ITC Legal Services - Avoid Them

angrygirlie

Yes. It's about time an undercover journo got on the inside and revealed to the tv watching nation how unregulated probate companies like ITC can use the word 'lawyers' but the customer does not realise that they will be in a position of complete vunerability.

angrygirlie

Baz_J wrote: »

My Girlfriend unfortunately used this company after being recommended to her by Barclays after her fathers death.

She has just finally received her bill , this is after months of phoning them asking what the total costs would be. All the while being told that they could not give her a running figure and she would have to wait until all the Administration has been done and finalised.

That is obviously utter rubbish ,they surely know what the current bill is anytime when asked.
As many of you have already said , they are nothing more than vultures preying on vulnerable people.

If anyone is able to offer the name, phone number or personal details of the CEO i would be very grateful as i wish to pursue the matter at all costs.

On an estate worth just over 90k , the costs of just over £4,00 are detailed below.

They also retained £500 for Conveyancing, disbursements and Land Registry charges in respect of the property transfer. This value has been projected and may be subject to change. Any surplus will apparently be returned upon completion of the transfer.

Surely they cannot also hold on to the £500 if they do not have the final figure.

---

Power of Attorney fee inc Vat
£138.00
DWP Investigation fee inc Vat
£117.50
Directors Signature fee inc Vat
£58.75
Taxation Review Charge inc Solicitors Disbursements and Vat
£172.50
Beneficiary fee inc Vat
£705.00
Asset fee inc Vat
£164.50
Itc Professional Charges
£1868.36
Vat on Professional Charges
£282.59
Retention For Conveyancing and Land Registry Charges
£500

Total
£4,007,20

Your post was just ahead of mine. Sorry to hear your girlfriend got the awful experience of this company. Names of the 'men in charge' are on the ITC website. Apart from it gushing about how important the customer is and how they are the most recommended probate company blah, blah, you will find them there.
Good luck and keep posting. The more posts, the more the public will be made aware of the terrible failings of this company.

Baz_J

angrygirlie wrote: »

Your post was just ahead of mine. Sorry to hear your girlfriend got the awful experience of this company. Names of the 'men in charge' are on the ITC website. Apart from it gushing about how important the customer is and how they are the most recommended probate company blah, blah, you will find them there.
Good luck and keep posting. The more posts, the more the public will be made aware of the terrible failings of this company.

Hello,

Never one for holding back, I will be writing to Mr Martin Trees expressing my disgust/anger at their unprofessional behaviour throughout this whole episode.


Episode may seem a little light hearted but this fiasco has been exactly that.

There utter disregard for families at the low point of there lives is diabolical.
They also told my Girlfriend there fees were capped/fixed @ £1200 or 1% although she did expect small additions to this.

SMALL additions , now that's an understatement.

Such conveninece that her father had around £4k savings as the rest was the value of the house and the final Bill is very close to his total savings.

Should i not be happy with the reply or outcome i will pursue the matter as far as necessary.

[TEXT DELETED BY ABUSE TEAM].


M***t Pl******



Best regards.


Just to add: After phoning ITC myself this morning asking for an explanation of the sudden rise of there "Professional" fees as to those originally quoted , the case manager had disappeared from the face of the earth and they were unable to locate him/her.

[TEXT DELETED BY ABUSE TEAM]

Baz_J

I have just come back from Barclays , unfortunately the Customer Services employee who recommended ITC was not there today.

I therefore directed my tales of woe/anger/concern at the Branch manager.
I spend an hour going through all the problems my girlfriend had encountered whilst using this Co.

He listened intently and was mortified at what i told him , hopefully this was true concern and not just a brush-off. We are due back there Tuesday for an update as he is going to refer the matter to Head office.

I will keep you updated on the situation , hopefully nobody else will have ITC darkening there doorstep .

Best regards

portlandboy

Hi Baz,
I read your post with great interest. Fortunately my dealings with ITC are over (thank god!) but your breakdown of accounts seems very similar to mine:
A fixed fee 1.5% (which should have been about £1800)
+ Disbursements
+ Director's signature fee
+ Probate application fee
+ Conveyancing fees for property
+ Legal & public noices charge
+ Probate application swearing fee
+ ITC taxation review charge
+ ITC power of attorney fee
and then
+ ITC "PROFFESIONAL" charges (and this is almost a trading standards complaint in itself, because they're deffinitely NOT proffesional in the slightest)
+ VAT
My grand total= £3800
So the "fixed fee" service is clearly a very loose term at best. Perhaps we are also charged by the kg for all the crap they give us (In which case they are UNDERCHARGING by a long way).

