Steps to take if you have been ripped-off by a copy-cat government website

keyser666

annas1974 wrote: »

Today i get this email>
As you are clearly refusing to make payment for the work we have done for you I can confirm that a Compliance Team meeting has been scheduled at 1:30pm on December 12, 2014 where one of the items on the agenda is to make a decision on whether to Court Proceedings should be issued against you to recover the £117.60 should payment not be received within the FINAL 14 day payment window that we are required to provide as part of our formal Pre-Action Conduct.

Please note that Overdue Invoice Charges will now be added to your account (rates agreed in the contract: http://charges.britishpassportservices.co.uk)

The agent assigned to your account XXXX will be attending and submitting evidence of the work done on your account to the four members of the compliance team in attendance. Each member will be given a copy of the notes that have been archived on your account. This includes a full list of the phone calls you have had with our company and the emails which you have exchanged with our agents.

Right of Reply - Should you have any further comments or documentation that you would like the committee to be aware of please forward these to us no later then 5:00pm on December 11, 2014 so that it can be reviewed and copies can be made for those attending. In addition to this if you would like to participate in this meeting via a conference call we can arrange for the facility for you to do this. Either you or your solicitor will be given a telephone number with a unique 5 digit pin number that will allow you to attend from your office or phone. In addition to this a copy of the minutes spoken at the meeting will also be available 3 days later should you require them.

Obviously the primary document which will presented to the committee will be the contract signed by yourself, containing your address and guarantee that payment will be made to us within 72hrs.

You can find your signed contract, receipt and breakdown of charges added to your account at: h
The agenda of the meeting has been set as follows...

12/12/2014 Meeting

First 5 Minutes - Welcome & Introduction by the Chair person of the meeting
10 Minutes - XXX presentation on the work done on theXXXx account & efforts made to recover the fee (Clerk - please hand out copies of the contract to participants)
20 Minutes - Open discussion about the merits of pursuing the XXXX debt
15 Minutes - Open discussion on which recovery method to use (i.e. outsource to debt collector, issue Court Proceedings etc)
5 Minutes - Vote by show of hands on which action to take. (Clerk - inform the Legal Department of the committees decision)
30 Minutes - Meeting to adjourn for 30 minute break after which the second item on the agenda is to be discussed

It is not a requirement that you attend this meeting via telephone or forward any further details of why you are not paying us for the work that we have done however you have the option to attend if you wish. Services performed for you...

Pre-Action Conduct - As required by the Courts of England we are obliged to provide you with notice before issuing a Court Case and so although we have not yet made a decision about the next step of enforcing the debt that you owe us please accept this email as part of our "Pre-Action Conduct" (whats this?) providing you with formal notice that we are considering issuing Court proceedings to recover the £117.60 from you. As stated since the beginning of our communication with you we remain keen to resolve this matter in an amicable manner however we have been unsuccessful in doing so. Should you change your mind then we welcome a settlement without the need to issue proceedings at any time.

You can make a payment at any time at

I shall advise you via text message and email of the decision of the committee by the end of December 12, 2014

really cannot believe they would type all that shoite

shaun_from_Africa

keyser666 wrote: »

really cannot believe they would type all that shoite

They probably hav it saved on their computers ad simply do a cut and paste and send it to everyone who refuses to pay for their "services".

fermi

Thread on legalbeagles.

UK Services & Support Ltd Passport Scam

annas1974

they have just sent me this e mail
ood Evening Ms XXXXXX
It was decided based on a 4 to 1 vote in today's committee meeting that the only enforcement method of securing the £138.10 fee still due on your account is to issue Court Proceedings against you should the 14 day payment window expire without us receiving the funds from you.

Once the window has expired I have been instructed by the committee to open a UK Services & Support Ltd vs Ms XXXXXX case where by we shall be claiming the £138.10 fee, reimbursement of the £25.00 Court Case fee and interest at the rate of 8.0% per annum as permitted by the Courts & Tribunal Service of England.

Details of the Court Case Number, what documentation you need to file with the court and the hearing date where by a Judge will determine which party is legally in the wrong will be sent to you directly by the Courts in the post. With that being said I shall email you with the details of the case so that you have the maximum amount of time to seek advice, prepare a Defense or complete the admission form admitting that the £138.10 is due.

A draft of our Claim has been sent in the post to you. It would be appreciated if you would reply using the FREE-POST envelope that we have included for you as we are still keen to resolve this matter without the assistance of the Courts if at all possible.

