Hello everybody I have a PPI contract potential forgery I need help with.

[EXC]

I forgot to add I'm happy to send you their response if you'd like to see it in full?

Not really but I would encourage you to go to the Legal Ombudsman if you're still not happy once you've got your SAR back from Barclaycard.

[Pucinelli]

Hello again,

Just an update on what's now becoming a longer saga than Downton Abbey. I contacted the Legal Ombudsman and explained, in very precise detail, the root of my complaint, it's taken seven and a half months for them to uptake my complaint and this week I had a telephone conversation with one of the investigators which has raised some concerns and flagged up a potential flaw in the process.

During my conversation with the investigator she stated that my complaint centred around the fact that I didn't give HD Law authorisation to pursue this claim on my behalf and how did I intend to prove this. I pointed out that all of the signatures purporting to be mine were, in fact, forgeries that had been copied and pasted across the various documents, she then told me that the documents would be taken on face value so, essentially, as long as there's a signature on the document then they're acceptable.

Add to this if the case goes before an Ombudsman then I won't have any recourse to claim once his decision has been made which has left me wondering why I bothered waiting for the Ombudsman to come on board and not just take HD Law to the small claims court. Can anybody offer me advice and/or direction here as I've now had the wind well and truly stuffed out of my sails!

[EXC]

That's really disappointing.

Has the investigator actually made a written decision and if not how have you left it with them?

I'm not sure if you raised the durable medium distance selling regulations issue in your complaint or with LO but you should really would ram it home. I know I've directed you to it before but it's at the end of this judgment Allay LOSE in Court - LegalBeagles Forum

Far from you having to prove that you didn't give Ingenious consent to make a claim, the regulations state that in a dispute (which of course this is) it is for the trader to prove that he provided you with the agreement and prescribed cancellation form in hard copies (a durable medium) at the point of sale. The point being that had they done so you would have known that they had held you to entering a contract and you would have been able exercise your right to cancel within 14 days.

Attached at the bottom of this post is a submission I made to the Financial Ombudsman detailing that point (at paragraphs 2 & 3) and although it was about a claims management company the same issues apply.

Add to this if the case goes before an Ombudsman then I won't have any recourse to claim once his decision has been made which has left me wondering why I bothered waiting for the Ombudsman to come on board and not just take HD Law to the small claims court.

No, if you don't accept the Ombudsman's decision then it's not legally binding and you still have recourse to the courts. see here Is the Legal Ombudsman’s final decision binding? | The Law Society

That's why I always advise going to an Ombudsman first as you get 2 bites of the cherry, but if you went to court first, an Ombudsman couldn't touch it.

[Pucinelli]

That's really disappointing.

Has the investigator actually made a written decision and if not how have you left it with them?

I'm not sure if you raised the durable medium distance selling regulations issue in your complaint or with LO but you should really would ram it home. I know I've directed you to it before but it's at the end of this judgment Allay LOSE in Court - LegalBeagles Forum

Far from you having to prove that you didn't give Ingenious consent to make a claim, the regulations state that in a dispute (which of course this is) it is for the trader to prove that he provided you with the agreement and prescribed cancellation form in hard copies (a durable medium) at the point of sale. The point being that had they done so you would have known that they had held you to entering a contract and you would have been able exercise your right to cancel within 14 days.

Attached at the bottom of this post is a submission I made to the Financial Ombudsman detailing that point (at paragraphs 2 & 3) and although it was about a claims management company the same issues apply.




No, if you don't accept the Ombudsman's decision then it's not legally binding and you still have recourse to the courts. see here Is the Legal Ombudsman’s final decision binding? | The Law Society

That's why I always advise going to an Ombudsman first as you get 2 bites of the cherry, but if you went to court first, an Ombudsman couldn't touch it.