When each case is finalized they call you for "feedback" and any negative comments are passed to Martin Trees, CEO, for him to contact the customer. As you may have read here, he offered me a £1800 reduction of fees (little consolation really) and promised to put right all that was wrong with ITC. I promised to remove his name from my posts if he did so. But he has clearly not done anything to change the way that ITC treat their bereaved, vulnerable customers.

Well if anyone feels the need to speak to him DURING their case he is MARTIN TREES, CEO OF ITC LEGAL SERVICES, and his personal phone number is NUMBER REMOVED BY MONEYSAVINGEXPERT STAFF. After all,it is clearly pointless for him to try to sort things out after the event. He needs to know what is happening while it is happening.

Baz_J

Hello Portlandboy,

Thank you for the reply.
As most others whom have used ITC, we only expect what we were told or informed of.

We personally are not looking for freebies, handouts or them to offer their services FOC.
Had the bill been what she expected and was categorically told, all would have been fine.

I do hope for the sake of others that any problems are Case manager related and not the norm within the company although it seems to be the latter.

It’s unfortunate but due to the nature of there services most consumers are not in the correct frame of mind and would just happily sign there T+C’s without fully reading and understanding them.
Especially after one of there Rep’s has given a very polished performance and Oscar winning sales pitch.

Hopefully they will come good and abide by what was originally agreed.


Best regards.

Former_MSE_Dan

Hi folks,

Please can I remind everyone here not to post individuals contact details in this, or any thread.

I have removed the instance above.

Thanks

Dan

Baz_J

MSE_Dan wrote: »

Hi folks,

Please can I remind everyone here not to post individuals contact details in this, or any thread.

I have removed the instance above.

Thanks

Dan

Good Evening,

Judging by the prompt removal, Mr Trees is taking an interest in the Thread.

Hopefully just as much attention will be taken in resolving our grievance.

Best regards

angrygirlie

Baz_J wrote: »

Hello Portlandboy,

Thank you for the reply.
As most others whom have used ITC, we only expect what we were told or informed of.

We personally are not looking for freebies, handouts or them to offer their services FOC.
Had the bill been what she expected and was categorically told, all would have been fine.

I do hope for the sake of others that any problems are Case manager related and not the norm within the company although it seems to be the latter.

It’s unfortunate but due to the nature of there services most consumers are not in the correct frame of mind and would just happily sign there T+C’s without fully reading and understanding them.
Especially after one of there Rep’s has given a very polished performance and Oscar winning sales pitch.

Hopefully they will come good and abide by what was originally agreed.


Best regards.

Believe me, it is not case manager problem related. IT IS ITC and the way the company operates in my experiance (and others on this thread).
As so many people have also pointed out as well on this thread, the bereaved and grief stricken are taken advantage of. I too was charged more than the advertised 1% fee and am persuing a return of the unexpected charges, which, as you say, will be interesting practice for the Trading Standards.

Lets hope you get back what you did not expect to pay.

lifesabeach1111

I to am going through a nightmare with ITC since jan 2009. I have been crying on the phone twice to them this isn't how its meant to be. I have spent the summer of 2009 on the phone trying to do things that they promise to do for you. There 6 week update is a joke,i have had to update them most of the time. We accepted an offer on my dads house in may,it wasn't until august that we realised we were not dealing with the same buyers, someone had put in a higher offer in June that ITC accepted without even lettings us know.They turned out to be the buyers from hell.
We finally had completion on the house on 18 Jan we were told on mon that we were still on stage 4 but stage 5 was mainly complete and we should be on final stage 6 on 1st or 2nd week of feb.I started to read this forum today and worried that they my not pay out so soon.My sister phoned them today and was told its no where near over and could be another 4 to 6 weeks.So its just one lie after another from these people.She also asked who would be receiving the interest on the money and was told its in an interest free account.I don't believe that for one minute. The sooner this company is looked into the better There are taking advantage of people at a very vulnerable time.