ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

wired_biker

wired_biker wrote: »

Thanks for your message, in their bill they have broken it down as follows:

Set up fee £250
Professional fee £250
Vat £100

Third party fee - Land Registry £80

I am thinking of ringing them and agreeing to the set up and vat on that. Asking for proof for what they paid to the land registry and if I'd get copies of whatever they paid for. But I cannot see what the 'professional ' fee is for, and I really object to paying it. It seems to be a 'we want your bill to be bigger so we are making it up - fee'

Just wanted to let you all know that I have had a result. Itc told me after my last letter to them that I needed to complain in writing, detailing all of my concerns. Which I did, expressing my concern that the itc representative that came to my home mislead me and told me not to check through all the paperwork, but she said " you can put all that away now and not think of it again. They then waited for the cool of period to expire before slapping me with an upfront bill, due to limited liquid assets. I asked the rep 4 times if there would be enough in his bank to cover it, and 4 times she said yes. £7500 was apparently not enough to change the deeds of the house into my step mums name.To cancel they wanted £680 to cancel and return my Dads Deeds. Anyway I've had a letter today saying that as a gesture of goodwill they will waive their cancellation cost. I am over the moon. However I notice that the deeds did not come with the letter, and I fear that it is not over yet, but fingers crossed................
Come the new year I will start probate myself.

btw i apologise If I have posted this wrongly, I am a newbie as far as forums go.....

portlandboy

wired_biker wrote: »

£7500 was apparently not enough to change the deeds of the house into my step mums name.

I recently sold my late father's flat. It cost £800 inc. VAT for ALL the conveyancing fees, including the legal work and the transfer of the deeds to the new owner. I'm glad that I refused to let ITC do that part of the job at least.

Jersey_Bill

How I wish I had found this forum info before I appointed ITC after my brother's death in September 2010. Like most of the people who have posted here he died without leaving a will - and ITC got me to do all of the running around to try to find one. Their attitude is unbelievably unprofessional and they appear to try to keep hold of the funds for as long as they possible can in order to get the maximum interest that they can from their bank. To do this they resort to sending out incorrect / inaccurate information and then taking ages to rectify it. In our case we needed a Deed of Variance as my parents did not want all of the money from the estate - and ITC spelled one of the beneficiariy's names wrong (despite having it in black and white in front of them) - it took us MONTHS to get a correct version out of them - and they then posted it to the wrong address! We complained, went to the CEO's office for a second attempt, and threatened them with legal action before we got anywhere. At that point they discovered a document in a file that they needed to get actioned before they would part with the estate - and that resulted in a further month delay. All in all it took us 16 months to get the money (not much more that £200,000). I hope that many people read these messages before it is too late for them!!

vedran

My father died last February and I was advised firstly by CAB and then Barclays Bank to contact ITC and now a year later all the things in this forum are coming true! What can I do? Is there a legal way out? How can I get them out of my life?

Shouldn't CAB and Barclays Bank be told about ITC and to stop advising people to use them? Have I any comeback with Barclays Bank?

This is a total nightmare, bad enough losing my Dad and now this, I feel sick!

portlandboy

vedran wrote: »

My father died last February and I was advised firstly by CAB and then Barclays Bank to contact ITC and now a year later all the things in this forum are coming true! What can I do? Is there a legal way out? How can I get them out of my life?

Shouldn't CAB and Barclays Bank be told about ITC and to stop advising people to use them? Have I any comeback with Barclays Bank?

This is a total nightmare, bad enough losing my Dad and now this, I feel sick!

Sadly, the CAB are aware of ITC's conduct and so are Barclay's. Barclay's have a vested interest in their set-up with ITC, as they earn from the underhanded deal that the created with ITC. However, the CAB do not have any financial ties with either ITC or Barclay's, yet they still seem to have little weight when it comes to dealing with the situation. This is probably due to the fact that legally ITC seem to sail very close to the line but not over it, and because the government has not (yet) regulated the probate industry. Our hope is that the pressure currently being put on the government to bring in regulation will see ITC unable to continue offering a "service" in the shoddy manner that they currently do.
I would suggest that you go back to the branch of Barclay's that recommended ITC to you, tell the manager your concerns, show them this site and write a formal letter of complaint. The more complaints that Barclay's receive, the less they will be able to argue that they are "unaware" of any problems. Eventually, we may see Barclay's in court for giving poor advice, as THEY are regulated and MUST be seen to offer best advice to their customers.
Unfortunately, given the time-scale that your case has been running, I think all you can do now is sit it out. A formal letter to ITC now, stating all your concerns and complaints, may leave you with the option of trying to get your bill reduced later - many have been able to get a "goodwill gesture" from ITC at the end of the case.
Hope you get some sort of positive outcome and that it isn't too much further away...though iyou may still be about half way ther at present

