ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

portlandboy

fedupfromwakey wrote: »

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.

Both Martin Trees and Grant McKerron ARE fully aware of how ITC treats it's prey, Martin has known for at least 3 years now, as I spoke with him when I started this thread. It's money that drives men like that, not the care of their customers. ITC have already been featured on Rip-off Britain regarding their practices and the way that they deceive their customers, so the whole of the upper management know that their trade is based on lies, false claims and, in some cases, false accounting. One of ITC's SEO's was arrested last year for fraud!
McKerron and Trees operate a company that works in an unregulated field for one reason alone: they could not rip off their customers and earn such high volumes of money if it were to become regulated. Should the day of regulation arrive ITC will disappear overnight, leaving banks and other REGULATED financial institutions at a complete loss of what to do with their deceased accounts. But that will only be a positive for the customers of those institutions.
Sorry to read yet another message from another victim of ITC.

John_Pierpoint

Can anyone, who has survived ITC, show us the details of the final final financial outcome?

In other words the details of ITC various charges for the various services and "disbursements", real and imagined, that are charged on a "typical" middle class estate of say £400 k (ie there is some IHT/CGT/Income Tax hassle in there, as well as simple grant of probate?).

[If it was the second death in a couple, the estate valuation would probably need to be greater than £650,000, because that is the maximum IHT exemption for a couple]

I ask this because I am a totally unqualified DIY executor and as such I AM NOT ALLOWED TO CHARGE anything but expenses; but presumably as "a prudent man of business" I could have entered into a contract with some company (such as ITC) because that company was able to supply the expertise I as a layman did not have?

It would be interesting to compare my expenses on a a messy estate, which took 3 years to cross all the Ts and dot all the I's, with something similar finally sorted out by ITC in a similar time frame.

Just for the record, my bete noirs were (in order):

HMRC
(words fail me - no co-ordination between the various subsections).

Barclays/ITC
(can just one "simple" £50K nest egg account, via the local bank, require more letters and phone calls than the deceased's other dozen financial institutions put together?)

NHS hospital trust
("Did you ever get my application form and my cheque, I sent you 2 months ago?"
"We don't like to cash the cheques - because then the applicants [for access to medical records] get even more upset by the delay" - you could not make it up.)

helenog

Hi all,
I've been following this thread for a little while now and I would like to applaud everyone's efforts in trying to get this disgrace of a company brought to book.

I had the misfortune to get involved with ITC following the death of my mother last July, Barclays (another shameful bunch) also played their part in this whole wretched business. Anyway, I sacked ITC before I'd signed over power of attorney after I saw them on Rip-Off Britain - it still cost me ₤600 for "work" undertaken so far - which as far as I can tell the work done is practically zero, but at least I have escaped their clutches and I have the paperwork back.
The last letter I received from them the other day says at the bottom: "ITC is a trading name of Chorus Law Ltd" and gives an address in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. If you google Chorus Law it comes up with a page giving details about the company and a list of directors, and our friend Mr Trees is amongst them along with a few others. There's also other information on this site showing the other companies that the Directors are also on the boards of. It says they changed their name from ITC to Chorus Law on 30th Jan 2012 - wonder why they've done this?
I've decided to apply for probate myself as it turns out its not as difficult as Barclays and ITC would have us believe!!

John_Pierpoint

On BBC Radio 4 "You and Yours", there was an update about "Tesco Law" today.

The law has been changed so that legal firms can be owned by a plc. or ltd. company. In other words Mr Businessman can avoid all that difficult stuff about passing law exams. Once upon a time solicitors used to operate as partnerships with the dangers of unlimited liability, but for some time now you will have seen Llp after the firms name; meaning limited liability partnership.

The BBC had found an example of a firm of solicitors owned by a company controlled by a New Zealand-er.

My bet is that ITC has merged with a small solicitor, so now they can boast that the enterprise is controlled by the Law Society?

Mind you nothing new, 45 years ago, conveyancing of real estate was a solicitors monopoly and typically cost as much as the Estate Agent's fees.
In reality you the punter almost never spoke to the qualified solicitor, because there was one solicitor to an open plan office full of clerks just working to a system.

Anyone boasting qualifications on the details of Chorus Law Ltd ?

bonjouree

I sat here in tears, reading all the threads about this crap comapany ITC, Tears of emotion of what i have been through for the last 14 months and still counting,but also tears of relief that i am not alone and tears of anger that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long.

My story is the same repeated story that i have read over and over again. The same long drawn out process to this all so i can finally put my father to rest, the same lies on how long this will all take, the same promises of telephone calls that never happen and no doubt the same final bill problems(when ever that stage comes).

