ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

John_Pierpoint

You raise an interesting point:

Very often wills contain some long term responsibility, such as wealth left to minors, creating a de-facto trust until the child is 18 (or perhaps age 21 - 25, with resulting tax implications).
What is the attitude of the "experts" at ITC when they find a situation such as this?

angrygirlie

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

You raise an interesting point:

Very often wills contain some long term responsibility, such as wealth left to minors, creating a de-facto trust until the child is 18 (or perhaps age 21 - 25, with resulting tax implications).
What is the attitude of the "experts" at ITC when they find a situation such as this?

Gosh !!! How scary to have ITC attached to the will for years to come (That's of course, if ITC survive as a company, for years to come !!!)

portlandboy

timmyt wrote: »

if you dont use a 'solicitor' firm then you have only yourself to blame, applies to everyone.

if not on Law Society directory then good luck, the law should be interpreted by solicitors who go through the most legal training

Does "the most legal training" result in the best examination results and therefore, the best solicitor? I doubt it. It might just mean that the facts all took longer to sink in!

I don't see that anyone should blame themselves for not using a solicitor. We on here were caught unaware and at a very low point in our lives. It is a sad reflection on the systems in place in this country that allow companies like ITC to prey on the vulnerable without needing to adhere to a minimum standard. Hopefully this will soon be addressed.
But the thought of approaching a solicitor can strike fear into many ordinary folk. The various fees and hourly charges can seem like a minefield. It is probably because of this, that firms like ITC are able to attract customers at all. As a matter of fact, I can state here and now that I know of businessmen in my area (who are very knowledgeable and astute people) who would not use local solicitors, due to their reputation. They would rather travel many, many miles to get legal support. Alas, most people do not have the financial resources or knowledge to do so.
I realise that being regulated means that solicitors are bound to following the rules. However, in most cases, regulation only happens when an industry or service is found to be lacking or unable to be trusted to perform adequately enough without regulation. Don't try to paint us a picture of solicitors with halos. They have as many "little tricks" as the next man. When money is involved, everyone wants their share plus a bit. Our problems with ITC boil down to the simple fact that ITC are unregulated and consequently more able to screw their clients for a bigger fortune.

GLOUCESTER_JOHN

I unfortunately used ITC legal services when my father died. I was directed to them by the Bereavment Advice Centre, so believed they would be ideal and act in our best interests. I have since complained to The Bereavment Advice Centre about ITC!

ITC will ignore your correspondence, the case managers never appear to be available. ITC will act in their own interests, not yours. They are nothing more than veiled crooks!

Be extremely wary of their sales pitch from their sales reps (they call them advisors, but they are out for themselves):

"I'm an ex-policeman" which immediately inclines you to trust them!!

Their 'fixed fee' is nothing of the sort and they will add a substancial amount to their costs - way over what you would pay if you used a solicitor or even completed Probate/Administration yourself.

I had a 12-month nightmare, which only exacerbated our ongoing grief. On completion of the estate, I had to write and threaten legal action if ITC did not release the funds of my late father.

They use a solicitor, which is virtually next door to their premises and will fob you off that the solicitors are at fault, or they are waiting for documents to be returned from the solicitors.

PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY - GO TO A RESPECTIBLE SOLICITORS OR DO PROBATE YOURSELF - BUT DO NOT USE ITC!

centretap

GLOUCESTER_JOHN wrote: »

I was directed to them by the Bereavment Advice Centre, so believed they would be ideal and act in our best interests. I have since complained to The Bereavment Advice Centre about ITC!

But The Bereavment Advice Centre are part of ITC (http://www.bereavementadvice.org/about-us.php).

GLOUCESTER_JOHN

I really was unaware of that fact. It was not made clear to me when I called them that this was the case.

I only called them because I believed members of the family may need councelling and that was my primary concern.

I find it quite disgusting the BAC and ITC can literally prey on people's grief in this way, promise to make everything easy and simple but actually cause more harm and grief through their mismanagement of deceased estates.

