PPI Reclaim Company - They didn't do all the work!!

Dav5271

Hello. My wife recently, out of laziness more than anything, returned a document to Consumer Claims which suggested she may have had PPI on a number of accounts. One of the accounts with HBOS did have PPI and the company pursued this on her behalf. However when HBOS were corresponding they did this directly with my wife and not through CC. At first she redirected the correspondence to CC and eventually got a letter back to say that they did not feel that PPI was missold. My wife then contacted HBOS by letter and made further representations and a couple of weeks later got correspondence to say that the case had been reviewed and she was to be paid £878. They then took out roughly £75 for tax and she recived a cheque for about £800.

A few weeks later CC contacted her to say as a result of their corresponding with HBOS a settlement had been agreed and she now owed 39% of £878.

Two things:

1. As the payment was made as a direct result of my wife's correspondence and not the communication by CC which was refused, can I negotiate a lower fee with them?
2. As my wife only received £800, should CC be entitled to claim a percentage of the full amount including the tax as this was not awarded to her?

Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.

[Deleted User]

Check their terms, but she'll almost certainly have to pay, and based on the full amount.

Claims company terms typically say "we won't do much apart from post a letter for you, but you'll need to pay us an eye watering amount for the stamp".

Or words to that effect.

dunstonh

However when HBOS were corresponding they did this directly with my wife and not through CC

Which is normal.

1. As the payment was made as a direct result of my wife's correspondence and not the communication by CC which was refused, can I negotiate a lower fee with them?

No. All a CMC does is put a stamp on the envelope containing the complaint and send it to the same address for the free of charge complaints process. Nothing else. So, they did what they were employed to do.

2. As my wife only received £800, should CC be entitled to claim a percentage of the full amount including the tax as this was not awarded to her?

Yes, it is normal to bill against the full amount of the redress.

[Deleted User]

Dav5271 wrote: »

As the payment was made as a direct result of my wife's correspondence and not the communication by CC which was refused,

All this does is illustrate exactly how little a CMC actually does. If your wife had not made additional overtures to the Bank, the CMC would have simply referred your case to the Ombudsman. In both cases, a successful result would mean the CMC charging the fee your wife agreed to as part of a legally binding contract. It's not somehow negotiable and the amount is based on the redress awarded before tax. Your wife will also pay additional VAT for the "service"


Yet another thread illustrating how simple, easy and (above all) free it is to complain alone.

magpiecottage

Fooled once by buying a useless PPI product.
Fooled twice by buying a useless CMC "service".

Try to avoid a hat-trick.