Invoice from I N Genious Solicitors for PPI claimed through Money Saving Expert

SiPrice

Myself and my wife put through PPI claims right before the deadline last year, through a link on this website.  My wife has received a lump sum from Barclays in December, and I have more recently received one from First Direct.  We both put our claims through at the same time.  I have now received an invoice from a company called Ingenious Legal in Manchester claiming £376.74 as 20% of the settlement.  Does anyone know if this is a legitimate invoice.  I never signed or agreed to anything with them, and like I say we both put our claims through the free PPI claim link on this website.

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Ask them for a copy of the contract you signed.

brettcta

We’ve noticed loads of people phoning about Ingenious legal - hardly anyone has heard of them or remembered signing up. I can only imagine they were another crowd who were using the very small print in a ‘free PPI check’ to then lodge a complaint on your behalf

The_squirrell

Hang on....a "dubious" claims company from Manchester.....who would have thought it?

It looks as though they have only been registered for the past year with the SRA, but they will obviously be experts in their field. As zx81 has said, request a copy of the agreement.

SiPrice

brettcta said:

We’ve noticed loads of people phoning about Ingenious legal - hardly anyone has heard of them or remembered signing up. I can only imagine they were another crowd who were using the very small print in a ‘free PPI check’ to then lodge a complaint on your behalf

Hi Brettcta

Many thanks for that -they have sent over a signed agreement, but looks nothing like my husband's signature and the date is in a format that he would never use.  By that I mean the 1 is written like you would see abroad (France, Spain etc).  We are on to First Direct now trying to sort it out.

brettcta

The date thing is common with CMCs - they use different fonts which aim to replicate handwriting

Twennyfifdeen

Hello,

Please can anyone provide some advice?
Ingenious Legal say I owe them a large amount of money, despite never writing or calling me, after I completed what I thought was a Contact Us form on Facebook, almost a year ago.
They have sent documents which does not really look like my signature on but cannot provide me original form or the emails they claim they have sent to me.

Thanks.

dunstonh

It you believe a company has acted incorrectly then you make a formal complaint to them.  FCA regulated companies must follow the regulated complaints process and you have access to the FOS if you disagree with their response.      So, make the complaint.

Twennyfifdeen

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to me Dunstonh. 

I will complain and then go to FOS if I don’t get it resolved. They are stating that people in their own company will review any complaints! They are also telling me they will add more money to my bill if I don’t pay it immediately too, but I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed. 

Thanks again xx

dunstonh

They are stating that people in their own company will review any complaints!

CMCs became regulated by the FCA April last year.   Whilst they are still light touch regulated, they do have to follow the complaints process that applies to all regulated firms.    In every case, this means the firm is given the chance to review the complaint first and make a response.  So, that bit is quite normal.     However, the FOS is an independent arbiter you can use if you do not get a satisfactory outcome.

They are also telling me they will add more money to my bill if I don’t pay it immediately too, but I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed.

You add that to your complaint as that is not allowed.  At no time must a firm try to discourage you from making a complaint.  It would be a regulatory breach.

brettcta

They’re solicitors so you may need to go via the Solicitors Regulatort Authority rather than FOS