A question about : Anyone heard of a claim management company called ifonic?
I've received a cold called from a company called ifonic. Apparently for a Ј495 fee (which would be charged on to my credit card) they could get me a minimum of Ј5400! But they wanted my card details first. All this because they believed my mortgage advisor received a bonus from my mortgage lender for arranging the mortgage. Is this company legit??
Best answers:
- I would be very suspicious of a cold caller, and would not give them my card details. Let's see if we can find anything...
- Even if they are genuine, MSE can help you to claim yourself, so you save the fee.
- It seems they are calling everyone about everything: forget them.
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Just had a call from this number from a welsh guy saying he was from iPhone claims or sounded like that anyway. He was very vague about what they do. But when asked if it was to do with ppi claims he said no but you can claim for any agreement, I asked what kind of agreement he said anything like car loans mortgage etc. told him I hadn't got anything like that do hung up on him. Seriously fed up of being cold called as I'm listed with the TPS but it diesn't stop them..."
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01792828773## - This is a company called Cerys-Angharad Limited of Swansea - capital of the fraudulent ambulance chasing world.
I recommend you report your experiences to consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk - Had a call from these guys today. Am registered with TPS but they dont care. Am fed up will cold callers. So..........
.....wasnt doing anything this afternoon, so decided to waste their time as they waste mine every time the phone rings. Yes I have a Ј250k mortgage, a Barclaycard, a TSB card, a Halifax card, a car loan , more credit cards, a re-mortgage, previously had an egg card, a Conran Card, have a Natwest loan, something with Norwich and Peterborough.....and on it went.
I could hear the bloke at the other end slavering.
Eventually he told me that my ten credit cards would lead to a refund of Ј18k, and the loan another Ј5k.
Then it all changed. "Have you ever heard of the Telephone Preference Service" Yes but we were given your number so it doesnt apply.
"Who by". The Government Department who regulates us.
"Did I ask you to phone me". No
"So its a cold call then" Not really.
"And do you respect the TPS notice" No and its a good job we dont because you'd be losing out on a lot of money
"Actually what Ive told you over the past half hour is fiction. Ive not paid interest on a card in 30 years, the mortgage is paid off, I bought my car with cash, never had a bank loan"
Turned out he wasnt that amused that I had wasted his time. I told him that I was fed up with cold callers who wouldnt take me off their list, and I assumed that they would now do so. - brilliant froggitt
- My wife was recently cold called by a company called Ifonic Claims regarding substantial claims she was entitled to with respect to mis-sold PPI. Having peaked her interest they said they would call again the next day.
The next day they managed to persuade her to part with Ј990 from her credit card. This represented “10 verification fees” relating to 10 loans or credit cards that they had established she had used. What was most disturbing was the lack of proper care taken by the company to determine whether: - They would be able to carry out a verification on the cards discussed
- There was any chance of a potential claim
- I too was cold called and fell for the quote of at least Ј11,500 coming my way. Unfortunately I wasn't functioning as I would normally due to other distractions and lots of other priorities that were occuppying my mind. Yes I gave my card details and Ј990 was duly deducted from my card.
On latter playing the inconsistancies of the conversations that I had, back in my mind I telephoned to cancel. The guy with whom I spoke to was an out and out blagger expaining that this was not a cold call because they are not selling double glazing and that as they are registered with Ministry of Justice they are within thier rights to do this! Having asked for my money back and canceling Ifonics services, there was a complete refusal. I responded with the fact that I intend to report the company to the Fraud squad. I have also alerted the fraud department of my card company.
I can not understand how I fell for this. But certainly the information given in earlier threads with regards to not revealing your card number to anybody is valid.
As a further comment Ifonic claims are a subsidery of Cerys - Angharad Ltd. Looking at this companies assets it would appear that this is no more or less but a scam - legalised or otherwise. - Reviews are not meant to be disguised advertising, of course.
I've yet to see ANY reviews of Claims Management Companies published here other than MSE advising not to use them at all.
All CMCs are regulated by the Ministry Of Justice, just as they all charge exorbitant commission for basically putting a stamp on the complaint envelope.
As for a ninety day turnaround, the Banks have eight weeks to respond to complaints and don't respond any quicker to claims companies.
This is a money saving site, not a money wasting one. - I have today been contacted by the said company, promptly telling them that I had my hands full with my toddler to be told it would literally take 2 minutes to explain. 40 Minutes later I was off the phone by this time toddler climbing the walls! I don't know what I was thinking but also gave my card details so the Ј990 could be charged to it for ten claims, rewards totalling nearly Ј15,000. I have now read the threads on here and am panicking, I know you can do the claims yourselves but I decided I will never get round to it, having a young child. The worry is that this company aren't who they say they are and now have all my details including credit card info. and are taking Ј990!
