ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

portlandboy

...and if you really don't need the items that you've given ITC, don't pay them a penny. Let them try to explain what they've done in court. We've all paid extra for you!

centretap

lucylot wrote: »

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.

As someone who has done this I'd say do it. It seems daunting but is surprisingly straightforward, and you will be in control all the way.

If you haven't already take a look at the forms and guidance notes available at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/iht-probate-forms/find-right-forms.htm.

portlandboy

centretap wrote: »

As someone who has done this I'd say do it. It seems daunting but is surprisingly straightforward, and you will be in control all the way.

If you haven't already take a look at the forms and guidance notes available at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/inheritancetax/iht-probate-forms/find-right-forms.htm.

I seriously wish I'd done it myself. I understand that the probate service is also most helpful to it's users. Clearly they understand the situation that people are trying to cope with.

angryboy

Lucylot,i was in the same position as you are almost exactly a year ago when my mother passed away.She had banked with Barclays all her life and af- ter cancelling her bank account i was put in touch with ITC who arranged for a rep to come out-just 2 days after she had passed away.I got all the spin about how difficult probate was etc.,and how it was better for a "professional executor" to obtain probate.The rep quoted a price for all of this-£1800+vat and wanted me to sign away power of attorney there and then.......and if i changed my mind,i could cancel at a later date!To my mind it all seemed very strange so i declined and decided to obtain probate myself.The whole process took approx. 6 weeks and wasnt difficult.The apprpriate forms can be printed off from the hmrc website.There wasnt inheritance tax involved so this made it easier.After sending the completed forms off i received a letter from the local probate office with a date for an interview and after attending this i was told that probate would be granted immediately.It took just 6 weeks to obtain probate and cost £90.............dont be afraid to do this yourself it really is very straightforward.From your post it seems as if you have just stopped short of a very costly mistake.If you need any advice on probate i will visit this forum more often.Regards angyboy.

Richard_Webster

When people phone me up about doing the legal work on probate I make it clear that if there is no Inheritance Tax involved it is mainly lots of form filling and letter writing and isn't rocket science.

For some it is still daunting and they want a solicitor to deal with it.

Others feel they could do it themselves.

Others know they could do it themselves but simply don't have the time.

The fees can be high because of the time involved so I feel it is important to make that clear from the outset and give people the choice of doing it themselves, or perhaps we just do the forms to get the probate and then they take over and collect in the money and distribute it - or they do it themselves but ask if they can come back to me if there is something they don't understand - and then I would just charge for dealing with that - I give clients options.

Why someone would want to instruct a remote company to deal with their probate I cannot imagine.

lucylot

Fantastic and quite unbelievable news. I have received a large recorded delivery envelope containing all of our mothers documents plus a letter from ITC who are sorry that we no longer want them to act for us. There is no mention of any charges. To say we are relieved and amazed is an understatement. We still feel we were misled at the outset, however we are pleased that our experience with ITC has turned out the be less traumatic than others on here.

We will be applying for probate ourselves. Thanks Angryboy for your advice.
Richard Webster, have you ever lost a close relative? When you are grieving trust me you aren't thinking straight and when a company is recommended to you by a bank that had been trusted by our mother all her life you initially don't see the problem in appointing a 'remote company'

angrygirlie

GLOUCESTER_JOHN wrote: »

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!

Oh, dear,

So the BAC are still failing to inform those who call them, that they are recommending ITC because The BAC are part of ITC. That's how I got caught in Jan 2008 and still this practice CONTINUES. Well, I will be releasing letters to all those companies out there who are involved with ITC legal services to let them know exactly what I was put through and how ITC operate in my experience.
I have had to be discreet for a very long time and have given ITC the opportunity to compensate for what they have put me through, but they have chosen to ignore.... So I will do my best to allow all those companies involved with ITC, an insight to what I have experienced as a client of ITC legal Services........

I ask anyone on this forum who has gone through the process from beginning to painful end with ITC to ensure that you get ALL paperwork back and most importantly.... please please check the administration accounts and the IHT205 FORM

ITC SO CALLED SPECIALIST AND PROFESSIONAL LEGAL SERVICE SERIOUSLY MISCALCULATED AND DID NOT COMPLETE THE IHT205 FORM IN ANY CORRECT MANNER. ONLY ONE ENTRY WAS CORRECT.
This total incompetence of them filling out the form meant that they over calculated my mum's estate by over £24,000.00 yes £24,000.00 and resulted in inheritance tax of over £5,000.00 being paid to HMRC....

Who figured this terrible mistake?
I DID, AS WITH 18 MONTHS OF THIS COMPANY BEING TOTALLY INCOMPETENT AT EVERYTHING, I DID NOT TRUST THEIR ACCOUNTING. I EVEN HAD TO FIGHT TO GET MY MUMS PAPERWORK BACK AFTER THE ESTATE WAS SETTLED AS ITC TOLD ME THAT THE PAPERWORK BELONGED TO THEM IF IT WAS ADDRESSED TO THEM!!!! I KICKED OFF AND TOLD THEM THAT LEGALLY THE PAPERWORK BELONGED TO THE EXECUTORS SO RETURN IT NOW. WHEN THEY FINALLY RETURNED ALL MUM'S PAPERWORK (which came in a large envelope with insufficient postage stamps on it so i had to pay £1.10 to receive it!!!!), I QUESTIONED THE ACCOUNTING FIGURES AGAINST THE PAPERWORK (BANKS ACCOUNTS, SHARES, THE CHARGES ITC MADE AND INHERITANCE TAX PAID ETC) AND TOLD THEM THE FIGURES WERE WRONG, I WAS TOLD THAT AS I SIGNED THE FORMS TO SAY THAT I AGREED THE ACCOUNTS, IT WAS TOO LATE. (l had no choice but to sign as the accounts were not supported by any paperwork to show me how ITC had come to the figures in my mum's ADMINISTRATION ACCOUNTS, and I needed to get the money distributed and out of ITC's hands so as then to be able to get all my mums paperwork back to cross check it with ITC's accounts..

