PPI claims companies - are they more successful?

Bargie

Hi all,

A while ago I discovered my husband had been paying PPI on his barclaycard which he didn't know about (his fault for not checking). We also found out when it was taken out he was in temporary seasonal employment (working in the alps in the winter and adventure activities in the uk in the summer) so it would never have paid out. He also only ever had a limit of £300 and his parents would have paid it off if he'd been in difficulty as they had paid it off a few times when he was younger.

Anyway we claimed ourselves and had a final response from Barclaycard saying they believed it had been sold fairly and would not repay. So we have now gone to ombudsman where it's been for a few months and we've been told to wait up to 12 months.

Anyway a friend of mine went through a company and applied a couple of months after we did and got £2000 (minus the huge fees!) back with no questions and in a Really quick time. I don't know which bank her complaint was with but she was in full time employment so would have been covered by the PPI and yet she got hers back and we didn't.

I know there may be differences but now almost wishing we went through a company. Just wondered what others experiences are in terms of success?

And no I'm not working for a claims company - I hate them and the 30% they took off my mate is ridiculous but just interested if they do have a better success rate?

Thanks

dunstonh

Anyway a friend of mine went through a company and applied a couple of months after we did and got £2000 (minus the huge fees!) back with no questions and in a Really quick time. I don't know which bank her complaint was with but she was in full time employment so would have been covered by the PPI and yet she got hers back and we didn't.

Was your friends complaint for the same reason? (i.e. temporary seasonal employment and was it bought via the same distribution channel?)

I know there may be differences but now almost wishing we went through a company. Just wondered what others experiences are in terms of success?

Claims companies in general have slightly lower success than personal complaints. Officially, there is no difference and the stats published by the FOS support that. However, many complaints dont get to the FOS and you cant find stats on that and can only go by anecdotal evidence. Most complaints handlers at firms will tell you that when they get a template letter from a claims company saying exactly the same thing as all the other template letters that claims company have sent in for everyone else, they will view it with suspicion and not with compassion. So, straight away, you are at a disadvantage. If a wrong doing is found, it doesnt matter if you used a claims company or yourself as the outcome will be the same. However, if you are in a situation that may need some goodwill from the firm to get a payout then you are less likely to get it if you have used a claims company.

There are plenty of reasons why someone elses complaint with a different provider, bought via a different method in a different period with a different employer and different financial needs would get a different outcome to you. There is also the possibility that one was an auto payout not investigated and the other was investigated.

Bargie

Thanks for the response. Her claim was different, she also said she didn't know about it and that was her only line. Her claim was also for a lot more. I can't imagine we would get much back even if we'd won as his limit was only ever £300. I was just interested in whether there was a difference. Thanks for taking time to reply