Lifestyle Claims

[PDP]

O.k. so I've been sucked in too, apparently. How do I go about reclaiming from Lifestyle Claims? They've had £359.98 since September. I wrote saying I wanted to cancel, they said I was outside the 14 days. I wasn't, but how do I prove that. I wrote 29. Dec., asking what was happening and complaining, and another two sets of forms (PPI Reclaim Packs) were forwarded for completion. Today, received what sounded like a scam, to more that I have looked into it. 'Eric' is wanting me to get a UKash voucher which I have to show to his operative, who will then give me a cheque for £4681. I get to cash the cheque before they get the UKash voucher. Sounds all right until you realise the operative is likely to write down the serial number and bang goes my cash. At least I researched that far. What can I at this juncture do about getting my money out of Lifestyle Claims, please.
How can they and many others get Licenced? Any successful advice welcomed.
PDP

[di30]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Hi and welcome to Legal Beagles,

If you need to complain about a claims company I am aware you can do so through Claims Regulation/Ministry of Justice (MOJ), link below to these, and explain your predicament to them.

If you can get away and get your money back, please then do have a go yourself, with help from this site if required (here all free).


http://www.justice.gov.uk/global/con...tion/index.htm


http://www.justice.gov.uk/guidance/i...nt-regulation/

Good luck.

[Paul210]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

be very carefull, a ukash voucher only needs the ref number to be cashed, not the actual voucher as they are designed for internet payments etc. Also ukash take the money from you when you buy the voucher, not when it is cashed and unlike a credit card payment you cant do a chargeback when you discover its a con. When it comes to ukash they are basically a fraudsters dream, personally I wouldnt touch any company who asked you to pay for anything via this method!

Is its a respresentative of lifestyle asking you to do this, if so then report to MOJ immediately. There is a good chance its actually an overseas fraud operation who have purchased contact details for lifestyle clients and ask for payment for ppi money, ive never heard of the ukash con being done in relation to claims, its usually a loan brokerage scam that ive seen it before however thinking about it theres no reason why the same principle wouldn't work very well for a fake ppi scenario.

If you look on ukash's own website http://www.ukash.com/uk/en/home.aspx it lists cons to look out for on the right hand side.

Dont touch this one with a bargepole!!!

Regarding your original payment to lifestyle, if done on a credit card contact your provider and request a charegback as you cancelled within 14 days and they havent complied with their own terms, if paid via another method then contact MOJ and advise cancelled in 14 days but lifestyle refusing to accept. They take a very dim view of CMC's who dont refund where properly requested. also consider contacting the trading standards department in their area for breach of financial services (distance marketing) regs..

[LittlemissN]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

DO NOT deal with Life Style Claims/Money Claiming Experts. I'll tell you for why. A year and a half ago I FOOLISHLY handed over almost £3000 for 'priority service' (I am sooooo ashamed). I can tell you there's been nothing priority about it.

I was cold called in August 2010 and I had 12 agreements for them to look into, yes 12! NOT ONE SINGLE agreement has been successful.

After a constant battle to get my money back and to find out whether the outstanding' agreements to be finalised (currently 1, although this changes every time I ring up) I seem to get no where. I was told today they are waiting for confirmation that my Halifax mortgage did not have PPI (I'll come to the mortgage audits in a minute). I know for sure I didn't pay PPI on this. I will be chasing the Halifax myself tomorrow to get written confirmation. I have been told once 'all' claims have been finalised LC, send a 'check' letter for you to confirm what monies are due (including refunds), then once they receive the signed letter you are paid within 1-30 working days.

I am going to ring these people every day until I get my money back. I have written complain letter after letter and no one can help me. I am worried the company will go bust and I will end up with nothing. I sank further into debt by listening to the patter of Scott Macauley almost 2 years ago. I ignored advice from my family and went ahead regardless. I was pregnant and vulnerable at the time and they basically called me at the right time.

Please, please, please do not deal with this company. There are so many other companies out there who don't take money from you. You can even sort it out yourself. Just think about how much interest they've had out of me.

One of the things that puzzle me is every time I ring up for an update I am told different information - one day there will be 2 claims which still need to be closed and another day there will be only 1. I can only take their word for it so tomorrow I will be ringing for evidence.

I am desperate for that money back and I will get it back if I have to threaten them and blacken their name.

I wonder if those 'positive' comments are spoof comments form people who work there. They are aware of this forum and will do everything they can to protect the company. Well if you who reads this is an employee of Life Style Claims you should be ashamed to work for them. I have NOTHING positive to say only that the biggest con merchants are LIFESTYLE CLAIMS.... Can someone give me some sound, helpful advice. x

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Firstly who is Eric? does he work at Lifestyle Claims?

What has Ukash vouchers to do with your claim?

We will take this up with the Ministry of Justice once you give us the full facts (ie the date you paid, the date when you cancelled, I presume you sent back the pack within 14 days)

I need to know exactly what Ukash vouchers have to do with this and Lifestyle.

O.k. so I've been sucked in too, apparently. How do I go about reclaiming from Lifestyle Claims? They've had £359.98 since September. I wrote saying I wanted to cancel, they said I was outside the 14 days. I wasn't, but how do I prove that. I wrote 29. Dec., asking what was happening and complaining, and another two sets of forms (PPI Reclaim Packs) were forwarded for completion. Today, received what sounded like a scam, to more that I have looked into it. 'Eric' is wanting me to get a UKash voucher which I have to show to his operative, who will then give me a cheque for £4681. I get to cash the cheque before they get the UKash voucher. Sounds all right until you realise the operative is likely to write down the serial number and bang goes my cash. At least I researched that far. What can I at this juncture do about getting my money out of Lifestyle Claims, please.
How can they and many others get Licenced? Any successful advice welcomed.
PDP

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Hi Littlemiss

Can you PM me with all your details name, date paid anhd all the information of who you have been speaking to and their responses etc and I will personaly send this to our contact at the MOJ who will undoubtly look into your complaint, which I know they will take very seriously. In two years they should have made a full recovery of your PPI.

Now if you have signed their agreement and you act on your own you may still under that agreement owe them the commission, so be careful.

Lifestyle do come here and read and sometimes make noises especially at me but they have no right to withold your money.

DO NOT deal with Life Style Claims/Money Claiming Experts. I'll tell you for why. A year and a half ago I FOOLISHLY handed over almost £3000 for 'priority service' (I am sooooo ashamed). I can tell you there's been nothing priority about it.

I was cold called in August 2010 and I had 12 agreements for them to look into, yes 12! NOT ONE SINGLE agreement has been successful.

After a constant battle to get my money back and to find out whether the outstanding' agreements to be finalised (currently 1, although this changes every time I ring up) I seem to get no where. I was told today they are waiting for confirmation that my Halifax mortgage did not have PPI (I'll come to the mortgage audits in a minute). I know for sure I didn't pay PPI on this. I will be chasing the Halifax myself tomorrow to get written confirmation. I have been told once 'all' claims have been finalised LC, send a 'check' letter for you to confirm what monies are due (including refunds), then once they receive the signed letter you are paid within 1-30 working days.

I am going to ring these people every day until I get my money back. I have written complain letter after letter and no one can help me. I am worried the company will go bust and I will end up with nothing. I sank further into debt by listening to the patter of Scott Macauley almost 2 years ago. I ignored advice from my family and went ahead regardless. I was pregnant and vulnerable at the time and they basically called me at the right time.

Please, please, please do not deal with this company. There are so many other companies out there who don't take money from you. You can even sort it out yourself. Just think about how much interest they've had out of me.

One of the things that puzzle me is every time I ring up for an update I am told different information - one day there will be 2 claims which still need to be closed and another day there will be only 1. I can only take their word for it so tomorrow I will be ringing for evidence.

I am desperate for that money back and I will get it back if I have to threaten them and blacken their name.

I wonder if those 'positive' comments are spoof comments form people who work there. They are aware of this forum and will do everything they can to protect the company. Well if you who reads this is an employee of Life Style Claims you should be ashamed to work for them. I have NOTHING positive to say only that the biggest con merchants are LIFESTYLE CLAIMS.... Can someone give me some sound, helpful advice. x

[joferno]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

I wouldn't touch Lifestyle Claims with a barge pole - 2yrs and 2mths ago I got a cold call from Cento Client review ( who they were then). I foolishly paid £160 up front to manage my PPI claim and suspect that I have little chance of seeing it again. I sent 19 communications to them over that period and got a response to about 2. - I recently terminated my agreement with them, when I discovered all I was getting for my money was the standard form, from The Financial Ombudsman Service (and badly filled in to boot) - I found them totally unprofessional. They suggested that they could still pursue my claim and get their 30%.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Did you actually have a PPI claim and did you recover any money?

