MYPPIREFUND - Not Happy with current situation

sinbrad

I am in a similar boat with other members on this forum who have been stung by PPI reclaim companies.

Back in August 2019 I filled out an online "30 sec, no obligation form" to see if I was entitled to any PPI. At no stage did I sign any forms that would give them permission to pursue any claims if found, only filled out a basic form giving standard details and any lenders that I had been with in the past. I then received a letter weeks, months later stating that they had found some outstanding PPI and that if I wanted to pursue this claim I would need to fill in the accompanying documents. I thought this was a complete waste of time and did not return any paperwork giving them authority to continue.

On their initial website it states "All you have to do to begin is take a single, free*, no obligation PPI check online." and goes onto say *The PPI check is Free*. Charges will apply if you decide to pursue the claim with us.

and a few more details...

Submitting your details online for the check:

 

✓ Only takes around 30 seconds to get your check underway.

✓ Is easy to do.

But that's not all …

You:

✓ Don't have to root out stacks of old documents.

✓ Aren't obliged to pursue any claim.

✓ Won't be bombarded by nuisance phone calls.

✓ Don’t miss out on the chance to see if you can claim.

Anyway, as you can guess, some time passed and I did receive a letter from a lender stating that I was entitled to some PPI refund, I didn't sign any letter of authority so how can this be? This was followed up by a letter demanding fees from myppirefund, this was before I actually received anything from the lender? I initially ignored the letter from myppirefund as I didn't give them permission. In the meantime I did receive the refund from the lender. A few weeks later I received another letter claiming that If I didn't pay the fees then they would be adding admin charges etc and would involve a debt recovery company. I then received even more letters and phonecalls, letters containing LOA's that I needed to sign but didn't and phonecalls of the same nature, at no stage did I give anyone permission to pursue the claims. I called them up asking why they are asking for fees if I didn't give them permission in the first place. They said I signed an LOA, no I didn't I said and if that was the case then why are you sending me said forms in the post to sign? I told them that I signed a form for them to check if there were any claims and not a form to pursue said claims if found, why would they be sending me LOAs in the post if I had already signed them online? They said they had a blackbox signature and that is what gave them the permission to act. I told them no where on the initial webpage did it state anything about pursuing claims, it was all an initial process to do a search. I then made a complaint and asked them to send me the LOA for me to check. But in the meantime they stated that if I didn't pay the fees then I would incur even more charges etc. So I gave in and paid the fees on the spot. A few days passed and I received a letter, including an LOA which I clearly didn't sign as it was electronic and certainly not the form that I completed online, it even had the terms and conditions at the bottom and if I had read these on the website I for one would not have signed anything like that knowing full well I could do the process myself. On the LOA it stated that there needed to be a single form signed and completed for each lender, but yet they were still able to send out these forms to multiple lenders with a single supposed signature.

So, here is the stinger. I contacted the FOS and gave them all the details they asked for and more. They looked into the matter and they stated that they found nothing wrong with the way myppirefund acted????!!!!

I said I wasn't happy and so the FOS continued to gather more evidence. myppirefund could not provide any evidence to me signing any document and stated that due to the ending of ppi reclaim all of the webpages were taken down so they couldn't recover the actual pages I would have had access to. Not only that but the FOS said that I had a conversation on the phone with a representative of the company and during that conversation I showed no signs of not letting them continue with the claim even though at no stage were there any terms read out and at no stage did I give them permission to go ahead, I eventually hung up as I thought they were asking too many questions. The FOS didn't think this counted for anything. Even myppirefund stated in an email that the phonecall was of no significance and that it was because I had signed an LOA that made it binding, I didn't sign an LOA they were all discarded?

I then received a further response for the FOS, basically stating the previous outcome but this time myppirefund had added arms and legs to the application stating that I would have signed multiple forms online, one for each lender. So a 30 sec application has now turned into war and piece. I also noted that they stated I had completed the initial form on the 14/08/19 but the actual LOA stated 13/08/19 and when I questioned this the FOA said myppirefund had stated that the discrepancy with the date was due to them having an american server and that the time difference counted for the discrepancy of the date?

I have once again contacted the FOS asking them to request proof that I also signed separate forms online for each lender that I wanted them to pursue.

The FOS state that they are impartial but it seems to me that even though myppirefund cannot provide any hard evidence the FOS has taken everything that myppirefund has said at face value and gone with that

[Deleted User]

What are the key points?

-taff

What is your question? Or is this just a rant?

sinbrad

Deleted_User said:

What are the key points?

The key point is that at no stage did I sign authorisation to pursue a claim. The rest is just what has happened and also what happened when I made a complaint

sinbrad

-taff said:

What is your question? Or is this just a rant?

Not a rant at all but just an outline of what had happened to me.

[Deleted User]

If you didn't sign a contract with them, then you won't need to pay.

sinbrad

Deleted_User said:

If you didn't sign a contract with them, then you won't need to pay.

That's what I tried to prove but they stated that because I had electronically signed the initial process then that was me saying that it was my authority for them to proceed, even though their own website said "there was no obligation to pursue the claim". I knew nothing about any claims that may surface in the future when they started their process, so how could I possible sign something that gives them the permission without that knowledge?

I have already paid their fees, this was a thread of experience as there is nothing more I can do it seems

sinbrad

Just to add. It appears that it is not illegal for a company to take a signature and then digitally append it to multiple LOAs

brettcta

a lesson in reading the small print.

sinbrad

brettcta said:

a lesson in reading the small print.

That's fair enough but why then was I bombarded with phonecalls and letters, letters of which contained LOA's if there was small print that overruled the actual paper LOA's. No where were there terms and conditions on the application page to check if I had PPI's and according to their website at the time there was no obligation to pursue the claim. If that were case then why would they be sending out LOAs for me to complete?

brettcta

It’s what they do.