Solar Refund

ariarnia

if your asking about a full refund would guess (no idea) not. you are getting benefit from the installation even if its not as much benifit as was sold. 

so i would guess (again no idea) that the compensation you got was supposed to be the difference between the payback time and what was promised (so if they were supposed to pay back in 15 years but would actually be 20 years then the compensation would be 5 years/one quarter if you see what i mean?

but it all depends (like petriix says) on what exactly was promised and what exactly you got. 

if your worried about gdpr then you should talk to the ico. they are quite good at working out if theres a problem and helping with complaints (which includes compensation) but you would have to know what data was shared with who without your permission (i'm guessing the installer with the lender...?)

theshed

The 3rd party that approached me suggested that a full refund was possible, though I myself am doubtful. But not beyond doubt given previous mis-selling 'scandals'.
The GDPR issue was brought up as I have been contacted by numerous companies offering services related to Solar, including mis-selling ! Another issue was damage to roof tiles by installer, though how I could prove that now I don't know.

xeny

theshed said:

Petriix said:

How on earth could they take 25 years for the ROI? How much did you pay? 
My 3.42kWp system cost £4150 in 2017 and has recouped ~ £3k to date with £670 worth of savings + FIT payments in the last 12 months. 

Capacity is 2.08Kw at a cost of £7000 in 2012 so it seems you got a better deal, though I guess our FiT would be slightly higher.
We are not all equal.

Prices closely tracked FIT rates with the two falling in concert. I'm aware of a 2011 (so higher FIT rate again) 1.86KWp installation that was ~£10,000.

Jet1948

 AFK Letters – based on my experience I would not recommend anyone use them to recover a miss selling claim for a Solar Panel system.

I first had contact with AFK Letters from a cold calling about recovering the cost of my solar panels system about 2 years ago and nothing happened after I paid about £1200.00. My bank said sorry its out of time.

 In January this year I had another cold call from AFK Letters stating that they had run a group claim with many clients but had kept it secret not telling any of their clients. The good news according to their associate was that they had been successful and I would a receive a payout of £14399 by the end of March 24 it sounded so plausible.  

 The associate indicated that there was a need for a payment of £1439.90 for the tax etc. Being retired and out of the loop this type of claim I did not think too much about it. As the associate advised that I could get the money back when I received the payout. The associate was very plausible.

 I started to think that this was not right and researched AFK Letters on line and was surprised at the number of comments on different websites. I discovered that the if a Group Ligation Order (GLO) had been put in place for all the cases then everyone concerned should have known about it. But during my next telephone call with the AFK Associate he stated that he knew nothing about the GLO and became evasive. He stated that he did not have the time to search for the GLO information as he was so busy talking to other clients about their claims. This convinced me that this was a scam. 

 When I tried to telephone them it was always please leave a message and we’ll get back to you and no written correspondence apart from the initial email about the possibility of a claim from Rebecca Hall. There was no reply to any of emails that I sent to Rebecca Hall just a follow up telephone call from an associate.

 When I checked my credit card account I discovered that AFK had made a charge against it which was waiting for clearing to take place. Because they had my original credit card details on file it was easy for them to make a fresh charge, but my original credit card on record had been destroyed and replaced in December 23. but because they had my previous credit card details on file they could action it and the credit card company would accept the payment request.

 AFK has finally agreed to refund the tax charge which they did do.

 

 

 

swampy28

I’m in the same situation as jet1948 . Money £1900 taken my debit card without my consent, because they’ve held onto its details from the initial contact with me last February 2023. Trying to phone someone is totally useless. After challenging them via email to why they’ve taken my money.  I got the same story it was for tax purposes but with a different date of May for completion. They couldn’t supply any evidence I asked for to back up that they’ve secured a settlement figure for me. A further Email to them quoting I’ve reported them as scammers to my Bank and fraud uk agency , prompted a response of we will refund this money recently taken. It’s been 3 days now !!!
still no money refunded.

Tolqua

In January 2023 I was contacted by AFK Letters claiming they could recover the full cost of two solar panel installations I'd had done in 2012.   William Mason explained to me that they qualified because:  

1. The installation companies were no longer in business and were unable to honour the guarantees they had offered as part of their contract.  

2. It was recognised that high pressure mis-selling techniques had been widely used to sell installations of this type and funds had been allocated by the banks/credit-card companies used to make the payment transactions, to settle claims of this type.  

He advised that the compensation figure would amount to a substantial proportion of the original cost, most likely a full settlement plus interest.  I was assured that the fee paid to AFK was safely held in a secure client account and that it would be refunded in full in the event that the claim was unsuccessful.  I was further assured that AFK would administer the whole process, but that I would need to provide supporting documentation relating to the installations as and when requested.  

