Allay Claims

[EXC]

I'm really sorry to hear of you predicament.

There are basically 3 options in my view:

You could take legal action by filing a claim for harassment and possibly applying for an injunction prohibiting Allay from contacting you. The downside is that this could be complicated, time consuming and expensive.

You could make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner but that would likely take a considerable time and even if they rule in your favour the ruling is pretty toothless.

The third option is to make a complaint to the Claims Management Ombudsman which is part of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). In my view this would be the best option as overall it has the optimum combination of speed, effectiveness and the process is relatively straight forwards. The good thing about FOS rulings are that they are legally binding and are as good as a court judgment. So if FOS ruled that Allay must stop contacting you and they don't, you can apply to the courts to enforce it.

Ordinarily in order to take a complaint to FOS you would have to of made a complaint to Allay first and either had it rejected or not have had a response within 8 weeks. Plus the timescales between FOS accepting the complaint and actually with is could be a couple of months.

However there might be ways of shortcutting this. If you've tried to get Allay to stop contacting you within the last 6 months, that could count as a complaint that Allay haven't formally responded to and you might be able to go straight to FOS now. Also if you can demonstrate to FOS that Allay's harassment of you is causing significant ongoing distress to you they can look into the complaint straight away.

It's possible I could assist with the above as I'm in ongoing discussions about how they are dealing with Allay complaints but first I'd just like to know a bit more:

1. What were Allay contacting you/your late husband about originally?

2. Are Allay now asking you for money for a successful PPI claim that they allege you authorised them to make?

3. Have you/your late husband ever had a PPI refund?

4. When is the last time you contacted Allay about the issue?

[Kiera_44]

Hi,

Thanks for responding.

I started randomly getting emails and texts while on holiday in August 2019, congratulating my late husband and asking for his 'help to win' by clicking the attached link and completing a form. I did not click anything, and as soon as I returned to the UK, I contacted them via email, asking them to stop. All of my correspondence with them is by email.

Initially, they claimed he'd signed paperwork, if I recall, and would also not speak to me even when I told them he had died three years before and how much the constant bombardment of messages was upsetting me. I sent them his death certificate, and it stopped for a while, then started up again. It's like a vicious circle now, and I've stopped responding at all because it gets me nowhere.

The last time I provided his death certificate again, they then emailed me forms asking me to sign them so they could act on my behalf. Like hell, was I going to sign anything. I just blocked that email address too.

My last correspondence with them trying to get them to stops was in December 2020 where they claim my dead husband signed up in July 2019, and then claim they have my signature too, I think? See Below -


Good Afternoon Mrs ***,

Thank you for your email. We apologise you felt the need to raise your concerns with Allay.

I can confirm that we received Mr **** information through a web lead (form filled out online). On 16/07/2019 details were filled in on ppifreecheck.com requesting us to conduct a free PPI check. At this time, we were provided with his full address, telephone number, DOB and a list of lenders you would like to claim back PPI from. At this time there was also a letter of authority (LOA) signed that had our terms of engagement (TOE) attached. This gave us permission to contact you regarding the pursuit of claims for mis-sold PPI. Subsequent to this, as our electronic letter of authority was signed and submitted to us: we therefore accepted this as a genuine opt-in to our service. The electronic LOA was then used to contact the lenders in what is considered our DSAR process, which includes us communicating with the lender to check whether you have any PPI on your account. The lenders accepted the information we sent them as genuine and accepted the signature on the document as yours. I have attached a copy of the LOA and TOE for your reference.

Please note, the signature would not be the exact match to yours if you had signed a wet signature as this has been done digitally. The date is automatically completed by the system upon submission, not handwritten.

As RBS have sent correspondence to Allay regarding your claims this has come as a result of our complaint. Had the lender not matched your signature on the LOA to the one they hold on their system they would have not corresponded with Allay, likewise if you have previously claimed on your accounts RBS would have also advised us of this.

Once you received your invoice from Allay it then took a further 14 months for you to express your dissatisfaction with Allay. I believe if you had not signed up to our service you would have questioned our involvement and the fact we were handling your personal data sooner rather than after 17 months of receiving our correspondence.

We take fraudulent activity very seriously and I can only advise that if you believe someone from your area has been mis using your email and telephone to submit claims on your behalf then you can report this the action fraud. I will list their details below and if you do choose to do so please advise Allay of the reference number they give you and will await their correspondence.