Please accept this email as part of our "Pre-Action Conduct" (whats this?) required by the Ministry of Justice before a Claimant can issue proceedings against a Defendant. We consider that the emails, text messages and phone calls made to you along with these Pre-Action Conduct emails sent over the last seven days as providing you with more than enough time and notice to clear the balance of your account.

Our company policy on settling matters that have come to this point are as follows...

Settling Before Court Case has Been Opened - If you pay us the £138.10 before the 14 day period expires you will ONLY need to pay the £138.10 fee. You will not need to pay the £25 fee incurred for opening the case nor will we charge you the 8% interest that the Courts permit on monies that are overdue. Pay NOW via any of seven payment methods: Concepcion.settleinvoice.org.uk

Settling After Court Case has Been Opened - As opening the Court Case incurs a fee of £25.00 from that point on we will be claiming for at least £138.10 + £25.00 to cover our costs. The benefit of settling before Trial is that if full payment is received we can apply to the court to "Strike Out" our claim. This means the claim will be removed from the Court Registrar and because no Court Judgement (CCJ in England) has been entered by a District Judge it will not affect your credit score. Settling at this stage will cost you more as we require full reimbursement for the Court fee's incurred to date on this claim.

Court Judgement Secured (CCJ) - If this matter continues all the way to Trial we will be requesting Judgement for the full £138.10 plus interest at 8% per year plus full reimbursement of the Court fee's incurred to date (by this stage there will be more Court fee's then the initial £25 incurred to open the case, as there is a fee for filling an Allocation Questionnaire and payment towards the Trial itself) as well as requesting payment to be made immediately. If a Court Judgement is registered against you it will appear on your Credit Report and may affect your ability to secure credit.

If you are still not interested in settling this matter then you do not need to take any action at this stage and it would be highly recommended to secure free advice from the(here>>) or contact your solicitors for professional advice on your consumer rights and responsbilities.

Your contract, receipt and a breakdown of your Overdue Invoice Charges a
If you would like to settle your account before irreversible additional fee's are added to your account tomorrow then you can pay us by any of the following seven payment methods at: xxxx
Kind Regards

Charles Mercer
British Passport Services
Collections Department
Tel: 0161 663 0072
Fax: 0203 0120 254
E-mail: complaints@britishpassportservices.org.uk
Web: http://www.BritishPassportServices.co.uk

Pinkbella21

i have also received the same email (same as above email from
anna1974) today saying that after a 4-1 vote court proceeding will go ahead if not paid by 14 days bla bla. Should I be worried or is this just scare tactics. I generally signed up to their website thinking it was the genuine passport office not realising until they asked for payment. Then they said "the work has already bee done". What work?? I cancelled the appt. but still have to pay. I think not. Should I get legal advise???

powerful_Rogue

Pinkbella21 wrote: »

i have also received the same email (same as above email from
anna1974) today saying that after a 4-1 vote court proceeding will go ahead if not paid by 14 days bla bla. Should I be worried or is this just scare tactics. I generally signed up to their website thinking it was the genuine passport office not realising until they asked for payment. Then they said "the work has already bee done". What work?? I cancelled the appt. but still have to pay. I think not. Should I get legal advise???

Personally I still this its scare tactics. I dont think they have any intention of issuing court proceedings - not with the media campaign around these kind of sites. They are just hoping people will be scared into paying once they receive one of these emails.

keyser666

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

They probably hav it saved on their computers ad simply do a cut and paste and send it to everyone who refuses to pay for their "services".

Yes I agree, what I mean though is you wouldnt send contact to a debtor outlingin your internal procedures on how you come at the decision.

keyser666

powerful_Rogue wrote: »

Personally I still this its scare tactics. I dont think they have any intention of issuing court proceedings - not with the media campaign around these kind of sites. They are just hoping people will be scared into paying once they receive one of these emails.

Deffo is, would love to know which member of staff voted against enforcement action :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

powerful_Rogue

Im sure our resident expert hpuse will be along shortly to post advice on how to deal with this matter.

Exile_geordie

Some good news about this is that TfL may not allow the congestion charge to be paid by a 3rd party website http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/travel/2014/12/tfl-to-tackle-bogus-congestion-charge-websites?_ga=1.216514645.230411307.1418088650


That's how you tackle it.