Claims Company demands

Tiffat15

Summer 2012 we were contacted by a claims company to ask if we wanted to claim PPI. We didn't believe we were owed any and the first investigation confirmed that. They contacted us back a little later to let us know they believed we had a claim on another credit card for ppi. heard nothing for a good while and then we received a letter from the bank (obviously computer generated) saying the claim was rejected. I called the bank and they said we could either appeal the decision or contact the FOS. I didn;t think to contact the the claims company as the letter came to us so I contacted the FOS and sent them a completed questionnaire etc to investigate. We then had a call from the claims company saying we were in breach of the T&Cs with them and now owed them administration charges of £150! THis came as a shock as I contacted the FOS in all innocence and did not realise I had done anything wrong or was in breach of the T&Cs. I asked them to send me a copy of the T&Cs we'd signed which they did. It does not say anything about the fact that if we took up the investigation ourselves we'd be liable etc. They have now sent us a 'red' final demand letter saying they are going to refer the mater to a debt collector or instruct the County court to commence proceedings against us.
How likely is this and where do we stand? Can anyone please advise?

-taff

If it doesn't say that then you aren't. Ask them to point this out in your contract.

Tiffat15

Thank you for replying.
Looking at the T&Cs again the only clause that may point to this is where it says:
The Client agrees by signing the Letter of Authority to give the company their full authority and consent to pursue the claim......The client will immediately advise the company of any matters that may affect the claim. Failure to comply with this term will give the company the right to terminate this agreement and the client will be liable to reimburse the company for any costs incurred up to the date of termination. The client understands that you could complain directly to the company at no cost with the ability to take matters further with the FOS however they wish to pursue their complaint with .......Ltd.

If this is the clause I still don't believe it is clear. We had not heard anything from this company for a while and I was not aware that by contacting the FOS it was going to 'affect the claim'. I maybe naive but the rest of the T&C is very clear as to what is owed to them and how it will work if a claim is successful but I do feel that this is quite woolly and open to interpretation. Where do we stand and have they still got the right to make their demand?

-taff

Sounds clear to me.....

You have a few choices -

pay them

pay them and make sure they are waiving their rights to see any potential redress, and get that in writing.

Don't pay them and go to court.


Someone else may have more experienc eof this and be along......