Claim companies

ben_m_g

Hi all,

There has been a great deal of information about how to claim yourself, a lot of useful info and some great success stories.

After talking to a friend (who could probably get a fair amount back) he is keen to look into it.
However the mere mention of some of the steps involved in doing it himself had put him right off. (He isn't very switched on and would need a lot of help that I just cannot give.)

Approaching one of these claim companies seemed to be the only option.


He did, got the info and all seemed well, until they 'forgot' a piece of the contract, sent it over rushing him to sign it, assuring him that if he did he would get his money before Christmas.

In the smaller print, was their commission, not the 10% stated but 30%!


Are there any companies that are recommended for this work?


(I know that doing it yourself is the obvious answer, but he just cannot and will not entertain the idea.)

Thanks all

Nasqueron

ben_m_g

You say:

However the mere mention of some of the steps involved in doing it himself had put him right off. (He isn't very switched on and would need a lot of help that I just cannot give.)

Simply point out to your friend that if he employs a claims company he STILL HAS TO DO ALL THAT STUFF, they cannot do it for him.

A claims company requires details of accounts, old records, complain reasons (such as copies of employee benefits/contracts etc)

There is no way around this, he needs to get it into his head that all a CMC does is post off his complaint after filling in the (free) FOS form (or their version) so he still has to provide all that information and do all the work and then loses a huge cut of any refund.

All that said, if he has signed a contract with them (did he send it back?) then he's stuck with them.

All CMCs charge 20-30% (and VAT on top), do not use them as they do nothing for their money and you still do all the work.

dunstonh

Are there any companies that are recommended for this work?

No. They do nothing more than put a stamp on the envelope containing the FOS form or their branded version of it.

(I know that doing it yourself is the obvious answer, but he just cannot and will not entertain the idea.)

Does he realise that all he is doing is effectively getting someone to read the questions on the form to him and they write down his answers and then post it.

ben_m_g

dunstonh wrote: »

Does he realise that all he is doing is effectively getting someone to read the questions on the form to him and they write down his answers and then post it.

No, to be honest I am not 100% not having done this myself either.

But thank you for your comment I will definitely pass it on.

magpiecottage

Fill in this form. Keep a couple of copies and send it one off to the company you want to complain to.

If you are not satisfied with the response send one of the copies to the Financial Ombudsman Service with a copy of the response.