Help needed - ingenious legal

[EXC]

Sorry, our over zealous spam filter unapproved your post for some reason so I've approved it.

Will take a look....

[EXC]

That's a pretty well drafted complaint so well done.

It's good that you've included the issue of them not providing you with a copy of the agreement in a durable medium and as such their failure to comply with distance selling regulations.

Another Beagles member we're assisting wrote to them about the issue and their answer is essentially a clear admission that they didn't comply. The complaint is currently with the Legal Ombudsman.

Here's what was asked...



Here's what they answered with....

[Tuonopepper]

Thanks, they have since acknowledged the complaint and provided me a copy of their complaints procedure so I'll let you what response I get to the complaint when they send it.

[Tuonopepper]

Having just sat down to review the complaints procedure it appears the document they attached is some form of expense tracking sheet, its certainly not a complaints procedure so I've emailed them back highlighting their error. Possibly another blunder that's useful in terms.of showing their incompetence.

[Tuonopepper]

Well I had a reply this morning, bit long to paste it all here but happy to send it on for you to review. The gist is....

You signed up on Facebook etc etc.

We sent you x number of emails we know you opened and a load of spam newsletters (they enclose copies). You didn't ask us to stop after any of these emails therefore you consented to us progressing the case beyond investigation.

We are a paperless company and that's why you didn't get hard copy of documents, you could have downloaded them at sign up.

As a goodwill gesture we'll reduce our fees (this knocks about £120 off the bill).

So there you go i honestly don't recall recieving the emails and certainly didnt keep them, however its over 2 years ago so who knows. They seem to openly admit there was no hard copy documents offered and the good will gesture surprised me a little.

They haven't stated this is a final response that i can see.

[EXC]

Ok I would file the complaint with the Legal Ombudsman and tell IG that you have done so. When you file the complaint the LO insist that you just provide your complaint and the response to it initially so just give them that for now - you can provide further documents when they begin looking at it.

It will be around a year before the LO gets round to dealing with it so you've got a long wait.

[Tuonopepper]

Do I need to wait for them to tell me its their final response before I lodge with the LO?

If so how do I prompt them to 'mark' a final response as such or is it a case of going back and forth until they have had enough of me?

[EXC]

You could just respond and say that you're assuming that it's their final response and unless they want to add anything further in the next 7 days you'll file it with LO. I think that's reasonable.

The rules are that you can go to LO when you either get a final response or if you don't get a final response, within 8 weeks of your original complaint.

[Tuonopepper]

OK, cheers.

[forby2]

Hi,
I'm in the same position as the rest of you guys regarding INgenious Legal.

I have taken the advice that you've been posting and I am glad I'm not on my own, as this situation could of been a lot more stressful.

I have made a formal complaint and made a data request.
The signature they claim is mine is comical.
I've explained to them that I've never used ANY social media platform so they must be in error.
Still awaiting their response.
I have reported them to Actionfraud and have a crime number but I'm not sure what I need to do with it, as in do I inform IL or save it for the ombudsman ?
Different people from IL have sent emails, is this a tactic to confuse me ?

Has anyone managed to beat IL yet ?

Any advice you can give me would be very much appreciated.

[EXC]

Hi,
I'm in the same position as the rest of you guys regarding INgenious Legal.

I have taken the advice that you've been posting and I am glad I'm not on my own, as this situation could of been a lot more stressful.

I have made a formal complaint and made a data request.
The signature they claim is mine is comical.
I've explained to them that I've never used ANY social media platform so they must be in error.
Still awaiting their response.
I have reported them to Actionfraud and have a crime number but I'm not sure what I need to do with it, as in do I inform IL or save it for the ombudsman ?
Different people from IL have sent emails, is this a tactic to confuse me ?

Has anyone managed to beat IL yet ?

Any advice you can give me would be very much appreciated.

Hi forby2

Sorry, been away and only just seen your post.

You made the right decision to make a formal complaint. Under the rules they have 8 weeks to give you a final response after which you should file the complaint with the Legal Ombudsman. Unfortunately LO have such a backlog that people who filed complaints with them about Ingenious in April last year are still waiting for their cases to be looked at. But short of going to court it's the only option and at least Ingenious are obliged to suspend collection activity in the meantime.

[Briviv]

Hi there would just like to provide an update on my case. I have now received an email from the Investigator on behalf of the Ombudsman. Basically they are saying they have seen the firm’s terms and conditions which I signed on 17 July 2019. This confirms the firm would act for you on a “no win no fee” basis and if successful the firm would charge 24% including VAT of any money recovered. This agreement, called a Damages Based Agreement, was also signed by you on 17 July 2019. Considering all of the above, the evidence shows that you instructed the firm and agreed to their terms and conditions and the firm have charged you in accordance with this. On this basis, I cannot see that there are any reasonable prospects of success in this office upholding your complaint. On the basis of you complaint, and the evidence provided by the firm, I am satisfied that there is no evidence that the firm’s service was unreasonable, and therefore I consider your complaint should be dismissed under Scheme Rule 5.7(a) which states: “An ombudsman may (but does not have to) dismiss or discontinue all or part of a complaint if, in his/her opinion: a) it does not have any reasonable prospect of success.

If I disagree with this I've to respond to them by 2nd March.

The points I would like to make in response to this are that the email they have given is my partner's and if I did fill in an application, I wouldn't have given my partner's email address, therefore all of the emails they sent to my partner, he assumed were spam ,so just deleted them and didn't advise me he had received them so I wasn't aware of any of this until I received their letter. IG also say I would have provided an electronic signature, however, I don't have the equipment to do this and don't recall signing anything. The signature they have provided is not mine, although it is similar and they say this is due to the method it was obtained as it can result in differences between your wet signature and electronic signature.
Finally, it states that "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."

As above, if I did apply, I was never advised to download any signed documents so therefore wasn't aware of any of this.

I am now wondering if I would be best to pay this, albeit without the £50 admin charge as I wasn't aware of this due to not receiving any of the emails.

Many thanks

[EXC]

That's a shame. The irony is that if this went to court you'd probably win on them not complying with distance selling regulations and providing you with a copy of the agreement in a durable medium at the point of sale. The Ombudsman seems to have adopted his own criteria.

I am now wondering if I would be best to pay this, albeit without the £50 admin charge as I wasn't aware of this due to not receiving any of the emails.

Many thanks

I think that realistically that's your only choice.

[Briviv]

Thanks for your response. Do you think there is any point in going back to them quoting to them as above and asking them about distance selling regulations?

[EXC]

Yes you've got nothing to lose by doing so.