Claims management company (CMC) complaints - ask the ombudsman your question

magpiecottage · 6 January 2016 at 5:47PM

Alpine_Star wrote: »

Yes but only ''in some circumstances'', although it would be helpful to know what they are.

According to the Legal Ombudsman's rule 2.8:

"The complaint must relate to services which the authorised person:
a) provided to the complainant; or
b) provided to another authorised person who procured them
on behalf of the complainant; or
c) provided to (or as) a personal representative/trustee where
the complainant is a beneficiary of the estate/trust.
; or
d) offered, or refused to provide, to the complainant."

I think "d)" is the key point. The spam is an offer of a service. If the spammer is not authorised but is seeking reward from the CMC, and has an arrangement in place to do so, then it follows that they must not simply be an introducer but acting as an agent of the CMC - otherwise the CMC would be seen as inciting an offence.

It therefore follows that the CMC is liable for the actions of the spammer as its agent - and therefore the ombudsman has jurisdiction.

Legal_Ombudsman · 7 January 2016 at 5:28PM

Alpine Star and Magpiecottage,

You are right that our Scheme Rule 2.8(d) allows us to accept cases for investigation where someone has been persistently offered a service that is not wanted. By ‘persistently offered’, we would normally look for a complainant to have advised the CMC that their service is unwanted and then (after a reasonable period of time has elapsed to allow the CMC to remove the complainant’s details from their database) the complainant is again contacted by the same CMC offering their services.

We would not normally accept a complaint about either a single contact, or when there is insufficient time between contacts to allow the CMC to update their database. For example where, following a phone call at 10am where the customer is contacted and asks to have their details removed, the customer is contacted again at 10:15am the same day (and then no more).

We have accepted cases under this rule, and will continue to do so. As with all cases accepted for investigation, we consider the evidence supplied by both parties before arriving at any decision. It therefore doesn’t follow that, just because we’ve accepted a case for investigation, we will automatically find the CMC liable for any actions of a third party.
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In all circumstances, we would caution people to be aware when they are providing their contact details to a website, through a competition entry, when answering a telemarketing survey etc. When doing so, there is usually an option to opt out of marketing. Not opting out can result in ‘unwanted’ emails and telephone calls.

magpiecottage · 9 January 2016 at 11:04AM

The Claims Regulator has published a bulletin on direct marketing.

I would expect the Legal Ombudsman to consider this carefully in respect of any complaint.

This bulletin says, "In relation to texts or emails, there is an exception to this known as a ‘soft opt-in’. This only applies in the specific circumstances specified in regulation 22 (3) of PECR, and in our experience businesses are rarely able to provide sufficient records to satisfy this."

It clarifies this by continuing "Consent must be knowingly given, clear and specific, and cannot be inferred. In order to demonstrate that they have acted compliantly, business should keep appropriate records of what the consumer has consented to, and details of how and when this consent was obtained."

So it seems that the Legal Ombudsman is not actually applying the regulations way that the MOJ and ICO believe they should be - an situation which seems somewhat unfortunate.

As far as third party marketing is concerned, it say, "Businesses should be ensuring that they are not accepting referrals from third parties who require authorisation. Regulated claims management services includes (but is not limited to) advertising for or otherwise seeking out persons who may have a cause of action, and referring details of a claim, claimant, cause of action or potential claimant to another person. This could include data brokers as well as lead generators and data suppliers that introduce work to you.
Businesses found to be accepting referrals from persons acting in contravention of the Compensation 2006 [sic]could be deemed to be aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring a criminal offence."

What this essentially means is that anybody marketing claims management business in England or Wales must be authorised by the MOJ or they will be in contravention of the Compensation Act 2006.

If a business that is authorised by the MOJ accepts a marketing lead for claims management services from a business that is not, it has aided and abetted a criminal offence.

The only way the authorised business could avoid the aiding and abetting charge would be to say that the caller was acting directly on its instructions - but then it is back where it started as it would again need to demonstrate compliance with the regulations in the bulletin.

