BT could owe customers millions in compensation.

BT Group PLC is facing a lawsuit which could see the communications giant compensating millions of customers for overcharging them.

In 2017 British watchdog Ofcom found BT had been overcharging its landline customers since 2009. BT agreed to reduce landline customers’ bills by £7 each but failed to compensate customers who had been overcharged for the previous 8 years. The lawsuit is being brought to represent all of these customers by CALL the Collective Action on Land Lines, who say these affected customers were more likely to be elderly, vulnerable and low-income households. In response BT released a statement: “We take our responsibilities to older and more vulnerable customers very seriously and will defend ourselves against claims that suggest otherwise.”

Under current legislation it is not possible for the claim to go back as far as 2009, however CALL is seeking damages for affected customers from 2015 and this could mean BT faces a bill of just under £600 million to compensate the 2.3 million BT landline customers.

If you think you were affected by the BT overcharging you can read more about it here and see if you are eligible to make a claim: BT faces £600m lawsuit over ‘overcharging’ – BBC News

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Solar panel scammers have been ordered to repay victims.

A group of six scammers, believed to have made more than £17 million in a solar panel scam have been ordered to pay back money they made from the thousands of vulnerable and elderly people they conned.

After a nearly four-year investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, in 2018 six men were sentenced to a total of 30 years and 4 months behind bars for their part in the scam. Two brothers, thought to be the ringleaders, concocted a sophisticated scam, using the legitimacy of the Government Feed in Tariff, the scheme involved selling and installing residential solar panels. The fraudsters would target vulnerable, retired, and elderly people, promising them incentives that they would make extra money from energy their solar panels produced, and they would be able to sell this extra energy back to the grid. They also conned victims into believing any extra money they made would cover the cost of loans they may need to take out to purchase the panels. Victims were told they would be reimbursed the cost of installation over a five-year period, essentially lying to victims that the solar panels would eventually cost nothing, and they would make money back from them in the future whilst saving money on their own energy bills. The reality was, these conmen used a sophisticated scam to con innocent people by using deceitful sales techniques, lies and fraudulent guarantees. Some victims lost hundreds, but most lost thousands in the scam, some lost as much as £35,000.

The ringleaders, Ludovic Black was sentenced to seven years six months and his brother David Diaz sentenced to four years six months. Stephen Wilson and Robert Ross were both sentenced to four years six months and directors of the company Kenneth Reid and Niall Hastie were both sentenced to three years and six months each. After proceedings, an investigation into the profits made during the con found that in total the company made £17 million, Wilson and Ross were ordered to payback £220,000 and £193,206 respectively. The money will be used to pay compensation to victims under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Lisa Osofsky, Director of the Serious Fraud Office said:

“These men built predatory schemes to steal thousands from the hard-earned savings of vulnerable people while pretending to offer them a chance to improve their own financial security.

“I’m extremely proud of the way our team worked hand-in-hand with law enforcement partners to untangle this complex and predatory fraud.”

What is a solar panel scam?

Solar panels have been mis-sold to thousands of consumers on the basis that installing them will help a household save money on their energy bills whilst reducing carbon footprint. The problem is that many companies, not all acting fraudulently, have made claims to help sell solar panels, that are not exactly truthful. We are approached regularly by clients who say they were promised their solar panels would create enough energy to reduce their bills and in fact they would be able to generate more energy than they need, so they could sell this additional energy back to the governments feed in tariff scheme. This has rarely been the case and more often than not people are left paying huge bills for finance agreements set up by the solar panel companies. In reality they fail to make enough energy to benefit from the government scheme and are left substantially out of pocket paying for high interest loans.

If you feel that you have paid for solar panels and not seen any of the benefits you were promised, then they may have been mis-sold to you. If you are not happy with the promises made by the Solar Panels Company or supplier, then you can start a claim for a refund of your money. If you have paid for all or even just a deposit by credit card, then the credit card company is as responsible to you as the Solar Panel company who sold them to you. If the company arranged a retail finance agreement with a bank or finance company, then the finance company are also liable to you in the event that you were mis-sold solar panels.

