Help needed - ingenious legal

[Briviv]

Sorry to bother you again, I clicked on the link for the Ombudsman and it's asking me if the company is regulated. It only seems to mentioned England & Wales but I am based in Scotland. Does this matter? Can you advise please?

[EXC]

It doesn't matter where you're based, IG are regulated by SRA. If you look at the bottom right hand corner of their website it confirms it and provides the SRA ID number if the Ombudsman requires it Ingenious Legal Limited

[Briviv]

Thanks EXC have now filed complaint with Ombudsman. This was a step by step form where they asked for dates etc and how you want the complaint to be resolved. Will let you know how I get on. Thanks again for your assistance - very helpful

[EXC]

No probs, keep us posted.

[Briviv]

Just to provide an update. I have received a further email from IL advising as follows:
They received an application to investigate products held in my name with a number of lenders. The following documents were electronically signed and annexed to the application upon submission: - Form of Authority; - Our Terms of Business; - Damages Based Agreement. "Our records show that the application was completed on an Apple tablet via the Facebook Application".
They have then provided all of my details which are correct except for the email address, which is my partner's, which I wouldn't have given as I have my own email address. It goes on to say:
"Once the client clicked on the link, it would have directed them to an external application page where the client would have provided us with their personal details as listed in ‘Background’. Once all the personal information had been input and completed on the form, it would have required the client to review and provide agreement to our Terms of Business, Damages Based Agreement and complete the Legal Form of Authority in order for the application to be complete. Following this, a blank box would have appeared where a signature was required. The client would then have provided us with an electronic signature. As the signature was provided using an Apple tablet, the client would have completed this using their finger or a stylus. Please note, due to the method in which the signature was obtained, it can result in differences between your wet signature and electronic signature. Once the online application was completed and submitted, the client would have been advised to download the signed documents listed in ‘Background’ for their records. Please note we operate as a paperless company and therefore only provide clients with hard copies of documents if requested. We can confirm that our online sign-up process would not have registered any clients until such time all the mandatory fields (i.e. personal details and signature) had been completed and the Terms of Business and Damages Based Agreement were signed and submitted. Please note our sign-up process has been reviewed by our external legal compliance officers."
I really don't recall this at all. They have then advised they sent various emails to my partner's email address (which he never told me about). Tried to call my landline which I no longer have, then they escalated the case. They then go on to say as they sent a newsletter by email and it was opened and as I did not raise any concerns or queries regarding the email I received (which I didn't) and their instruction, they proceeded to act on my behalf as it was their belief the claim was legitimate and put forth by me.
They say in light of the above, it remains their belief that the online application was knowingly completed by me. The online application was completed with personal and financial information which they believe only I would have had access to. Therefore, their professional fees in the sum of £383.94 remain outstanding.

I'm not sure if I should pay this. As I say I don't recall filling in my personal details or providing an electronic signature with my finger or competing the application and being advised to download the signed documents listed in ‘Background’ for my records.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

[EXC]

It's just the usual garbage they normally spout. It's very simple in my view, if you didn't genuinely provide your informed consent to sign up with them you should fight it. If you can afford it and rather have an easy life then pay or make them an offer of 50% or something

Have you told IL that you have filed a complaint with the Ombudsman? If so you must as it obliges them to cease pursuing you for payment until the Ombudsman reaches a decision. In my view you haven't got much to lose by waiting for the Ombudsman's decision, although it will probably take the best part of a year.

Once the online application was completed and submitted, the client would have been advised to download the signed documents listed in ‘Background’ for their records. Please note we operate as a paperless company and therefore only provide clients with hard copies of documents if requested.

They've shot themselves in the foot right here by effectively admitting that they haven't complied with the durable medium provisions they're legally obliged to in the distance selling regulations.

[Briviv]

Hi EXC once again thanks for your quick response. Apologies for the delay in responding. I had advised IL that I had contacted the Ombudsman, however, they've said I hadn't logged a complaint with them, but I thought my original email would be treated as a complaint ... seems not! "We note you have raised a complaint via the Legal Ombudsman. However, before the Legal Ombudsman will investigate your complaint, they will advise you to log a complaint with us initially. Therefore, we have attached a copy of our complaints procedure for your consideration."
I will contact them again and thank them for their response but that I will await the Ombudsman decision as I don't recall signing anything with my finger and was never advised to download any documents like they state I should have been as I have no record at all of this.

[EXC]

You sent them a formal complaint didn't you? That's what you said in post #77 on 14 October and according to your post #96 on 9 November they responded.

I would reply with the following, just fill in the dates:

Dear Sirs

I refer to your email incorrectly advising me that I have not made a complaint to you for the purposes of submitting a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

I made the complaint to you on [xxx date] to which you responded on [xxx date]. The complaint I made to you was clearly an expression of dissatisfaction which is how the Legal Ombudsman defines a complaint, according to their scheme rules at section 1.6 Scheme rules 130201 (legalombudsman.org.uk)

I trust this clarifies the matter.

