Lifestyle Claims

xellieqx

Just had a very short but baffling phonecall from these people, in which they said I would be eligible to claim back interest payments I'd made on my credit card and that they'd send a letter out to me... they didn't ask me for any money and said there'd be a 30% fee to use the service. I won't be using it and they didn't ask me for my address (so assuming they have it from my credit card or otherwise). Should I just tear it up and ignore future pestering from them?

Stephen_Stephen

Keep away from is company ( Lifestyle Claims ) I have been trying to get my money back for six weeks now It seem that they sat on my paper and have only done thing when I made a phone call . Only contact I have had from this firm is when I called them, but they have never made contract or wrote to let me know how my case as been going , they tried to pass me onto one of there solicitors and asked me if I had legal cover on my car or House insurance. This sent some alarm bells ringing , I check with my bank to see if this company had contacted them and after going there files in my name & address , they reply no there was no file open. So then I checked with the Financial Ombudsman which should have been there next source of contacted , the answer was same as the banks . I am currently reporting this company to the Ministry of Justice. MY ADVICE IS STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY AND DO NOT LET THEM TALK YOU INTO THERE PROMISES !!!!!!!KEEP AWAY!!!!!!

magpiecottage

I have put a template letter here.

However, if they have taken your money but done nothing then this is advance fee fraud which should also be reported to Action Fraud here.

Migmonsta

I was cold called by Lifestyle Claims back in 2009. They've had approximately £250 out of me so far. In return I have received not a penny and I am currently trying to reclaim my fees via the Claims Regulator. They further cold called me saying that for another £350 per item they could tell me how much I would get back and tried to persuade me to pay them this on my credit card! Beyond belief! If they knew and I'd already paid a fee then why should I pay even more.

On a more very serious note: they will send you a load of paperwork to fill in stating all your personal details, bank accounts, name, address, phone numbers, email, financial details and organisations information for credit cards, loans, mortgage etc basically everything one would need to steal your identity - and they sent me someone else's paperwork. I had all this information on a girl in Ireland who I was previously unaware of. She is very lucky that I'm honest. I was absolutely appalled. They were even reluctant to pay for me to post it all back to them. So I now also have to pay £90 a year in ID protection in case my details have been sent out willy nilly to someone else. Please, I cannot stress enough DO NOT use these people.

UPDATE: Since writing this, I have now had my initial fee back with a nudge along from the Claims Regulator. However I also requested that bearing in mind they sent me someone else's complete financial details and ID, they confirm they have destroyed all my records. They have not done this and therefore I now have to pay £86 a year henceforth for ID protection insurance. So all in all, I got no PPI back and they have cost me in the region, so far, even with my fee back, approximately £350 and that will go up annually as I can never risk not paying for ID insurance. Also, even if I wanted to, I have now lost any hope of making a PPI claim through a trustworthy company (if there are any!) because most of my claims are statute barred due to the length of time they spent doing nothing to help me. STAY AWAY FROM THEM!!!

Neily53

Hello Magpie - many thanks for all your advice on how to deal with this company - and others who may try a similar trick.

I returned the paperwork they sent to me on 6th February and had a voicemail message on 7th from someone I assume to be a supervisor at Lifestyle claims asking me to return the call. I didn't, as I don't see any point in talking to them - emailing them is different.

One question - do I now wait until the 30 days are up, or do I send the email to them and the MoJ straight away? By my calculation they have until 8th March to refund my £359.98 ... and I really could do with that money back sooner!

Neily53

Sorry - I forgot to point out that I did not complete the paperwork - it remained empty.

magpiecottage

Neily53 wrote: »

One question - do I now wait until the 30 days are up, or do I send the email to them and the MoJ straight away?

If they took the money before you had received the documents that is when they breached the rules. An immediate complaint is therefore appropriate.

Neily53

magpiecottage wrote: »

If they took the money before you had received the documents that is when they breached the rules. An immediate complaint is therefore appropriate.

Thank you - I thought that might be the case. In fact I sent the email yesterday ... and - surprise, surprise! - it bounced back to me today (strangely, at 14.47 ... ?)! So ... a letter to them and an email to the MoJ claims regulation team. By the way, if you email the complaint letter to MoJ claims regulation on consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk it seems better, as the 'info@claimsregulation.gov.uk' address will return a message telling you your email has not been read, but giving further advice (all of which may or may not be helpful!).

magpiecottage

Neily53 wrote: »

Thank you - I thought that might be the case. In fact I sent the email yesterday ... and - surprise, surprise! - it bounced back to me today (strangely, at 14.47 ... ?)! So ... a letter to them and an email to the MoJ claims regulation team. By the way, if you email the complaint letter to MoJ claims regulation on consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk it seems better, as the 'info@claimsregulation.gov.uk' address will return a message telling you your email has not been read, but giving further advice (all of which may or may not be helpful!).

