Undisclosed Commission

Colin_M_Hollos · 11 May 2018 at 10:41AM

Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the site we hired a PPi company called Key Financial Claims to claim any ppi we were owed.
Unfortunately we never got anything back and all the cases were closed, then out of the blue we were awarded a sum of money from Brittania, now the ppi company are wanting there commission of £179, we never instructed them to look into the undisclosed commission and never signed any paperwork/aggreement for them to do so.
They sent a threatening letter saying if we didn't pay they would instruct a debt collecting company to chase the monies.
Under duress we paid them the money and now instructed the Legal Ombudsman to investigate this company to get our monies back, they are saying undisclosed commission is separate from ppi and unless we have signed any documentation from key Financial Claims to claim the undisclosed commission then we shouldn't have had to pay them the £179.
Can anyone help us in this matter.
Regards
Colin

[Deleted User] · 11 May 2018 at 11:07AM

You've already approached the Legal Ombudsman, but the time to do this was prior to actually paying the company. Now you are chasing a refund rather than just having the fee waived.

There is little else anyone on this forum can do to help.

dunstonh · 11 May 2018 at 11:24AM

What the LO are saying is correct. It has turned into an FAQ on this site with people posting the same thing weekly.

The rules for the CMC on Plevin cases are here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/claims-management-companies-plevin-guidance/plevin-guidance-for-claims-management-companies

Section 3 is the key one. If you read that you will see that if the rejection was more than 6 months ago and they never made any reference to Plevin refunds then they have no contract with you.

Its also worth nothing that in the August 2014 Claims Management regulation bulletin 23 issued by the Ministry of Justice it says the following:
If a CMC seeks further fees from clients where the
contract has concluded, this may be in breach of
General Rule 1 which requires you to conduct your
business with honesty and integrity. It may also be
considered an act of fraud by false representation
(Section 2, Fraud Act 2006).

So, the CMC is potentially committing fraud by taking this money from you. I'm pleased the LO have told you that they shouldnt have to pay. The forum representative here from the LO has been more vague upto now saying you should pay under duress and then reclaim via the courts.

What have the LO said to you? have they told the CMC to repay the money?

Colin_M_Hollos · 11 May 2018 at 3:10PM

Hi thank you for your reply, it's in the hands of the LO but they have not allocated anyone to deal with my case as yet, I have called them today and they have told me it should be allocated to someone in a few weeks.

I asked Britannia if there was any third party's involved with there payment to me, and they sent me a letter confirming this which I have sent to LO with other documentation.

Key Financial Claims said they sent me a letter regarding the undisclosed commission, I never received a letter, and I didn't instruct them to try and claim monies back from Britannia, I certainly didn't sign any documentation either.

The guy from KFC said once I received that letter I should have contacted them, very difficult when I never received one.
Although they have shown me a letter since.

Another person replied to me comments on here saying that paying the £179 makes it difficult to claim it back, I had no alternative because KFC sent me a threatening letter saying if we didn't pay they would instruct a company to reclaim the money.
On the advice of the LO I paid the monies.
I hope this explains this a little better.
Kind Regards
Colin

Colin_M_Hollos · 11 May 2018 at 6:15PM

Hi I take your comment onboard but I was in touch with LO befre I paid, and it was them that advised me to pay the fees, or I could have been blacklisted, or having a company chasing the fees another words would you want baliffs knocking on your door, I don't think so.
Regards
Colin

dunstonh · 11 May 2018 at 7:03PM

Hi I take your comment onboard but I was in touch with LO befre I paid, and it was them that advised me to pay the fees, or I could have been blacklisted, or having a company chasing the fees another words would you want baliffs knocking on your door, I don't think so.

That is not how it works. And it is the sort of fear that leads to people paying money unnecessarily.

The process is that you would refuse to pay giving your reasons and evidence. If the CMC refuses to accept that, then they can start a small claims process. Before the case is looked at, the court will ask you to send them any evidence you have and your side of the argument. The CMC will do the same on their submission and you are sent a copy of what the CMC have provided. After that, if it ends up in court (which is usually a judge by themselves in a small office type room - like an interview room wearing casual clothing). The judge looks at the evidence, asks questions and then will give a ruling. If you lose, you can pay there and then with nothing recorded against you. It does not affect your credit rating and bailiffs do not come calling.

Undisclosed Commission

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free