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This isa FULL catalogue of events in to my dealings with a firm called LIFESTYLE MONEYin which i have become involved with over a PPI claim.
Myfirst initial contact with this firm was on the 25th of July atabout 3pm in the afternoon when a sales representative from the firm rang me totell me that i may have a large claim in for mis-sold ppi,having listned to theconversation he then wanted me to pay a upfront fee of £299 + vat to get the ball rolling,however i didn’t havemy credit card on me at the time and he told me he would ring back tomorrow.
Thefollowing day he rang back in the morning to get my card details,i told him iwasn’t impressed with paying a upfront fee and ended the conversation.
Thesame afternoon a senior rep rang me back to find out why i wasn’t happyabout the upfront bit and gave me all the reassurance they could that this wasstandard practise by the firm and that it was fully refundable so i agreed andgave them my card details,they told me i would be charged £299 with NO vat soi went ahead.
Onarrival at home that evening i went to check my online banking and found that ihad been charged £299 + Vat (£359.98) i rang them straight back and after somearguments the Vat was refunded to my card.
Sometimelater that day i received an e-mail from the firm with my introduction detailsand the terms and conditions statement.
At thispoint in proceedings the only payment i was aware that i was going to make wasthe £299 that i had paid already and that it was fully refundable. And coveredby section 75 with my credit card.
Acouple of days later my pack on claim forms arrived for me to fill in, thistook me a couple of weeks to do due to trying to find out agreement numbers etcfrom my different banks and cards etc, i even rang Lifestyle to tell them thatone of the firms weren’t complying to my request for my agreement numbers andthey told me that they had 28 days to get back to me so don’t wait for them andjust send my completed ones in asap.
I sentmy forms in on the 22nd of August by recorded delivery.
On the23rd at about lunctime i got a phone call from Lifestyle to tell me that they had received my forms and that they needed toask me a few questions about 2 of my credit cards, the questions being had iagreed to my credit limits being raised in the past, how long i had had thecards and were they still active,he thanked me for the information and told mehe would ring back within 20 minutes.
They rang me back the following day (24th) and said sorry for not ringingback yesterday but then continued his conversation regarding the 2 credit cardclaims.
Theconversation lasted about 30-40 minutes with him talking about all kinds ofmatters involved in claiming from card companies and how they get more for youby doing what they do instead of you doing any of this yourself and how peoplehad lost out in the past by being sent a settlement direct from the cardcompany but not dealing with Lifestyle as the middle man in the process. Andthis was also to stop me disappearing without paying them after my claims hadgone through)
He thenwent on to discuss the fact that i needed to set up 2 account with them for the2 claims i had on my cards (1 account each) and that these would cost me £598each to set up (again told that this is completely refundable and covered bySection 75). (they already had my card details on record from the £299transaction)
I waswary of this but given the level of patter that he used it sounded genuine.
Laterthat day after it has been playing on my mind i did some research on theinternet and found to my horror what i know now, that this has happened to manymany people who are now in the same situation.
I spoketo my credit card firm and informed them of the situation (card cancelledimmediately). And have spoke to a firm called Action Fraud and told them thesituation, they tell me that i have a very strong case for this being classedas fraud but to try a get a refund from the firm first.
I triedto ring Lifestyle up till 6pm on the 24th but to no avail.
I havetaken information from the Mniistry Of Justice website and intend sendingdetails to Trading Standards and the first possible chance to stop thishappening to anyone else.
Any more help anyone can give would be much appreciated.
Myfirst initial contact with this firm was on the 25th of July atabout 3pm in the afternoon when a sales representative from the firm rang me totell me that i may have a large claim in for mis-sold ppi,having listned to theconversation he then wanted me to pay a upfront fee of £299 + vat to get the ball rolling,however i didn’t havemy credit card on me at the time and he told me he would ring back tomorrow.
Thefollowing day he rang back in the morning to get my card details,i told him iwasn’t impressed with paying a upfront fee and ended the conversation.
Thesame afternoon a senior rep rang me back to find out why i wasn’t happyabout the upfront bit and gave me all the reassurance they could that this wasstandard practise by the firm and that it was fully refundable so i agreed andgave them my card details,they told me i would be charged £299 with NO vat soi went ahead.
Onarrival at home that evening i went to check my online banking and found that ihad been charged £299 + Vat (£359.98) i rang them straight back and after somearguments the Vat was refunded to my card.
Sometimelater that day i received an e-mail from the firm with my introduction detailsand the terms and conditions statement.
At thispoint in proceedings the only payment i was aware that i was going to make wasthe £299 that i had paid already and that it was fully refundable. And coveredby section 75 with my credit card.
Acouple of days later my pack on claim forms arrived for me to fill in, thistook me a couple of weeks to do due to trying to find out agreement numbers etcfrom my different banks and cards etc, i even rang Lifestyle to tell them thatone of the firms weren’t complying to my request for my agreement numbers andthey told me that they had 28 days to get back to me so don’t wait for them andjust send my completed ones in asap.
I sentmy forms in on the 22nd of August by recorded delivery.
On the23rd at about lunctime i got a phone call from Lifestyle to tell me that they had received my forms and that they needed toask me a few questions about 2 of my credit cards, the questions being had iagreed to my credit limits being raised in the past, how long i had had thecards and were they still active,he thanked me for the information and told mehe would ring back within 20 minutes.
They rang me back the following day (24th) and said sorry for not ringingback yesterday but then continued his conversation regarding the 2 credit cardclaims.
Theconversation lasted about 30-40 minutes with him talking about all kinds ofmatters involved in claiming from card companies and how they get more for youby doing what they do instead of you doing any of this yourself and how peoplehad lost out in the past by being sent a settlement direct from the cardcompany but not dealing with Lifestyle as the middle man in the process. Andthis was also to stop me disappearing without paying them after my claims hadgone through)
He thenwent on to discuss the fact that i needed to set up 2 account with them for the2 claims i had on my cards (1 account each) and that these would cost me £598each to set up (again told that this is completely refundable and covered bySection 75). (they already had my card details on record from the £299transaction)
I waswary of this but given the level of patter that he used it sounded genuine.
Laterthat day after it has been playing on my mind i did some research on theinternet and found to my horror what i know now, that this has happened to manymany people who are now in the same situation.
I spoketo my credit card firm and informed them of the situation (card cancelledimmediately). And have spoke to a firm called Action Fraud and told them thesituation, they tell me that i have a very strong case for this being classedas fraud but to try a get a refund from the firm first.
I triedto ring Lifestyle up till 6pm on the 24th but to no avail.
I havetaken information from the Mniistry Of Justice website and intend sendingdetails to Trading Standards and the first possible chance to stop thishappening to anyone else.
Any more help anyone can give would be much appreciated.
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