If you have not sent the letter yet get proof of posting (free from the Post Office).

little_miss_angry

I am SOOOOOOOO glad I found this forum when I did!!

I received a call from Lifestyle Money yesterday afternoon, normally I am very rude to cold callers & end up hanging up but no sooner did I answer the phone when I found myself being sucked in with their waffle (they talk soo quickly) & giving over my credit card details to have TWO lots of £299.99 + VAT be charged for them to investigate my PPI reclaim (apparently there were two different areas they had to claim in, hence why I had to pay their fees twice!)!!!! Not to mention the 25% fee I would have to pay to the IFA once the claim was complete! God I should have run a mile within the first 5 minutes.

It was this website that saved me! I had spoke to one advisor, been passed to a senior advisor (Adam Roberts) & then passed onto a Quality Manager (David James) at which point I started reading this forum & said I dont want to go ahead with it! He said he's pass me back to the senior advisor I previously spoke to at which point I expected to be cut off but I wasnt! He rambled about how if they were out to steal my money he wouldnt be taking the time to try & convince me the company was legitimate, they'd just charge my card & disappear. He told me about a million times they were MOJ recommended or whatever crappy line it was but I eventually put the phone down & then called & cancelled the credit card I had given him to process the payment on! I kept my phone off for a few hours after his call & when I turned it back on he had left me a voicemail saying I think you were coming around to the idea of claiming, therefore I am going to process your application & you will recieve the information in the post in the next couple of days.

I had already tried to process an internet transaction on the card I had giving him for payment & it had declined, so Im just hoping he didnt get his payment through before my credit card was cancelled.

I cant believe I was so guliable & naive - I never fall for crap cold callers feed me - EVER! I just dont know why I was sucked in by these guys but I cant urge people enough to STAY AWAY FROM LIFESTYLE MONEY! If you want to reclaim your PPI then go to the lenders direct - I called my bank after & as it turns out I was too clever back when I took out over £30,000 worth of loans because I refused the PPI (Im kicking myself for this decision now) so chances are I wouldnt have been able to claim anything back anyway!

another thing he told me was the claim would take 8-10 weeks but it would normally be done & dusted within 4! Lots of people have spoke about pre-contract information - I was sent this whilst he was still on the phone & he made sure he spoke the entire time I was trying to read it - unfortunately for him I managed to pick out the sentenance that says claims take up to 12 months - so in those 12 months you've paid the credit card costs off & probably been forgotten about! THEY ARE A CON!!!!

When I told him what I was reading about his company he said, you shouldnt listen to people on forums, the bad always outweighs the good, we cant satisfy 100% of our customers, these people are scorned & just want to bad mouth us, they probably dont work & have nothing better to do with their time, its slander & legally we can have that removed (hmmm, so why havent you then?) He went onto say, in the past people have posted on forums saying MacDonalds have served us rat, cat or bird instead of beef, but you still eat in MacDonalds dont you? Trust me he had all the answers but I cant urge you enough to trust your gut feeling! No win, no fee means just that! There are some legitimate PPI reclaim companies out there but LIFESTYLE MONEY is NOT one of them!

They talk too quick, they are ever so friendly & professional (until I started questioning him & he cursed in the background saying his f*cking computer screen was p*ssing him off - how very nice) you hear all the noise of a call centre in the background - he even went as far as to say he was not an immoral person, he had listened when I had said I had 3 children & was getting married (god Im such a mug for giving away such useful information, I mean how easy is it to convince a woman getting married that she could recieve thousands of pounds for nothing!) He gave me a direct line to call him on ..... 01792 621246 - guess what? Its a dead line & the other three numbers he's called me from 01792 473156 & 621240 & 455426 are all constantly engaged!

I think I have managed to get off lightly, it has made me realise what an idiot I was & how things could have gone really wrong for me & I will continue to be rude to cold callers & hang up ..... If I want a service, I will go & find it!

I hope other people manage to find all the information listed on here in time, like I did!

Best of luck!