How do I start my Solar Panel Claim?

If you honestly feel that you were mis-sold the solar panels and qualify by paying for them by card (even part payment) or finance agreement, we will be able to assist you. Simply call us for help or use the form on this page to submit your details. You should upload whatever documentation you have in support of your claim and we will assess the likelihood of a successful claim, free of charge.

In order to fully assess the claim, please provide us with:

  • Full contact details of the Solar Panel Company.
  • Full details of any finance arranged to pay for the Solar Panels and a copy of the agreement if you have it.
  • The dates that the transaction to made / order date etc.
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Man, who stole personal data is sentenced.

An employee of RAC has been sentenced in crown court to eight months imprisonment for stealing personal customer information and selling it on to an accident claims management company.

The Information Commissioners Office (ICO) investigated after they were alerted to a possible data breach following a spate of nuisance calls to an individual who had been involved in road traffic accidents. The offense first came to light when a fleet management company were alerted by one of its customers to being repeatedly called about an accident, they had been involved in. The fleet company brought this to the attention of the RAC who then conducted a data leakage scan of its internal email system and discovered one if its own employees had been compiling lists of data.

The ICO then got involved and discovered the employee had sold this data to an accident claims company who had then used it to make nuisance telephone calls. The defendant pleaded guilty to all charges and was sentenced to 8 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to pay back £15,000 within 3 months or face more time behind bars. The individual behind the company which purchased the data were also sentenced to 100 hours community service and ordered to pay back £25,000, both individuals will face time behind bars if these figures are not paid back within three months under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Mike Shaw, who heads up the Criminal Investigations Team at the ICO said:

“Those who believe that this is a victimless crime without consequences, need to think again. These criminal acts have a detrimental impact on the public and businesses. People’s data is being accessed without consent and businesses are putting resources into tracking down criminals. Once the data is in the hands of claims management companies, people are subjected to unwanted calls which can in turn lead to fraudulent personal injury claims.

“Offenders must know that we will use all the tools at our disposal to protect people’s information and prevent it from being used to make nuisance calls.

“This case shows that we can, and will take action, and that could lead to a prison sentence for those responsible. Where appropriate we will work with partner agencies to make full use of the Proceeds of Crime Act to ensure that criminals do not benefit financially from their criminal behaviour.”

How does Proceeds of Crime Act Work?

Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 or (POCA) often can mean a convicted person faces harsher punishment then the original crime they were sentenced for. If you are convicted of a criminal offence and the prosecution believe you benefited financially through this then they can begin proceedings against you to recover any money made due to this crime. Any asset that you acquired during the six years prior to the start of proceedings is open to confiscation. The court can assume what assets were obtained during this period using the proceeds of crime. This can include property, vehicles, equipment, and business assets. If an individual fails to pay the amount set by the court, they will be ordered to face jailtime and the confiscation order lasts a lifetime, meaning if you acquire assets in the future, even legitimately, they can still be confiscated from in until the debt is paid.

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Important information regarding Club La Costa

Further to our previous correspondence, you will no doubt be aware that it has now been announced that the Spanish branch of Club La Costa (UK) Plc has been placed into liquidation. This includes all of the Spanish companies owned and operated by CLC.

Given the way that the timeshare industry works, it is likely that various companies will seek to contact you to try and obtain money from you. Before that happens, we would like to set-out the correct position. At this stage, we are taking advice from senior Counsel about the effect of the liquidation. Until we have received that advice, we simply will not have a clearer picture of CLC’s current position.

However, we are sure of the following: 

  • The liquidation of the Spanish branch of Club La Costa (UK) Plc does not, in any way, affect the work we have done to bring to an end your maintenance fee payments;

 

  • If you have sought advice and instructed another firm in Spain to progress a claim against CLC through the Spanish Courts then that claim will now not result in any compensation;

 

  • If you currently have a claim with us, which has been presented to the Financial Ombudsman Service, then you are in the best possible position, as the liquidation affects only CLC and not the finance companies which provided the finance to you; and,

 

  • If you have previously been advised that you had a potential claim against CLC, but that claim was “out of time”, then you should contact us immediately, as the position may have manifestly changed.

