M&s money

Janet1234 · 27 February 2012 at 12:04PM

Hi

Does anybody have any experiance of reclaiming PPI from Marks & Spencer Money? I completed my loan application on the phone back in late 2007. I was in a bit of financial difficulty at the time and was desperate to borrow the money to pay off other loans including one with M&S. I did not have PPI on my existing loan with them but I got the distinct impression that I would not be granted the new loan unless I took out PPI on the new loan. So I did.

I work for an investment bank. The benefits are excellent. including life assurance, critical illness insurance, personal accident insurance, accidental death and dsmemberment cover, income protection and healthcare.

I have had to complete waivers on insurance in the past because I am carrying a lot more weight than I was designed to carry, have high blood pressure and a family history of premature death. None of this came up in conversation at the point of sale but I am pretty sure that I would not have been paid out if I'd needed to make a claim. Would they have paid out on top of whatever I would have received from my employer?

Am I entitled to ask for a copy of the transcript so that I know exactly what was said over the phone at the time? Can I ask for this before any forms are completed? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Jan

FlySi · 27 February 2012 at 2:26PM

Hi Jan

You're entitled to access (virtually) anything that M&S has on file. I'd heartily recommend you send a SAR (Subject Access Request) to them. This asks them for everything, including a list of transactions, transcripts of telephone calls, etc. and a copy of your agreement. It will cost you £10 but it's worth it. They have 40 days to comply with the request. There's a template for a SAR in a sticky at the top of the forum.

Once you have the details, you'll need a couple of days to decipher them (some of the information they send is quite intensive on the eyes). After that, I'd send off the PPI questionnaire and wait for them to reply.

A couple of things to note:
1) Make sure you send the SAR and the PPI questionnaire by Recorded Delivery. They have a habit of 'not being received' even when they've been signed for.
2) Be prepared to have M&S write back and ask for confirmation of identity. They are entitled to do this.
3) Whilst you wait, write down everything you can remember and start to think about how/why you've been missold. You've made a good start - it certainly sounds like you have grounds to complain given a) they didn't ask about previous health disclosures and exemptions and b) benefits from your employer.
4) If they don't comply with the SAR or are unable to comply be prepared to write back with a Letter Before Action. We're getting a little bit ahead of ourselves here but you only need to come back here to get advice. It's what we're here for!

I've recently submitted a PPI complaint to M&S after much wrangling over a SAR. They sent a little bit of information, stated that they didn't have any further information, sent a dodgy photocopy of my credit agreement and claimed that was all they had. When I wrote back and complained about their response, they resent the same information but with a transcribed version of my credit agreement that did NOT match the original. At that point, I'd had enough so spoke to the Ombudsman and they agreed I had a case against them (being a civil servant I had excellent coverage and on two occasions when I was in hospital I never claimed for PPI. I made the payments myself!) We also found out that although the account was supposed to have been closed, it was still open.

Feel free to PM if you have any other questions.

magpiecottage · 27 February 2012 at 2:31PM

Janet1234 wrote: »

I did not have PPI on my existing loan with them but I got the distinct impression that I would not be granted the new loan unless I took out PPI on the new loan. So I did.

That will be very difficult to prove.

I work for an investment bank.

Good job it wasn't Lehman Brothers, then or you would have needed the PPI within a year!

The benefits are excellent.

Lucky you.

including life assurance

which won't help if you are still alive

critical illness insurance

which won't help unless you are "lucky" enough to get one of the specified illnesses

personal accident insurance

which won't help if you do are "unfortunate" enough not to have an accident

accidental death and dsmemberment cover

You are going to have to be really lucky to die as a result of being accidentally dismembered

income protection

That might be a duplication of cover

healthcare

Which is completely different.

I have had to complete waivers on insurance in the past because I am carrying a lot more weight than I was designed to carry, have high blood pressure and a family history of premature death. None of this came up in conversation at the point of sale but I am pretty sure that I would not have been paid out if I'd needed to make a claim. Would they have paid out on top of whatever I would have received from my employer?

That would depend on the terms and conditions of the policy.

Am I entitled to ask for a copy of the transcript so that I know exactly what was said over the phone at the time?

You can ask - but it might not exist. If, though, the policy would have paid out anyway then the complain should fail.

RuthnJasper · 27 February 2012 at 2:47PM

I'm still involved in a PPI claim with M&S - originally submitted July 2011. Turned down, reinvestigated on appeal, turned down, reinvestigated on appeal, turned down again. Now been with the FSA since the beginning of December 2011...

Have my fingers crossed... but it's been a bit of a struggle with them, to be honest.

Good luck with it. xx

Janet1234 · 27 February 2012 at 3:24PM

magpiecottage wrote: »

QUOTE]

Does PPI only cover you if you are made redundant? I honestly have no idea what I am paying for. I work for an investment bank but as a filing clerk rather than as a high flying trader so much of this goes over my head. I thought PPI would be paid if i was unable to keep up payments, which might be for any number of reasons, including illness but as I am already covered by work I thought I would not geet paid out and therefore was sold something I didn't need.

