I'm undergoing settlement now and everything moved fast after they got a whiff of a case closure and getting paid. I had to chase my latest medical report to see a letter written by the medical expert a month prior to asking why I hadn't heard anything. I got a reasonable settlement figure suggestion (the others had not seemingly related to severity and duration of injuries) and I agreed for negotiations with the other side to start, a lower counter offer came in for within 90% of what the first settlement offer had suggested. It's amazing how quickly Carpenters can move when the end can be seen and they get a sniff of the other party's money. I'm now waiting for my cheque and the case is out of the case-handling solicitors hands, now progreesed to the "recovery" unit. Will never use Carpenters again if I should be unfortunate enough to be in need of similar services in the future.

Mackembob: This might be too late for you but you don't have to go with Carpenters. You can appoint your own solicitor, you just may not have the legal cover provide back-up, so perhaps a "no win no fee" local firm would be best for you. I am about to make a formal complaint to Carpenters about their poor communication and lack of action in my case.

Taking a photo of your car to prove it isn't damaged proves nothing if there has been time to repair it between the date of the alleged accident and the date Carpenters contact you. In that situation I would put the onus on them to prove your involvement. If it came to that then I would imagine the Police would have paid you a visit to discuss an alleged failure to stop after an accident case. Perhaps there has genuinely been an accident involving another car that either has a cloned numberplate (same as yours) or someone has written down an incorrect plate and ended up with yours. If it comes down to them claiming you were in an accident that you know you or any other person with access to your car was not involved in I would tell them that they are harassing you and challenge them to forward you proof and speak to the Police about it. I totally agree. In hindsight I would have taken on a local "no win no fee" solicitor who have a real incentive to serve their customer properly in order to get paid. As far as I am aware, all Carpenters fees stacking up have to be met by the third party unless they lose the case. If they lose the case or the judge (if it goes to court) decides the fees are outrageous/frivolous then the legal cover has to pay. I am unsure of the limits to my legal cover in this situation.

Bryan: Do you have a different issue to almost every other poster here? Most people here have been hit by a third party, have received an injury and have been forwarded to Carpenters as their legal representation to make an injury claim against that third party. As long as that injury is genuine then the "victim" has every right to pursue a claim for compensation and treatment costs. Most people here have found Carpenters to be performing poorly for them and so are venting their spleen.Am I right in thinking that you have been involved in an accident that Carpenters are claiming is your fault, or are claiming you were in an accident which you are denying any involvement? If I have got the "right end of the stick" (apologies if I haven't) then if you were in an accident and your insurance company has admitted liability then there is very little you can do about it, even if you don't think there was much scpoe for the other driver/passengers to have sustained injury. If you dispute the accident, either disagreeing that one even took place, or liability has not been determined then I think you need some legal representation of your own.The Ombudsman is there primarily to protect the interest of the clients of a solicitor e.g. Carpenters customers dissatisfied with the level of service. If you are the third party who is receiving letters threatening action or worse then you need to fight fire with fire. If you are denying an accident even took place you should be demanding proof of said accident from the other side which should include witness statements and/or photographic evidence of collision.Could you make it clear whether there was an accident and you're disputing the responsibility or whether you're disputing an accident even took place? Maybe a bit more help and advice could be given when the facts of your issue are known.

I had another medical 7 or 8 weeks ago that recommended further physio, and haven't heard a thing back from them since to discuss starting the physio or making appointments to do so. The medical expert that examined me hadn't been forwarded the notes from my previous medicals. This company clearly isn't working in the interests of its client (me). If my case ever went to court I haven't got much confidence that they'd do a good job of representing me. In the past the have omitted highly relevant details pertaining to my case on their assessment notes such as estimated speed of collision etc. For a billable rate of £275 an hour you expect a high level of competency and expertise - i've yet to see it from Carpenters.