If they have been unsuccessful in making any claims for you you are entitled to your initial money back.

If you need any further help please let us know.

I wouldn't touch Lifestyle Claims with a barge pole - 2yrs and 2mths ago I got a cold call from Cento Client review ( who they were then). I foolishly paid £160 up front to manage my PPI claim and suspect that I have little chance of seeing it again. I sent 19 communications to them over that period and got a response to about 2. - I recently terminated my agreement with them, when I discovered all I was getting for my money was the standard form, from The Financial Ombudsman Service (and badly filled in to boot) - I found them totally unprofessional. They suggested that they could still pursue my claim and get their 30%.

[Bill-K]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Just as a bit of encouragement for the peeps who have posted in this thread. I see no reason why you cannot pursue your PPI claims here, while you are waiting for these scammers to cough up or die.

OK., so it means that you will have to do what you paid these jerks to do, but it will cost you nothing, and we will help you with your claims. So - by all means - start threads here in the PPI section, and get your PPI back at least.

And....thank you for being prepared to admit you've been scammed, and to warn others. That's why we're all here - we've all been scammed at some point, and we stuck around to help others.

[joferno]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Thanks for the comments - I suspect Lifestyle Claims may monitor these threads, so I am reluctant to give further details. I've accepted my loss to date - I think I have stopped any potential further loss.

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Thanks for the comments - I suspect Lifestyle Claims may monitor these threads, so I am reluctant to give further details. I've accepted my loss to date - I think I have stopped any potential further loss.

Yes they do monitor these threads and pleased that they do so they know how people feel.

You can always PM me with information and I will do my best to help you. At the very least you can get your initial money back if none of your claims were sucessful and that is in their T&C's and the MOJ would like to hear from anyone that is not treated fairly by one of their authorised users.

This article was in the Financial Times yesterday where the banks were complaining to the MOJ because of the many thousands of false claims from CMC's and there is going to be a big crackdown on this.

Probe launched into insurance sales claims

The Ministry of Justice has launched an investigation into claims management companies following a glut of invalid compensation claims filed on behalf of consumers allegedly mis-sold personal protection insurance (PPI).

According to people familiar with the case, the ministry, which regulates the hundreds of claims management companies that have sprung up in the UK in recent years, has received a string of complaints from banks over the issue.

Financial Times research shows that Britain’s banks are now rejecting up to half of all compensation claims relating to mis-sold PPI after a substantial increase in submissions in the past few weeks.

Up to four-fifths of these come via claims management companies, disparagingly dubbed “ambulance chasers”, which have latched onto the issue of PPI mis-selling, flooding consumers with advertisements, emails and text messages urging them to launch speculative claims.

“It’s delaying things horribly,” said one bank executive who asked not to be identified. “The sheer volume of submissions is distracting us from the process of paying out on valid claims.”

PPI emerged as a mis-selling scandal several years ago. But only a year ago did the process of paying mass compensation begin, when the banks gave up a legal fight against the mis-selling accusations.

This prompted a deluge of compensation claims from customers, with large numbers mediated by claims management companies, which demand fees of up to 33 per cent of any money refunded by the banks.

Santander UK said 40 per cent of the claims it was now receiving were invalid, with the proportion at Barclays estimated at 40-50 per cent. HSBC said that of the claims submitted by claims management companies, a third either had no link to the bank, or no PPI policy had ever been bought. Lloyds is dismissing about a third of its claims, while at Royal Bank of Scotland invalid claims are running at about 20 per cent.

Some banks are calling for changes to the way claims management companies are regulated. Among the companies being investigated by the Ministry of Justice are the Claims Advisory Group, The Claims Guys and The Fair Trade Practice, all of which could not be reached or declined to comment yesterday.

Despite the rejection rates, banks are still honouring a large number of claims. In total, the five big banks have earmarked about £6bn for PPI compensation, and paid out a total of £1.9bn to customers
last year, according to the Financial Services Authority.

Lloyds, which made a PPI provision of £3.2bn, said last month that it had already paid out about £1bn. Apart from Lloyds, the largest provisions have been made by Barclays and RBS, which expect to pay about £1bn each.