- I have also recently been cold called by Ifonics, it all sounded sort of legitimate at first given the number of calls I've had advising me that I can claim free loft insulation, wall insulation, money towards a boiler etc. why wouldn't the government want me to know I could reclaim bank charges, interest insurance.
I did tell them that:
a) I did know and thank you for prompting me to look into it, I would be onto this site straight away. Reply, they have a XXX% better success rate
b)Don't have loans, outstanding interest, car finance etc, etc. Reply: Everyone has something when they think about it.
c) yes we have a mortgage - see point a
d)One previous mortgage was in my husbands name, as are the 2 credit cards so I couldn't give them authorisation anyway. Reply: It would be all right to do the initial searches and my husband would surely authorise it when he saw how much money we could get back.
e) We could reclaim it ourselves - have done with ppi we are fairly financially astute - particularly my husband who deals with financial contracts regularly via work. Reply: Why would justice dept. licence companies like this if it was easy you need their specialist knowledge..
f) We never agree to anything without seeing it in writing first. Replay: we have to charge an admin charge to produce the documents to deter time wasters.
The next bit is the bit I really object to!
At this point the not so subtle psychology came in. At mention of my husband he asked if I was one of those 'old fashioned' women who likes 'hubby' to take care of all financial matters. Suddenly I was 'dear' and 'love' and there were lots of insinuations that I dare not act alone without my husbands consent, he implied I was worried my husband would be angry if I went ahead without asking him.
Fortunately, because I was wasting far too much time by now, this is the perfect way to put my back up. I told him I didn't consider his tone to be very professional, that the whole thing sounded completely dodgy, I doubted the Justice Dept approved of trying to charge such outrageous fees up front and put the phone down.
My one conciliation is that I probably wasted as much of his time time as he did mine. - Sorry Cliff, but that seems to be a standard response from you/your company, especially after I used the above post as a basis for my email to yourself regarding the fraudulent (my opinion) actions of your company, when they debited Ј990 from my 86 year old father in law, who's deaf and suffers from dementia.
I think the post should be kept there as an aid for anyone else who may have any dealings with either yourself of your company. It is a helpful & informative post and I personally see no reason to remove it. Besides if it had been deemed defamatory or in breach of these boards rules, the post would of already been removed.
It seems that your solicitor will be a busy bunny over the next few weeks. - They are not defamatory. Magpiecottage was telling a poster what to write in a complaint to your company. In effect, a template letter. Quite ironic that you are getting upset about a template letter when you consider what you send out.
8 of the cards for which they charged her were in my name and she is not party to the credit agreement, merely an approved secondary user. 6 of the cards have never charged me a penny of charges of any sort, interest or other, so I fail to see what I could claim back given all I have received from them is free credit.
Having called them as soon as I discovered what my wife had done, I was told that I needed to wait for documents then return them. I did this and expected them to process the full refund as agreed. When I called, I was told that the refund would take up to 31 days and the reason given was that the credit card company could take this long. I asked how long they would take to process the refund and was told the FD’s department dealt with this. I asked to speak to someone from the FD’s department and was told they were not client facing. I have never come across a credit card company that takes any longer than a few days to clear a refund, once requested by the vendor.
To date, after 26 days they have not processed the refund from their end.
I cannot recommend enough that you avoid these people. They seem wholly dishonest, trying to obtain money under false pretences which, when you try to recover it, they will then keep as long as they can. This is just my experience and the opinion that my dealings with unpleasant representatives of the company who seem to care nothing for those that whom they claim to represent.
The representatives I dealt with talked in vitriolic terms about banks and their practices but told me on the phone they take 22% of a claim, even though they have to add VAT to that making it in fact 26.4% (seems as bad a practise as bloating interest charges with PPI). They also say you will get your verification fee back when talking to you, either deducted from the claim if successful or from them if it is not, as you supposedly cannot end up worse off they say by law. This is contradicted on their site. Also when you put in multiple claims they talk as though all claim payments will be treated as one, therefore not returned by them for each unsuccessful claim.
I do not know if I will successfully get my money back – I have had to raise a claim through my credit card company – but would say that the misery and anxiety this substantial theft (as it currently stands) has caused has been considerable and I would hate others to suffer similarly.
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