vedran

thanks so much for getting back to me, makes a difference knowing I am not alone. I am compiling all the dates and times etc at the moment and typing them up, I will then send copy to Barclays Bank, CAB and ITC and inform them that I want it sorted by a certain time and then if I don't get anywhere I will go to another solicitor. Just wish I had seen this forum before, but at the time I was a little upset and shocked as my father's death was totally unexpected.
Anyway thanks again and if I can be of help in any campaign etc let me know.

portlandboy

vedran wrote: »

Just wish I had seen this forum before, but at the time I was a little upset and shocked as my father's death was totally unexpected.
Anyway thanks again and if I can be of help in any campaign etc let me know.

That's how they get you. My dad went very suddenly too and it seemed so much of a weight off my mind when I signed up with ITC, expecting them to just get everything done. Turned out to be the worst thing I've ever done, and that is my honest feeling even now some 4 years later.

If you are a Facebook user, this link is for the page I started there. There are some things that will hopefully get off the ground soon on there:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/104268162937758/

Regards,

vedran

thanks. Have requested.

wired_biker

wired_biker wrote: »

Just wanted to let you all know that I have had a result. Itc told me after my last letter to them that I needed to complain in writing, detailing all of my concerns. Which I did, expressing my concern that the itc representative that came to my home mislead me and told me not to check through all the paperwork, but she said " you can put all that away now and not think of it again. They then waited for the cool of period to expire before slapping me with an upfront bill, due to limited liquid assets. I asked the rep 4 times if there would be enough in his bank to cover it, and 4 times she said yes. £7500 was apparently not enough to change the deeds of the house into my step mums name.To cancel they wanted £680 to cancel and return my Dads Deeds. Anyway I've had a letter today saying that as a gesture of goodwill they will waive their cancellation cost. I am over the moon. However I notice that the deeds did not come with the letter, and I fear that it is not over yet, but fingers crossed................
Come the new year I will start probate myself.

btw i apologise If I have posted this wrongly, I am a newbie as far as forums go.....

Well I am pleased to say that the deeds have been returned to me and my ordeal with itc is over.

I have now lost my step mother too, but she had a solicitor as her executor, and my first impression of them are very good, but only time will tell I guess, however they have quoted me less to do both lots of probate than itc wanted just to do Dad's. Also told me it should be done in 8 weeks, as I am buying my brother out! It would have been years with itc!!

fedupfromwakey

Wish we had seen this before going with ITC after my father-in-law died in May last year. I work for a bank that recommends them (no not Barlcays) and will do all I can to disuade them from further recommendations, albiet ours came from Barlcays. The house sale went through on 3rd Feb and we were told that all should be settled within 7 to 10 working days, we are now on WD10 and are still waiting for them to call us back despite several calls to them, they are either in meetings, unavailable or on holiday..... The case manager is never available she sure is a dedictated one, not. We have already prepared a letter of complaint and have been to send it to Martin Trees and Grant McKerron by the contacts at the bank I work for as quote "they would be mortified if they knew anybody was receiving such bad service, as they want to be the best in their field" well they sure have a long way to go to achieve that, don't they..... For what its worth I shall copy in Barclays and lets try Watchdog as well as Rip off Britain.

I can say that it would have been so much quicker to do it ourselves, I was just too busy at work.

DO NOT USE ITC - I CANNOT EMPAHISE THIS ENOUGH AS WITH ALL THE OTHER POSTS SAYING NOT TO USE

I will endeavour to keep you posted as to our outcome, its my husband that is the contact with ITC as he is the nominated contact with this crap company.