h.x.b.c Research

Grumpelstiltskin

So The estate will be worth £2500 as a round figure.

I wonder how many letters have been sent out at a cost say including paper, ink, stamp or frank plus wages of £1 each? ( Then the cost of the PO Box number on top)

The amount of people on here who have received one will be a tiny fraction of the total number sent out.

Either this is a totally incompetent heir hunter or a scam.

I wonder just how much they will be asking for upfront if it is a scam?

Maybe someone should reply to their letter and see what comes out of the woodwork and then at that point report it to Trading Standards.

It can do harm to genuine heir hunters if they get away with it.

madbadrob

Now you see bear in mind that we heir hunters can claim back the expenses we make in proving the claim the company wont lose out at all. This is not an unusual way for heir hunters to work and I would always advise in asking as many questions as possible before agreeing to anything. The companies like mine will always be happy to do this and we do our utmost to keep expenses to a minimum. Some dont claim the expenses but do charge higher commission rates to recover the expenses.

Trading standards to be fair would be a good port of call however they only tend to get involved if there has been a loss to the people complaining.

With regards to this particular case I have passed the details to a Scottish Heir Hunter I know personally and she is going to look into it herself. I would also say the fact they are asking if the person receiving these letters if they are related to the deceased would put me on my guard right away. When myself or other companies contact heirs it is because we know they are entitled. We dont give any details in the letter and ask the person to contact us. In many cases we have contacted them by phone before letters go out. The bigger companies use travelling heir hunters so a knock on the door may precede any letter

Rob

Grumpelstiltskin

Rob Yes you can claim expenses back but would you just fire off a large number of letters especially with a common surname for such a small estate without doing some initial research?

I think I know the answer to that, especially as Scottish death certificates should give you such good family information.

That's why I said either someone incompetent or a scam.

Once they start asking for money upfront then it does need referring to Trading Standards. The only way to find out if they are going to do that is for someone to reply to the letter and to see what happens.

madbadrob

Easy answer to that is no I wouldn't. I only mail those I know or rather believe are entitled to a claim and to be honest in this case with such a common surname I wouldn't touch it for the amount involved knowing what it costs to get a grant from the sherrif's

Rob

Goldiegirl

I often watch the Heirhunters programme on TV, and it seems if they find a genuine relative, they send a researcher round to the relative.

They don't just randomly write to anybody with the same surname.

I think this one sounds like a scam.

shazb8135

RichandHelen wrote: »

We've had one of these too! Have you got a common surname? One of ours is 'Black' and is asking if we are related to a Mr Andrew Black who died 14/06/2005 in Queen Margaret Hospital Dunfermline. No idea if this person is real or not as we don't have an Ancestry account but the whole thing smells of scam. Even the email is just a Gmail one; doesn't even have its own domain name!

Hi RichandHelen,
Our last name is black, and we have just lost my dad.. and my brother received this same letter the other day.. our family came from Fife, Scotland.. any relation???

John_Pierpoint

Hi Rob,
You are right, I do enjoy watching Heir Hunters though like the police car chasing/door smashing programmes it soon gets rather "samey" and one has to remember that the purpose of the programme is to entertain rather than inform. [It is also amazing free advertising on the BBC].

Can an individual or an heir hunting firm provide a partial solution to the Bona Vacantia offices or do they have to get the whole thing beyond reasonable doubt?

For example the uncle of the deceased was last seen signing on as deck hand on a foreign ship bound for Argentina; meanwhile the Aunt has gone on to raise a football team of cousins and second cousins?

There are some cases (eg leased land) where the hunt can go back over 100 years.

Shelldean

Goldiegirl wrote: »

I often watch the Heirhunters programme on TV, and it seems if they find a genuine relative, they send a researcher round to the relative.

They don't just randomly write to anybody with the same surname.

I think this one sounds like a scam.

Fraser and Fraser ( the company on Heirhunters) don't always send a researcher round.
Best friends dad received a letter from them. Knowing them to be a legit firm, he signed ( cant recall the %) but his opinion was even if he got £1 it was £1 he hadn't previously had and he'd have to do nothing for it.
Once he'd signed he did receive a letter with the name of the relative who had passed. Even with this information it took a bit of digging to work how he was related. He was actually a cousin from an estranged branch that BF dad had never heard of!.
The orginal letter came back in jan, and he is still awaiting his share. Which will probably be the £1 he predicted as it was HUGE tree and we only did one side of the deceased parents to connect to my friend. If the other side was a huge there would be loads of beneficiaries.

madbadrob

Shelldean wrote: »

Fraser and Fraser ( the company on Heirhunters) don't always send a researcher round.
Best friends dad received a letter from them. Knowing them to be a legit firm, he signed ( cant recall the %) but his opinion was even if he got £1 it was £1 he hadn't previously had and he'd have to do nothing for it.
Once he'd signed he did receive a letter with the name of the relative who had passed. Even with this information it took a bit of digging to work how he was related. He was actually a cousin from an estranged branch that BF dad had never heard of!.
The orginal letter came back in jan, and he is still awaiting his share. Which will probably be the £1 he predicted as it was HUGE tree and we only did one side of the deceased parents to connect to my friend. If the other side was a huge there would be loads of beneficiaries.

Knowing Neil Fraser and knowing the cases he works the estate will have a decent value. Like myself Neil's firm always do indepth research before contacting heirs. I am betting though before they sent the letter to your bf's father they already had one family member signed. They may not have of course. I also know the sort of commission they charge and it is competitive. Remember the commission they get is not from the whole estate but from the share of the person who signs.


Rob

Shelldean

madbadrob wrote: »

Knowing Neil Fraser and knowing the cases he works the estate will have a decent value. Like myself Neil's firm always do indepth research before contacting heirs. I am betting though before they sent the letter to your bf's father they already had one family member signed. They may not have of course. I also know the sort of commission they charge and it is competitive. Remember the commission they get is not from the whole estate but from the share of the person who signs.


Rob

No idea as still not heard but it was HUGE Irish family we did one side of the deceased parents ( the mothers) as that was the connecting side.
From memory BF Dad Grandfather was the deceased Uncle?
there was a family of six children on deceased mothers side.
Her brother ( direct line for our research) also had several kids. And one of those kids had four kids, one being BF dad.
we worked out the maternal side had optionally 30 heirs alone. Like I said didn't do the paternal side at all, but if as many heirs then unless it's a HUGE estate left there wont be much for each person. But as he said anything is better than nowt!

But the reason I posted was to merely point out that not all heirhunters coming aknocking!!!!