorious reputation for problems with the site owner. If they are in good condition the site owner wants to buy them at a knock down price as he knows moving them can be a nightmare.
If they are old and looking run down he site owner might expect you to get then off his site as they lower the general valuations on the site.

It might help if you post details of the estate in very broad terms and explain who the beneficiaries are and who the executor(s) of the will are.
There is a will?

Normally you don't have to pay council tax between the date of death and the date 6 months after the grant of probate/letters of administration.

When did the estate get the grant of probate?

It is generally accepted that it takes an average of a year to sort out an estate, as every step of the way the executor might come up against some inefficient "jobsworth", even if the executor can turn round documentation within 48 hours of receiving it.

It depends to some extent on how up to date the estate was at the time of death. Some are neat and tidy, some are a complete shambles.

I have no brief to support ITC in fact I would not be surprised if ITC could turn neat and tidy into a complete shambles :rotfl: