Help needed - ingenious legal

[dawnhoran]

Hi All,

I have just visited the FCA website and checked that the ingenious legal firm can provide some regulated products and services without being authorised or an agent of an authorized firm, and is not regulated by the FCA. You can check with their professional body listed in the 'Who is this firm?' section of this record to see what protections might be available.

First, try to contact the firm directly. In most circumstances, a firm must reply within 8 weeks, or 15 days for payment services such as bank deposits, direct debits, or online payments.

The FCA goes on to state:- If you are concerned you have been scammed, contact FCA Contact Centre and Action Fraudopens in a new tab immediately. I will not be scammed by these people and recommend that anyone else out there who is not willing to let Miss Patel get away with such scandalous behavior. I will continue on and keep you updated.

[dawnhoran]

You need to make a formal complaint to them. If you're not satisfied with their response then you can ask the Legal Ombudsman to look at it.

https://www.fca.org.uk/consumers/rep...uthorised-firm

[dawnhoran]

I have just written to watchdog about ingenious legal! I hope to update with some positive news.

[EXC]

I have just written to watchdog about ingenious legal! I hope to update with some positive news.

If you've written to the FCA then you've written to the wrong watchdog. Ingenious Legal are solicitors (not a claims management company) and as such are not regulated by the FCA.

If you have a complaint against Ingenious rejected you can then go to the Legal Ombusman.

Home | Legal Ombudsman

You could also report their conduct to the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

SRA | Reporting an individual or firm | Solicitors Regulation Authority

[dawnhoran]

UPDATE RE INGENIOUS LEGAL. I have reported them to Action Fraud and given them the crime number. I have submitted my formal complaint and received acknowledgment of that from them. I have also received a report form to complete from the SRA and will complete that tonight for submission.

I have also helped another victim and she has also reported to Action Fraud and received a crime number. I will gladly help anyone else if they wish.

[EXC]

UPDATE RE INGENIOUS LEGAL. I have reported them to Action Fraud and given them the crime number. I have submitted my formal complaint and received acknowledgment of that from them. I have also received a report form to complete from the SRA and will complete that tonight for submission.

I have also helped another victim and she has also reported to Action Fraud and received a crime number. I will gladly help anyone else if they wish.

Well done. Keep us posted.

[Biggdave]

I am in same position where they are chasing payment there is lots of people with the same problem but can some one post how they got on/resolved issue

[gery1975]

Hi,
I continue to be in a similar position with Ingenious Legal.
I have just received a response email to my complaint, explaining I have signed a contract with them via Facebook and that I should have downloaded all tbe terms and conditions, also appologising for the delayed invoice.....in the end offering me a discount.
I would like to ask for some advice please, not sure what to do next. I feel very strongly that their customer practise is misleading and the lack of any communication is unacceptable.

[EXC]

Hiya

I'd like to see the response, with a view to possibly helping you draft a complaint to the Legal Ombudsman. Please send it to me at nick@legalbeagles.info

Hi,

I have just received a response email to my complaint, explaining I have signed a contract with them via Facebook and that I should have downloaded all tbe terms and conditions

This is where I believe Ingenious have not complied with the law. We've had lots of complaints about a similar issue with Allay Claims who ran the same Bait & Trap ''free PPI check'' ploy where people filled out some details via an ad on Facebook which somehow morphs into a PPI claim being made, unbeknown to the individual.

For most people there were issues around the validity of e-signatures on Letters of Authority that Allay claim the customer signed ''on a touch screen, with a stylus or mouse'' to justify why the signatures didn't match those of the customer. When those complaints got to the Claims Managemnt Obudsman the complaints were usually rejected as Ombudsman services don't have the power to decide whether a signature is fraudulent, only a court can do that.

However we assisted someone who had a court claim from Allay and we won (see below), not only on the signature issue but also on Allay's claim that the customer ''had the opportunity to download a copy of the contract'' at the end of the process.

The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 are quite clear that in distance selling, traders have to pro-actively provide a copy of any agreement in a durable medium (on paper unless expressly agreed otherwise) at or near the point of sale. Just making a download of it available simply doesn't cut it.

Similary the regulations also require that a prescribed cancellation form is provided, and in a durable medium, so that the customer can cancel at no cost within 14 days. The whole point of these regulations is so the customer is fully aware that the trader has deemed to have held them to a contractual agreement and provide them with the chance to act if they didn't realise.

Further, the regulations state that in any dispute, the burden of proof lays with the trader to demonstrate that he complied with the durable medium requirements.

[gery1975]

Thank you, I have tired ,but mail cannot be delivered to the email address you have left:-)

[EXC]

Thank you, I have tired ,but mail cannot be delivered to the email address you have left:-)

Duh! Sorry that was my old one. It's nick@legalbeaglesgroup.com

[gery1975]

I will try to email you again

[EXC]

Thanks for this. What a load of tripe.

They won't even name the free ppi check website and say they don't have a copy of the application anymore!

I've responded to your email.

[EXC]

....was the free ppi check website like this?

ONLINE Hidden Insurance Checker Service (archive.org)

[EXC]

I'll have a look at what you sent and give you my thoughts tomorrow but on the face of it I'd say it would certainly be worthwhile taking the complaint to the Legal Ombudsman.

Just a couple of things though: you can only go to the Legal Ombudsman once the company has given you a ''final response'' to your complaint and it's not clear if their response is final as it doesn't say so. So I think it's worth responding and asking them to confirm if this is their final response for the purposes of going to the Legal Ombudsman.

Also, regardless, you should make a Data Subject Access Request to them - see template here and edit to suit LegalBeagles

They have to respond in 30 days and they should provide you with all the documents that they hold on you. Some of these might well come in handy when making your complaint to the LO.