This is what I'm tryong to establish, I have all my statements for my business account so I know how much was owed anyway, their offer does amount to 75% of the total charges. My thoughts are that RH perhaps send their own "demand for payment" letters to a specific department within Abbey and that is all that they do. However RH won't tell me what they do, they don't have any details from Abbey and Abbey are insistent that (against my two accounts at least) there has been no correspondence whatsoever from RH. My main problem is that if RH haven't contacted them, then why should I be paying almost £200 for their "service". Also, if Abbey don't have a record of a bank charges complaint on my personal account, I'll have to start my own complaint soon and RH's negligence could have cost me dearly if I hadn't phoned to ask them. So I need to know, does this sound like RH have breached the "contract " for negligence, lack of due care and attention,not acting within expected timescale, failure to advise of the FOS being a free-of-charge option instead etc. etc. I haven't ever recieved any written confirmation of the terms either. Also if there is a chance that they have lost my paperwork and that's why they haven't acted any more, RH didn't even know one account was a business account, if they had the forms I had sent them, they would know. Is there a data protection issue here?

Nice, I like GS's. I have a Sprint which needs a new carb and it's done and I can get out and about again My thread about the claims company can be found here: http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/general-consumer-issues/149938-northern-soul-robertson-holbrook.html

Looking for some advice here. I "appointed" a company called Robertson Holbrook to act on my behalf to reclaim bank charges for a personal bank account, business account and one credit card. This was in March 2007. At the time I was a combination of too busy and naive, so I assumed that they would just do it, get my money bank and that would be that. The service they advertised was that they would reclaim 100% of the charges and the interest that I would have recieved, keeping the interest as their fee. I didn't think anything of it that I hadn't heard anything while the test case was going on. But, I didn't get any updates at all from them unless I pestered them and every time I rang they said something like "we're waiting on statements" and I did feel like I was getting the cold shoulder. Only recently I recieved a letter from Abbey Business with a full and final offer of 75% of my business bank charges. I was happy to take it though and accepted it, just waiting for the cheque now. I didn't accept it until I had confirmed to Robertson Holbrook that I considered our contract to be nul and void as their desire to pursue business bank charges through the courts at this point in time was not acting in my best interests. I contacted Abbey and Abbey Business today and they both confirmed that they haven't any record of any correspondence from Robertson Holbrook against either account I don't doubt that Robertson Holbrook must have done something, however they won't tell me what they have done when I pressed them, they confirmed they didn't have my statements and didn't know what amounts to claim. What worries me is that they have asked for (verbally) 15% of my settlement from Abbey business saying that it "compares favourably to the market rate". I told them I wouldn't pay a fee that was disproportionate to their actual costs and that I felt that their lack of care etc. meant that I considered our contract terminated. Am I right? And is it even likely that they will pursue me for this fee? Especially given that they don't even know how much my bank charges are! Also, would it be worth writing to Abbey/Abbey Business to just confirm that this company are NOT authorised to work on my behalf?

I'm considering claiming charges for an old account that was originally with the Halifax. Typically I paid one or two charges a month for a year or so. I live in Scotland, so should I be pursuing HBOS using their The Mound , Edinburgh address through the Scottish courts as it was over 5 years ago? Has anyone had success in a similar claim?

I'm not prepared to do that at this time, however I am going to shortly once I have confirmed my position on how to defend myself from the fees they are seeking. I'm not trying to be unhelpful, I'm just cautious as you never know who could be reading this forum.

