failed PPI reclaim charges

websarah

Hi all,
Sorry if this is posted in the wrong place; I'm new here and just finding my feet.
OK, a story for you....
About a year ago, I was contacted by Holton Alliance; it was a cold call and I had never heard of them until then. The man on the phone explained that he could get me some money (possibly thousands!) back from a PPI policy that I had taken out several years before.
I explained that this PPI was actually paying me a monthly premium, due to my recent redundancy, so it was unlilkely that it was 'dodgy' at all. He said that it didn't matter, and because there was no risk to me, I had nothing to lose.
On that basis, they sent me some forms, I filled them in, sent them off and then heard nothing further, until last week.

They now say that due to my 'non-communication', they have closed my account, and have invoiced me for £240 !
I tried to call them several times to query this invoice, but all I could get was their answering machine, on which I left several messages.
Yesterday, due to non-payment of last week's invoice, I was invoiced for a further £48 !!
After several phone calls and messages, someone did eventually call me back yesterday; he said that I had signed a legally binding contract and that I had to pay them. They say that they tried to contact me several times over the past year because they needed more information - this makes me wonder what they might have done to incur any expense, if they didn't have enough information to progress the case in the first place.

I explained that they had done nothing for the money - not provided a service and not delivered a product, and that they had not contacted me at any time in the past year. Also, all of their literature and website proclaim 'NO WIN NO FEE - IF WE DON'T GET YOUR MONEY BACK, YOU DON'T PAY US A PENNY'.

OK, the small print (if you understand legal-ese) does say that they will charge you if they close your account, but at the time I was in no position to read all that, having just lost my job and was claiming benefits at the time.
They caught me at a very low ebb (not an excuse, I know), and all their promotional material makes a big noise of the 'No win No fee' angle, which is blatantly misleading, since there appears to be a very high risk to the consumer.

It is my contention that they have none nothing for me to pay for, and that there they deliberately misled me at the outset. Clearly, if they needed to contact me for further information, they could not have had enough info to work on, so they could not have done any work on my behalf.

Their story is that I have incurred charges that have to be paid, and that I signed a legally binding contract agreeing to their conditions.

Anyone know the likely outcome, or what happens next?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer, I'm having sleepless nights over this.

Sarah J

amersall

Hi there sorry to hear this.
The problem you have is that even though it is a no win no fee,they sometimes charge for something else,maybe a cancellation fee etc.
You will need to look at the contract you signed with them and see what it says.
Hopefully someone will post who knows more about this and who you can complain to about this,especially as you have had no correspondence from them regarding this claim.

websarah

HI Amersall
Thanks for your reply. I don't have the original paperwork anymore; I threw it all away ages ago when it became apparrent that nothing was going to happen, but I have just been looking at the terms on their website.
Aparrently, each letter they send me will cost me £10, so they would presumably have proof of delivery for such letters?
Unpaid invoices are listed at £25 (yet they are charging me £48) and I expect this to rise because I have refused to pay them anything at all.
A cancellation of the contract will cost me £200, but from the condition below, I take it to mean that they would give me 14 days notice prior to any cancellation:

We may cancel this agreement at an time by serving you notice in writing;
We may cancel if you fail to provide within 14 days of request, information necessary to determine whether we can proceed further with your claim.

The first I knew of any cancellation was the letter that arrived informing me, which also had an invoice stapled to it.

amersall

Hi there, ask them for a breakdown of the charges and proof of the letters they sent to you,think the £200 stands though as it is in the terms and conditions,maybe you could ask them to reduce the charge as they did not correspond with you after signing the agreement and you feel they did nothing on this claim,dont know if this will work though.
sorry i cant be of much help really,but i am sure someone on here will help x.

Derwent

For my first ever claim I used a CMC but ended up sacking them. All they did was submit the original claim form, nothing else. It was me who ended up chasing the loan company, writing letters to them and telephoning. I asked the loan company if the CMC had done anything on my behalf and they said that they had not heard a thing from them throughout the process. I wrote to the CMC saying that I was terminating the contract as it was apparent that they had breached it by not 'managing my claim' in any way whatsoever and that I had proof of this from the loan company. They never even responded !

To the OP, it may be worth contacting who you were claiming the PPI refund from (bank, loan company etc) and asking what this CMC had done on your behalf re contacting them etc. If the answer is 'nothing' then tell the CMC that you will be sueing them for breach of contract.

Remember, contracts worth 2 ways and both sides can breach it - if they haven't done what they were obliged to then they have committed the first breach and rendered the contract invalid.

websarah

I will ask for a breakdown of charges, but whatever they are, I can't pay them anything. I have only recently come off benefits after 18 months on Jobseekers allowance; and I have just become self employed with no regular income yet.
I just don't have money to give away to people like this, and would never have got involved in anything like this if they had explained the risks attatched to their 'no win no fee' promise.

amersall

websarah wrote: »

I will ask for a breakdown of charges, but whatever they are, I can't pay them anything. I have only recently come off benefits after 18 months on Jobseekers allowance; and I have just become self employed with no regular income yet.
I just don't have money to give away to people like this, and would never have got involved in anything like this if they had explained the risks attatched to their 'no win no fee' promise.

Did you win the mis sell?.

amersall

Even though you claimed on the insurance, you could still have been mis sold.if any of the reasons below apply to you,then put a claim in.

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance#step2

websarah

Derwent wrote: »

To the OP, it may be worth contacting who you were claiming the PPI refund from (bank, loan company etc) and asking what this CMC had done on your behalf re contacting them etc. If the answer is 'nothing' then tell the CMC that you will be sueing them for breach of contract.

Briliant I will get onto that right away, thanks.

amersall wrote: »

Did you win the mis sell?.

No, I haven't won anything; I have been a loser from every angle. The sum total of my involvement with Holton Alliance has been:
1. Fill in a form
2. Get invoiced £240
3. Get invoiced a further £48

websarah

Interestingly, I don't think I was mis-sold the PPI anyway, but I definitely feel that I was mis-sold the services of the CMC.

magpiecottage

Have a look here.

From what you say, they seem to be in breach of rules 1a, 1c, 1e, 3, 10, 11b, 16 and 18 (and possibly others).