[Briviv]

You sent them a formal complaint didn't you? That's what you said in post #77 on 14 October and according to your post #96 on 9 November they responded.

I would reply with the following, just fill in the dates:

Just checked their response letter and the complaint procedure attached which they advise as follows:
If you are still not satisfied, you can write to us again. We will review our decision. This will happen in one of the following ways: • The person who wrote to you will review their own decision within 5 working days • We will arrange for someone in the firm who has not been involved in your complaint to review it. They will do this within 10 working days. • We will ask our risk and compliance consultants, Weightmans LLP to review your complaint. We will let you know how long this process is likely to take. We will then write to you confirming our final position on your complaint and explain our reasons, within 3 working days of the end of the review and give you the name and address of the Legal Ombudsman. This communication will happen no more than eight weeks from receipt of your complaint.
So it looks like I need to write to them again!

[EXC]

You don't need to write to them again.

Their complaints procedure counts for nothing, it's the Legal Ombudsman who set the complaints handling rules for solicitors and as IG haven't given you a final response within 8 weeks of you first complaining you can then take it to the LO, as you have.

[Briviv]

Thanks again EXC - so should I not just let them know I will just be leaving it to the Ombudsman to deal with?

[EXC]

The email I drafted in post #99 will suffice.

[Tuonopepper]

Posted this on another thread but this seems to be the main one so posting here, sorry for duplication.

Hi all,

So 'me too!'.

Had the emailed invoice from Ingenius yesterday. Oddly despite the email being yesterday the invoice is dated May 21.

I emailed them back straight away before I started googling asking 3 things:-

1. When did I receive the payment from Santander as i can find no record of it on bank statements around their invoice date.

2. Why the invoice is 7 months old.

3. For a copy of the agreement I entered into with them as, to the best of my knowledge, i had never heard of them until their email arrived.

Since then I've obviously found this forum and already submitted an information request which they have acknowledged. I also checked further back in bank statements and found Santander paid me (directly) the figure in June 20, so 11 months before IGLs invoice date....talk about an odd time line!

I'll wait for their inevitable standard response to my initial email and then jump into the formal complaint using all the points mentioned here so far.

Oddly if they'd have been up front about it and showed me how they got the claim processed and what their worth was then fair enough, I'd happily pay them, but this opportunistic approach is out of order.

Cheers,

James.

[Briviv]

That's great will get that done. Thanks for all your help. Hope you have a good Christmas

[Tuonopepper]

Well New Year, same old Ingenious Legal.

I received their response to my DSAR yesterday, pretty much as expected, some electronic forms supposedly signed over 2 years ago then absolutely nothing until the invoice in December. They also provide no information on where I supposedly signed up.

I've just sent them email below registering the formal complaint, I've had the delivery receipt and a read receipt so we'll see what happens.

I'm not the most wordy person but think I hit the main points and get the gist across.....

"Dear Sirs,

Thank you for the information you provided in response to my DSAR. The DSAR was raised after I randomly received an invoice from you on 22^nd December 2021, pertaining to instruction some 2 years earlier I have no recollection of. Having reviewed the information from the DSAR and given it due consideration I would now like to lodge a formal complaint with yourselves, please acknowledge this complaint at your earliest convenience.

The basis of my complaint is as follows:-

1. You state I instructed you on 8^th June 2019, yet I have never had any dealings with you until I received your emailed invoice in December 2021. I have never attended your offices or entered direct communication with you. The information in response to the DSAR request provides no details as to where or how I instructed you, or how this application was made and while my details appear to be correct the signature is not.
2. The DSAR information shows I have received absolutely no communication from you between the date you state I instructed you and the request for payment, a period of over 2 years, this is not normal under any working agreement where progress updates would be reasonably expected. In addition, the DSAR output confirms that I have never been provided with a copy of the contract in a durable form (i.e. on paper), as is required by distance selling regulations or any opportunity to cancel the agreement you state was made.
3. You state in your e-mail I instructed you to “investigate”. While, as per point 1 I did not knowingly instruct you to do anything on my behalf, if I did fill out a free PPI check online any consent was limited to solely investigation. I have never received any communication from you (confirmed by DSAR documentation) indicating that you had investigated, what the outcome of that investigation was or offering to pursue any claim on my behalf.

It seems I am not alone in finding myself in this situation and it would appears that the practices employed by yourselves in this matter are both underhand and unprofessional.

I believe regulations state you have a period in the region of 6-8 weeks to respond to this formal complaint. Please be aware that once I receive your final response (please be sure to mark it as such) I will be deciding whether it is acceptable. Should your final response not be acceptable I will be lodging a complaint with the SRA and the Legal Ombudsman.

Please note I reserve the right to charge Ingenious Legal an hourly rate of £50 for my time in dealing with this matter if it is not resolved in an efficient manner. I look forward to hearing from you in due course."