RedReclaims...scammed ?

A question about : RedReclaims...scammed ?

Hi all,

I was contacted in June by a company called RedReclaims. They gave me the usual blah about offering a PPI claim service. This one seemed a little different in that they (for an upfront fee) would trace back through my financial history to locate all credit cards, loans, and mortgages previously held and request copies of all my agreements to see if there were any PPI agreements added without my consent.

This did seem appealing as I have probably lost records on several credit cards used in the past for their 0% interest deals which were then cancelled after a year or so.

Of course I was totally sceptical about this company. I had some long conversations with them about how the process worked, and what would happen if they did not find anything worth claiming to which they said they would refund the full costs of the search to me. I specifically asked this question several times, and recorded all telephone calls with them using an app on my phone.

Additionally I looked into the company, and found no bad references to them online, they were a registered company and were also registered with the financial ombudsman. Doing all I could to check their legitimacy, I agreed to go ahead and paid them the search fee - over Ј300. I made sure this was paid on a credit card.

During the last four months, they did ask for some paperwork, and asked me to sign disclosure documents for each of my main banks and lenders - to allow access to original contracts. Their website had a login part for me, and I could see each of the progressing cases for each of the companies I had had finance from.

I have now received a letter from this company saying they have decided they can no longer offer me a PPI claims service, and that unless I say otherwise, my claim will be transferred to a third party company called Delta Claims.

I have replied to them telling them that I do not accept this - the original contract was with them and them alone to perform the agreed searches and subsequent claims. I have also said that as 4 months has passed and they have been unable to locate any valid claims that I am requesting a refund in full and that my case is closed.

I did try to call them (in the daytime) to discuss this, and what a surprise...I go to a voicemail message saying the offices are only open 9am-5am and to leave a message - and the system then tells me I can't leave a message as the system is full !! I went to their website, and more surprises!...its offline.

I'm trying not to feel like I've totally been scammed here, however it looks like this may be the case.

I have sent the above letter by registered post, and if it is returned or not answered I guess I will be contacting my credit card company to get involved.

Is there a time limit on such claims, and do I have any other options for retrieving these funds ?

Best answers:

• I to have been scammed by Redreclaims of Swansea, they contacted me by name in April this year and they were very, very convincing, I don't easily fall for this type of company. However they originally wanted Ј400 to pursue a claim search etc. and because of the companies I had had loans etc. with they said that unknown to me there would have been hidden PPI's. I parted with only Ј100 and have been in regular contact with them, when you could get through to them which was difficult! by phone, I have just got a letter to tell me they cant take my claim further and advised they would pass my claim on if I DID NOT REPLY WITHIN 14 DAYS. I will be sending a letter asking for a refund and not to pass on my claim. In the mean time I have searched for the company they say they will forward my details to and guess what it does not exisit or they have no connnection with REDRECLAIMS. THEY SUGGESTED I CONTACT THE MINISTRY OF JUSTICE TEL. 012832 33309 which I have done and they have had hundreds of people contacting them over this company redreclaims and so called being passed onto Delta claims, they have taken my details and advised me to claim off my credit card company as REDRECLAIMS have given up their accreditation, which to me means they have gone bust!
  PLEASE POST ANY DETAILS ANYONE HAVE ON HOW TO GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM THIS COMPANY PLEASE
• This company is Redaurum Limited. Its head office is in South Wales - like a disproportionate number of such businesses.
  They surrendered their authorisation to the claims regulator last week.
  You should therefore report the matter to consumer@claimsregulation.gov.uk and also contact your credit card provider for a refund. This can be done via either a chargeback or using Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. The former is probably preferable as it will not leave them out of pocket and, whether you were missild PPI or not, it is not their fault that you were defrauded.
• Thats great, thanks for the info....
  At least I'm not the only one :-)
• Sorry to bump this up but I have had similar problems with this company.
  Much to my shame, I was conned by redreclaim in April this year. They took Ј350 and strung me along until August. In august, they asked me to complete an electronic signature document for a company called Vanquish. I did this and heard nothing for a while.
  Meanwhile, having finally become suspicious I did a bit of research and realised that it was likely that vanquish and redreclaim were the same people (registered at same address,suggestions that they were one and the same online). I telephoned vanquish and asked them if they were in fact redreclaim. They denied that they were. They informed me that the delay in activity by them was due to needing a hard copy of the contract I had signed electronically. I have yet to return this.
  I have also found out that redreclaim no longer exist. I am worried that I have found myself tied to another company run by the same scammers. I appreciate that I have probably lost the money I paid to redreclaim but am very keen to have no obligation to vanquish. I hope that the fact that they have been asking for a hard copy of the contract means that they are not yet able to pursue me for payment for "work " they have done on my behalf.
  Any advice would be greatly appreciated
  Rob
• You can try a charge back with your CC - might work - see the CC forum for advice on this
• Thanks, I'll have a read on the cc forum.
• Hi, I have also been done out of Ј350 by Red Reclaims who have passed my details on to Vanquish Claims. I have contacted HSBC and initially they fobbed me off saying that as the charge was over 6 months old they couldnt do anything which i have since argued and they have now sent me the paperwork to complete so they can investigate. The HSBC advisor said that I needed to find out who the administrators are for Red Reclaims.
  Does anyone know who the administrators are for them?
  Are Vanquish the same shoddy lot?
  Thank you!
• Redreclaims also took money from my husbands account for pursuing a ppi claim on our behalf. They were very convincing and persuasive and I think as soon as my husband out the phone down he knew he shouldn't have parted with money up front. I did some research into the company and immediately lhey looked suspicious to me. I informed my credit card company and contacted redreclaims immediately and asked them to refund my husband and I as we were within the 14 day cooling off period. I had a very lengthily discussion with David king at red reclaims who would simply not tale no for an answer and in the end I put the phone down! I logged a complaint with the ministry of justice who were very interested in what I had to say. Basically they are building a case against them as they are not operating correctly. I followed their advice and immediately sent a letter asking for my money back (still within the cooling off period and send recorded delivery). I also put a claim through my credit card provider, who would have paid out had I not been refunded. The MoJ followed up on all of my communication directly with Redreclaims, which I feel is why they eventually sent me the refund. I would urge all of you to contact the ministry of justice and follow their advice. If you paid via credit card you should be able to make a claim. Good luck.
• Big thankyou to MAGPIECOTTAGE!!
  I took your advice after also being an idiot and paying Red Reclaims Ј350+Vat of my hard earned money. More annoyingly I'm not one to humour these stupid companies but they were so good at selling their s*!t!! Giving me information on various different loans and credit cards I had had and convincing me I was the perfect candidate, and on the basis of a no win fee back promise I stuipidly took the bait!! Grrrr!
  Anyway on a positive the money was returned to my credit card today thanks to the advice of Magpiecottage! I researched credit card charge backs on this forum and used a template letter they supply. Initially I got a reply back from Tesco credit card asking for further evidence which fortunatly I was able to supply as I had an email from red reclaims confirming that if I didnt recieve any PPI I would get a refund.
  So all I can say to the fellow idiots put in a little effort using this website and get your money back!!!
  I would also like to say I am so embarressed that I fell for this bull s*!t company that I havent even told any close friends or family of my stupidness!
  Many many thanks to this website ;-)
• Redreclaims ARE Vanquish Claims,
  I made the unfortunate mistake of falling for the speel of Gareth Willams 1 of their sales reps.
  He spoke so quickly with his welsh accent saying he needed to verify me by taking Ј1.00 from my bank.
  Next day Ј287.00 had been taken. They played a recording back to me where it appears I knew they were going to do this.
  I did not.
  Over the next year I was in weekly contact with them and was made to feel like a Mushroom (fed on Bullsh*t)
  Even when they got negative responses frm banks ect saying there was no PPI. They said they maybe lying and they were reapplying.
  This was a delaying tactic to avoid paying me back my deposit.
  I drove to their badly managed and chaotic unit to confront David King, the manager.
  He too talks convincing bull.
  But I plagued them with calls, emails and searched the people up using Electorial Registers and found their home address's and told them this.
  They got very worried
  I continued with a barrage of phone calls and played them at their own game, recording all calls.
  Then I struck gold with this
  Rebecca forgot to put me on hold.
  I had a recording of her and others admitting there was no PPI for me and due to the menacing manner of my calls they should just pay me back my deposit.
  This was scattered with very colourful language fom Rebecca too.
  BINGO I HAD THEM BY THE BALLS.
  Sent them a copy of recording and got my money back a few days later.
  I doubt I would of got it back at all.
  These people are leeches and scam merchants who cheat honest vulnerable people out of money, with no intention of ever paying deposits back if they can get away with it.
  Most people would give up after a year or so, and them changing names helps them.
  They admitted to me (recorded) that Vanquish Claims was a rebranding, but in all honesty it's probably how they get people to give up chasing their money.
  Avoid at all costs.
  Quote:
• after near 2 years of chasing this company , my bank constantly refusing I think I am now getting it back . . For anyone asking if they can still claim this back.. answer is yes. the company has only stopped trading since September so really you could have done nothing before that, as banks argued that the company redreclaims was still providing their service so you had no grounds to claim. . . But now they have stopped trading . . next my bank made me jump though another loop . . the banks also said that redreclaims did do their service and it was the refund that was the issue... in their defense they said redreclaims had sent me to other companies which was them doing their service . . which is total crap, they took your money , added you name and details to another ppi companies files and that was it, nata, nothing else they did apart from ignor you and get you to call their premium phone line numbers... they did not look into the ppi or anything to do with it at all , even though they said it was themselves.
  ok now onto the next bit.. to claim via argument of none refund , do you still have the very first email they sent, should say at the bottom about their agreement about the refund if they couldn't claim back more than you paid they would refund you your upfront fee.... That's the key letter for claiming back under the refund procedure...
  I still don't understand why the bank wouldn't in my case use section 75 fully,under lack of service, they wiggled and wiggled to get out of it . . . I supplied them with every detail I could.
  also just to confirm vanquish is redreclaims just rebranded . . . use google maps to check it out on the addresses . .
  if I can give you any help like send you a copy of that first email they sent so you can see what it looks like, send me a message .
  someone asked is their a time limit. . . banks would argue yes, but this company closed in September, so their was nothing your bank would have done before that anyway, as redreclaims were so called still doing their service but now they are shut, tada - -now I argued it all
  I would ask anyone else to contact bbc watchdog about this company .. the more bbc gets the more likely they will look into this, iv already submitted paperwork and email copies to them
• Another huge thanks to Magpiecottage - thanks to your advice, I was refunded my Ј385 today.
• Redaurm Limited, trading as Red Reclaims had one Jonathan McCarthy (born March 1973) as a director from 17 October 2011 to 1 December 2012.
  On 2 November 2012 he became a director of Vanquish Corp Limited.
  Redaurum has now been dissolved.
  McCarthy was the sole shareholder in Redaurum and is now the sole shareholder in Vanquish Corp.
  They are, though, two distinct legal entities.
  So, rob-81, if you think you really do have a valid complaint, you are free to do it yourself as you have no contract with Vanquish Corp.
  If you win then you get to keep all the redress.
  Anybody who paid an upfront fee on a credit card should now make a Section 75 claim as they will not receive a service or refund from Redaurum/Red Reclaims.