National Grid Shares

Kuryakin|Kring

My parents have just been contacted by Capita Tracing Solutions, as apparently their dividend from the 2005 restructuring of National Grid was not cashed. For a fee of 15% +vat they would evaluate the claim and recover the dividend. Feeling slightly suspicious of this my parents contacted National Grid direct and was told that for a fee of £15. Excellent, the letter was genuine. Now givens that National Grid is cheaper that would be the way to go right? But surely £15 to reissue a cheque is too much. They know that the cheque has not be cashed, and at most a cheque only has a 12 month life before it expires so we cannot cash the original and the reissued one. My parents have sent a letter to National Grid saying this, and are awaiting a reply.

Question is though, are we right? It seems very similar to the bank charges reclamation. Do we have any choice about paying the fee, and also can we claim interest from them in that they have taken three years to follow up on this money that we have not received.

Any thoughts or information would be gratefully received.

magyar

I think this very much depends on why they didn't cash the dividend. Did they actually receive the original cheque? If it's National Grid's fault in any way, they should obviously do this all for free.

I don't think it's fair to make a comparison with bank charges; in this instance National Grid are doing a 'one off' job (compared with the hundreds of thousands of 'bank charge' letters a bank writes). A person actually has to find your parents' cheque details, specifically cancel it, issue a new one etc. £15 is probably quite reasonable.

The other difference is that the bank are simply providing your parents with a service, for which they're charging a fee. You can simply choose not to take them up on it (but of course not get the cheque re-issued). The bank charges are unlawful because they are punitive (i.e. they are a penalty for not complying with a contract).

ChrisBristol

I had one of these this morning. I assumed it was a scam - I get small dividends from various former utility companies automatically. However, I'm pretty sure I sold my British Gas shares ages ago - so no idea why they think National Grid owe me some money, and can't get through to them on the 0800 number.

Is this some sort of scam to get personal details from me, or is it for real?

Chris.

Hotsocks2

My mother's got one today too. I thought it was likely a scam. Seems to give you an option whether or not to provide date of birth to facilitate identification - bit odd. :think:

The address to send this is: 34 Beckenham Road, Kent, BR3 4NB

Hotsocks2

OK, I emailed National Grid. The response:


Quote:

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I can confirm that we are aware that National Grid PLC has appointed Capita Tracing Solutions to trace shareholders and reunite them with outstanding dividend funds.

If you need further assistance, please contact our Shareholder Helpline on 0870 242 2379. If you are calling from outside the United Kingdom , please telephone +44 20 7098 1198.

Yours sincerely

Louise Gill
National Grid
Shareholder Services

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And you can follow links from the NG site to the address 34 Beckenham road.

ChrisBristol

That's very useful, Hotsocks - thanks!