 

As above, until we have taken detailed advice, we are not in a position to speculate as to the effect of the liquidation of the Spanish branch of Club La Costa (UK) Plc on matters moving forward. However, we are sure that it does not affect your termination and/or your claim now. The only effect will be that it assists your termination and/or claim, but we are seeking this further advice to clarify the position further.

For the avoidance of doubt, there will be no negative impact upon your termination and/or claim as a consequence of the liquidation.

Our advice regarding cold-callers, whether that be by telephone, email or letter, stands: cold-calling is illegal and, unless you have given your permission to the company contacting you, their conduct should be reported to the authorities. If they seek to provide you with advice which contradicts the above, then they are wrong.

Once we have received further advice, we will contact you again and explain the position in greater detail.

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More clients win their money back!

Every year banks reject hundreds of thousands for claims for mis-sold products and services, mainly those that are made directly from the customer. Few members of the public will have enough knowledge of how banks operate and what they require, in order to take the complaint further and be able to have a successful outcome. Banks are very good at arguing against customer complaints and if a claim is not argued correctly, the bank will reject it. And why wouldn’t they? There are thousands of products and services which are unfair and were mis-sold.

The team here at Mis-sold Claims Assist deal with many types of consumer mis-selling claims. Whether it be a holiday product, a bank dispute or a financial service that was mis-handled, our team are experts at arguing cases to get a successful claim for our clients. That is exactly what we did for our latest clients who were the victims of a fraudulent holiday package scheme back in 2017.

Our clients were approached by a company, who on the face of it seemed legitimate, they even had a professional looking website and advertised regularly. They were asked to attend a meeting about a holiday points product that would offer them huge discounts, something that was exclusive to them and not available anywhere else. As way of an incentive to attend they were offered a free night in a luxury hotel for their trouble. Like the many millions of other people who attend such sales presentations they agreed in good faith, reassured that it was just a short presentation, and they would not be forced into signing up to anything.

They attended the meeting and, again like many other clients we hear from, were forced to sit through a 5-hour presentation on the holiday points scheme this company were selling. The sales representative showed them examples of the savings they could make over the next few years on holidays, flights, and other heavily discounted items if they agreed to pay the £10,000 price tag. Our clients explained that they did not have this sort of cash to spend and tried to end the meeting. The salesperson continued on and offered them the same package at a discounted price of £6,500 After hours and hours being held in these offices, in an unfamiliar environment, our clients agreed to sign up and paid a large deposit using their credit card.

It was not until sometime later, when they attempted to use their new holiday package that they found it nearly impossible to use. The discounts they were promised were cheaper elsewhere and when they attempted to book anything, they found they could not access any of the offers they were promised. Eventually they got in touch with the team here at Mis-Sold Claims Assist and thankfully for our clients we have been able to claim their money back through the finance provider, however there are many other companies and individuals to take their place and people continue to be taken advantage of with similar fraudulent schemes. If you or anyone you know has fallen victim to such a fraud, get in touch with us today. We have great success in arguing these types of claims and could help win you your money back.

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Another successful claim

Our team at Mis-sold Claims Assist deal with many types of consumer mis-selling claims. Whether it be a holiday product, a bank dispute or a financial service that was mis-handled, our team are experts at arguing cases to get a successful claim for our clients. It comes with many years of experience to argue a successful claim, that is why it is so important to choose the correct people to work on your behalf.