Fantastic and thank you for your very helpful information which makes me realise just how dismissive of me she was. She hasn't yet investigated my complaint her call was to find out what I wanted from my complaint and to advise me that once the Ombudsman has made a decision then I have no legal recourse. I have until 11th November to respond with any additional evidence so I'll now put together a letter with the information you've supplied along with some evidence that they don't yet have. I'll keep you informed but judging by the current performance it could be a while.

[Pucinelli]

Today I received a response from the Legal Ombudsman regarding me adding to my complaint that the company didn't adhere to the durable medium distance selling regulations; this was the Ombudsman's reply.

Thank you for your email.

I unfortunately cannot add a complaint in which the firm have not had a chance to deal with. If you want me to investigate the issue that the firm failed to provide you with documents regarding the agreement you were entering into and details of your right to cancel, you will first need to raise this with the firm. I would then need to allow them 8 weeks to deal with this complaint.

Please could you advise how you would like to continue?

I have pointed out to the Ombudsman that the basis of the complaint I've raised with them is that somebody has signed documents relating to this claim in my name, if that's the case then they will no doubt be able to come up with a similar signature relating to the hard copy documents. I will be raising the additional complaint, however, do you have any thoughts on how I should proceed please given what we already know? Thanks in advance.

[EXC]

That's disappointing that they're saying that the distance selling/durable medium regulations issue constitutes a different complaint. It's not that you're introducing a new complaint but asking the Ombudsman to take consideration of the law into account when considering your existing complaint.

How does that leave your initial complaint with the Ombudsman?

Anyway you should raise the new complaint with HD but make sure that when you do, you provide the Ombudsman's suggestion that you should so that they don't reject it on the basis that you're complaining about the same thing.

[Pucinelli]

That's disappointing that they're saying that the distance selling/durable medium regulations issue constitutes a different complaint. It's not that you're introducing a new complaint but asking the Ombudsman to take consideration of the law into account when considering your existing complaint.

How does that leave your initial complaint with the Ombudsman?

Anyway you should raise the new complaint with HD but make sure that when you do, you provide the Ombudsman's suggestion that you should so that they don't reject it on the basis that you're complaining about the same thing.

Thanks for your help. This leaves my existing complaint remaining a stand alone complaint until I've approached HD regarding the distance selling/durable medium reg's. Can I send the complaint to them in an email or does it have to be a written complaint? I will contact the Ombudsman and ask why I have to make a seperate complaint rather than, as you say, ask them to consider the law for this.

[EXC]

Can I send the complaint to them in an email or does it have to be a written complaint?

I'm sure you can, just mark it 'Formal Complaint' and ask for an acknowledgement of receipt. The email address on their site is info@hd-law.info

I will contact the Ombudsman and ask why I have to make a seperate complaint rather than, as you say, ask them to consider the law for this.

I think the issue you need to raise is that as with all Ombudsman services they have an obligation to take the law into account when considering what is fair & reasonable when judging complaints. Your complaint is all about whether you gave your informed consent to enter into a contract. The distance selling/durable medium regulations are there to precisely to establish a record of informed consent, so it goes to the heart of your complaint. You're not making a new complaint but simply asking the Ombudsman to account for the requirements in the regulations in your existing complaint,

Also the regulations clearly state that ''In case of dispute about the trader’s compliance with any provision of regulations 10 to 16, it is for the trader to show that the provision was complied with.''

This is a dispute and they are yet to do so.

Clearly had they complied with the regulations at the time and provided you with a hard copy of the agreement you would have known that they had deemed to have held you to entering into a contract and you would have been able to exercise your right to cancel within the statutory 14 day period.

[Pucinelli]

Here is the reply from the Ombudsman's investigator.

Thank you for your email.

I am not able to investigate something that the firm has not had a chance to comment on.

As I understand it, you are saying that the firm failed to comply with the regulations as they failed to send you copies of the documents. I cannot see that the firm have had a chance to comment on this previously.

Please do let me know if this is something that you have previously raised with the firm?


Yours Sincerely,

[EXC]

Ok I suppose you'll have to go through the process of complaining to HD Law.