John_bones · 12 January 2016 at 7:12PM

Hi

I've just received the above in a text from The Claims Guys. I went with them to claim PPI backand on the 27th Novemb3er I received a letter stating Barclays had upheld my complaint and offered £164.82 for premiums paid and interest due.

Your lender has advised that they will be sending the funds directly to you.

They wanted immediate payment of £59.34.

I called them and advised that I had not received an offer. Every Monday usually since then they have called wanting the money. I have advised on each occasion that I had not received any offer or money.

I received a reminder by letter on the 31st December again stating that further action may be taken which will have a negative effect on your credit rating. I replied to the email address supplied and received an automated resonse mut have not had anything until todays text

It seems they are ignoring the fact that I have not received anything and will not supply me with copies of the supposed offer from Barclays.

What should I do as I have a perfect credit rating and don't want this firm to screw that up?

Alpine_Star · 13 January 2016 at 4:14AM

This is a persistent issue with The Claims Guys.

Although their terms allow them to charge you at the point they receive an offer of compensation, enforcing it may conflict with their requirement to treat you fairly and reasonably (this is especially so when they refuse what is a reasonable request to see the offer and how it is calculated). This is something I've asked the regulator for clarity on and although I've yet to get a substantive response their provisional view is as described above.

I know someone who is being pressed to stump up £1600 they don't have before The Claims Guys will 'authorise' acceptance of the offer from the bank.

In the first instance you should make a formal complaint which should kick any enforcement action into touch.

Legal_Ombudsman · 13 January 2016 at 9:55AM

John_bones wrote: »

Hi

I've just received the above in a text from The Claims Guys. I went with them to claim PPI backand on the 27th Novemb3er I received a letter stating Barclays had upheld my complaint and offered £164.82 for premiums paid and interest due.

Your lender has advised that they will be sending the funds directly to you.

They wanted immediate payment of £59.34.

I called them and advised that I had not received an offer. Every Monday usually since then they have called wanting the money. I have advised on each occasion that I had not received any offer or money.

I received a reminder by letter on the 31st December again stating that further action may be taken which will have a negative effect on your credit rating. I replied to the email address supplied and received an automated resonse mut have not had anything until todays text

It seems they are ignoring the fact that I have not received anything and will not supply me with copies of the supposed offer from Barclays.

What should I do as I have a perfect credit rating and don't want this firm to screw that up?

Hello John_bones,

We would suggest you contact Barclays to confirm the offer and when it will be paid into your account. You can make a complaint to your CMC for chasing payment before you have received the offer, we suggest you make this complaint in writing (this can be by letter or email). The CMC will have 8 weeks to resolve this complaint, however they are not obliged to stop chasing any fees owed while the complaint is ongoing. If you would like any more advice, please contact us on 0300 555 0333

magpiecottage · 13 January 2016 at 9:58AM

Absolutely.

Complaints can be emailed to enquiries@theclaimsguys.co.uk.

Make sure you cc consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk

This will help it to gather information about their misconduct.

Then, if you get no satisfactory response within eight weeks, or an unsatisfactory response before then, go to the Legal Ombudsman.

I would take further chasing - whether by text, phone or letter - as an unsatisfactory response.

magpiecottage · 13 January 2016 at 10:01AM

Legal_Ombudsman wrote: »

The CMC will have 8 weeks to resolve this complaint, however they are not obliged to stop chasing any fees owed while the complaint is ongoing.

The fees are not due because there has been no offer received from Barclays. So I believe my point that they should not be chasing is correct.

Also, it is the job of the Claims Guys to chase up the offer, not John_bones. If they are not doing that then they are in breach of contract.

fermi · 13 January 2016 at 10:11AM

dunstonh · 13 January 2016 at 12:19PM

The claims guys cold called me and told me I was mis-sold without even asking any questions. I had a few minutes so I indulged them. I pointed out that I was an IFA and I arranged my own insurances. They said I could still put in a complaint. Even though the complaint would go to myself and I would have to decide if I had been mis-sold by me.

My experience of them is that they do not care for the regulator and the guidelines issued and are just interested in getting money out of you.

Claims management company (CMC) complaints - ask the ombudsman your question

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