Anyone had experience of a company/solicitor doing the work of reclaiming? (merged)

Twinkly

Just a thought but...these companies wanting x amount of money for one letter ... can they not be reclaimed under the same condition in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts that a charge may not exceed the cost or it is thereby a penalty and um...reclaimable in court ?

Same with wanting £500 from you to cancel. Is that not excessive to any loss if they've only written a few letters ?

Or is that too easy ?

gstir_2

please, can anyone give me advice... i am desperate!! see above post.

gstir_2

i will try to keep this short, story goes: i instructed a company to claim back my charges from bank of scotland. got a letter from bank of scotland 6 weeks later to say will pay good will gesture payment of £1174 and i had 14 days to get back to them, this was on 10th march. i contacted charge company to say will only accept payment if bank willing to issue cheque for charges, otherwise refuse it. all along charge company have told me not to contact bank direct. i sent 2 emails to charge company on the 12th & 14th march asking for an update, didnt hear anything, then got letter saying they were back in talks with bank of scotland. i emailed again today for an update to generally be told they havent taken my instructions, havent contacted bank, payment has now gone into an account i no longer have access to, and i should phone bank direct to try and sort it out!! i am furious... plus charge company say ohh and you owe us £278, which i wouldnt mind paying IF they had followed my wishes. where do i go from here, any advice???

raudi

Hi

out of intrest which company did you use?? I'm using FRL for my woolwich ones as i know they are really bad for dragging there feet.. and i'm ashamed to admit i'm ex staff

gstir_2

anyone?? any advice greatly appreciated! xx

justlaugh2

Twinkly wrote: »

Just a thought but...these companies wanting x amount of money for one letter ... can they not be reclaimed under the same condition in the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts that a charge may not exceed the cost or it is thereby a penalty and um...reclaimable in court ?

Same with wanting £500 from you to cancel. Is that not excessive to any loss if they've only written a few letters ?

Or is that too easy ?

I would certainly like to try!

I have sent them a very well worded letter ( written by a soliciror friend) terminating the contract!
And have recieved a letter stating that they are willing to accept £350 ( they only sent 1 letter (requesting statements)
I plan to drag it out for as long as possible or at least until my bank have refunded my charges.
But at least (unlike the bank) they cannot plunder my account whenever they like and can wait in line like all the others to get paid.

Becky

justlaugh2

gstir wrote: »

i will try to keep this short, story goes: i instructed a company to claim back my charges from bank of scotland. got a letter from bank of scotland 6 weeks later to say will pay good will gesture payment of £1174 and i had 14 days to get back to them, this was on 10th march. i contacted charge company to say will only accept payment if bank willing to issue cheque for charges, otherwise refuse it. all along charge company have told me not to contact bank direct. i sent 2 emails to charge company on the 12th & 14th march asking for an update, didnt hear anything, then got letter saying they were back in talks with bank of scotland. i emailed again today for an update to generally be told they havent taken my instructions, havent contacted bank, payment has now gone into an account i no longer have access to, and i should phone bank direct to try and sort it out!! i am furious... plus charge company say ohh and you owe us £278, which i wouldnt mind paying IF they had followed my wishes. where do i go from here, any advice???

Well i certainly wouldnt pay them until you have access to the money!

Twinkly

gstir wrote: »

anyone?? any advice greatly appreciated! xx

Check your contract carefully for breaches of it.

Kerrymap

A couple of weeks ago I noticed on the back of a newspaper a company that advertised their services to reclaim bank charges. I gave them a call but found they were not willing to give any information as to how they worked but would send out an application pack.

The pack turned up a couple of days later, after reading through it I found out their charge was 25% of whatever you manage to claim back from your bank. I threw the pack away and decided to do it myself with the help of everyone here on Money Saving Expert of course!!

Anyways I have just had a phone call from the same company who basically said to me by trying to do it myself means the bank will more than likely just give you a settlement figure of half the total I am requesting for rather than repay you the whole amount. Where as if I had done it with them I would have been better off.

I was just wondering does companies like actually have more power than an individual doing it by themselves?

Twinkly

Kerrymap wrote: »

A couple of weeks ago I noticed on the back of a newspaper a company that advertised their services to reclaim bank charges. I gave them a call but found they were not willing to give any information as to how they worked but would send out an application pack.

The pack turned up a couple of days later, after reading through it I found out their charge was 25% of whatever you manage to claim back from your bank. I threw the pack away and decided to do it myself with the help of everyone here on Money Saving Expert of course!!

Anyways I have just had a phone call from the same company who basically said to me by trying to do it myself means the bank will more than likely just give you a settlement figure of half the total I am requesting for rather than repay you the whole amount. Where as if I had done it with them I would have been better off.

I was just wondering does companies like actually have more power than an individual doing it by themselves?

Not power as such , they are just better informed than Joe Average. All the information you will need is available on the internet and a ton of it is here. I advise to start with Martins main article and the Reclaim bank Charges Help thread which is stickied on the main page of the forum at all times. Other posted threads move around according to popularity.

Reclaiming looks complicated but it is a series of steps. Take one at a time and approach it methodically. Any further questions or difficulties along the way just ask in the forums. Good luck