Lifestyle Claims

magpiecottage

Do NOT pay any of these leeches an up front fee EVER.

If you were missold PPI, it is probable that whoever sold it to you believed it actually would have some benefit.


Lifestyle Claims know full well that it is most unlikely that they will get anything for you and NOTHING that you could not get for yourself. However, once they have taken your money off you, you are most unlikely to get it back.

Sranger

I have contacted my credit card provider disputes dept, they tried to call Lifestyle Money to enquire about their T&C's, Lifestyle Money hung up on them!
MY Credit Card provider have put this payment on hold with no interest accruing and will now seek to reclaim under section 75 of Consumer Credit Act. I did ask if they could block any further transactions but they can't. I have been told should any further transactions appear from this company to call the credit card provider and they will reclaim these too.

magpiecottage

PLEASE report the matter by e-mail to info@claimsregulation.gov.uk

They regulator IS taking action on this - another firm has already effectively been forced out of business for behaving like this earlier this month.

lcbandituk

Having been contacted by lifestyle claims before Christmas they rang back today, now I don't usually entertain these people and have never had ppi but they said they could claim other charges back from credit cards, loans and mortgages as I have a few credit cards n having had loans n mortgages I listened to them for a good 40 mins giving me the same info as previous posters about how much I could claim back and pay my credit card debt off with the money, anyway like a total Pratt I gave them my credit card info so they could take the fee of £359, which originally started at £799 until they realised I didn't have that amount of credit in my card, then I found the forums on here about them n realised what an idiot I have been, I never get taken in but did thus time!!!

I have been straight onto my card company and after a few frustrating mins trying to explain to the Indian gentleman that I wanted to cancel a transaction I was put through to the fraud dept, they have cancelled my card and luckily lifestyle claims hadn't got to the money !!! I was informed by the fraud lady that you can also get your money back if you dont receive your so called goods, I can't believe I was taken in!!!

So as no-one on the net has come forward to say they've benefitted from these people's services STEER WELL CLEAR of them!!!

N19NEH

Got cold called yesterday by Lifestyle Claims - just spoke with FOS a very helpful chap called Jim, he advised that if you have a complaint against your original lender first of all write to them, if you do not receive a reply you want and would like to make a complaint because you feel you have a grievance or was mis-sold a policy then get the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) involved.
If you have a complaint against Lifestyle Claims, you need to contact the Ministry of Justice if you are not getting the desired outcome direct from Lifestyle Claims.
They advised me that I too could claim between £9-11,000 pounds from commision paid to my IFA who brokered the mortgage for me....really, I thought, but what was it going to cost me? 30% off the settlement, but don't worry, they were claiming £16-18,000 on my behalf....oh okay, anything else? YES - a fully refundable fee of £350+ if I didn't win....hmm, I said give me a call back in 7 days, so I can have a think about it, "just hold the line a second sir" came the response and on next comes the manager 'hard sell'. Having spoken with Jim at FOS his opinion was the same as mine....they make a lot of assumptions based on very little information provided. They base their figures on average successful payouts, not on individual cases.....is it all a bit too good to be true? well considering you can claim PPI back yourself quite easily, if i had a case i'd do it myself....with regard to effectively 'suing' a mortgage company well I think I'd have heard about cases that have gone through before now? so Yes it probably is too good to be true!

puggylove

Hi I have been called by these people too the same speil thank god I'd discovered I'd lost my credit card before buying into this seems their fees have gone up too £398 they wanted to charge my credit card and asked for my debit card as I couldn't find my credit card!! sure enough they called again bright and early this morning to see if I'd found my credit card!!! I had the sense to find out about these guys thanks to forums such as this hence I let them have it with both barrels doubt they'll be calling me again. you know folks the Banks are naughty but these people are worse

magpiecottage

puggylove wrote: »

the Banks are naughty but these people are worse

The banks are incompetent but actually do have a vested interest in keeping customers happy (they do not want ex-customers)

Ambulance chasers are out for a quick buck and it doesn't matter to them how they get it. If they were also subject to FOS regulation and not allowed to phoenix (close down and start up again under a different name) then this would stop.

Not only would genuine complainants get ALL the redress they are entitled to but the rest of us would not need to pay the costs of investigating the spurious complaints (which are passed on to consumers in the form of higher charges, in the same way that we pay more car insurance because of those who drive uninsured).

Neily53

tjd1008 wrote: »

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!!

See 'magpiecottage's' post earlier in the thread (the red section in particular) - this person is obviously very helpful and knowledgable.

I had a similar experience over the phone yesterday - a 'cold' call to my mobile ... very quick-speaking, pleasant Welsh chap ... and before I knew where I was I too - embarrassingly for me now - was giving my bloomin' details to them. Fortunately I found this forum - after the call - and called my bank immediately to ask them to block my card. So far the money hasn't been taken, so I'm still hoping it works.

No company should be requesting an up-front fee before you have had 'a reasonable amount of time' to examine their proposals. I was told the fee was 'to release the legal documents'. Eyewash, as I now realise. I just wonder how many other people they will 'make their claim' on before the MoJ decides to deal with them.

If you WANT to make a claim, there are claims companies who will do it - at reasonable cost - without having to 'cold call'. However, beware those who suggest that they can make a claim on anything other than PPI. The chances are very slim indeed. You can quite easily do it yourself too, though - and companies are not allowed to 'advise' you otherwise!

Now - back to checking my bank account ... keep your fingers crossed for me! :eek:

Neily53

PS - today I've been on to my account again and - lo and behold! - they have, indeed, managed to collect the payment - despite my phone call to the bank immediately following the call with Lifestyle Claims. This is even though the bank put a block on the card - I did complain to the bank that I can't withdraw money from my account but this company apparently can! So ... I think I have a log wait .... will keep you posted.

Kendrick_Briscoe

This is a template of a letter that magpiecottage posted here - (I cant give you a link, it wont let me!)

So here it is. I slightly adapted it to add that if the funds are not returned within 7 days the matter will be taken to county court.

This is what I sent to Lifestyle Claims:

Dear Sir/Madam

Following your unsolicited call on xx/xx/xx, you have debited £xxx.xx from my account.

<INSERT A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF YOUR COMPLAINT AND ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT THEM HERE>

<THEN ADD>
Therefore, 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 to my credit card.

If I do not receive a full refund within 7 days I will proceed to take this matter to County Court where I will also reclaim costs for interest and court fees.

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 letter to your regulator.

I trust this will now settle the matter and await my refund as requested.


Kind Regards

Thanks to MagpieCottage for this, try it, it worked for me