After a small victory in reclaiming the majority of my business bank charges, I thought I would have a think about what I could do next by way of reclaiming my rights as a consumer. I have a lot of time to do such things as I have a young son and my wife works at night, so i spend a lot of time in the house on my own once my son is in bed. I had an idea the other day though, which i thought might be worth pursuing for a laugh if nothing else. My wife and I were talking about how much more we seemed to be spending on shopping all the time nowadays and we both agreed that cheese in particular seems to be much more expensive. We both thought that this was funny as there used to be a saying about pensioners not having anything else to talk about than the price of cheese, we thought it might be a sign that we were getting old But then we both wondered what would happen if we wrote to our local supermarkets to complain about just that. I decided we should find out as I'm sure they will be obliged to reply. I've formed what I think is a convincing argument about so-called "loss leader" products and have started to convince myself that if they can afford to make a loss on luxuries to entice people to spend more on necessities, then they could absorb some of the cost of rising commodities without having to pass them onto consumers. On the surface it is a very serious letter which doesn't seem at all tongue-in-cheek surprisingly. I know that they may well not take it very seriously and that I'm not likely to receive any compensation, but I thought their reply would at least make entertaining reading. Like I say, I have too much time on my hands, so I was wondering if anyone had any other ludicrous suggestions for letters I could write to the many companies out there to wind them up, if nothing else it would give us all a good laugh. I have considered writing to BT for my next one to suggest that I would be prepared to install a network of paper cups and string in my street at my own cost in return for a discount on calls to my neighbours Moderators feel free to move this thread if you feel it is in the wrong section.

As per my own thread, i have now accepted Abbey's full and final offer and have contacted the claims company to tell them exactly that. They aren't too happy and have asked for 15% of my offer plus VAT as their fee, which they claim compares favourably with the "market rate". I tried to explain that they were not using due care and attention, they failed to keep me informed of timescales and progress reports were non-existent and that pursuing a court action would not be in my best interest for a business account at this time. I have a few other arguments to back myself up, so I'm quite satisfied that any contract they believe they had with me was made null and void by their conduct. I'll be starting a specific thread about this shortly. My own thread covers the story so far. I will agree also that although I had a bad experience with one such company, there may well be reputable companies out there who can and will help. To confirm the details of my business claim however, I have recieved a full and final offer for approximately 75% of the charges and I'm quite happy to accept that, it didn't take much to get that either I feel as no court proceeding had been started. The offer stood for 28 days from the 13th of June. The letter cites the OFT case and states "It is possible that this case may inform the approach to be taken by banks in how they deal with business claims such as yours." Hope this helps.

Quick update. I called the clams company today to basically rant about the fact that they weren't doing enough and/or not putting my best interests at heart. I told them that I was going to accept Abbey's full and final offer and that I wasn't happy with the way they seemed not to have done much of anything. Obviously they had done something for me to receive Abbey's offer, but when I asked exactly what, they said that they would not be prepared to itemise "every single letter and phonecall". I told them I was aware that a S.A.R - (Subject Access Request) and 2 letters would have been all they would have needed to get it to court stage and that i was prepared to pay for that as their fee, however they are looking for 15% of the 75% offer as their fee now! I accused them of hypocrisy calling this fee "disproportionate" and compared it to unauthorised overdraft fees! I asked them why they wouldn't tell me exactly what they had done and they then confirmed that they didn't have my statements or put in place any court proceedings! Yesterday they weren't even aware that it was a business account! I've now sent my acceptance to Abbey though and, as far as I'm concerned, this part of it at least is finished and I have won. However I'm going to speak to Abbey and inform them that I no longer allow the claims company to act on my behalf and while I'm there, I'm going to hopefully find out if they can tell me exactly what correspondence they have received from the claims company. If I can glean any information from Abbey as to what their offer represents other than a "goodwill payment" I'll let you all know. With regards to the claims company I'm going to push for a termination of the contract on several grounds, so I'm going to start another thread about that. What part of the forums should I post this to? Also, should I name the claims company involved? Finally, although I'm not suffering financial hardship as a result of being charged over the years now like some people, I will be able to get my beloved Vespa on the road and start going to scooter rallies again so I thought it was more than a coincidence that someone going by the name of "ZootScoot" came to my aid, thanks very much for your help so far and once the cheque clears i will make a donation to help this great site continue to help others in similar situations.

