Lifestyle Claims

stocky255

I had a phone call from them today and I was only wanting to claim on 1 loan but during call the subject of my mortgage was also raised.Further into the call and having been passed to other people to discuss and confirm details it was mentioned that 2 payments of £299 +vat would be reqd for 2 claims which when I queried the person speaking said he would speak to his manager upon the call went silent for about 5 seconds and on resuming he said there would only be 1 payment reqd.I foolishly gave my card details for this supposedly returnable payment to claim on the only loan that I was concerned about.I am now having second thoughts having been so stupid in giving out credit card details over the phone when I have heard so much about fraud by this method of cold calling.Still wondering what I can do now.

stocky255

Further to the post yesterday.
On checking my bank account today a charge of £359.98 has been made(by god they were quick).
Also found out when Email from them said I would have to pay them £1 or £10 cheque made payable to the lender to request the relevant documents also any successful claim would be charged further fee of 30% plus vat from the compensation amount before the remainder is paid to me.
I suppose that if the compensation is a small amount I would end up paying them more than I would get.
Seriously thinking about the option to cancel the contract which can be done during the 14 day cooling off period only the initial chage may take up to 30 day to be refunded.:mad:

magpiecottage

I suggest you e-mail them back. Copy it to [EMAIL="info@claimsregulation.gov.uk"]info@claimsregulation.gov.uk[/EMAIL]

The e-mail should say the following (I am putting it in red so you know which bits to copy and paste - it doesn't need to be in red):

FORMAL COMPLAINT

Following your unsolicited call on 8 December 2011, you have debited £359.98 from my account.

As you are, or ought to be, fully aware, your regulator, the Ministry of Justice has said

"We are aware that many businesses take ‘up-front’ fees. But some businesses taking up front fees may be failing to provide prospective clients with compulsory, pre-contract information as required by the Conduct of Authorised Person Rules 2007. We are also aware that some businesses are not giving clients a reasonable period in which to consider the information. In particular some businesses take card details and / or payment during an initial marketing telephone call.
This is not permitted by the rules for the following reasons:
What the rules say
Rule 1(a) requires businesses to "Act fairly and reasonably in dealings with all clients".
Rule 11 requires a business to provide specific information in writing (electronic versions are sufficient) before a contract is agreed (details below).
General Rule 5 requires a business to “observe all laws and regulations relating to its business.”
The Provision of Services Regulations 2009, Regulation 11 requires businesses to provide certain information (which includes the information in Rule 11) to be provided “in good time before the conclusion of a contract …”
What this means for your business and up-front fees
Whilst you can take a payment or fee from a client before providing the service you must first provide the required information to clients. The purpose of Rule 11 is to enable clients to make an informed choice based on the pre-contract information provided.
You must not take a payment or fee before this pre-contract information is provided in writing and the prospective client has had reasonable time to consider the information. A reasonable time is not defined, as what might be reasonable for one person would not necessarily be reasonable for another. But we would always consider it unreasonable to provide the information at the point of contact – whether it is a cold call or the prospective client contacted the business – and request a payment or fee."

Clearly, therefore, you had no authority to take any payment from my account at this time and I demand that it is immediately refunded.

Furthermore, since you have unlawfully taken money from my account I consider that you are neither fit nor proper and I do not want you to act for me.

I note also that your regulator has said:

"Failure to comply with this warning is likely to lead to enforcement action being taken against the business concerned and could ultimately put the business’s authorisation at risk. The MoJ’s Monitoring and Compliance Unit has launched a fresh compliance exercise to tackle such breaches."

I am therefore sending a copy of this e-mail to your regulator.

