bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Hi Colin

Did you pay an upfront fee to them after their cold call to you?

They cannot possibly of known that you had £16k to come back from a loan - they are NOT privvy to any of your personal information and this is a figure they have plucked out of the air.

The Ministry of Justice say the Claims Management Company have to act in a fair way as part of their authorisation and handle complaints. http://www.legalbeagles.info/forums/...12-bulletin-15

As they have not answered your letters and explained the costs to you and where this is mentioned on their T&C's they cannot chase you for the money, because if they took you to court they would have to a court protocol be able to show how and why you owe this money.

In the meantime they have not claimed any money on your behalf despite advising you that you would have a lot of money to come back to you. I will post up the MOJ bulletins which advises that the CMC has to act fair and reasonably at all times as part of their authorisation with them. http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/...each-sheet.pdf specifically rule 11

If you need any further help - just shout.

hi im a newbe at this,so il give it a go bank smart want £240 from me for work they cannot prove,,i have sent letters asking for breakdown of cost ,where it states on terms and conditions that they can charge me this but all i recieve is emails demanding payment,all they state is that i owe them full comission and costs as i have cancelled any dealings with them as they have not done or proved any work done,,,this was all from a cold call last year stating that i was entitled to approx£16000 from a loan 3 years prev of£50000.....i am willing to pay for any admin work although this was never explained to me but that amount is just ridiculous,,,i feel mugged by these people,any ideas what to do next,,,,,,,i have wrote a couple of letters as stated in these forums,,which are very clever in stopping further charges,,,but this remains to be seen,,,they have been recorded delivery so i hope this works,,,but do you thjink i need to skip all the complaints proc or go straight to a solicitor....these people have my bank details etc and i am getting concerned

[colin a]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

hi im a newbe at this,so il give it a go bank smart want £240 from me for work they cannot prove,,i have sent letters asking for breakdown of cost ,where it states on terms and conditions that they can charge me this but all i recieve is emails demanding payment,all they state is that i owe them full comission and costs as i have cancelled any dealings with them as they have not done or proved any work done,,,this was all from a cold call last year stating that i was entitled to approx£16000 from a loan 3 years prev of£50000.....i am willing to pay for any admin work although this was never explained to me but that amount is just ridiculous,,,i feel mugged by these people,any ideas what to do next,,,,,,,i have wrote a couple of letters as stated in these forums,,which are very clever in stopping further charges,,,but this remains to be seen,,,they have been recorded delivery so i hope this works,,,but do you thjink i need to skip all the complaints proc or go straight to a solicitor....these people have my bank details etc and i am getting concerned

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Thank you Sparkle for posting up and welcome to Legal Beagles.

For the benefit of other members in a similar position can you please give us chapter and verse of how and when you become involved with Bank Smart. ie when you paid and how much what they were going to do for you etc, etc...???

What regular contact have they had with you since paying over the money?

We have just had one of our members who paid £3k over 20 months ago to another CMC and who has now after our help just received a full refund. The reason for the refund was that there was not claim atributable to her and they just sat on her money instead of returning as they should have done.

They also took 2 weeks of nagging before they agreed a full refund and a further 26 days before the payment actually was received.

This is not acceptable and is a total nonsense.

Another CMC recently went for voluntary suspension leaving a deficit on their accounts of minus £38k so there is not chance of anyone getting their money back whatsoever.

Look forward to hearing from you soon.

Hi Everyone,

I've just joined as I saw all the Bank Smart comments. How I wish I had seen it before signing up. I have reported Bank Smart to the Ministry of Justice and spoken at length with the Claims Management Regulators who have been extremely helpful. Bank Smart have picked a fight with me......big mistake!!!!

One piece of advice, terminate the agreement due to non performance within a reasonable time, as opposed to cancel therefore no cancellation fee.

[Sparkle1966]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Hi Everyone,

I've just joined as I saw all the Bank Smart comments. How I wish I had seen it before signing up. I have reported Bank Smart to the Ministry of Justice and spoken at length with the Claims Management Regulators who have been extremely helpful. Bank Smart have picked a fight with me......big mistake!!!!

One piece of advice, terminate the agreement due to non performance within a reasonable time, as opposed to cancel therefore no cancellation fee.

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Hi Tuttsi,

That particular post was from March 2009

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ksmart&page=31

Post #618

Sorry just saw Nov not the year lol, have amended my post.

Thanks for the link.

[cards down]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Hi Tuttsi, I only just realised that this wasn't a post by LB's Amethyst, but by seangenious from MSE. I have just found the link to the thread, the posts near the end

Anyone had experience of a company/solicitor doing the work of reclaiming? (merged) - Page 31 - MoneySavingExpert.com Forums

Di3004..................Now where have i seen that face before? :tinysmile_hmm_t2:

I'll keep digging

[charitynjw]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Hi Tuttsi,

That particular post was from March 2009

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/...ksmart&page=31

Post #618

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

First time I think I have seen this thread. Dont tell me another CMC is ripping people off and the MOJ are just allowing this. I cannot believe how gullable we as a nation are to allow a government body to regulate these people, earn money out of them ( oh yes they get fees for authorising and a percentage of their income) and then authorise them to rip off the public.

Do they have a data controller I wonder, has anyone checked?

Cards Down do you have the actual link to this MSE thread please?

Cards Down, the T& C were posted on this thread on 11th October 2009.

[cards down]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Posted on MSE today - regarding wwww.bank-smart.co.uk

Its these people


seangenius
MoneySaving Newbie


Join Date: Mar 2009
Post Count: 1
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I disagree completely, and contest that this is a geniue posting. In my opinon the company symmetric systems t/a bank-smart are [removed opinion]. They tried to take me to court for disputing their cancellation fee after I cancelled their service

They lost their argument against me after their claim was dismissed by the judge because their terms where ambigous and badly written and there was no case to justify their fee.