Our claim today was for another ‘Concierge and Lifestyle’ package that was sold to our clients in 2016 after they were cold-called and asked to attend a short presentation. They attended the meeting and were kept there for hours whilst the salesperson explained the benefits of signing up to their package. What they were selling was a so called ‘Concierge and Lifestyle’ package which would provide them with discounted holidays, flights, accommodation, and other benefits. The package was being sold for £10,000 which our clients felt was too expensive, which they explained to the salesperson. However, the salesperson had an answer for every objection to making a purchase they made. It was quite clear they did not want to spend this amount of money, but the salesperson persisted and eventually offered them a discounted price of £7,800. Feeling worn down by the relentless sales pitch, they decided to sign up there and then. They paid half the money on their credit card and half via a bank transfer.

It was not until a few months later when they came to use the online booking system that they discovered it was incredibly difficult to book anything they felt suited their needs. In fact, when they investigated it further, they found they could book similar holidays online for much lower prices. They also could not access any of the other discounts that were promised to them, such as discounted telephone contracts and utility bills. At this point they started to worry and contacted the company. Shockingly they discovered that the company had ceased trading and could not get hold of anyone at the offices. After searching for the company online they learnt that the company had been forced to close and in fact the company director had been arrested in relation to charges of fraud.

Fearing they had lost their money all together, they finally reached out to our team at Mis-Sold Claims Assist and after listening to everything that happened with this company we put together an argument and presented it to the credit card company. Luckily for our clients this was a clear case of fraud and misrepresentation by this scam company and we have been able to re-coup all their money plus interest. The owners of the company were later convicted in court and sentenced.

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Warning: Scammers posing as HMRC again!

HM Revenue and Customs are warning that scammers are targeting people filing their tax returns in new scam.

Criminals are yet again posing as HMRC in another scam sending out realistic looking text messages to people completing their tax returns. Every year the government department issues thousands of SMS messages and emails as part of its annual reminder to those who are self-employed. The annual tax return deadline is January 31, 2021, and HMRC are reporting a sharp increase in people being contacted by fraudsters.

Fraudsters are using realistic looking emails and texts to contact those who are self-employed, making it very difficult for people to tell the difference. Once they have obtained personal information, they are calling people up and claiming they are eligible for a ‘tax rebate’, once they have their bank information, they can steal money from victims accounts.

HMRC say that over the last 12 months they have received 846,000 complaints from members of the public about suspicious emails and texts and this is believed to be the tip of the iceberg. Most scams send emails or texts out informing customers that they are owed a fake rebate or a tax refund. Fraudsters lure people in and convince them to hand over personal information like bank account details, name, address and even National Insurance numbers. They will then attempt to steal money from people’s accounts. In addition to these fraudsters create what is known as ‘sucker lists’ which supplies personal information of potential victims which is then sold amongst criminals on the dark web. Once a victim has been targeted it is likely they will then be targeted multiple times once their name has made its way onto a sucker list.

HMRC’s Interim Director General for Customer Services, Karl Khan, said:

“We know that criminals take advantage of the Self-Assessment deadline to panic customers into sharing their personal or financial details and even paying bogus ‘tax due’. If someone calls, emails or texts claiming to be from HMRC, offering financial help or asking for money, it might be a scam. Please take a moment to think before parting with any private information or money.”

Ways to spot a tax scam

It could be a scam if it:

  • is unexpected
  • offers a refund, tax rebate or grant
  • asks for personal information like bank details
  • is threatening
  • tells you to transfer money.

Self-Assessment customers can complete their tax return online and help and support is available on GOV.UK.

To protect against identity fraud customers must verify their identity when accessing HMRC’s online services. They must have two sources of information including:

  • credit reference agency data
  • tax credits
  • P60/payslip
  • UK Passport
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Successful Claim

Mis-sold Claims Assist were instructed to act on behalf of a family who were victims of a timeshare exit scam. Our clients who like many timeshare owners, found themselves desperate to relinquish their contract and had approached the resort to ask for a reasonable end to their timeshare burden. They felt their request was fair as the resort had not met their expectations of what was promised to them in the initial sales presentation and after a few years they felt the maintenance fee increases were too high and not representing good value for money any longer.