The high number of invalid claims submitted directly to banks contrasts with the experience of claims processed via the Financial Ombudsman Service, which tends to deal with more serious cases. Over the past year, only about a quarter of PPI mis-selling claims that went through the ombudsman were rejected.

[EXC]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Not sure if this is Lifestyle:

Fraudsters dupe mum over false PPI refund - Edinburgh Evening News - Scotsman.com

[TUTTSI]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

Not sure if this is Lifestyle:

Fraudsters dupe mum over false PPI refund - Edinburgh Evening News - Scotsman.com

No not sure either but someone had mentioned on another thread here on LB about ukash vouchers and that was I believe a Lifestyle one.

It is so concerning now that so many people are still getting duped by these companies promising the world and nothing in return.


<LI class=breadcrumbLnk>Edinburgh Evening News

Fraudsters dupe mum over false PPI refund

Victim Amanda Slater and her dog, Tay

By ALAN MCEWEN Crime Reporter
Published on Thursday 12 April 2012 12:18


POLICE today issued a warning over fraudsters pretending to offer payouts for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) after a mother-of-three was scammed out of hundreds of pounds.


Amanda Slater was tricked by con artists who convinced her she was due £2170.
The 42-year-old from Drylaw was conned into buying Ukash vouchers from her local shop, which can be used to buy online goods and services, then handing over the user codes to the fraudsters.
Police warned that criminals may try to exploit awareness over the refunds, which saw banks pay out £1.9 billion to victims last year.
PPI was supposed to repay people’s loans if their income dropped because they fell ill or lost their jobs, but hundreds of thousands were mis-sold the policies.
Ms Slater, who cares for two sons aged ten and seven and a nine-year-old daughter, said: “I received the first call at about 10am on March 28 from a man calling himself Ron, who said I was entitled to a PPI refund. I don’t know how, but he knew I had an Argos card. He also knew my name and address, as well as my phone number.
“He told me I was due £2170 and said that a woman called Catherine Cox would come round at 3pm and give me the refund. I had seen the adverts about refunds on the TV and he convinced me that it was from my Argos card.
“When it got to 3pm, this woman hadn’t come so I phoned back. This man said she would be coming but told me to go to the shop and get £110 in Ukash vouchers which were needed to pay a fee. I thought it was awful strange, and I don’t know why I agreed, but I went to the shop and got them and called back. He took the codes from the vouchers and then put me through to a woman who said she was this Catherine. She said she was in my area and would be round shortly with the money.
“Then I got another phone call saying they needed £200 to pay for the tax. I went out and got the Ukash voucher and gave him the code. They said that this woman would definitely be coming round. At 5.45pm when I last spoke to him, he wanted another £200 and I said no.”
Ms Slater alerted police and her calls to the fraudster went unanswered.
She said: “I’m disgusted that they could do this. I’m a single mother who lives alone so it’s not money I can afford to lose. They seemed so convincing on the phone. I just want to warn other people not to fall for the same thing.”
A police spokesman said: “Anyone who has received a call similar to this should report the matter to police or Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040.”

‘IF IT SEEMS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT PROBABLY IS’


THE PPI scam is another form of so-called “advance fee fraud” where con artists ask for a payment before handing over far greater sums which never materialise.
Action Fraud, the UK’s national fraud reporting centre, warns that “genuine organisations will never cold call you or contact you to ask for personal information, or ask for a payment in advance.
“If in doubt, contact the organisation directly before taking any action.”
Police also warn members of the public to never send cash via money transfer to someone that you have never met and, to always be aware that, “if the promise seems too good to be true, it most probably is”.
Related Articles

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  POLICE are urging the public to be on their guard against a new bogus caller scam operating in the Capital, where fraudsters offer payouts over mis-sold insurance.
  
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• Jeff Salway: Growing pressure for action over dodgy PPI claims handlers
  
  
  IF YOU wondered why temperatures rose so suddenly on Tuesday morning, it might have something to do with the gleeful rubbing together of hands in the claims management industry as the City watchdog told banks to step up the hunt for potential PPI mis-selling victims.
  

[EXC]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

No not sure either but someone had mentioned on another thread here on LB about ukash vouchers and that was I believe a Lifestyle one.

Yes it was the OP in this thread. Shame the article didn't name the CMC. I think I'll contact the journalist and ask him as whoever it is this would be valuable evidence for the MOJ.

[valeriej43]

Re: Lifestyle Claims

This company called me today, i put the phone down,the man sounded like an American