They claim to do work for 10 % on a no win no fee basis this is set out in their terms of engagement letter but their terms and conditions where clearly different. It clearly stated if you claim falls within a certain value they will see a minimum fee of £150+VAT. When I refused to pay they added £50.00 for a debt collection fee (which wasnt included in their claim) and when it was going to court add on £150 for a processing fee. The court case reference was 8QZ17000 and was held in Croydon County court on 16th March 09.

I would strongly advise that you avoid this company and do it yourself. I intend to obtain the judge's decision in writing and post on here for all to see.

Also it is important to note that on their website they claim to be dealing with £100,000,000 of claims. [edit: statement removed as incorrect] due to being a small company they are exempt and has an acid ratio of .83 also they have no phone no in which you contact them.

[edit removed personal opinion]

I don't suppose you have a copy of their terms of engagement letter or point me in the direction as to where i may find one. My wife and i both signed up with these people on a no win no fee basis, but are now getting bombarded with invoices by them.

[charitynjw]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Like Capone & tax evasion?

[bluebottle]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Why the hell hasn't the MoJ pulled their fingers out of the lowermost orifice of their alimentary canals and closed this lot down? The only words I can find to describe Bank-Smart are shysters and cheats. If this lot are working in the field of litigation, their legal people need to be registered with the SRA, as required by the Legal Services Act 2007. This has some interesting benefits. It means you can make formal complaints against any legal professional working for shysters like Bank-Smart. As stated in another thread, the SRA are currently investigating RLP's two in-house solicitors. If Bank-Smart's legal bods are allowing Bank-Smart to rip people off, then that would appear to put them in breach of SRA rules and, therefore, liable to investigation and, ultimately, sanctions.

The post which mentions threats on a daily basis and up to 150 emails a day is a clear case of Conduct Amounting to Harassment under Section 2, Protection from Harassment Act 1997 and should really be reported or, better still, Bank-Smart hit with an injunction under Section 3 of the Act. It follows that if you specify the CEO of a firm on an injunction, under Section 3, they, being vicariously liable for their underlings actions during the course of employment, in theory, the CEO will cop it if any underling fires off any further threats or emails.

One interesting incident where the CEO of a Public Limited Company was threatened with an ASBO involved the CEO of South West Water Plc and Plymouth City Council. A sewage treatment works on the west side of the city was producing unacceptable levels of malodour that was blighting the lives of those living near it. Locally, the sewage treatment works, situated at a major road junction, is known as Poo(h) Corner - for more than one reason. The then leader of the council, incensed by the couldn't-care-less attitude of South West Water threated the CEO with an ASBO. South West Water claimed the council couldn't do that, but found, to their horror, that ASBOs CAN be slapped on the directors, etc., of commercial entities. South West Water sorted things out PDQ. Plymouth City Council won an unofficial award for "Most Imaginative Use of an ASBO".

It should never be thought that something cannot be overcome. It can. All it needs is a bit of imagination, knowledge and good old-fashioned nerve. In the police force we had something called the Ways and Means Act. Doesn't exactly exist, but goes "If you can't get the b******s one way, you can always get them another way." This is how I feel Bank-Smart will come unstuck.

[NeutralObserver]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Oh no - Bank Smart (terrible company) are applying for a Consumer Credit Licence? That means they are trying to get into the Debt Advice industry and rip-off even more vulnerable clients than they do already.
I run a company that has had the mis-fortune to have used these cowboys to refer clients to - clients who were looking to reclaim PPI and check for unenforceability which is what BS brag that they specialise in.
We too were duped by these robbing idiots and we had to work very hard not to lose many of our clients. We have paid many of Bank Smart's 'Invoices' on behalf of our worried clients due to their bullying collection tactics to recover fees that they seem to make up as they go along. Bank Smart complaints account for 100% of our customer complaints over the last 2 years (we stopped using them a year ago bt the complaints continue).
I am building a portfolio of evidence of non-compliance, errors, unprofessionalism, shoody work, breaches of contract, seemingly 'dreamed up' charges - you name it we are recording it - in order to present to the MOJ and Trading Standards.
However, this company can only be stopped if they are attacked from all angles - therefore I implore anyone that has the mis-fortune to have ever dealt with these crooks to either do the same and send to MOJ, TS (and also OFT by the looks of it) or send them to me and I will add to our portfolio.
I'm not sure if complaining to MOJ or TS will change much tbh - therefore I shall be posting everywhere I can the message to other potential victims - IF YOU WANT TO BE RIPPED OFF, IF YOU WANT SHODDY SERVICE, IF YOU WANT TO USE A BUNCH OF SCUM TO DO YOUR PPI CLAIMS, USE BANKSMART. ABSOLUTE THIEVES.
BTW - anyone being chased aggressively for outstanding invoices - many of our clients pay them 1 measly pound a month and they don't seem to be taking any further action such as CCJ or charging order... Although if you don't acknowledge you owe them anything I can understand you not wanting to give them zip

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Symmetric Systems Ltd
Officer
Benjamin Smart
Officer
Simon Smart

So at least we now know how many Smarts that outfit has.

[teaboy2]

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Just to be thorough, I also looked at their status at the Ministry of Injustice.

It may be interesting to note how many more trading names or styles are listed there, compared to the single trading name in the Consumer Credit Licence application.

Very interesting, i think we should do some research into those company trading names and see what we can find out too, what do you think?

Re: bank-smart lose in court over t&c's

Just to be thorough, I also looked at their status at the Ministry of Injustice.

It may be interesting to note how many more trading names or styles are listed there, compared to the single trading name in the Consumer Credit Licence application.