Sranger

I received a call completely out the blue on my mobile from Lifestyle Money a fortnight ago. At first, I challenged the fellow making the call as to where he got my number, as this is a business phone. He provided quite a plausible answer and continued with a very tempting speel of how I could reclaim at least £2500. He continued to ask me if I had ever had a credit card with ........? "yes" i replied, amazingly he stated, "they are one of the worst" he proceeded to ask if I had ever had a mortgage with .........? again I replied "yes" again amazingly when he had established the year, went on to tell me, at that time the mortgage provider employed students to load the details interest rates etc which in their experience had been loaded wrongly and there was a good chance I'd have a significant claim. At the time it all sounded good but in retrospect, pretty fishy. He took my details and asked if I wished to proceed. He passed me through to another person who he stated would check if he had conducted himself properly. The second person did not ask me anything with regard to the first persons conduct but proceeded to reiterate everything the first person had said and then "closed" the deal by asking for my credit card details. I did challenge him, stating, I did not know who they were and they had just called on spec. He assured me If I paid by credit card I had the security of the credit card terms, if all was not well. Stupidly, I agreed. Having now done an internet search of Lifestyle Money and finding this and another forum. I have sent them an e mail, telephoned and from advice on an earlier post have written to them, sent by registered mail, all within 14 days of payment. Only upon receipt of the registered letter advising of my cancellation, did they acknowledge my request. The acknowledgement came by way of a phone call, which went to my voicemail. I attempted to call them back on the missed call number 01792482444 which had a rather strange ringtone, it rang out and went to a standard computer style ansaphone with American accent. I hung up. The following day I received a further call by someone introducing themselves as the Team Leader, who deals with cancellations, during this call I was asked why I was being Awkard? Clearly, exercising my right to cancellation translates to "Awkard" for Lifestyle Money.
The person finally relented but told me it would take 60 days to refund my payment, as they have to claim it back from the company who collected it on their behalf, of course my case could be dealt with within this period, should I wish to continue. At this point my apparent "awkwardness" turned to rage, I told him, "as they had collected the money directly from me it should be them who refund it" "Nonsense" I was told. I advised them I would inform my credit card company and ended the call. I then received a voicemail message from the same person calling from a mobile number, stating he had spoken to his team leader and in my case the funds would be refunded within 30 days.

I cannot believe I have been so naive.

hamikima

I'm a newby.

I got a call today as well.

Stupidly I gave my card details, but said they were not allowed to take any money of it untill I had checked them out on the internet. I bumped into this forum and I think it's not cosher at all.
So as a precaution I blocked my credit card I gave the details from in case they deciding to take the money after all. Reading on here that they were very quick in doing so.
Just an inconvenience now, haviung to wait for a new card, but luckely, no money had been taken yet.

They are very slick in their approach, claiming big sums of money etc. They were saying thet they think it is unfair, if the customer has to pay up front to start claiiming their money back, but if they are so concerned about that and so confident about the claims they make, they should pay for the upfront cost for the solisitors.

Michiel

magpiecottage

hamikima wrote: »

They were saying thet they think it is unfair, if the customer has to pay up front to start claiiming their money back

But if you don't use them you don't have to pay up front, down behind, inside out, through the nose or any other way.

tali

Had a call from Lifestyle -2 welsh ladies -very pleasant and polite-everything seemed 100% genuine-until at the last minute of a very lenghty phone call (i guess to wear one down)they asked for credit card details -i told them surely i must sign the consent first?
Why can't they wait merely a couple of days for consent? - i was told the fee was for the work they had done in organising the consent form.
Lady told me not to worry it was 100% refundable she understood my concerns and that if there was any problem she even encouraged me to phone the police!
I rushed to nearest PC and found these online warnings:eek:
I made my excuses and didn't give details
Why are they allowed to pursue such illegal activity - blatantly it seems?

magpiecottage

tali wrote: »

Lady told me not to worry it was 100% refundable she understood my concerns and that if there was any problem she even encouraged me to phone the police!
I rushed to nearest PC

That would be PC as in Police Constable, then?

tjd1008

Oh my GOD!!!
I signed up with this company in November. They have taken the money out of my account twice which means over £600!!! What can I do to get this back???
Please help me someone!!

thomasdawn1

Hi folks, new to the forum and after looking through the numerous posts on this type of post i am still none the wiser, its very confusing.
I have been contacted by Lifestyle claims. I do not need to tell you what they have told me because you already know, upfront fee etc. They have told me they expect to refund me in excess of £14000 for 6 different things, mortgages, credit cards and finance agreements (Mr Gullible )
I haved not accepted the proposal yet as i do not want to part with an upfront fee, however, you can imagine £14000 has got me tempted.

Has anyone actually been refunded by one of these companies and if so, has it been for such a high amount?

P.S She is calling me back tomorrow, please someone tell me not to do it!

Jon.