However, they found themselves in a similar position to many timeshare owners and although they were up to date with their maintenance fees, the resort refused to relinquish the contract or offer any suitable solution. They simply offered to sell them other holiday packages, which would cost more money and the maintenance fees would still be charged annually. It was because of the resorts unwillingness to help our clients that they sought out an alternative means to end their contract and after making some enquiries were approached by a timeshare exit company.

The company in question convinced our clients to visit them for a short presentation, explaining that they would be able to relinquish their contract legally and permanently. Feeling as though they had nothing to lose at this point, they agreed to attend the sales office. What they did not expect was a full day of intense pressure selling in what felt like another timeshare presentation. They thought they were attending a meeting about their legal options; however, they were actually being convinced into purchasing a lifestyle and concierge package which would cost them over £15,000. In exchange for this huge fee they would receive a legal relinquishment of their timeshare contract, discounted holidays, flights, and accommodation and eventually they would save enough money through this that the package would “pay for itself”. The company explained that these discounts were only available to them and their customers so the deals they would be getting were exclusive and would save them money on holidays they would not be able to get elsewhere. Our clients were so desperate to be free from their timeshare burden and after a full day of being convinced of the positive benefits this package would offer them, they eventually gave in and signed up to the deal.

Following the purchase and after several attempts, our clients were unable to use their ‘Lifestyle and Concierge’ product in any way whatsoever. As part of the product our clients were promised a client login so they could access their exclusive offers over the company’s website. During the length of their contract our clients were unable to use their client portal and access any of the rewards they were promised. In fact, on further investigation, we learned that most of the so called ‘exclusive offers’ we could find cheaper online elsewhere and that these deals were available to anyone who could conduct a simple internet search. Incredibly, we even discovered that we could find cheaper flights and accommodation than the company was offering online, this was a clear breach of the Consumer Credit Act and our clients were entitled to their money back for a product that was mis-sold to them. Eventually we also learned that the company had ceased trading altogether and the directors of the company had been arrested and were being investigated for fraud. Mis-sold were able to argue successfully to our client’s credit provider and we have now been able to recover all their money.

Timeshare owners are more at risk to fraud.

Unfortunately, due to the trusting nature of most timeshare owners, this can make them especially vulnerable to timeshare exit fraud scams. Timeshare related fraud is always distressing, but many owners will find themselves targets of fraudsters who prey on people’s desperation to be free from the financial burden it comes with. Always be extremely cautious of any company cold calling you out of the blue to talk to you about your timeshare and asking for money. No legitimate company would ask you to pay for services upfront without completing any work for you, however this is common in the timeshare industry. Here are some things to look out for when being cold called and how to spot a scammer when they call:

• Always check that the details of the organisation or company contacting you, such as the website, address, and phone number, are correct as the fraudsters may be posing as a legitimate
organisation.
• Be aware of recovery fraud if you have fallen victim to fraud in the past. Challenge or ignore any calls, letters, or emails from people you do not know or companies you have never
contacted yourself.
• Ask where they got your contact information from.
• Challenge any calls, letters, or emails from people you do not know or companies you have never contacted and if you’re asked to pay, or give your bank account details, end all
contact.

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Monster Rewards SL in Liquidation

MONSTER REWARDS SL IN LIQUIDATION, FACT OR FAKE?

We have recently been made aware of several of our clients, who were members of Monster Rewards, having received a rather concerning letter.

The letter is purporting to be from an appointed liquidator by the name J Flynn.  The letter is printed on blank paper. It bears no details of J Flynn’s company or indeed his professional body.This is very unusual behaviour from an appointed liquidator to announce his appointment by not giving the people he is writing to any information about his practice or a telephone contact number. 

The only contact details supplied are an email address of liquidator@monster-rewards.com.We are very concerned as to what is happening here and having seen several of these letters and emails. We have made further enquiries with the limited information we have about J Flynn’s appointment. 

It would appear that there is nothing logged with the Spanish authorities and, in particular, the Spanish equivalent to the UK Companies House.

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