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Can I fight this.
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Taff_J
Posts: 3 Newbie
Hi all,
First time I have done this so please bare with me.
Ok here we go, back in 2010I was contacted by text MSG by a PPI reclaim company trading as Lifestyle claims.
They explained the service they could carry out on my behalf and that I like millions of others had most likely been miss sold payment protection insurance.
I called Lifestyle Claims and discussed my circumstances in more detail and it was confirmed that I probably had been miss sold PPI's especially as I was self employed at the time.
The sales person on the phone explained it in a way that made me feel at repayment of the miss sold PPI's was a dead cert.
Consequently, I agreed to lifestyle claims acting on my behalf and to start proceedings to reclaim my PPI payments from a number of credit card and loan companies.
Having never dealt with a claim management company I bought into the sales pitch completely.
The sales person advised me of a starting fee for them to carry out the credit searches, and issue introduction letters etc to my creditors.
"Like a muppet" I parted with £350 by way of debit card over the phone on the very clear understanding that had been confirmed a number of times during the conversation that this payment would form part of their 30% fee and would be deducted from the final fee on successful completion.
No terms and conditions had been issued at this time. They would be delivered by post in a couple of days.
The documents arrived, lots of letters of engagement, terms of business etc and the terms and conditions document for our agreement this was a large document of the smallest print I had ever seen with more legal Terminology than I could bare to read so like lots of people out there I kind of speed read through it looking at key comments etc.
Life stile claims contacted me by phone on a number of occasions to clarify issues and points
When I asked them for an estimated time of completion they said it could take up to 18 months to finalise """"" However, there was always the option to take the claimed to court by way of litigation"""""
This was another cost of £500 upfront to engage the services of their legal department that could see a completion within 6 weeks.
And like a muppet I paid by way of debit card however again it was confirmed that this payment would form part of the 30% fee that Lifestyle claims charged for their service. (Just as a matter of interest, I was also advised that all telephone conversations were recorded for future reference if required)
I had now parted with £850 to Lifestyle claims
Eventually 2 years later (September 2012) a successful claim for £2275.17 was sort from the creditor in question. I then received an invoice from Lifestyle for a sum of £819.06 as their fee of 30% plus VAT.
I rang Lifestyle to question the invoice and was told they would look into the case. I heard nothing for a few weeks then received a call from a young chap insisting that I had to pay the invoice balance.
I explained that I had already paid £850 and was expecting a small refund from them as I had paid more to them than the value of their invoice.
I heard nothing from them again..............Until last week (6 or 7 months later) when I was contacted by another company, Redhawk Legal Ltd.who stated they had bought the financial assets of Lifestyle Claims as they had gone into liquidation. They are now demanding payment of the £819.06 or the debt will be passed over to a debt collection agency where additional costs would be incurred.
They state that the £850 already paid were upfront payments and Have nothing to do with the 30% fee for the works that Lifestyle had done.
I explained all of the above to them but they are not interested they only want payment of the £819.06.
I cannot contact Lifestyle as the numbers all go through to Redhawk
And they say that they cannot provide the phone recordings and do not have access to them.
Is there anything I can do??
First time I have done this so please bare with me.
Ok here we go, back in 2010I was contacted by text MSG by a PPI reclaim company trading as Lifestyle claims.
They explained the service they could carry out on my behalf and that I like millions of others had most likely been miss sold payment protection insurance.
I called Lifestyle Claims and discussed my circumstances in more detail and it was confirmed that I probably had been miss sold PPI's especially as I was self employed at the time.
The sales person on the phone explained it in a way that made me feel at repayment of the miss sold PPI's was a dead cert.
Consequently, I agreed to lifestyle claims acting on my behalf and to start proceedings to reclaim my PPI payments from a number of credit card and loan companies.
Having never dealt with a claim management company I bought into the sales pitch completely.
The sales person advised me of a starting fee for them to carry out the credit searches, and issue introduction letters etc to my creditors.
"Like a muppet" I parted with £350 by way of debit card over the phone on the very clear understanding that had been confirmed a number of times during the conversation that this payment would form part of their 30% fee and would be deducted from the final fee on successful completion.
No terms and conditions had been issued at this time. They would be delivered by post in a couple of days.
The documents arrived, lots of letters of engagement, terms of business etc and the terms and conditions document for our agreement this was a large document of the smallest print I had ever seen with more legal Terminology than I could bare to read so like lots of people out there I kind of speed read through it looking at key comments etc.
Life stile claims contacted me by phone on a number of occasions to clarify issues and points
When I asked them for an estimated time of completion they said it could take up to 18 months to finalise """"" However, there was always the option to take the claimed to court by way of litigation"""""
This was another cost of £500 upfront to engage the services of their legal department that could see a completion within 6 weeks.
And like a muppet I paid by way of debit card however again it was confirmed that this payment would form part of the 30% fee that Lifestyle claims charged for their service. (Just as a matter of interest, I was also advised that all telephone conversations were recorded for future reference if required)
I had now parted with £850 to Lifestyle claims
Eventually 2 years later (September 2012) a successful claim for £2275.17 was sort from the creditor in question. I then received an invoice from Lifestyle for a sum of £819.06 as their fee of 30% plus VAT.
I rang Lifestyle to question the invoice and was told they would look into the case. I heard nothing for a few weeks then received a call from a young chap insisting that I had to pay the invoice balance.
I explained that I had already paid £850 and was expecting a small refund from them as I had paid more to them than the value of their invoice.
I heard nothing from them again..............Until last week (6 or 7 months later) when I was contacted by another company, Redhawk Legal Ltd.who stated they had bought the financial assets of Lifestyle Claims as they had gone into liquidation. They are now demanding payment of the £819.06 or the debt will be passed over to a debt collection agency where additional costs would be incurred.
They state that the £850 already paid were upfront payments and Have nothing to do with the 30% fee for the works that Lifestyle had done.
I explained all of the above to them but they are not interested they only want payment of the £819.06.
I cannot contact Lifestyle as the numbers all go through to Redhawk
And they say that they cannot provide the phone recordings and do not have access to them.
Is there anything I can do??
0
Comments
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Did you not receive any invoices or paperwork from when you paid the £350 or £500?0
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No I didn't, other than that of my own bank statements.
There was a lot of paperwork and questions at the time and I didn't notice that I hadn't had a payment receipt.0 -
What do the terms and conditions say about the various payments? You really should not be agreeing to things that you do not understand/ cannot be bothered to read.0
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Not a case of couldn't be bothered!
Just swamped with legal jargon. Not understanding the legal ramblings of an obviously dubious company that had set out to complicate things to hide its true intentions from the start ( read other reviews) is no reason to be ripped off don't you think
My question is can I do anything about it, not do you all agree with me saying I was gullible and stupid!!!0 -
Not a case of couldn't be bothered!
Just swamped with legal jargon. Not understanding the legal ramblings of an obviously dubious company that had set out to complicate things to hide its true intentions from the start ( read other reviews) is no reason to be ripped off don't you think
My question is can I do anything about it, not do you all agree with me saying I was gullible and stupid!!!
We cannot tell you that without knowing what the terms and conditions say.0 -
NEVER EVER EVER respond to unsolicited texts phone calls or emails.
They are just spammers.
My new technique for answering them is YES. i do want t reclaim my PPI and who are you.
Well thank you (company name) I will be crossing you off my list. I wont be giving spammers my money. And please remove me from your list otherwise i will be complaining to OFCOM.Censorship Reigns Supreme in Troll City...0 -
I have the same problem:( keep trying to contact them but it's like they have disappeared:( what can we do???????0
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