What i would like to know is were you also given the choice to use 'country wide estate agents' and Geoffery parker solicitors...I did ....what a joke (another story)

I am going to take this one to watchdog, would any of you back me up if i get any response with it??

I sincererly hope all your stories can end soon, so you can rightly grieve your loved ones.

portlandboy

bonjouree wrote: »

What i would like to know is were you also given the choice to use 'country wide estate agents' and Geoffery parker solicitors...I did ....what a joke (another story)

I am going to take this one to watchdog, would any of you back me up if i get any response with it??

Hi, Yes GPB and Mann Countrywide were the options that most ITC prey are offered. I refused Mann C/W as I know from past experience that they are a bunch of bent dealers, in my locality at least. GBP are in cohoots with ITC and between them they are each happy to slow the process down and take stick for each others incompetences. Could you imagine owning a GOOD firm of solicitors and being tied in with ITC? It would not last very long, would it?

I don't know how Watchdog select the stories that they cover, whether it is on numbers of complaints or things that may interest viewers. The backing of contributors to this site is likely to be good since many of us have already written to the BBC Watchdog, yet it seems our story is not one that is suitable for airing. I would like to know why, as it is surely a subject that affects many, many people and would also have a certain sympathetic response from viewers and is shocking at the same time.

Good luck with the rest of your case, I hope it draws to an end sooner rather than later.

Regards,

helenog

I have sent an email to Watchdog outlining my particular grievance, but mine is but the tip of the iceberg and compared to other ITC victims I consider I got off lightly, albeit several hundred pounds out of pocket. Don't laugh, but I am requesting a refund from ITC and if they don't cough up I'm going to ask Bob Diamond the CEO of Barclays Bank if he will dip into his swollen coffers as a gesture of goodwill. I'm working on the assumption that if you don't ask then you won't get.

I am also sending an email to the Trading Standards Office as I think they break just about every code going.

I wish everyone all the best with their cases and sincerely hope something is done soon to bring these useless, greedy parasites down.

zaraward

bonjouree wrote: »

I am going to take this one to watchdog, would any of you back me up if i get any response with it??

I would help back you! My story would really help the case, basically my Mum died 14 months ago and I've nothing but problems with ITC so many to write here but their latest is my Mum's large pension got paid to ITC and after 6 weeks they admitted that it belongs to me and is not part of the estate. They said they would send the cheque last Monday but each each day I ring them they make up an excuse not to send the cheque. Yesterday my case manager [TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] was even rude to me as they'll latest excuse is beyond a joke. Saying they have to have a meeting but as Easter is coming soon the meeting won't happen until after Easter. I know full well they are delaying things so they can earn interest on the large amount of money but I have had enough now and hiring a solicitor. They have pushed me so much not to mention all the times I have cried over this that I want take this further so they can't do this to anyone else. This is morally wrong to do this to people who have lost loved ones and has to be stopped!

angrygirlie

bonjouree wrote: »

I sat here in tears, reading all the threads about this crap comapany ITC, Tears of emotion of what i have been through for the last 14 months and still counting,but also tears of relief that i am not alone and tears of anger that they have been allowed to get away with it for so long.

My story is the same repeated story that i have read over and over again. The same long drawn out process to this all so i can finally put my father to rest, the same lies on how long this will all take, the same promises of telephone calls that never happen and no doubt the same final bill problems(when ever that stage comes).

What i would like to know is were you also given the choice to use 'country wide estate agents' and Geoffery parker solicitors...I did ....what a joke (another story)

I am going to take this one to watchdog, would any of you back me up if i get any response with it??

I sincererly hope all your stories can end soon, so you can rightly grieve your loved ones.

Hello posters....Again, I am in the background (having moved home again and trying to settle in)and I would like to say that I will be meeting with my solicitor soon with a drafted letter to which we will be sending out to all possible avenues to help get ITC exposed. (TV, MEDIA, TRADING STANDARDS, BANKS ETC) If the new/ish posters (VEDRAN, FEDUPFROMWAKEY,BONJOUREE,HELENOG, AND ABSOLUTELY ANYONE WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN FORCES TO GET SOME CLOUT BEHIND THIS, THEN PLEASE SEND ME A PM . IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR EXPERIENCE PUT FORWARD TO THE CONTACTS THAT I AND MY AMAZING SOLICITOR WILL BE NOTIFYING, THEN PREP WHAT YOU WANT SENT, I WILL COLLECT UP AND WE CAN DO THIS .
Please bear with me as I only have access to internet via my phone so I cannot write big responses.
I am so angry that this company continues to destroy decent folk....NOT FOR LONG I HOPE........

angrygirlie

If anyone knows where else ITC lurk (operating behind the scenes behind a big trusted company name,) then please post it. I am aware of BAC, Barclays, Halifax...


Thanks