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

Alpine_Star

It's all explained in esmerellda's post ie 24 verified current claims.


I think Firmi's edit refers to the additional 154 claims published on the BPS site.

fermi

Correct.

More keep coming to light, so was being cautious about numbers that is all.

Without a doubt going to be bigger numbers.

fermi

esmerellda wrote: »

Hi Hpuse,


We have 24 verified CURRENT claims now (ie I have seen the claim forms) and 4 people with default judgments who are looking to set aside.


Although we can't possibly confirm them all, we believe the 154 judgments and settled out of court's on the list on the bps site are also genuine. We have spoken with a few people off the list and confirmed a few court numbers separately. The judgments in the list are all default judgments, which means the case has not been challenged/defended. Quite a few do not know yet they have a judgment against them.


The court claims are being issued in a seemingly random order against anyone who has ever entered details on the site regardless of whether they cancelled within seconds, didn't actually finish completing the form or just didn't pay thinking the contract would only be formed on payment. We have claims against people who had the misfortune to come across the site last April 2014 , the most recent was someone who only used their site on Feb 5th this month!

It is a huge problem and there is an awful lot of harassment of consumers going on.

We strongly believe the claims are defendable and I would encourage anyone with a claim to acknowledge it and seek advice.

Hope that answers the question xx

Thanks. _pale_

fermi

Today on 'You & Yours' - Radio 4 - 12:15pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053c3p8

Shari Vahl has investigated a website that charges for passport appointments, and explains why it is suing many of its customers.

fermi

britishpassportservices .co.uk

BBC - News - Passport website sues its customers

--> Listen to the Radio 4 'You and Yours' here <--

An unofficial passport website has sued more than 150 of its own customers after they tried to cancel or refused to pay believing they had been misled.

Some who used Britishpassportservices.co.uk said they thought they were on the government's official website when trying to book appointments for urgent passports.

But the website told BBC Radio 4's You and Yours that there were disclaimers which the customers did not read.

Some of them have now been sued.

'Threatening'

Retired City of London Police officer Mark Dilliway paid Britishpassportservices.co.uk £117 for an appointment - which is free of charge from the government.

"There was a button there to arrange an urgent appointment," he said.

It was not until he rang the official Passport Office that he realised his mistake.

"They said you haven't made the appointment through any of our offices, you've made it through a third party. That was when I felt sick. I just could not believe I'd fallen for it," he said.

Martin Wyatt, from Bristol, did not realise what had happened until he got to the Passport Office for the appointment.

His credit card company agreed to stop the payment, but later the website owners warned they would take legal action.

"They left threatening messages and by that time the cost inflated to about £177 and they detailed various calls and various text messages charging you typically £5 or £10 for each contact," he said.

'Valuable service'

Chantelle Parker Mills said she worked out it was not the official site and pulled out before entering payment, and booked her own appointment with the official Passport Office.

She said the company had been extremely aggressive.

UK Services and Support Ltd which runs Britishpassportservcies.co.uk went on to sue her, and succeeded because when court documents arrived - giving Ms Mills 14 days to respond - she ignored them.

In cases like this, if one side does not turn up, the other side automatically wins. This is called a default judgement. The case has not been looked at by a judge at all.

UK Services and Support Ltd is 18 months old, and has sued 150 people - obtaining default judgements against them.

Richard Howard, the 28-year-old director of UK Services and Support Ltd, repeatedly denied his website misleads people into believing it is the government site.

He pointed out that at the top of his site it said "no government affiliation" and it also said "our fees can be avoided by visiting the Post or Passport Offices incurring just the passport fee still due if using our service as we are an unaccredited company without any government license" [sic].

Mr Howard also insisted he offered a valuable service.

He has also set up a political party, which runs what looks like a regulator website www.websitestandardsagency.eu and also what looks like a consumer advice website, consumer-rights.org.uk. Neither is official.

In September 2014, the Advertising Standards Authority ruled another of Mr Howard's passport sites www.Ukpassportoffices.co.uk was misleading consumers.

Five years ago his company, Phonenumbers4u Ltd, was fined by the premium rate regulator Phonepayplus.

fermi

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b053c3p8#playt=0h00m58s

hpuse

fermi,

Thanks!... When I say thanks I really mean it (unlike 'clicking' thanks like cliques do who frequent here).......Thanks for all the good work for helping the people who got caught by these copycat crooks on LB forums)

I never knew Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) role in regulating aggressive practices likes for R1chard H0ward...

Which means.....time to update post#1, what say, fellas? :rotfl:
Oh by the way ....Google is always working 24/7 on blocking copycat adwords

fermi

I'm not due any thanks for that. I've just been keeping an eye on this as it unfolded, to signpost it that is all, so people who are affected by it can find some help more easily.

hpuse

There was a poster here in this thread from LB forum. He was in sync with issues raised by people who were ripped off by these copycats and facing legal charges now.

Having seen lot of copycat legal defense here in the past year - I must say I was a bit sceptical seeing all the legal claims and judgements etc.

Bottom line is....all these are 'business as usual' for the R1chard H0wards of our country, who used get a tremendous amount of 'legal' and moral support from this MSE thread for over a year.

esmerellda

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-2973497/Exposed-shameless-boss-copycat-firm-threatens-wary-customers-court.html