ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

angrygirlie

Well, as I have to break down the many serious mistakes and bad customer service I experienced with appointing ITC to administer my mothers estate, I have over 5 letters of complaints that I made all containing serious issues (one letter of complaint was 20 pages long), so please bear with me as I try to edit the complaints to keep my posts not too long (however, as you all know, as the whole process is sometimes drawn out and made complicated by ITC not dealing correctly / swiftly with most things so explaining what went wrong does justify a long post)

Mess up number 2: After receiving my mother's paperwork back (after distribution of the estate) and discovering the Inheritance Form mess up,( Mess up number 1) I felt absolutely no confidence in virtually all things carried out correctly so I did some more checks.........

My mother left (in her Will) a sum of money to the local hospitals' chemotherapy unit where she received her first course of treatment.

When my mum first received chemo, it was in the 'old' chemo unit which was a small room with very little privacy. Over the following 2 years (after mums treatment finished) the chemotherapy unit raised money, through the public and had a new unit built which was state of the art, lots of private rooms to the side and and all in all more practical and peaceful place to spend time during your treatment. Mum experience treatment again, 3 years later in the new unit, so she was able to appreciate the benefits of the lovely new surroundings.

Going back to my case of what I discovered after the estate was distributed, I (as the executor) was surprised that I had never received any acknowledgement from The Chemo Unit regarding the money mum had left to them in her Will, so I contacted the hospital to ask if they had received the money.
It was confirmed that the hospital had received the money with a letter from ITC but..... the letter did not state that it was for the chemotherapy unit.....so the money went into the hospital's charitable fund......
I was absolutely fuming and angry as my mum had made it clear in her Will that the money she was leaving was for The Chemotherapy unit, yet ITC could not even carry out her wishes accordingly.....
ITC Legal Services who claim to specialise in Probate!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I explained to the hospitals account dept where the money should of gone, they kindly deducted the amount from The charitable fund and transferred it over to The Chemotherapy unit.

If I had not checked up on this then that money which was Willed because of my mum's personal appreciation of experiencing the benefits of treatment in the new unit, would of never got to the right place.
ITC Legal Services who claim to specialise in Probate!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my experience with ITC during the administration of my mothers estate, so I ask all of those of you who have used ITC's services, please be diligent and check that the Will has had its instructions carried out to the letter.

Again, This is not an isolated case as too many mistakes were made through out the process.

portlandboy

My dad bequeathed a grandfather clock to my cousin in his will, leaving everything else to me. ITC called me on one occasion and told me that dad's will had left half of his estate (my inheritance) to my cousin. Fortunately my cousin and I both knew different!

angrygirlie

portlandboy wrote: »

My dad bequeathed a grandfather clock to my cousin in his will, leaving everything else to me. ITC called me on one occasion and told me that dad's will had left half of his estate (my inheritance) to my cousin. Fortunately my cousin and I both knew different!

And did ITC never give you an explanation of why you were misinformed?
.
I asked for an explanation of why the money did not go to where my mother instructed and to date, I have never been given any form of explanation....mind you there are many issues I have raised in my many letters of complaint which have never been addressed.

This was my experience as a customer of ITC Legal Services during the administration of my mothers estate

portlandboy

angrygirlie wrote: »

And did ITC never give you an explanation of why you were misinformed?

They simply said they "misunderstood" the instructions. (A clock = 50% of the estate?) But I guess it was pretty minor in comparison to some of their misdemeanours!

wired_biker

Hello All,

I would like to share my experience so far, and thank this forum for all the info on here, as you may well have saved my family a fortune.

My Dad passed away in August, and as he'd banked all his life with Barclays, that was my first port of call. I knew (and trusted) all the staff in my local branch, they had been very helpful with my Dads affairs in last few years.

On telling them he had passed away the manager phoned what I was lead to believe was their bereavement dept, and like others on here have said, my identity was being checked through my own Barclays account. Any way next thing I'm being thrust the phone as they are offering me advice on probate and arranging a home visit, to help me through this difficult time.

At the home visit, I was told that my Dad's affairs looked very complex, and it would be much easier to use their services, and they would be far cheaper than a solicitor.

My Dad has a surviving wife, who is the sole benifecery and executor, but in ill health and unable to act, happy for me to deal with things.
There is a house in My Dads sole name, and his bank account with 7.5K - and the funeral expenses are also to be paid from this.

The home visit was within a few days of the funeral, and I was feeling very vulnerable looking back now. I asked several times if there would be enough in his account to cover the fees. Yes no problem she said numerous times. I signed up

All went quiet for the 2 weeks that I had to change my mind.

Then they asked for the deeds for the house, which I sent off, special delivery, beginning of September. I thought it was all going along well.

Then, a letter came asking me for £1500 upfront, as they could see that there were limited liquid funds!

I haven't had the funeral bill yet, but I'm guessing around the 2.5K mark, leaving £5000, and that's not enough!!!

They did however say that if I wasn't happy to proceed on this basis I should call. Which I did. After being on hold for 10 mins, I spoke to my case manager, who told me to put it in writing, which I did, as by this point I had found this forum and read the horror stories on here.

heard nothing for 2 weeks. Then a phone call, they were very worried that I was requesting to cancel the agreement.

I said I felt I'd been mislead, Id asked if there would be enough In my Dads account to cover the costs, and they had said there would be, oh and I said I'd read a forum on the internet, she said she wasn't proud of that!!

She said she'd speak to her manager and get back to me.

I was phoned later that day by the manager, who said he'd taken my case straight to the chairman and, as I'd been treated badly and the case was straightforward, they could do it for a fixed fee of £1300.

I have still refused, but I was worried that they were going to levy a hefty bill for there work so far, but the documents arrived back today ( just over a week later) However the deeds are missing, but I phoned them today, and they said they will send them on.

It looks like I have had a lucky escape.

I'm going to apply for probate myself, any advice welcome!

angrygirlie

Regarding the money my mum left to The chemo unit....I said that I had not received any acknowledgement, hence why I checked up.

In fact my mum had also left some money to The Institute of Cancer Research too and when I received all my mothers documentation back after all was finalised, ITC did have letters of acknowledgement from the 2 charities

I was so upset that NO ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of thanks from the two charities was passed on to us (the executors) when it was OUR mum's money. ITC were thanked, and for what? This was personal and such an insensitive act for itc to not pass acknowledgements on to those who should receive it.
I complained to ITC about this (in writing along with my many issues in my many letters of complaints) and this issue was never ever addressed or explained to me why the thank you letters were not forwarded on to us.

ITC probate specialist???

This was my experience as a client to ITC

angrygirlie

wired_biker wrote: »

Hello All,

I would like to share my experience so far, and thank this forum for all the info on here, as you may well have saved my family a fortune.

My Dad passed away in August, and as he'd banked all his life with Barclays, that was my first port of call. I knew (and trusted) all the staff in my local branch, they had been very helpful with my Dads affairs in last few years.

On telling them he had passed away the manager phoned what I was lead to believe was their bereavement dept, and like others on here have said, my identity was being checked through my own Barclays account. Any way next thing I'm being thrust the phone as they are offering me advice on probate and arranging a home visit, to help me through this difficult time.

At the home visit, I was told that my Dad's affairs looked very complex, and it would be much easier to use their services, and they would be far cheaper than a solicitor.

My Dad has a surviving wife, who is the sole benifecery and executor, but in ill health and unable to act, happy for me to deal with things.
There is a house in My Dads sole name, and his bank account with 7.5K - and the funeral expenses are also to be paid from this.

The home visit was within a few days of the funeral, and I was feeling very vulnerable looking back now. I asked several times if there would be enough in his account to cover the fees. Yes no problem she said numerous times. I signed up

All went quiet for the 2 weeks that I had to change my mind.

Then they asked for the deeds for the house, which I sent off, special delivery, beginning of September. I thought it was all going along well.

Then, a letter came asking me for £1500 upfront, as they could see that there were limited liquid funds!

I haven't had the funeral bill yet, but I'm guessing around the 2.5K mark, leaving £5000, and that's not enough!!!

They did however say that if I wasn't happy to proceed on this basis I should call. Which I did. After being on hold for 10 mins, I spoke to my case manager, who told me to put it in writing, which I did, as by this point I had found this forum and read the horror stories on here.

heard nothing for 2 weeks. Then a phone call, they were very worried that I was requesting to cancel the agreement.

I said I felt I'd been mislead, Id asked if there would be enough In my Dads account to cover the costs, and they had said there would be, oh and I said I'd read a forum on the internet, she said she wasn't proud of that!!

She said she'd speak to her manager and get back to me.

I was phoned later that day by the manager, who said he'd taken my case straight to the chairman and, as I'd been treated badly and the case was straightforward, they could do it for a fixed fee of £1300.

I have still refused, but I was worried that they were going to levy a hefty bill for there work so far, but the documents arrived back today ( just over a week later) However the deeds are missing, but I phoned them today, and they said they will send them on.

It looks like I have had a lucky escape.

I'm going to apply for probate myself, any advice welcome!

Well done wired biker for taking the right action. We are so glad that this forum has spared you any further grief by going through the process with ITC. Keep us updated on the return of the deeds.... It's interesting that the person at the call center said 'they' were not proud of this forum. To not be proud of something sounds to me, a form of admission.
There are plenty of willing folk here who can advise you on self probate so do let us know how you get on

angrygirlie

Over 44,000 views.....

Here's to the 50,000

John_Pierpoint

wired_biker wrote: »

I'm going to apply for probate myself, any advice welcome!

You can buy all three up to date (nearly) "Which?" books for less than 25 quid.
They overlap a bit and by the sound of it there is just a house and a very modest nest egg involved, so "Giving and Inheriting", which is mainly about finance probably won't be needed?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giving-Inheriting-Which-Essential-Guides/dp/1844901181/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319075655&sr=1-1-fkmr0

It is vital to buy the latest versions that the link above shows.

Though you might not need "Giving and Inheriting" as that is aimed at people with potential InHeritance Tax (IHT)
problems, unless mum, with the addition of the house, will be over £650,000.
There could be an issue about mum being "self funding" if she needs future care and the house will finance it.

If you need any further advice the "saving tax" and "over 50" forums have experienced posters.

portlandboy

wired_biker wrote: »

Hello All,

I would like to share my experience so far, and thank this forum for all the info on here, as you may well have saved my family a fortune.


It looks like I have had a lucky escape.

I'm going to apply for probate myself, any advice welcome!

I hope that this forum may have also saved your sanity too. Sometimes the money becomes a secondary concern and the mental stress that ITC puts on people is far more damaging.
I hope that they do send the deeds back and don't play the "we sent them last week" game.
I can't see anything in your post that would suggest the probate will be complicated, but you can be sure that any help you need will be here. Thanks to John Pierpoint for the link to the books.
I'm so glad that at least one person at ITC is "not proud" of this thread, although "ashamed" should be the term that they use.

Wired biker, when you've completed the probate, maybe you would be good enough to keep an eye on the thread and give some advice to others?
Many thanks,