I've been studying the 2008 consumer regulations as well as Zoot's informed posts and I think that I should accept the banks offer after i have told the claims company that I am going to do so. I'll call them tomorrow and we'll see what they say, but the easiest option for me now is to just take the money so I'm not going to be coerced into anything else. Thanks to you lot I have plenty of ammunition should the worst come to the worst with the claims company, but i can't see that happening and they can't charge me for work they haven't done (especially when they don't seem to know what they've done). Thanks for some more valuable advice.

I have my own experience with a claims management company where i sent them details of a personal account, a credit card and a business account. Out of the blue I have recieved a full and final offer from Abbey business, which I don't doubt was a result of the company sending them something, however the company seem to have little knowledge of what stage my claim is when I contact them, so I am going to accept Abbey's offer on the basis that it's less hassle to do so even though I won't get all the charges back. Also because I doubt that it will be worth the claims company's while to pursue me for the small amount of costs they may have encountered. Abbey's full and final offer is about 75% and I'm quite happy to just accept that to avoid any further hassle.

As far as i see it I have 2 options now then: 1. Stick with claims company and reject Abbey's offer through them. Wait longer and possibly lose out altogether. Or. 2. Take the full and final offer from Abbey now which isn't too bad and be prepared to defend myself from a possible claim from the claim company should they decide to do so. Wait seven days for payment. Option 2 seems like the easiest. Is it worth contacting the claims company again, by letter to let them know that I am pulling out and citing various reasons as to why i think there is no longer a contract? Or should I hope that they're too busy sorting out personal claims to even realise?

The claims company called me today, I spoke with a guy who I believe is a Director of the company, who was very helpful and he said that he wasn't aware that it was business account and that obviously this made all the difference. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt as to whether they actually knew it was a business account or not. I didn't mention that I had received a full and final offer from the bank though. Unfortunately i was at work when he called so I didn't have the opportunity to ask all the questions i wanted to, but I did ask that if the bank offered me a settlement that was less than the full amount, what should I expect them to do. They seemed confident that they could pursue the full amount though and i was impressed by their enthusiasm and the fact that they said that it was something they could pursue through the english courts on my behalf and they would expect to get the full amount back for me. I'm now going to submit to them details of all the fees I have been charged on what dates and will also include the offer I have recieved from Abbey with this. My only concerns now are how long it will take to get a payment now considering abbey have made me a full and final offer. Also, if I get the company to reject the offer on my behalf is it possible that I could lose out and end up with nothing at all? For the meantime at least, I'm going to stick with the claims company and I'm quite prepared to waive the right to the interest (as their fee) if they can get me an extra £500 on top of an offer I'm happy to accept already.

Yes please! The 3rd party are lcated in wales, however all I have sent them is a "terms of instruction" it hasn't been confirmed to me in writing or otherwise what the basis of any specific terms are i.e . if it is governed by English law or not. I would agree that they haven't provided the service I expected, certainly in terms of my business account claim. Apparently i am to recieve a call from them tomorrow morning, I'll ask whether or not a court case has been brought and if not i will be pushing to take on the claim myself. Abbey have stated that my claim is subject to Scottish law and as the full amount of my claim is over £1500, i believe that going though the Scottish courts would be overly difficult not to mention risky in light of an offer i am prepared to accept anyway. I don't want to just accept though and leave the claims company with a means of claiming more than the claim amount back as some kind of cancellation fee. They have informed that they hadn't recieved statements all along, so i presume that all they did was sent a letter asking for any and all charges plus interest to be returned to them so that they could pay me the charges and keep the interest (which is what their fee is). How much could it have cost them to write a letter though? £50 tops I would expect even at lawyers's rates. Here is the "terms" i originally signed (I have omitted the name of the company":- "I hereby appoint xxxxxxxxx to act on my behalf as my sole representatives in respect of my claim for such fees erroneously levied or applied to my bank account, credit card or store card as identified in the enclosed/ forwarded “Form of Authority” I shall provide all information required by xxxxxxxxx, as requested, by return and I shall not enter into any agreement relating to this claim with the Bank without first consulting xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in writing. I will immediately forward to xxxxxxxxxxxxx copies of any correspondence that my bank may send me regarding this issue. I further understand that though unlikely it may be necessary to attend the County Court. xxxxxxxxxxxxx will endeavour to recover all such bank charges and undertake to forward any payment from my bank to me within seven days from the date received, subject to the retention of such interest deemed applicable to this action. In consideration thereof xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx will: · Draft, prepare and forward to the Bank any necessary correspondence. · Undertake all necessary negotiations on my behalf. · Review all information provided by my Bank. · Calculate the sum of money owed. · Pay the fee for the Data Subject Access Request, as applicable. · Pay the Court fee, as applicable. · Provide representation at Court, as applicable I understand that accepting any deal whatsoever, offered by my bank without full consultation with xxxxxxxxxxxx represents a breach of the above agreement and under such circumstances I accept that xxxxxxxxxxxxxx would be entitled to pursue me for their costs including any interest which they would otherwise have won by pursuing the bank on my behalf (which in some circumstances may amount to more then the offer that has been accepted). In the event that the client terminates the contract after 14 days the company reserves the right to make a cancellation charge which will reflect the work undertaken by xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in pursuit of the claim., which could be anything up to the full projected fee. Cancellation of the agreement must be done in writing." Any thoughts?