Susie: If you've had physio, can I assume you and your co-claimants (passengers) have had medical reports, or did they go straight in with the physio? I had my medical approx 2 months after accident, then you should get another medical at the end of your "you should be recovered by" time period if you're still not right. Not sure why they'd offer a lower offer after the first one was turned down - was that a premedical offer?If you leave them to pursue elsewhere they'll chase you for their minimum £2700+VAT (or whatever it is right now). They're not no win-no fee - someone will pay it: the other side if they settle, the legal part of your insurance if it goes to court and you lose (unless you dispense with their services without proving they weren't acting in your best interests). Some may say then that there's no real motivation for them to do the best for you. They want a quick settlement as it doesn't affect what they get unless it goes to court etc. They may try to pressurise you into a low settlement so they can cash out ASAP.

I wish the legal part of my car insurance researched their approved solicitors better Maybe they know what Carpenters are like and don’t care as long as the “referral fee” is big enough In hindsight I’d have rather pursued this with a local firm that I could pop in on from time to time if I didn’t agree with their proposed course of action or if I felt things were moving too slowly They seem to want to settle quickly and low – less chance of resistance from the 3rd party and they get their money quickly for very little work 6 months after my accident I’m still not right, but the derisory “offer” to the third party to settle that they tried to get me to accept 3 months ago was a joke The 3rd party can dispute treatment fees, especially if they consider them frivolous and/or excessive, but if Carpenters have sanctioned these treatments then I would consider the risk of non-payment to be on their shoulders (unless they have some very dubious small-print that relieves them of their obligations to cover them) As far as I am aware, if Carpenters appoint a Doctor to give you a medical examination and as a result that private practice recommend physio/chiropody or similar (and who wouldn’t – they’re out to line their pockets as much as the solicitors are), and then Carpenters authorise that treatment then that’s an expense Carpenters chase to reimburse themselves You should not be liable for it If on the other hand you went seeking private treatment (and paid up-front for it) that Carpenters didn’t authorise or that the medical examination provided (or your own GP) did not sanction then they may have a case for refusing to reimburse or pursue for cost recovery The only time constraint against this case is to initiate a claim within 3 years of incident I suspect each solicitor has a target time for settlement – the solicitors don’t want their time and money tied up in a single case too long before payout (especially if they’re waiting for reimbursements towards treatments they’ve paid out for) Stick to your guns and don’t settle until you’ve alleviated yourself of all your symptoms, or have allowed yourself ample time to show if you’re going to have to live with them long term If you’re not almost completely recovered after a year you should be chasing a sizeable sum for an injury you might have to live with for the rest of your life There are certain details pertinent to my case that have been largely ignored by Carpenters – the angle at which my car was hit was unusual, making for an unusual pattern of injury, they have not bothered to get a professional opinion as to the speed of the collision based on damage to the car, even though I supplied them with extensive photos, they did not document all of my reported symptoms of injury in their report, then asked me to approve the contents so that it could be sent to the 3rd party – I refused to do it in it’s supplied form as I considered it incomplete The report itself did not seem polished as you would expect from an institution with a billable rate of £275 per hour, it was of the quality I may have been capable of as a 17 year old A-level student, armed only with common sense, not an experienced and qualified solicitor I think this thread shows that poor quality of service and being bullied into a premature and low settlement are common practice I’m going to cancel legal cover on my next car renewal – I see no advantage in having it A no-win-no-fee solicitor has far more motivation to act in its client’s interests as a means to get paid when you are a victim of a not-at-fault situation

