‘No win, no fee’... so why must I now pay for service?
R.M. writes: As you will see from the advertisement I am sending you, Investor Compensation (UK) Limited clearly says it offers a ‘no win, no fee’ service to people wanting to reclaim payment protection insurance premiums. I sent the company my bank account details, but now it says it cannot proceed with the claim and that I have broken a contract, even though I never signed one, and I must pay a cancellation fee of £146. YOU are quite right that the advertisement says ‘No win – No fee’ in large type. But far smaller print at the foot of the page adds: ‘Fee payable for any cancelled claim or after an offer of redress has been made by the lender.’ I could not read the small print without a magnifying glass.
However, Investor Compensation says it did go over its terms and conditions with you when you made your first telephone enquiry.
It then sent you a printed version, and two documents to sign. One was a letter authorising anyone who had charged payment protection insurance to accept a claim on your behalf from the firm. The other was an agreement which said you accepted Investor Compensation’s terms of service. Both documents bear your signature.
Carl Miller, of Investor Compensa- tion, has explained that after enquiries were begun on your behalf, more information was needed but you did not provide it or reply to written requests. It is fair to regard that as being the same as a cancellation.
However, Investor Compensation tells me it has now scrapped its bill as a gesture of goodwill.