I questioned whether there was any basis for a complaint, as the returns I'd seen on both installations had fully repaid and I was happy that they represented a good investment.  I was assured that this didn't matter and that the claim would still succeed because of the widespread mis-selling techniques that had been used to sell this type of installation at the time.  

Presented with such a 'nothing to lose' proposition, I paid the requested £2,580.00 fee to AFK on 17/03/23, but apart from a couple of badly written draft letters, AFK appears to have done nothing.  I complained about the poor standard of writing in the letters and the fact that the contents misrepresented what had actually happened.  I did eventually receive amended drafts, but my details were still wrong and the statements regarding the way the panels were sold to me were still significantly incorrect.  

I heard nothing more from AFK until January this year when I got a call from Mr Mason advising that my claims had been accepted in full and that a settlement payment of "Upwards of £21,500" was guaranteed by 30/03/2024.  All I needed to do was make a further payment of £2,150 to AFK letters.  The explanation for why this payment was needed made no sense, but I made it clear that I wasn't happy to make any further payment given AFK's inactivity and the lack of any results since paying the original fee.  

No mention of this request had been made at any point in our previous conversations and there's nothing about it in the contract.

I have now taken independent advice and it's clear that the verbal assurances I was given by AFK were entirely without substance and made solely to get me to part with cash up-front.  My fears that AFK Letters' operation is a scam appear to have been well justified as this 'business model' closely resembles what I've since learned is known as a Recovery Room Scam.  

On 07/02/2024 I submitted a formal complaint and request for a full refund to AFK.  I have not received a reply.

I have also submitted a claim to Barclaycard for reimbursement of a fraudulent transaction and reported details of the crime to ActionFraud.  

It appears from the many recent posts on Trustpilot that I'm not alone, but I may have been saved from losing the further £2,100 because my card had been replaced since the original transaction.  Others have been less fortunate and have had this amount already debited using the same details.  

IF THIS HAS HAPPENED TO YOU...

Don't waste more time trying to get results from AFK, but do write out a full statement of what happened (you can use mine above as a guide) and use this to:

1. Submit a formal complaint by email to AFK requesting a full refund

2. Submit full details of the crime to ActionFarud on 0300 123 2040

3. Submit a claim for reimbursement to the bank or card company who facilitated the payment to AFK.  Include copies of the complaint and any correspondence, plus the reference from the ActionFarud report.  

Bennwihr

Almost the same story as Tolqua.. only we had given up on recouping the money (£500) that AFK had got from us last year (early 2023)  The bank told us it was too late to make a reimbursment claim on our credit card after 8 weeks (is this true?), and we have had no further dealings with AFK since then.

However, this morning, (28/2/24), the bank stopped a suspicious transaction on our credit card (thankfully!) for £1,100 by AFK.

We will now take this further.  On searching there are many such reports about AFK. Hopefully ActionFraud will be able to take some action against the openly fraudulent activities of AFK

Tolqua

Bennwihr said:

Almost the same story as Tolqua.. only we had given up on recouping the money (£500) that AFK had got from us last year (early 2023)  The bank told us it was too late to make a reimbursment claim on our credit card after 8 weeks (is this true?), and we have had no further dealings with AFK since then.

However, this morning, (28/2/24), the bank stopped a suspicious transaction on our credit card (thankfully!) for £1,100 by AFK.

We will now take this further.  On searching there are many such reports about AFK. Hopefully ActionFraud will be able to take some action against the openly fraudulent activities of AFK

I just asked Copilot:

What is the UK law that obliges a credit card company to refund a fraudulent transaction to the cardholder?

This is what I got back:

The UK law that obliges a credit card company to refund a fraudulent transaction to the cardholder is Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. This law applies when you pay with a credit card for a single item that costs more than £100 and no more than £30,0001. If the item is faulty, not delivered, or the seller goes bust, you can claim a refund from the credit card company as well as the seller.

However, this law does not cover authorised push payment (APP) fraud, which is when you are tricked into making a payment to a scammer’s account. In this case, you should contact your bank or provider as soon as possible and ask for a refund. If your bank or provider has signed up to the code of practice for APP scams, you can expect to get your money back if you weren’t to blame for the success of the scam.

If you didn’t authorise a payment from your account, you should also ask your bank for a refund. Your bank can only refuse to refund you if it can prove you acted fraudulently or were ‘grossly negligent’ - for example, if you shared your pin or password with someone else3. In most cases, you should get your refund by the end of the next business day.

When I contacted Barclaycard to report the fraudulent transaction, they advised that as it was more than six months ago, I'd need to complete an online form which is what I've done.  

I think it's also helpful to post/discuss your experience as widely as possible on forums such as this as the more activity there is that links to AFK Letters, the more difficult it becomes for their operation as potential victims can find adverse comments warning of the scam.  

Reporting to ActionFraud is a must, but posting on Trustpilot is also worthwhile, too.  I don't use social media, but I imagine this would also be helpful.