ITC Probate/Chorus Law/The Bereavemnt Advice Centre - All Rogues Together

goingforawii

I just wanted to echo what everybody else has said and that is to AVOID SIMPLIFY. After my Dad passed away in January this year, his savings account was with Barclays and they kindly passed details onto Simplify to "start the ball rolling" with regards to going through the difficult and emotional process of sorting his estate out etc.

Well, the meeting that was arranged with them - rather than be to start the process (which is what we were told) - was nothing more than a sales pitch. It wasn't "help" from Barclays on "here's what you do to do" etc it was purely a sales pitch from Simplify. For a mere £1600 they would take care of all the forms and 'get the certificate within 14-21 days' or for £480, a web portal would be made available giving all the advice needed but we'd still fill the forms in etc.

Once it became apparent it was just a sales pitch and we politely declined their offer, the Simplify rep turned nasty. "YOU will complete the forms incorrectly" he said - raising his voice, "YOU will have to wait 3-5 months or longer - and if that's what YOU want then that's a poor choice" he continued. He then went on to recant story after story of how people had filled forms in wrongly and been waiting years for the estate to be finalised.

Well what I can tell you now is that came the 28th April, I will have the grant in my hand - and it will be only 7 weeks since we completed the PA1 form. Infact, had we have not waited for the Simplify meeting, we could have started filling the forms in ourselves and I would have had the grant sooner! For the sake of £1600, I think a 3-4 week wait is fine - and to not have to deal with such a disgraceful company, is priceless.

Please take my advice and do not even consider entertaining these charlatans. Cancel any appointments you have with them and instead use the GOV.UK/HMRC websites and helplines as not only are they free, but they are very helpful, detailed and user-friendly.

Best regards and wishes to everybody having to go through a tough time,
Ryan.

KMA

Thank you for warning me off Simplify!


I initially made contact with them when searching on the Internet about what to do when there has been a death to understand the notification process and organise my father's funeral.


I rang the Simplify contact centre who were going to post me & my sibling a copy of the booklet about "what to do when someone dies" but we have now waited over 2 months and it still has not arrived (which is a blessing in disguise when I've read what has happened to people here).


Dodged a bullet I think! We are thinking of DIY probate where we can.

Churchpolly

Thank you so much for posting about this company. My mother died two weeks ago and because their details were given to me by the Registrar I contacted them. I was on the point of meeting with them when I decided to check them out. Thank God I did. I never normally do anything important without first checking it out but this time, due to the bereavement and stress of it all I didn't.

This is totally wrong - why are Registrars handing out leaflets from these people? When we lose someone dear to us we are very vulnerable and just not thinking straight and they are taking advantage of this. The leaflets look as though they are from a Government department too, totally misleading and wrong. I trusted the Registrar as a representative of the Government and that was their way in to me.

Cant someone in the BBC or the newspapers undertake an investigation into this group of companies? I am contacting my MP and drawing his attention to this and ask that regulation be introduced as a matter of urgency. As for Barclays bank being involved - is this yet another mis-selling scandal? Finally, surely it is against the Data Protection Act for them to pass on anyone's details to Simplify? Thank you all once again, from the bottom of my heart.

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone

update as of October 2015

Barclays is still lying to customers and conning customers into thinking barclays bereavement services is just an admin dept within barclays.

I went into strstford upon avon branch to report my beloved mother's death. I made it clear to the manager that I would be applying for probate and that I was here only to report the death and collect or request closing balance valuations. I also specifically instructed that no monies were tobe transferred. After we had completed matters, the manager said she would now ring throughto barclays bereavement dept. She spoke to them first and then passed phone to me. The young man then proceeded to ask about my mothers other banking accounts and if she was a house owner. I immediately asked why he wanted to know, because as I had already advised I was a lawyer and would be undertaking applying for probate. He couldn't put the phone down quick enough.

I only discovered that I had not been actually talking to a barclays bereavement dept worker when I received 5 days letter a letter from barclays bereavement services, leamington spa, that my mothers accounts had been closed and monies transferred to me ie EXACTLY what I had NOT instructed. On ringing to complain about the latter and the attempt to sell me the probate service,I learnt to my horror that the phone call had actually been with Simplify ie itc legal ie chorus law.

