No win no fee scam

[Hugsandsmiles]

Hi,

I was called by a no win no fee person from a call centre telling me he can get me compensation for personal injury and it will not cost me anything and its a free service. I didn't want to make any claim but he kept on hassling me. I spoke to someone stating they were from a law firm only once and didn't pursue it any further. I received a bill from the company stating I need to pay them £1,500 for doing absolutely nothing. They are threatening to take me to court as well. This is affecting my mental health and wellbeing.
I would be very grateful for any help and advice please?

So you DID sign the form allowing them to act for you.
I imagine it said that if you didn't proceed you would owe them money.
Who were they going to tey and get compensation from for you? and for what?

This is really confusing. OP if you didn't sign and they are saying you did then ask for the proof. You need to act on this, whether to complain or to make a payment plan. It isn't going to go away if you ignore it. Did you contact them yesterday?

No I didn't sign the form I sent him an email to say I only want to apply for personal injury and sent him.my bank details. It was because someone reversed into my car in 2023.

Yes he was emailing me and harassing me. He sent me a copy of the email I sent to him with my bank details on it and where I said I only wanted to make a claim for personal injury. He didn't attach any authority form or retainer agreement he said I had signed because there isn't one. He was trying to blackmail me using the email I sent to him.

You need to ask for a copy of the no win no fee agreement, and if they're unable to provide you with a signed copy then just reply and say you've not agreed to proceed, haven't signed anything to say you wanted to proceed and they don't have a valid retainer.

It sounds as though there's been some crossed wires here. But it's not helpful for you to bury your head in the sand and just keep saying "it's a scam"....

You sound like you've gone down a conspiracy theory rabbit hole.

What have you done since you started this thread to try and resolve matters?

They are scammers. If you go on their website and click on to reviews you will see how many people have said they have scammed them and that they are a horrible company and are they even legal?

There wasn't a no win no fee agreement even emailed to me.

Wording of your email may be deemed authority to go ahead. You do really need to establish if that is all they are acting upon. Did you at any point tell them you were not pursuing the claim and can you prove it.

I've done nothing but worry myself and extreme anxiety and depression and trauma and panic attacks. Can't sleep feel awful and suicidal. Can't believe they've done to me. I am going through trauma and shock.

I did look at their reviews and they appear to be a legitimate solicitors and I've not seen people saying they're a scam.

Again, what have you done to resolve this apart from slander the company on Mumsnet repeatedly saying they're a scam?

Kindly, you need to do something to help yourself because the situation isn't just going to go away. Contact CAB, or reply to the email asking for a copy of the document you've supposedly signed. But repeatedly posting on here saying it's a scam isn't going to achieve anything.

There are plenty of people on Trustpilot accusing them of scamming.

OP do you have a relative or friend who can help you work through the suggestions offered in this thread? If you can’t get your head round this a hand hold by a responsible person would help.

Yes, but a quick look at some of those complaints suggests that they are from people who don't understand how slowly the legal system works and are blaming the company for delays which may be outside of their control. Several of the complaints are, to put it kindly, very unclear and poorly written.

If I was you. I'd submit a Subject Access Request for all dealing and a formal complaint. Once the compliant has been responded to take it the ombudsman. These law firms shouldn't be using harassment to get people to sign up - they are the scummy end of the legal profession.

Which is what you expect when a law firm preys on people with a low level of legal "literacy". It is not acceptable for lawyers to seek out these people to abuse them.

I have done a lot as well making phone calls and trying to sort this out. I've got a lot on my plate and I'm not accusing them of scamming me. They have scammed me. The person who was making phone calls to me and was harassing me to make a claim, where is he now? Does he even exist? Both of his numbers are out of use. How genuine is that? It's a horrible company. And where did they get my number from? Isn't that a scam?

Unfortunately OP, however they got your number and however they contacted you, you DID engage with them. You did reply to their email saying you wanted to claim for personal injury. And you provided your bank details as requested. That looks like you instructing them to proceed.

You’ve had good advice from PP about requesting a copy of the signed form. If it cannot be provided, you are in a stronger position (possibly not out of the woods given your emailed ‘instruction’ that you wanted to claim for personal injury, but a better position). With this and everything gathered, you can go to CAB for support.

But if you don’t engage with the solicitors and inform them that you do not agree that you signed up, they will keep perusing you and it could turn into a debt recovery situation.

There’s no point sticking your head in the same and just getting more and more worked up. Contact them as suggested by PP and try and close it down.

If they cold called you they may have your details shared from insurance companies if you made a claim. You may have inadvertently agreed to this data sharing. However, it is too late to fret about that at the moment. Your priority is to establish whether you entered into an agreement for them to act in a personal injury claim, what records of communications with you they kept and any work done on your behalf. A DSAR is probably the best way to get that and may include recordings of the phone calls as well as paperwork. Use their complaints process and submit a DSAR although that might take a month or so. You can review this with CAB and decide whether to take it to the ombudsman.

I'm going to go to CAB on Monday to sort it out but its really stressing me out.

I am reading this as a call centre cold caller contacted OP touting for business, this cold caller being a separate entity from the firm of solicitors, but putting business their way. The OP didn't sign a form, she only sent bank details back. The cold caller has engaged the solicitors on behalf of the OP without the OP's authority.

@Hugsandsmiles make an appointment with citizens advice and take all correspondence between you, the cold caller, and solicitors. If you need to take your laptop to show the email chain do that.

In the meantime try not to worry, if anyone contacts you tell them you are getting advice and ask for everything in writing, don't agree or engage with them over the phone, ask to be emailed/written to for any further communication.

Op , did you make an insurance claim for damage to the car in the accident at the time? Who did the call centre say they were calling from - your insurer, legal team, solicitor? Maybe take correspondence from that claim as well to CAB to create a timeline.

How did they get your details to pursue this against you? It sounds very unethical, they can't bill you for a service they haven't provided.

Did you instruct them or sign anything?

For future reference don't ever send your bank details to anyone when you don't even know why they want them. Just because they asked for them isn't reason to send them. That's incredibly naive and very strange thing to do