[Pucinelli]

Well the plot thickens. I received an email from the LO asking if I've heard from HD Law, after confirming I hadn't she chased them up and this afternoon I received a copy of the alleged contract with an accompanying email stating:

1. A contract did exist because you signed the “no win no fee” agreement and the form of authority (both dated 24/09/2019) that were provided to you electronically (further signed copies attached). Please see below the audit trail date regarding these instructions:



I.P. address: 165.225.80.85

Date: 24/04/2019 21:00

Device: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64; Trident/7.0; S.N.O.W.4; rv:11.0) like Gecko

Which translates to: Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 10



2. This signed contract confirms that you did expressly give us your informed consent to act on your behalf and to make a complaint to your Lender, which we duly did. We sent a letter of complaint to your Lender enclosing a copy of the form of authority you had electronically signed, as express confirmation that we were instructed to act on your behalf and to make a PPI complaint in respect of the account in question. This work we undertook on your behalf directly led to your complaint being wholly successful on your behalf, obtaining a full refund of all sums you paid towards the PPI policy, plus 8% statutory interest,


So the twist in the tail - it was signed with the rogue signature, I emailed HDL back explaining that I did not authorise this document nor did I have a proxy to authorise it. They wrote back saying:


"You will also appreciate that the signature on your form of authority was accepted by your Lender, who perform vigorous checks with regards to client/customer identity before responding to a complaint), which then led to them making best possible award of compensation that could have been made in respect of your complaint.

Based on our experience had the signature on your form of authority been in anyway not correct, according to what your Lender had on file in respect of your account, we would have fully expected your Lender not to have made any sort of offer, but to have requested at least two forms id identification and a utility bill (not more than 3 months old) from you. It did not."

I countered this by advising them that I will now ask Barclaycard for a copy of the signature they have on file and completed these "robust checks" against - HDL haven't responded to this. To me it is inconceivable that they can persist with a copy and paste signature on these numerous documents and expect me to believe I signed them, I find the whole seedy business utterly appalling.

[EXC]

So they haven't actually addressed the issue of them not complying with durable medium requirements of the distance selling regulations.

There were 2 solicitor firms (HD Law and Ingenious Legal) and 2 claims management companies (Allay Claims and Fast Track Claims) who were running the digital signature scam in the frenzied months leading up to the PPI claiming deadline in August 2019.

You will also appreciate that the signature on your form of authority was accepted by your Lender, who perform vigorous checks with regards to client/customer identity before responding to a complaint)

This is simply not true. Here's a response from one bank to someone who complained about them accepting a digital signature on a letter of authority from Allay claims. The bank did not accept it on the basis that it was genuine but on the basis of (misplaced) good faith and I strongly suspect this policy was industry wide.



Policy.JPG


I would make a complaint to Barclaycard about accepting the digital signature as the response might help with your complaint with LO.

[Pucinelli]

Thanks EXC I've emailed HD Law asking for their response to the Distance selling and pointed out that they are wrong regarding the signature identity, I've also raised a complaint with Barclaycard.

[Pucinelli]

Thanks EXC I've emailed HD Law asking for their response to the Distance selling and pointed out that they are wrong regarding the signature identity, I've also raised a complaint with Barclaycard.

So after umpteen phone call chasing up Barclaycard for an answer to my complaint regarding how they ensure claims are genuine and to supply me with a copy of my signature that they hold on file, this is the best they've come up with! I'm being sandbagged from both sides now.

[EXC]

I do find it odd that they just waive through PPI complaints from 3rd parties on the strength that they're regulated by SRA.

That's not a complaint response so it doesn't look like they've recognised your complaint as one. In order to go to the Financial Ombudsman you'd need either a final response or to wait 8 weeks from the point you complained if you don't get one.

They're a bit cagey on whether they actually have a letter of authority from HD Law so I would send them an SAR. There's a template here LegalBeagles and where it asks for any particular information say you want all correspondence from HD Law including letters of authority.

Did you get a reply from HD Law about distance selling regulations?