No one asked my permission to give my or my dead mothers detailsto simplify. I am furious.

This was a blatant fraud and a clear attempt to miss sell me.

please see barclays uk facebook page. I have started a new thread. I have also formally complained to barclays.

Thanks, ellie

Tykelass

Holy cow, last night a Simplify guy came to see me and my brother. I rang the bereavement advice service up following the death of our Mum last week as we had started reading up about DIY probate, and was offered a visit within 24 hours. I got the number in a booklet given to us by the funeral director.

The very nice, polite, totally not pushy Simplify guy was really good, but obviously I hadn't read anything properly as I guess I'd assumed that the bereavement advice service was a Government thing and that Simplify must have a contract with a government department to offer advice and optional paid services. The leaflet looks like standard government produced stuff, they use the same colour scheme that gov depts often use.

The Simplify guy spent ages discussing how probate works at we didn't think he was at all pushy. He gave us a rough idea of prices for probate and administration, conveyancing etc which seemed OK. He claimed that they are the only company that publishes their prices and that solicitors didn't like that.

Anyway, we left it at him leaving us a card and we would contact him if we wanted any services from them. When he'd left, my brother and I agreed that we would ring them in the morning and get them to start work for us. This morning, I went onto the Simplify website as I wanted to see the costs written down and couldn't find anything. I then noticed referenced to Chorus Law and DC Law.

As luck would have it I had an appointment with my Mum's solicitor this afternoon to view the original will and ensure the deeds to her house were available. (My intention was to take the original will home and engage Simplify.) All was in Order and the solicitor opened a discussion about probate. I asked him for an idea of costs and it all sounded cheaper than Simplify.

I am really glad I delayed making that call, and that I remembered to never take the first quote for anything. Even more glad that I idly searched for reviews of Simplify and ended up here. This is really annoying; we are bereaved and struggling to get our heads round everything and were almost caught off guard.

I will be contacting the funeral director and suggest that they stop giving that leaflet out. I'm horrified at the experiences some of you are having and agree, something needs to be done. Maybe BBC Watchdog?

I hope you all get justice and thank you very much indeed for sharing your experiences.

Keep_pedalling

If your mother's estate is straight forward, then you really don't need to pay anyone to obtain probate. Doing it your self is relatively straight forward, and from personal experience involving solicitors tend to slow the whole process down. My wife's uncle appointed a solicitor as his executor and it took three years for him to wrap the estate up, and the most complex thing they had to deal with were some US listed shares. It took me just a few months to sort my FILs estate out doing it myself.

Tykelass

Oh I don't doubt that I could do it but its time-consuming and I have a really stressful job. I just don't feel I can do both and I can't get someone else to do my job for me

Mum's solicitor has given us a quote we're happy with and since confirmed in writing. Its much cheaper than the Simplify guy's estimate. Actually that guy said they keep 2% of the estate themselves and that all solicitors do this with some going as high as 8%. Mum's solicitor thought the suggestion that they would was unusual - he said that's rather old fashioned and we don't do that any more.

I'm still angry about how these people prey on vulnerable, bereaved people and will never, ever open an account with Barclays.

Nachog

Steer clear of this company at all costs, they are just a money making machine. Go to a solicitor who you trust and is regulated by the Law Society.
Just for starters, in this day and age of technology, any company who is not honest and open enough to advertise an email address on there website cannot be taken seriously, plus this demonstrates the kind of company they are.
Before doing business with any specialist Probate company, do your research first and beware that this company trade under different names to distract from their appalling reputation!

Churchpolly

After being very lucky to avoid these people (thanks to MSE members who posted) we went with a local solicitor. Simplify quoted £5,000 plus vat and disbursements for a relatively simple estate. Local Solicitor quoted and charged - £2,500 including vat and disbursements. All done very quickly and easily. Please, if you are looking for probate services, go to a local solicitor, one with an address that you can actually go to and is registered with the Law Society.

lorna_kemeys

i believe you can write a letter and deinstruct them .