Lifestyle Claims

YorkGirl_2

I've been caught out today too :-( I fell for the same as all you guys. I'll save the story but I agreed to them taking £299 (not one mention of VAT). I then did some research after feeling I'd done the wrong thing, to be told it was a scam (i checked their registration with MoJ and it told me it was a scam).
Rang my credit card company immediately to be told they taken 3 lots of £359.90, over £1000, I was nearly sick! Credit card are hoping the can stop the transaction as it hadn't yet shown on my statement, if not they said they'll go along the route of claiming it back. They're ringing me tomorrow.
Can't believe I fell for it, I thought I was being so careful too :-(

STAY AWAY FROM LIFESTYLE MONEY!!

wendyjo1

I fell for the scam too back in April. Credit card couldn't stop the transaction so I started a battle with Lifestyle Money. They sent me a refund form (the 1st one was for a refund of £0 so I told them not to insult my intelligence) so they sent another one for £719.96 and a promise that the refund would be within 30 days. I returned it on the 30th April. 30 days came and went, still no refund so I rang them last week and amazingly got through to be told the transaction would be that day, it wasn't. Yesterday I spent hours trying to get them on the phone again but no chance so sent a nasty email and even pm'ed a MSE member for help.

Last night I checked my credit card again and finally I've got my money back. They originally took £599.98 and refunded £719.96 which covers the interest charges I presume.

So all's well for me now and I've learned a valuable lesson. I hope everyone else on this thread who's fallen for the scam of this worthless company gets the same result.

tivofan

Like a lot of others I foolishly fell for their convincing dialog following an unsolicited call to my mobile in March this year. I checked this forum afterwards and realised I had made a very big mistake - I felt so gullible! For those in the same boat, my course of action was to follow the advice given in this thread - I never returned the forms that Lifestyle Claims sent out, instead I emailed them the template letter described by 'magpiecottage' [with many thanks!] and copied it to the MoJ and then wrote to Barclaycard explaining what had happened.

I heard nothing more from Lifestyle Claims, I had a missed call from the MoJ and then when I tried repeatedly to contact them there was never a reply. In the end it was Barclaycard that came good for me - they did ask a lot of further questions and request further information and written statements, but in the end they did credit my account for the full amount taken by Lifestyle Claims.

If anyone else out there has fallen for this scam as I did, then this success story may give you hope - I recommend chasing your credit card company on the grounds of an unauthorised withdrawal. It took a couple of months but it worked for me!! I never take unsolicited calls on my mobile phone now that's for sure.

Good luck!

dazzler82

I had a phone call from these today, They gave me their spill on how much money they could win for me with a no win no fee deal!
They then said they would need a one off payment of £9.99 to which i declined, i was then put on hold 1 minute latter he came back and said they are willing to wave the one off fee as i have such a good case!
I was then told they will send out paperwork for me to fill out and if i fail to return it within 21Days they will charge me £50!
I said i wasnt interested as i knew nothing about them and i wanted to research them before i committed to anything. All i got was thanks for your time and that was the end of call.

I am now worried that i will get the said paperwork and end up getting a £50 charge, does anyone know where i will stand if this does happen?

dazzler82

Oh also they said that the cut they get of anything they get is 30% plus VAT.
I said so you get 50%. All i got from him was silence and he quickly moved on.

magpiecottage

dazzler82 wrote: »

I am now worried that i will get the said paperwork and end up getting a £50 charge, does anyone know where i will stand if this does happen?

If it happens, tell your bank it is an unauthorised debit and you want to be reimbursed in accordance with FSA Rule BCOBS 5.1.11R.

dazzler82

magpiecottage wrote: »

If it happens, tell your bank it is an unauthorised debit and you want to be reimbursed in accordance with FSA Rule BCOBS 5.1.11R.

They havent got any of my bank details, they do somehow have my address, as they used it to confirm my identity.

Will they have any grounds to do so?