Website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Telephone: 0300 123 2040


I think around this time (summer 2019) I had contacted Natwest directly for a personal PPI claim for myself. I have always made PPI claims directly with the banks. I don't recall the exact wording from Natwest, but it had a part that said more would have been owed, but that hadn't been claimed by the person entitled to it? I contacted Natwest and said any money owed to my husband should be paid to me as he'd passed away, and they told me to put that in writing and make the claim which I did.

Shortly after, I received a letter from Natwest addressed to my husband about his claim with Allay. I called them, explained the harassment, and they were extremely apologetic about not picking up on the fact that he had died three years before Allay claim he signed with them, and for any upset this had caused me. I also wrote to Natwest at their request in response to the letter and allay, also stating that I had already put in a claim for my husband based on my personal claim, and gave them all the reference details to match.

I got some money, it wasn't a great deal, but I am a single mother now, so every little helps. I have no idea how they got further information from Natwest that I was successful? Since then, they keep chasing my husband for money and making threats.

Also, just to add, they're claiming I took 14/17 months to make a complaint about this in December 2020? I've been complaining and all but begging them to stop since August 2019! I have it all on email too.

My husband did not ever make a PPI claim while he was alive to answer your final question. He struggled with life sometimes and lost his battle with depression in 2016. Anything like that would have been dealt with by me. He wouldn't have made a claim himself.

I think I've answered all your questions? Sorry for such a long reply. I'd love it if you could help get them to stop, but I definitely don't have enough money to take any legal action; I only work part-time these days.

[EXC]

Ok thanks that's helpful.

Some more questions if you don't mind:

What exact date in December did you get that email from Allay?

What was the date of the email you had sent them (that they responded to)?

Was there anything else at the end of Allay's email that you didn't include, such as saying if you're not satisfied you could go to the Financial Ombudsman?

[Kiera_44]

Hi,

No problem at all, and thank you.

The date that was received was, and here is the complete end of that email - FYI, I was never sent anything of the sort.

From: Collections Complaints <collectionscomplaints@allay.co.uk>
Sent: 03 December 2020 14:32

We take fraudulent activity very seriously and I can only advise that if you believe someone from your area has been mis using your email and telephone to submit claims on your behalf then you can report this the action fraud. I will list their details below and if you do choose to do so please advise Allay of the reference number they give you and will await their correspondence.

Website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Telephone: 0300 123 2040

Having considered all of the above I again, apologies that you have felt the need to complain however, I can find no evidence to suggest this was not a genuine opt in to our service. Allay have carried out a service that was requested by you therefore our invoice is now payable in full. Please contact our collections team on 0191 631 0835 without further delay to make payment.

Please regard this as our full and final response.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London

E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.

If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.



Regards,

Tanya Jones

Complaints Handler

This was in response to my email once again asking them to stop harassing me, that I had provided copies of my husband's death certificate several times now, and asked them to stop on 30/11/20.

[Kiera_44]

Hi,

No worries, and thank you.

This was sent to me on 03/12/20 in response to my email to them on 30/11 once again requesting that stop, that I'd provided my husband's death certificate several times now, and to stop harassing me. FYI, I never received any such letter from them with ombudsman information.

We take fraudulent activity very seriously and I can only advise that if you believe someone from your area has been mis using your email and telephone to submit claims on your behalf then you can report this the action fraud. I will list their details below and if you do choose to do so please advise Allay of the reference number they give you and will await their correspondence.

Website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Telephone: 0300 123 2040



Having considered all of the above I again, apologies that you have felt the need to complain however, I can find no evidence to suggest this was not a genuine opt in to our service. Allay have carried out a service that was requested by you therefore our invoice is now payable in full. Please contact our collections team on 0191 631 0835 without further delay to make payment.



Please regard this as our full and final response.



If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London

E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.

If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.



Regards,

Tanya Jones

Complaints Handler

[Kiera_44]

Hi,

No worries, and thank you.

This was sent to me on 03/12/20 in response to my email to them on 30/11 once again requesting that stop, that I'd provided my husband's death certificate several times now, and to stop harassing me. FYI, I never received any such leaflet from them.


We take fraudulent activity very seriously and I can only advise that if you believe someone from your area has been mis using your email and telephone to submit claims on your behalf then you can report this the action fraud. I will list their details below and if you do choose to do so please advise Allay of the reference number they give you and will await their correspondence.
Website: https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
Telephone: 0300 123 2040

Having considered all of the above I again, apologies that you have felt the need to complain however, I can find no evidence to suggest this was not a genuine opt in to our service. Allay have carried out a service that was requested by you therefore our invoice is now payable in full. Please contact our collections team on 0191 631 0835 without further delay to make payment.