To reiterate PLEASE give ITC a wide berth. Ask friends, work collegues etc for recommendations but DO NOT USE ITC they are nothing short of criminal and are totally unregulated so you have very little comeback 'when' you have problems, which you undoubtably will!

lucylot

My mum passed away very suddenly recently and my sister and I are executors of her will. She has a property and her grandchildren and my sister and I are named as beneficiaries. Mum banked with Barclays all her life and when I rang them to advise them of her death they passed us on to ITC. A rep came to see us blinded us with science and basically gave us the impression that they sorted everything out for us. We were both asked to sign something and can't now remeber what it was but we were not given or offered a copy. That was on 20.9.11. We have now received letters asking us to sign power of attorney which we have no intention of doing after reading the letter sent to me as primary contact and this forum. I have drafted an initial email telling them of our intention to cancel and will follow this up in writing sent in the Royal Mail guaranteed next day delivery envelope that their rep left. What I wanted to know was are we likely to be charged and how difficult will getting my mums documents back that were taken away on the day. We feel we were totally misled and taken advantage of at a time when our emotions were allover the place.

portlandboy

lucylot wrote: »

My mum passed away very suddenly recently and my sister and I are executors of her will. She has a property and her grandchildren and my sister and I are named as beneficiaries. Mum banked with Barclays all her life and when I rang them to advise them of her death they passed us on to ITC. A rep came to see us blinded us with science and basically gave us the impression that they sorted everything out for us. We were both asked to sign something and can't now remeber what it was but we were not given or offered a copy. That was on 20.9.11. We have now received letters asking us to sign power of attorney which we have no intention of doing after reading the letter sent to me as primary contact and this forum. I have drafted an initial email telling them of our intention to cancel and will follow this up in writing sent in the Royal Mail guaranteed next day delivery envelope that their rep left. What I wanted to know was are we likely to be charged and how difficult will getting my mums documents back that were taken away on the day. We feel we were totally misled and taken advantage of at a time when our emotions were allover the place.

Hi,

ITC have a cooling off period, though I can't remember the timescale - it may be 14 days . They will have got you to sign the contract for them to work on your behalf but, without the power of attorney they cannot proceed. They do try to charge for "services" when clients cancel but if they've done nothing they can charge nothing. I always suggest that if ITC withhold YOUR documents (as they belong to you now), a visit to a local trusted solicitor may be the best way to get the papers returned. At this stage it will certainly be far easier and cheaper to cancel ITC's services and get a solicitor of good standing to do the work for you (unless you think that you could do the job yourselves).

Remember that there are now a lot of knowledgeable and helpful people watching this thread who will help you if you decide to do the probate yourself. I think that some people would have done so if they weren't suffering from the loss of a loved relative at the time. The process is not that difficult but the grieving adds to the stress.

Good luck, please let us know how things go.

lucylot

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. As you can imagine we were distressed enough at losing our mum without then finding out that we had appointed a company whose sole aim was to take as much of mums money as they could. We are now seriously considering doing the process ourselves. We had started the ball rolling and had contacted all the banks, pension providers and utility companies ourselves. In theory the documents they have taken away we could continue without. They only have a copy of the will, the original is with mums bank and we could always get more death certificates if we need to. Having looked through the nice fancy pack they left, their cooling off period is 7 days. However it also includes a notice of right to cancel which has no date on it. I am determined that they will not be getting any money at all from us.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it goes.

portlandboy

lucylot wrote: »

Thank you so much for your prompt reply. As you can imagine we were distressed enough at losing our mum without then finding out that we had appointed a company whose sole aim was to take as much of mums money as they could. We are now seriously considering doing the process ourselves. We had started the ball rolling and had contacted all the banks, pension providers and utility companies ourselves. In theory the documents they have taken away we could continue without. They only have a copy of the will, the original is with mums bank and we could always get more death certificates if we need to. Having looked through the nice fancy pack they left, their cooling off period is 7 days. However it also includes a notice of right to cancel which has no date on it. I am determined that they will not be getting any money at all from us.

Thanks again. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hi,
No problem, happy to help. The one thing that you mentioned doing was cancelling by recorded delivery. You're right - that is a must do.
Good luck.