Received inherited backdated dividend payments Equiniti, can I contest £110 fee?

dee100

From my deceased  Mother, the amount was £564.62, the cheque is for £454.62. This seems quite a high fee, don't you think?
There are 4 other cheques amounting to a total of £100, no fees for these low amounts.
It says "various", so I guess the fee is for managing all 5 dividends...
I already payed them £34.50 to do the share certificate in my name...

dee100

Goes back 11 years when she died. I didn't know about these shares/dividends. They traced me through the electoral role...

masonic

It depends what the fees were for. "Various" doesn't give you much to go on, so ask for a breakdown. It amounts to about £10 per year, so might not be excessive depending on what is being charged for.

Alexland

I can see you wouldn't want to pay £110 inc VAT but that is their published charge for doing the work on a payment between £500 and £999.99 so I don't think there is much of a case for a complaint.
I am surprised there was no fee on any of the 4 cheques totalling £100 as only a payment up to £14.99 is free so you have done well there.
I assume they didn't charge you for their time in tracing and contacting you so maybe consider it a contribution towards those useful efforts? Overall it seems their activity has been very beneficial to you.

dee100

Thanks for your 2 comments, I appreciate it a lot
I'll let it go
After I sell the unknown about shares, I'll have done quite well overall...

Thrugelmir

dee100 said:

They traced me through the electoral role...

If they hadn't of done. Then you'd be none the wiser and wouldn't have any money in your hands now. Companies don't provide charitable services. Overheads need to be paid for. 

tebbins

Thrugelmir said:

dee100 said:

They traced me through the electoral role...

If they hadn't of done. Then you'd be none the wiser and wouldn't have any money in your hands now. Companies don't provide charitable services. Overheads need to be paid for. 

Even @Thrugelmir has fallen to "could/should/would of"

Robert_McGeddon

dee100 said:

From my deceased  Mother, the amount was £564.62, the cheque is for £454.62. This seems quite a high fee, don't you think?

Yup. I'd have to agree. Opportunistic extortion, IMO.

They've had your cash to do whatever with over the years.

They're contracted to their client company, not you. I have to wonder if their client knows about this or perhaps has impliedly included in the fee payable. I think it causes reputational damage to the organisation paying the dividends.

The scale of charges is a nonsense. Equiniti know the total value of the cheque/EFT and it costs them the same amount to process a single payment of £10 or £1,000. Their scale of charges is based on what they think you can afford and won't complain about, not what is costs them. 

pafpcg

dee100 said:

.....
I already payed them £34.50 to do the share certificate in my name...

To clarify this issue for the benefit of other forum users who may read this post in future years....

I have to assume that the £34.50 charge by Equiniti related to the certification of your late mother's shareholding rather than the transfer of ownership to you.  [If you were unaware that your late mother owned some shares, then it's unlikely you had a share certificate in her name - Equiniti probably held the shares in a nominee account and there is usually a charge to "materialise" a holding in a nominee account into a physical share certificate.]  If you have a share certificate in a deceased person's name, then the registrar of the company's shares, in this case Equinti, should, at the direction of the executor of the deceased's estate, transfer ownership of the shareholding to the benificiary and issue a new share certificate in the new owner's name, ie you, at no charge.  That's how it worked when Equiniti issued a new share certificate for my late mother-in-law's shareholding in Lloyds Banking Group several years ago.

Alexland

Robert_McGeddon said:

Opportunistic extortion, IMO.

Someone has to pay unless you expect them to do their work for free or other more organised shareholders to cross subsidise from companies paying higher share registration costs? They're not a charity, their charges are clearly displayed on their website and the right people in listed companies should know about such charges for extras.

A total of £144.50 inc VAT isn't unreasonable for how helpful they have been in finding and assisting the OP. Team(s) of human beings would have been involved in manual processes and they will be paid and have normal employment, IT and management overheads. They may also have to pay for outsourced banking, data and identity checking services.

It's really good that share registration services proactively reconnect shareholders with their lost investments and if they are publicly criticised or it becomes uneconomic maybe they won't bother next time.

Robert_McGeddon

Alexland said:

Robert_McGeddon said:

Opportunistic extortion, IMO.

Someone has to pay unless you expect them to do their work for free or other more organised shareholders to cross subsidise from companies paying higher share registration costs? They're not a charity, their charges are clearly displayed on their website and the right people in listed companies should know about such charges for extras.

Still disagree. As far as charging for uncashed dividend cheques is concerned the effort for a £10 payment or £1,000 payment (perhaps over several items) is the same. But they can't take a £100 "fee" fron a £10 payment. It seems to me that the charge is not related to their costs or efforts, only what their indirect customer can afford to pay.

A total of £144.50 inc VAT isn't unreasonable for how helpful they have been in finding and assisting the OP.

Agreed that Equiniti have done very well in tracing the OP. They are to be congratulated on this point.  Is the £144.50 a finder's fee? My assumption was is was all/mainly for administering/paying uncashed dividend cheques - as has happened to me.  However. from the opening post, it seems Equiniti haven't been very clear with the OP as to what their fees relates to.