Please regard this as our full and final response.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London
E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.

If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.



Regards,

Tanya Jones

Complaints Handler

[Kiera_44]

Ok thanks that's helpful.

Some more questions if you don't mind:

What exact date in December did you get that email from Allay?

What was the date of the email you had sent them (that they responded to)?

Was there anything else at the end of Allay's email that you didn't include, such as saying if you're not satisfied you could go to the Financial Ombudsman?

Hi,

I'm sorry if this got posted more than once, it wasn't working/showing on my end.

This email was sent by them on 03/12 in response to my email to them on 30/11 once again asking them to stop, that I'd provided my husband's death certificate several times and to stop harassing me. FYI, I've never received a leaflet. Here is the complete end of that email.

Thank you.

-------

Having considered all of the above I again, apologies that you have felt the need to complain however, I can find no evidence to suggest this was not a genuine opt in to our service. Allay have carried out a service that was requested by you therefore our invoice is now payable in full. Please contact our collections team on 0191 631 0835 without further delay to make payment.



Please regard this as our full and final response.



If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London

E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.

If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.



Regards,

Tanya Jones

Complaints Handler

[Kiera_44]

Hi,

I've tried replying to this post a few times now, and it doesn't work?

This email was sent to me by them on 03/12/20 in response to mine to them on 30/11/20 once again asking them to stop. Here is the end of that email, and FYI I never got a leaflet.

Thank you.

Having considered all of the above I again, apologies that you have felt the need to complain however, I can find no evidence to suggest this was not a genuine opt in to our service. Allay have carried out a service that was requested by you therefore our invoice is now payable in full. Please contact our collections team on 0191 631 0835 without further delay to make payment.



Please regard this as our full and final response.



If you are not satisfied with our response, or if a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, you may refer the complaint to –

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
London

E14 9SR

Telephone: 0800 023 4567

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Further information is available on the Financial Ombudsman Service website:

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

An explanatory leaflet regarding the Financial Ombudsman Service will also be enclosed within our final response sent out to you.

If you want the Financial Ombudsman Service to look into your complaint, you can do so free of charge but you must contact them within six months of the date of any final response issued.

If you do not refer your complaint in time, the Ombudsman will not have our permission to consider your complaint and so will only be able to do so in limited circumstances. For example, if the Ombudsman believes the delay was as a result of exceptional circumstances.



Regards,

[EXC]

Hi

Sorry about your posting issues, it's our over-zealous spam filter deciding it didn't like something you wrote! So I've approved your last post.

This is good news. That Allay included the information about the Financial Ombudsman means that it qualifies as a final response and as such you can go straight to the Ombudsman. Also it's fortunate you came here when you did, as the 6 months you have from the date of final responses to when you can go to the Ombudsman expires on 3 June, so we've got 2 weeks to draft & file the complaint.

I'm happy to help with writing the complaint but as ever the success of any complaint depends on how well it's drafted and supported with evidence, as Allay will contest it. This means I'll probably need to ask you quite a few questions and ask for quite a lot of documents etc but I think the effort should be worth it.

Whether we can get the Ombudsman to look at it straight away (because of the circumstances) or we have to join the queue and wait a few months we obviously don't know yet. Also it's open for either party to appeal the initial Ombudsman decision so if your complaint is upheld, Allay could appeal it and it goes to a more senior Ombudsman which could take another month or so.

However if your complaint is upheld it is legally binding and as good as a court order. So if Allay are unwise enough to continue contacting you, you can apply to the court to have it enforced. But Allay will know this and hopefully that'll be the end of it.

Let me know if you want to go ahead.

[Kiera_44]

Hi

Sorry about your posting issues, it's our over-zealous spam filter deciding it didn't like something you wrote! So I've approved your last post.

This is good news. That Allay included the information about the Financial Ombudsman means that it qualifies as a final response and as such you can go straight to the Ombudsman. Also it's fortunate you came here when you did, as the 6 months you have from the date of final responses to when you can go to the Ombudsman expires on 3 June, so we've got 2 weeks to draft & file the complaint.

I'm happy to help with writing the complaint but as ever the success of any complaint depends on how well it's drafted and supported with evidence, as Allay will contest it. This means I'll probably need to ask you quite a few questions and ask for quite a lot of documents etc but I think the effort should be worth it.

Whether we can get the Ombudsman to look at it straight away (because of the circumstances) or we have to join the queue and wait a few months we obviously don't know yet. Also it's open for either party to appeal the initial Ombudsman decision so if your complaint is upheld, Allay could appeal it and it goes to a more senior Ombudsman which could take another month or so.