Firstly, do you know if Octagon is part of a group of companies affiliated with Carpenters? Whether your insurance company has admitted liability for your actions will have a great bearing on your case, if they have then they will get a brief statement of what your version of events is and probably won’t involve you any further in the process. Did you report to Octagon as you would normally contact your insurance company purely to report what happened or to make a claim against the other party? The Birkenhead thing might be a huge coincidence – I live in Newcastle, and have a Highway/LV policy via a broker and the legal cover use Carpenters Solicitors, so location of the claimant may be irrelevant, it may have more to do with who their insurance company is. If the use of Carpenters is purely coincidental then their party may have contacted your insurance company to obtain your details. Has the other driver made a claim in addition to this 12 year old boy? I do not see anything wrong in Carpenters obtaining your details from your insurance company – you are obliged to pass your insurance details to the third party by law and they may then choose to pass them onto their appointed solicitors. If the solicitors were swapping client privileged information between the 2 sides then that would be another matter. Were you aware whether this 12 year old boy was a passenger in the other car involved at the time of the accident, whether he was a front seat or back seat passenger, whether he had a seatbelt on etc? There have been incidents involving ringers where fictitious passengers have been added in later, all to make a claim. If you are deemed to be at fault I suspect your company would roll over straight away with a non-medical offer of about £750 which someone who hasn’t really suffered an injury would snap up straight away. You have little protection in that case – your willingness to fight a case, particularly if your insurance company admits fault and what you may be able to testify to is irrelevant if your company wants to do to mitigate it’s losses and settle quickly. If this kid (or their parent) is in it for a quick £750 then your insurance will probably pay out if the fault is deemed to be yours, without even insisting on any kind of examination. Pre-medical examination payout is easy and quick money for someone that hasn’t suffered any appreciable injury that would warrant compensation. I believe pre-medical payouts for car accidents should be outlawed. These injury solicitors are out to line their own pockets as much as they are there to seek compensation for their clients, especially when the minimum payment for their services dwarves the compensation the client will receive. They will take on a potentially bogus case for a quick £750 compensation payment without a second thought if it will make them a quick profit with very little input themselves. A friend of mine recently fell asleep at the wheel and went into the back of a large articulated lorry going only a few mph less than him. There was no appreciable collision, his car got wedged under the back end of the truck, the truck driver noticed there was a bit of a drag effect going on and pulled into the hard shoulder. The truck driver got out and was astonished to find the car wedged into the back end of the truck. No potential for injury to the truck driver at all. My mate's old Mondeo was written off, he got his settlement towards a new car and about a month later he got a letter telling him that the other side's claim for whiplash had been settled with a £600 pre-medical offer. Easy money for the truck driver and a nice little earner for the solicitors involved.

I have a case with them currently and they only seem interested in lining their own pockets and trying to pressurise into a very low and premature settlement before my injuries are cleared up. Once again, they were the recommended firm appointed by the legal cover of my motor premium. Their rates are eye-watering - £275 per hour plus VAT (subject to a minimum billable sum of £2700 + VAT) and the case handler seems to know a lot less about the law and how to structure a complete and concise report than I do. Perhaps I am in the wrong job, earning approximately £14 per hour. I suspect the legal cover get a sizeable lumper everytime Carpenters is used. 2 months after the non fault motor accident I had (I was hit by a third party, they immediately accepted liability), a medical examination was arranged. I had been expressly told to tell everything that happened, symptoms etc. 8 mins into the appointment I am hurried out of the door - obviously my allocated time was up, but not everything was said, and much of what was said was not included in their report. I contacted Carpenters immediately upon receipt of report to mention all of the omissions so that perhaps they could get it amended. Heard nothing back for 2 months. They have tried to apply pressure to accept a derisory offer which is approximately half of what they expect to receive for only a handful of letters sent and arrangement of the sub-standard medical examination, before I am anywhere close to recovery. Their focus appears to be to screw the 3rd party for themselves and their own client's welfare seems to come a very distant second to that. They would rather get £3k now for themselves with a few hours work and get me £1500 before I am recovered rather than take 6 months to a year for me to maybe be fully recovered and to receive compensation which relates to injuries sustained and endured over a period and make them work a full 10 hours for their £3k. How I wish i'd avoided them and appointed someone else. Legal cover for car insurance seems to me like a waste of £20 per year. If you're at fault they do nothing for you (fair enough), but when you are not at fault, they seem to provide the same service a no-win-no-fee place would charge you nothing for (and would probably do a better job of it, seeing as they have to do a good job to get paid - Carpenters terms state that someone will be liable to pay them no matter the outcome).