Swizzlestick

Hi there guys, there is another thread about this company, here's my post

Can I jump on the bandwagon please? This is my first post but felt I had to share my experience with these jokers!
I first got a call from these people on 25th May from a Swansea phone number. I'd just been talking to a friend who had had a successful ppi claim so the timing was spot on. They asked loads of questions and I was passed to a total of 3 people. I too gave over CC details (they kindly held the line as I activated my card! )
My friend was downstairs and I told her my call was for ppi and that I'd had to pay £719 in total. The look on her face said it all. I felt a complete fool.
I'd told the guy on the phone I wasn't comfortable with giving my cc details to a stranger. It he'd given me the MOJ speel and told me to check their website out. I did and this forum came up. I was furious with myself.
I rang back on the number theyd rang from the next day when I was on my own and the phone was answered as if they were phoning me addressing me by my first name. When I said I'd rung them he got very flustered. After reading on MSE how difficult it was to get hold of anyone there I thought I'd try the assertive approach! I told the guy on the phone that I wanted to speak to the duty manager and I wasnt going to be fobbed off or put on hold that he'd better get someone immediately. I was put through to the 3rd person I'd originally spoken to. When I told him I wanted to cancel he tried to talk me round and soon he realised I wasn't having an inch of it. He said he wasn't authorised to do refunds but would get someone to call me back. I told him they had 30 minutes and I'd be phoning back. 20 minutes later he called back trying to talk me round again. When he realised I wasn't going to be a soft touch he became really rude and nasty telling me I was pathetic and stupid for not wanting to go ahead with the claim. My blood was boiling but I kept calm and stuck to my guns. I told him what I'd read on MSE and he said the posters were disgruntled members of staff blah blah blah. He said he'd have to speak to his superior again so I told him he had ten minutes. He rang saying my money would be refunded in 48 hours. It wasn't.
I went on holiday for a week and checked my cc on my return. Still nothing. I did however have a letter confirming cancellation and a refund slip to return. I signed it using my pre married signature as I was worried about the having mine and wrote on the slip that I had been told that I would have a refund within 48 hours of our last phonecall and I would keep an eye on my cc for a refund. The refund slip stated 30 working days from receipt for a refund which I marked on my calendar. I checked cc today and the money was refunded. I am so releived but can't believe I fell for it!
I realise how lucky I am to get my money back at all, I thought I was in for a loosing battle.
If you're still chasing them for your money be strong and good luck!

magpiecottage

Please report ALL cases where money has been taken in these circumstances to consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk

Regyuser

I had a call from this company on Monday this week (25/06). Usually as soon as they mention PPI I just say not interested, but for some reason not this time, maybe good sales technique!? Maybe I had £ signs in my eyes and was still miffed about paying a redemption fee some years back I thought erm maybe. I said I'll think about it and for them to call back on wednesday.

I had forgotten about it and they called back, saying they will only take on clients that they think will be able to get £1000s back, I was still dubious, but gave my CC details for £359.98.

Afterwards I didn't feel right and came across this thread which concerned me a whole lot more! So I checked my previous mortgage payments and interest rates to see if it highlighted any additional charges, they came out exactly what I paid, so no concern there. Not had any loans or CC charges, always paid the balance in full the next month on the CC. I did pay a fairly large amount for a setting up fee for my current mortgage which Lifestyle claims pounced on.

Anyway I felt I wasn't going to get anything back and rang to cancel my claim order, the person I spoke to wasn't available and they would call me back, they did 10 mins later. I explained what I'd figured out and they said Oh!

To try and cut the story short as this thread is mainly about the upfront charge, I called back to cancel 1hr from making the application as I didn't won't the hassle of getting the money back plus the interest on my card. Lifestyle said someone from accounts would call me back to cancel the transaction from an hour ago, I said can you not put me through now, they were all busy, suprise, as they were there within seconds to take the money! Ended the call, hours passed. I called Barclaycard to see if I could stop the transaction if it did go through, they said they can't do anything until the transaction is attempted. I also registered online to keep an eye on my balance.

I called Lifestyle 4hrs later and spoke to someone else to cancel, I wanted to stop the whole thing before it was processed to save the hassle, the original sales guy phoned my back and tried to convince me to carry on with the claim, I said no and asked to cancel and to speak to accounts. He said he'd spoken to accounts and told them to cancel the transaction, and said the transaction hadn't gone through yet, I said can you confirm it won't go through, not it hasn't yet, he just repeated it hasn't gone through yet. He asked me to send the infamous expensive claims pack back as I may still get it - that'll be used on my wood burner to heat the house if I do get it!!

3hrs later as I've found out today from speaking to Barclaycard they tried to take the money!!! Luckily Barclaycard rejected the transaction. I'm not sure if this was because I had phoned to say I wanted to block a payment or whether Barclaycard have had alot of hassle from Lifestyle!? Barclaycard also informed me that they spoke to someone about this transaction and this person told Barclaycard they didn't want to speak to them and cut them off - this was logged and flagged on my account.

So many thanks to barclaycard and fingers crossed Lifestyle don't try the transaction again!!!!