However if your complaint is upheld it is legally binding and as good as a court order. So if Allay are unwise enough to continue contacting you, you can apply to the court to have it enforced. But Allay will know this and hopefully that'll be the end of it.

Let me know if you want to go ahead.

Arghhh, Spam. I completely understand. I thought I was doing something wrong. Sorry for the multiple posts!

That would be great, thank you.

I have to get to work now, but I don't work on Friday's. If you could let me know what you need from me I could get that to you then?

Please let me know.

Thanks

[EXC]

Ok I'll work on a list and post it up.

[EXC]

Here's a list of the things I'd like. I'm sorry that it's so long but it's really important to maximise the strength of the complaint with as much evidence as possible.

Please send it all to me at nick@legalbeaglesgroup.com

It goes without saying that I'll treat it in strictest confidence.

Where I've asked for specific emails can you forward them to me as you would normally forward an email, rather than send the email as an attachment if you know what I mean. That way I can assemble them all into a PDF for the purposes of the complaint.

1. A couple of the very first emails you had from them (in August 2019) congratulating your late husband.

2. Your initial email response to them (I think you said you responded when you returned to the UK from Spain).

3. Their response to that email.

4. I'm not sure if they asked you for a copy of the death certificate but if they did, that email request.

5. You said you had provided them with the certificate on a number of occasions, so the emails of the first and last occasions together with the certificate (if that's ok).

6. You said that when you first sent the certificate, they emailed you forms asking you to sign so they could act on your behalf, so that email and the forms.

7. The complaint you sent them on 30/11/2020.

8. The LOA and TOE they said they attached to their complaint response of 3/12/2020 (Very important!).

9. Their invoice for the commission for the (RBS?) refund.

10. Finally we need to provide the Ombudsman with some evidence of the scale, volume & frequency of the emails, texts & calls you've had to put up with. Rather than send me all the emails (as I'm sure there'll be zillions), could you isolate them in your inbox (by searching for emails from Allay's address) and screenshot it? Obviously we can't do anything similar with the texts and calls but could you give me a ballpark figure of how many you got/get in a day and how many you've received in total?

I think that's it...for now at least!

[Kiera_44]

Here's a list of the things I'd like. I'm sorry that it's so long but it's really important to maximise the strength of the complaint with as much evidence as possible.

Please send it all to me at nick@legalbeaglesgroup.com

It goes without saying that I'll treat it in strictest confidence.

Where I've asked for specific emails can you forward them to me as you would normally forward an email, rather than send the email as an attachment if you know what I mean. That way I can assemble them all into a PDF for the purposes of the complaint.

1. A couple of the very first emails you had from them (in August 2019) congratulating your late husband.

2. Your initial email response to them (I think you said you responded when you returned to the UK from Spain).

3. Their response to that email.

4. I'm not sure if they asked you for a copy of the death certificate but if they did, that email request.

5. You said you had provided them with the certificate on a number of occasions, so the emails of the first and last occasions together with the certificate (if that's ok).

6. You said that when you first sent the certificate, they emailed you forms asking you to sign so they could act on your behalf, so that email and the forms.

7. The complaint you sent them on 30/11/2020.

8. The LOA and TOE they said they attached to their complaint response of 3/12/2020 (Very important!).

9. Their invoice for the commission for the (RBS?) refund.

10. Finally we need to provide the Ombudsman with some evidence of the scale, volume & frequency of the emails, texts & calls you've had to put up with. Rather than send me all the emails (as I'm sure there'll be zillions), could you isolate them in your inbox (by searching for emails from Allay's address) and screenshot it? Obviously we can't do anything similar with the texts and calls but could you give me a ballpark figure of how many you got/get in a day and how many you've received in total?

I think that's it...for now at least!

Thank you, I'll get all of this together for you tomorrow and send it through.

I'll send you an email now, so you have mine too.

Thanks again.

[Mallowhouse]

[QUOTE=Mallowhouse;n1571670]Well that wraps things up nicely...thank you so much for all your advice and a completely brilliant forum
Regards
Hello again,
It pains me to have to start further discussion on the subject, but as I am sure you are aware, Allay Claims Ltd have passed all their (so-called) debts on to AJJB Law who are a debt recovery law firm. Patricia has today received a paper letter from them warning of Potential Legal Action and advising that
'A formal letter before claim is likely to follow shortly. The issue of Court proceedings and a CCJ may follow......Please do not ignore this letter'
There is a phone number to contact them, but before I do I wondered what your view on the best way forward might be

[MIKE770]

@EXE