I don't suppose you are overly interested but I thought I would let you know anyway, your reply comes across as very aggressive. You might want to consider applying a softer touch to your key pad so as not to frighten newbies like me from asking questions.

Janet1234 · 27 February 2012 at 3:27PM

RuthnJasper wrote: »

I'm still involved in a PPI claim with M&S - originally submitted July 2011. Turned down, reinvestigated on appeal, turned down, reinvestigated on appeal, turned down again. Now been with the FSA since the beginning of December 2011...

Have my fingers crossed... but it's been a bit of a struggle with them, to be honest.

Good luck with it. xx

Hi

If you don't mind me asking, what was the reason for you believing that you were missold PPI by M&S?

RuthnJasper · 7 March 2012 at 6:13PM

Janet1234 wrote: »

Hi

If you don't mind me asking, what was the reason for you believing that you were missold PPI by M&S?

Hi,
I'm sorry to be so slow in replying - my dog passed away fairly recently and I'm a bit "all over the place" at the moment. I got my M&S Chargecard in 2001 - there was a promotion instore and one of the usual food dept. ladies was walking around the store with leaflets/forms and a clipboard, trying to get shoppers to sign up for the card. It's my firm belief that the PPI box had been pre-ticked in pen "just to be helpful" on the application forms (I've got a photographic memory, worse luck, so I'm only very rarely wrong in recalling these things), but I obviously cannot prove this. What CAN be proved, however, is that in bold text under the PPI tick-box on the form is the phrase "We STRONGLY recommend that you take this out", which I think qualifies as an "advised sale"...

Anyway, I've not been successful with M&S and my claim is now with the FSA. Apart from the above - plus the lack of proper financial advice when promoting the card applications instore (I believe that only a qualified financial advisor can promote the sale of such things)...

But my main beef is that the PPI was next to useless in my circumstances. In the last few months of 2001 I became very, very unwell - ultimately being referred to hospital for treatment in early 2002. Even when I was at my most unwell and off work for several months I did not claim on my PPI - because I didn't know that I could, apart from the fact that I was in no fit state to do anything! It's my understanding that the PPI would have been useless because, at the time I signed up for the card I would have been deemed as having a "pre-existing condition" that wouldn't be covered under the terms of the insurance. At NO time was I asked by M&S whether I had any existing medical conditions that would not be covered by the PPI (or otherwise), I was just advised to take the cover. I have offered copies of my medical records to the FSA as proof of this, but am still waiting to hear from them.

Hope this is useful...!

Janet1234 · 11 March 2012 at 10:28AM

Thank you for sharing and sorry to hear about your sad loss.

Sounds to me as if you have a "nailed on" case. If your was rejected I don't hold out much hope for mine. Do you know of anybody who won their case against M&S?

I hope you are fully recovered now.

Good luck with the FSA.

magpiecottage · 11 March 2012 at 5:06PM

RuthnJasper wrote: »

What CAN be proved, however, is that in bold text under the PPI tick-box on the form is the phrase "We STRONGLY recommend that you take this out", which I think qualifies as an "advised sale"...

No it is not because it is a generic statement. Advice means a personal recommendation specifically for you.

(I've got a photographic memory, worse luck, so I'm only very rarely wrong in recalling these things), but I obviously cannot prove this.

No you cannot. However, there is evidence to contradict you:

Anyway, I've not been successful with M&S and my claim is now with the FSA.

If your memory was as good as you claim, you would recall that it was with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) not the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

But my main beef is that the PPI was next to useless in my circumstances. In the last few months of 2001 I became very, very unwell - ultimately being referred to hospital for treatment in early 2002. Even when I was at my most unwell and off work for several months I did not claim on my PPI - because I didn't know that I could

But surely your photographic memory would have recalled this from the documents.

It's my understanding that the PPI would have been useless because, at the time I signed up for the card I would have been deemed as having a "pre-existing condition" that wouldn't be covered under the terms of the insurance.

You do not know that. It is possible that a pre-existing condition might not have been covered but an unrelated one would normally have been.

I believe that only a qualified financial advisor can promote the sale of such things

You believe wrong. You do not need qualifications to promote the sale of most financial products. You do need them to advise on investments and pensions. Nowadays you need them to advise on mortgages.

However. even now if a purchase is not advised you do not need to be qualified to arrange it and for general insurance, which PPI is, you still do not need any qualification.

However, in this instance the sale seems to have been non-advised.

It is possible that the box was ticked by somebody else first but you signed the form so presumably you had the opportunity to read it first.

Remember too that somebody reading the documentation can only decide on the basis of what they see before them.

Janet1234 · 20 April 2012 at 2:06PM

I just opened a letter from M&S offering me a full refund of £8k+

:j

Message for magpiecottage :
Do you think you should consider a different career path? Your advice and views are about as accurate as a watch made in Taiwan and/or as useful as a teapot made out of chocolate.

Don't bother replying because I have no interest in what you have to say loser.

I'm off to John Lewis for a bit of shoe and bag retail therapy.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

M&s money

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