Claims Guys Packaged Bank Acc Fees

cmwhaha

Hi,

I Have received a bill from the Claims Guys relating to a settlement for a Packaged Bank Account claim I opened with them. They sent out the initial letter to my bank, but my bank refused to deal with them because my address details were not up to date, and the Claims Guys sent me a letter advising me of this at the time.

At that point, I called my bank to update my address details and whilst I was on the phone I spoke to their department for dealing with Packaged account claims and told them to stop all correspondence with the Claims Guys and to deal directly with me from then on. They agreed to this.

I discussed my case with my bank in a couple of phone calls and received written correspondence from them. Whilst I dealt directly with my bank I received a couple of letters from the Claims Guys asking me to update my address details so that they could resume the case on my behalf, which I ignored.

My claim with my bank was successful and I received a settlement. A week later I received a letter from the Claims Guys stating that I owe them 30% plus VAT for the work they carried out in claiming my refund. They found out about the settlement because my bank CC'd them in on the letter.

All the information my bank requested was supplied by me directly, with no involvement from the Claims Guys. The only work the Claims Guys have done is to send an initial claim letter to my bank, which contained no information about my claim apart from my name and account number. They have not provided my bank with any information on this case, they have answered no questions asked by my bank. Therefore, they have done no work whatsoever which led to a successful claim.

I have spoken to the Claims Guys and asked them to list exactly what work they carried out on my behalf which led to my successful claim. I have also contacted my bank and asked them to investigate why they continued to correspond with the Claims Guys, when I specifically asked them not to. The bank are currently looking at my phone calls and I'm expecting a response from them within a couple of days.

I feel that I should not have to pay the Claims Guys, because they haven't contributed to my claim at all.

Does anyone have a view on this?

Nasqueron

Unfortunately you have found out the hard way what little claims management companies can end up doing to get their pile of cash from your refund. You will not get anywhere with a refund (though might get a small discount if lucky). Claims firms will take you all the way to court if you don't pay.

dunstonh

All the information my bank requested was supplied by me directly, with no involvement from the Claims Guys. The only work the Claims Guys have done is to send an initial claim letter to my bank, which contained no information about my claim apart from my name and account number.

That is not correct. The claims company did the initial complaint letter. That is all any CMC does. So, they have done the thing you employed them to do.

They have not provided my bank with any information on this case, they have answered no questions asked by my bank. Therefore, they have done no work whatsoever which led to a successful claim.

That is not what you employ a CMC to do. Putting it as simple as possible, all a CMC does it put a stamp on an envelope containing the letter and send it to the bank using the free-of-charge complaints process that consumers use if they do it themselves. This is why you see time and again that people are told not to use a claims company.

I feel that I should not have to pay the Claims Guys, because they haven't contributed to my claim at all.

Does anyone have a view on this?

As you failed to cancel the contract with the claims company and they carried out the work you employed them to do, you appear to have no grounds to use to reject payment.

If you had cancelled the contract with the CMC at the time, you would have got away with just the cancellation terms. However, trying to do it after the payment is not going to work unless the CMC decide to waive their charge. However, they have no reason to as they appear to be fully entitled to be paid.

[Deleted User]

cmwhaha wrote: »

I have spoken to the Claims Guys and asked them to list exactly what work they carried out on my behalf which led to my successful claim.

They will respond by telling you that they have done exactly what you employed them to do-represent you in a PPI complaint. None of the "work" you seem to expect them to have done will form any part of the legally -binding contract you have signed

cmwhaha wrote: »

have also contacted my bank and asked them to investigate why they continued to correspond with the Claims Guys, when I specifically asked them not to.

You need to realise that once you signed the contract, you waived any right to tell your bank not to correspond with your personally authorised representatives.

Sorry, but you won't wiggle out of this one.