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Telly addicts

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Original poster

More on the show we love to hate " heir hunters"!

23 replies

BadgersArse · 31/07/2009 13:05

right today i was watching it ( whilest supposedly packing) and was stunned by the dumbed down ness of it.
Bloke says to camera " well it seems he was illgetimate so we cant find out who his dad was" ( or something like that)

then the ponderous narration( by LIsa "head in fryer" Faulkener) says " as Jimmy parents were not married when he was born they have no way of knowing who his father was"

well dur

and WHY are the heir hunters always in a hurry?
what is the rush? If an estate is two years old why is that twatty Elton or whoever he is rushign around?

OP posts:

flashharriet · 31/07/2009 13:13

Isn't it because there are other firms chasing the same case, so whoever identifies the heir(s) first gets the commission, so to speak?

Original poster

BadgersArse · 31/07/2009 13:14

I wonder.
id make em wait

OP posts:

PortAndLemon · 31/07/2009 13:14

They are in a hurry because the other heir hnting companies are also trying to find the same beneficiaries, and if they don't hurry they arrive second, after another company has signed up the person, and don't get any money out of it.

Tinker · 31/07/2009 13:41

The estate may be 2 years old but the details will only have been released by teh Treasury on a particualr Thursday There is an awful lot of padding in it.

MadreInglese · 31/07/2009 13:42

wtf is heir hunters??

Terpsichore · 31/07/2009 13:56

I too have seen this, and been stunned by it.....though I had to laugh at the ep I saw (dh and I didn't sit down specially to watch it , but got so horribly fascinated that we had to see what happened). One of the said heir-hunters was 'on the trail' of someone and it was (naturally) a 'race against time'......only the silly wazzock got his car boxed in at the local record office, and had to hang around to get someone to let him out before finally racing dramatically off down the motorway to try and get to the supposed 'heir' before anyone else did. There was no answer so he sat outside the house for hours and hours as it got dark and the voiceover got more and more urgent about how VITAL it was for him to make contact.

Turned out he was waiting outside the wrong house and one of the rival firms got to the right person instead.

MadreInglese · 31/07/2009 14:35

do they hunt for heirs to inherit long lost estates or something?

Jux · 31/07/2009 14:55

Do you think this is the nadir of tv programme quality, and it might start to rise now? Or are there as yet unplumbed depths to be lived through?

Original poster

BadgersArse · 31/07/2009 15:38

ah i see.
I wonder what the comission is.
fi two folk where outside my house id make them both come and do a nice powerpoint abotu their service.
Or maybe a dance.
to make em pay

OP posts:

MadreInglese · 31/07/2009 15:40

they get commission? good god there is some crud on tv, I'm glad we only have 5 channels

Terpsichore · 31/07/2009 15:42

Bizarrely enough, I have actually had dealings with a firm of 'heir hunters'. A few years ago my Dad got a letter out of the blue saying that there was some money from the estate of a relative of his, but you had to sign an agreement to let the firm take their cut before they'd even tell you who it was. At first we were convinced it was a scam - this was before the programme unveiled the jaw-dropping truth that there was indeed a whole industry of these people - but in fact it was genuine, from the estate of a long-estranged relative, and he received a few hundred pounds eventually (sadly, not a massive fortune).

Of course, if you had the required nous, I presume you could do the research yourself and claim it anyway, without the firms being able to do much about it?

Katisha · 31/07/2009 15:43

As chance would have it I saw the end of this for the first time today. Couldn't really believe it!

I want to know how much money was coming to those 4 women and how much the heir hunters take?

DjangoTheDjinn · 31/07/2009 15:45

Tis BBC1 unfortunately.

Isn't the complete pits. That was a show a while back in the same morning slot where they tried to find long lost relatives. Only saw it once and they were trying to trace a woman who had given up a baby for adoption. They had her name and date of birth so instead of just tracking her down they found 3 women with the same name, did a shit version of Blind Date where they all sat behind a crap curtain and they asked questions and analysed their voices and nose shapes and compared to the poor farking son who was looking for her. Why not ask them the pertinent question 'did you give up a child for adoption' and have done with it. Or better still, feck off and don't make TV programmes out of real and fragile lives you vulturistic twats.

DjangoTheDjinn · 31/07/2009 15:46

The heir hunters can only ask for a cut, you aren't obliged to give it.

Katisha · 31/07/2009 15:48

But then you have to do your own reseatch presumably.
It does all sound deeply unethical. it shouldn't be a profit-making business surely?

Terpsichore · 31/07/2009 15:54

It's probably much easier to do yourself these days thanks to the various genealogy websites. But I suppose if you had a really big family with lots of distant branches, it would be hard to be sure exactly who was leaving the money.

MadreInglese · 31/07/2009 15:55

BBC1 really? Gawd, thought it sounded like Sky-type bollocks

TheProfiteroleThief · 31/07/2009 16:01

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

giraffesCantRunA10k · 31/07/2009 16:15

I think its really funny whent hey are so smug about how close they are to finishing and then they find out its all wrong and have to start again

Original poster

BadgersArse · 31/07/2009 16:18

i remember the adoption show
there was a heir hunters dealing in Holocaust victims last week I saw (always whle cleaning bedroom) adn that was the worst

OP posts:

Tinker · 31/07/2009 16:39

Why is it unethical? Serious question. These are estates left by people who are generally fairly unknown, if at all, to the heirs. Is teh govt meant to undertake a service to track all these heirs down at no cost? The message though is make a will.

Katisha · 31/07/2009 16:46

The race to get the heir to sign up seems unethical.
It feels as if there should be a better way of going about it rather than staking out people's houses, springing stuff on them and then telling them they have to sign away a cut before they get any more info.
It would make me think it was a scam.

Tinker · 31/07/2009 16:50

Hmm, having a few lined up outside your home seems unseemly but not sure there's a way around that if list only issued weekly

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