We fight any Claim, demanding payment for PPI claim they made without my permission.

junecurley

I received a letter from the CMC We Fight any Claim at the end of January informing me of a successful claim and that payment of their fee was due.
This came as a big surprise because I had explicitly told the CMC to not continue on my behalf during and Sale call late August of 2019. I was phoned by the company and asked me some information about  any accounts I may have had. I was becoming increasing irritated at the "cold" call and explicitly said I don't wished to carry on with any claim and hung up, this was also witnessed by my son who was with my at the time. That was the last contact I had with the firm till the letter i received in January.
Initially my Son thought it might be a scam so after 3 weeks with no cheque arriving I phoned the bank involved in the claim to check the legitimacy of the claim. The lender had been approached by CMC on behalf of my mother and had sent a cheque but lender said it was address to street name and postcode, no name or house number. I informed the lender of my complete details and they re-issued the check with the appropriate address, I am still awaiting receipt of this letter from the lender.

Since then We fight any claims have sent several letter asking for payment, with the latest threatening legal action on 1st of March. They have also sent a letter regarding another claim with a different letter and asked to "update" their records by signing a Letter of Authority, but the small print of that letter not only allows them to make claim for the named company on the form, but any other claim made by CMC. I refusing to sign that form as I feel that use it as proof we engaged their services retrospectively.

Today, I decided to check my emails ( I rarely do) for We Fight any Claim and I had received to emails 5 mins apart asking me to complete the signing up process in the last week of September 2019, both of which hadn't been opened and each with a different Customer reference number, neither of which actually matches customer reference on the letters related to the payout.

To summarise:
1. I explicitly recall and was witnessed asking them not purse claims over the phone.
2. I was unaware of any activity on my behalf until demand for payment was made about a successful claim.
3. I never received any documentation asking for my signature until after the payout was awarded. Just the mentioned Letter of Authority "update" for their records
4. email correspondence from CMC was for two different customer references neither of which applied to the on demanding payment, nor was the survey or accounts open from the in mail links.
5. I've not filled in any online forms, or posted documents regarding claims only provided cursory information over the phone in the call which I stated I do not wish to make any claims.

I just like to know where I stand and how to deal with this. Obviously they have found me compensation I was due, that I may not have found myself ( My son had got lot of my PPI back via FCA before court ruling, so I we thought we got most of the accounts) but I definitely didn't ask for their services and have signed nothing to that affect.
I'm just worried that they take me to small claims court for money I have yet to receive and may not have at all had I not approached the lender myself, furthermore paying this company what they requested legitimised what they have done, when i have expressed asked them not to during a cold call.

Any advice on how to respond would be greatly appreciated.

-taff

If they don't have a valid LOA then they don't have a contract with you.

Search some recent threads for advice, which basically boils down to make a complaint in wiriting to them give them eight weeks to respond, if they don't respond, or you don't like their response, escalate to the FOS.

Complain that you did not give them permission to make a complaint on your behalf and you entered no contract with them , nor signed an LOA to give them the authority to do so. If they are saying they have proof, ask them to provide that information, otherwise you'll be sending a SAR and escalating your complaint to the FOS. Be concise so you don't inadvertently drop yourself in it.. Having someone listen on your end to a hponecall is not relevant, nor is half the stuff in your post.

junecurley

Thank you for the advice, I only provided half the stuff in my post as context to my situation. I will write a letter of complaint to the CMC as you suggested. I was only worried if there was some online tick box, or other subtle way of giving permission that I wouldn't recollect. I am positive I haven't done anything of the sort and also with regards to other people I know who have complained had to send proof of identity to CMC none of which I have done.
Thank you for your time and I will update how this goes, I am hopeful it should just be a simple open and shut case.