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This morning I received a phone call from ANIC Associates based in Hatton Garden. This concerned an air to air heat pump we purchased in 2013 for £9,500. We had some initial problems but it worked for 4 years and then broke down completely. After contacting the company, Superseal, based in Glasgow, we were left waiting for them to order a new part. After a long time, and not getting phone replies or email contact, I did a little investigating and discovered the company was in liquidation. The pump was supposed to be guaranteed for 10 years. Because we had paid the whole thing by cheque, I understood that we would be at the bottom of the list of claimants, so waved our money goodbye. The only reason we had managed to do this purchase was because of a legacy I had received.
The representative from ANIC Associates tells me that because of the new banking guides, this will be considered a mis sell and they will try to reclaim what we paid from the bank. Not sure if he means their bank or ours. They have sent me an email with a welcome agreement via Pandadoc, so I'm presuming I'm expected to sign this straight away. He's phoning back tomorrow. The first thing that comes to mind is scam but they will not ask for any money for their service until the cheque for any refunded moneys is in our bank account and then they will send an invoice for a payment of 33 1/3% of the amount. I thought that was good enough for me if they were doing all the work. I haven't opened the email yet. Is this worth a try? My daughter says I should contact you.
You'll be several hundred pounds down before you know it. There's nothing they can do for you but help relieve you of some of that pesky cash clogging up your bank account.
Are you sure? He insisted that they would invoice only when money was paid to us. Am I really that thick? Maybe just old!
I have had a quick look and they do not appear to hold any regulatory permissions with the FCA to pursue financial claims against regulated firms. They also dont appear to have any legal permissions either. Their own website indicates that they are letter writers. Mainly CVs by the look of it.
Banks are not required to pay anything if you write a cheque out to pay for goods that are later found faulty. There is some protection with credit agreements but cheques do not involve credit.
I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
Thanks to both of you for your advice!. I did have a look on their site and saw about the letter and cv writing and that the firm only started last year. I knew that paying by cheque left us with no options but thought maybe these new guides changed things. I usually consider myself pretty savvy and am careful with financial actions, but I was definitely taken in by this. Thank goodness I checked here first. I'm still not sure how they would get my money without bank details. Are they threatening?
Replies
This morning I received a phone call from ANIC Associates based in Hatton Garden. This concerned an air to air heat pump we purchased in 2013 for £9,500. We had some initial problems but it worked for 4 years and then broke down completely. After contacting the company, Superseal, based in Glasgow, we were left waiting for them to order a new part. After a long time, and not getting phone replies or email contact, I did a little investigating and discovered the company was in liquidation. The pump was supposed to be guaranteed for 10 years. Because we had paid the whole thing by cheque, I understood that we would be at the bottom of the list of claimants, so waved our money goodbye. The only reason we had managed to do this purchase was because of a legacy I had received.
The representative from ANIC Associates tells me that because of the new banking guides, this will be considered a mis sell and they will try to reclaim what we paid from the bank. Not sure if he means their bank or ours. They have sent me an email with a welcome agreement via Pandadoc, so I'm presuming I'm expected to sign this straight away. He's phoning back tomorrow. The first thing that comes to mind is scam but they will not ask for any money for their service until the cheque for any refunded moneys is in our bank account and then they will send an invoice for a payment of 33 1/3% of the amount. I thought that was good enough for me if they were doing all the work. I haven't opened the email yet. Is this worth a try? My daughter says I should contact you.
They won't do any work (as there is no work to be done) but you will end up paying them a fee.
You'll be several hundred pounds down before you know it. There's nothing they can do for you but help relieve you of some of that pesky cash clogging up your bank account.
Banks are not required to pay anything if you write a cheque out to pay for goods that are later found faulty. There is some protection with credit agreements but cheques do not involve credit.