Hi all, I have a few concerns with my claim for a refund of charges from my old Abbey Business account. Initially I placed 3 claims (abbey, abbey business and Capital one) in what I thought were the capable hands of a 3rd party "Claims managment" company. This was I think in February 2007. The main reason for this was that at the time I claimed I was very angry with Abbey Business in particular because their charges effectively crippled my business and caused us to have to close it down. I thought that using a "Claims management company" would have been the most effective way to seek revenge. The whole process of reclaiming also seemed very daunting and i wasn't prepared to go through with it myself at the time. Although i know now that it is fairly straightforward. Without naming them, my experience so far with the claims management company has not been great, however they must have done something as my Capital One statement appeared one month with a credit balance for a change and I soon found out that all charges ever received had been refunded in full. A few months later of course, the OFT case came in and we thought that we wouldn't hear anything again until that had been resolved. I was prepared to leave the matter in the hands of the 3rd party, however out of the blue on Saturday i received a full and final offer from Abbey business. I now have a dilemma as for all intents and purposes, I had written off these charges a long time ago, so the way I see it is that getting any of it back now is a bonus, not a necessity. Although the offer is approximately £450 short of the total amount of charges, not including interest, that I have calculated. i am quite happy to accept their offer. I understand that they may have however bypassed the 3rd party by making their offer to me directly and that the offer was more than likely as a result of the 3rd party's work. Essentially my question is, can i dump the 3rd party on the basis that I have not been able to get in touch with them by phone or email and haven't had any updates on the progress of my claims. Can i simply accept the bank's offer? Let's face it they have only really sent out a few letters, I called them numerous times before the test case and all i got was "we're waiting for statements". I think they have been fobbing me off deliberately because they simply have taken on too many cases to be able to deal with them all in a timely manner. I suspect that the 3rd party will also be specifically pursuing a court hearing so that hey can add their fees, but this will take time to arrange and to be honest i don't want to have to wait months for the chance of another £450 if i can just have the majority of the claim now, particularly with the amount of court cases that may result after the OFT case, i may have to wait years! How do i get out of the arrangement i have made with the 3rd party? they are not aware of the offer made by the bank are not seeming to be doing anything anyway. Can they seriously charge a fee for cancelling which may be higher than what the bank have offered in settlement even if all that they have done is sent a demand for payment letter? Interestingly i have until 11th of July to accept the bank's offer, which will after the July 7th OFT date, so I could hold out for that if necessary. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I'm quite new to all this. Also I am in Scotland, the 3rd party isn't, without them travelling up to a court in Scotland, do they even have the jurisdiction/legal experience to deal with this?