When I finally got itc to check my mum's paperwork against their accounts/IHT form 205, THEY ADMITTED THAT THEY HAD GOT IT WRONG AND HAD MISCALCULATED MY MOTHERS ESTATE BY OVER £24,000.00 WHICH RESULTED IN OVER £5,000.00 IHT BEING PAID TO HMRC.............................. WHEN I ASKED WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FIGURES AND WHO CHECKED AND SIGNED OFF MY MUM'S ACCOUNTS BEFORE SUBMITTING THEM TO HMRC, I WAS TOLD, BY THE CUSTOMER CARE MANAGER, THAT THE PERSON WHO SIGNED OFF THE ACCOUNTANTS FIGURES IS ONE OF THE DIRECTORS ( SO NO LIBEL OR SLANDER IN THIS POST AS THAT IS WHAT ITC'S OWN STAFF INFORMED ME OF)
If I had not checked the paperwork, HMRC would have money that they should not of had.. There are many more issues on what ITC put on the IHT form that was incorrect, and over time, I will post the total and absolutely unbelievable mistakes made. I had the copy of the IHT form checked over by a REAL PROBATE SOLICITOR who was shocked at how wrong it was and how many omits were present (things that simple person me would not be aware of ) So to the eyes of ITC who read the posts on this forum...... My posts are true honest and account for my experience I have had with ITC and I will be sharing the details of these incidences to make other potential bereaved people aware of what they must be diligent about to ensure that money is correctly accounted for as there was so many mistakes in my mum's accounts, that it could not be classed as 'an isolated incident' I am not an accountant but I picked up on the many many mistakes.

Before discovering the inheritance tax mess up, I had written a number of letters of complaints for all other issues (there is so many cannot list in this post) so I had had most of my fees refunded ( not all the fees as demanded. I wanted every penny returned for the horrendous service) when I threatened them with Trading Standards for not charging what I was told I would be charged and for the 'unexpected charges' they fail to point out at the start (and as I had not signed their terms and conditions, they could not hold me to my agreeing anything)

And as for the incorrect calculations of my mothers estate, they submitted new forms to HMRC (which unbelievably still had incorrect entries again)
HMRC refunded all the Inheritance tax back so ITC refunded a few more of the fees (but still not all) and the interest that they accrued (AND NORMALLY KEEP) on my mothers estate (AS THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE IN THE S..T WITH THIS ONE AND DARED TO CLASS THE REFUND AS COMPENSATION) I also demanded that ITC pay the interest lost on the inheritance tax paid to HMRC. (not alot but it's the principle)

With about 90% of ITC's charges refunded, and the return of interest accrued on my mum's money whilst in the hands of ITC, ITC claim that they have 'compensated' me for all the mistakes and distress they have caused me but how can a refund for unacceptable levels of service, for misleading information for charges imposed and return of money that THEY MAKE ON MY MUMS MONEY, BE CALLED COMPENSATION.?

I can write a book, and intend to inform this forum of my experiences in more detail as it is shocking what I have endured with this company.

angrygirlie

lucylot wrote: »

Fantastic and quite unbelievable news. I have received a large recorded delivery envelope containing all of our mothers documents plus a letter from ITC who are sorry that we no longer want them to act for us. There is no mention of any charges. To say we are relieved and amazed is an understatement. We still feel we were misled at the outset, however we are pleased that our experience with ITC has turned out the be less traumatic than others on here.

We will be applying for probate ourselves. Thanks Angryboy for your advice.
Richard Webster, have you ever lost a close relative? When you are grieving trust me you aren't thinking straight and when a company is recommended to you by a bank that had been trusted by our mother all her life you initially don't see the problem in appointing a 'remote company'

Exactly Lucylot, this is how the client is recruited, by false sense of security having a reputable name recommending the services of ITC. (or in many cases you are lead to believe that the 'probate services specialists' are part of the same big company.) But rest assured as I will be embarking on a personal journey to ensure that the 'big' named companies that are directing their clients towards ITC are made aware of ITC's practices in my experience.

portlandboy

Hi Angrygirlie,
I'm very pleased to see that you are now able to let everyone know what has been done to you by ITC Legal Services. I hope that the MSE Investigator will leave this post well and truly alone because I doubt that ITC will be in any position to complain about it's content. I hope that the "investigator" will now do exactly that - investigate ITC and their practices and leave EVERYBODY'S posts to stand as a warning to all.

angrygirlie

portlandboy wrote: »

Hi Angrygirlie,
I'm very pleased to see that you are now able to let everyone know what has been done to you by ITC Legal Services. I hope that the MSE Investigator will leave this post well and truly alone because I doubt that ITC will be in any position to complain about it's content. I hope that the "investigator" will now do exactly that - investigate ITC and their practices and leave EVERYBODY'S posts to stand as a warning to all.

Oh yes, and there are many MORE unbelievable situations that happened to me in MY EXPERIENCE as a client of ITC. I will explain how it was and I have 100 % evidence of anything that I claim to of HAPPENED TO ME IN MY EXPERIENCE AS A CLIENT TO ITC LEGAL SERVICES.

Of course, I will be very busy over the next few weeks bringing attention to the need to regulate ITC and other unregulated probate/will writing services.

I have already had a meeting with my MP and will be meeting with him again very soon. He has been informed that The Bereavement Advice Center was launched in The House of Commons (in 2007 as claimed on the BAC website)