This isn’t an internet scam – it’s a telephone scam, posted by a fellow member of a small email based forum I belong to. This isn’t a round robin, hoax warning. This was posted by a member after it actually happened to her. I have little to add apart from her recommendation – take a look at this thread on the Money Saving Expert forum http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=38298346 .
Don’t engage in conversation with these scammers. Just put the phone down.
This is what happened to her in her own words:
“I just had a quite unpleasant ten minute phone call on my mobile phone from a man who knew my name and address and mobile number – and wouldn’t tell me how he knew these things! He just said airily “oh, mobile numbers aren’t ex directory” but only about 8 people know my number!
This man said he was from a government related company called Lifestyle Claims and which, he claimed, is also part of the Ministry of Justice.
He claimed to get me refunds based on payment protection interest paid on mortgages/credit cards over the years, even though I’d never taken out such payment protection!!!
…………this man just would not get off my phone. I told him to get off my line.
He told me he wanted 145 pounds plus VAT to chase my ‘refund’ which he was positive I was due, and that my refund would be many hundreds, possibly a couple of thousands of pounds.
While he was talking, I somehow was able to google Lifestyle Claims. The first web page google brings up is their own, and he got very excited that I had found their website.
The second website on google is the following which is much more cautionary and tells that this is a SCAM to please do be aware if someone rings you: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=38298346
….Please be aware as this seems a very current scam, and ensure you read the warnings on the money saving expert forum re LIFESTYLE CLAIMS – and never give out any money up front to claim back ‘refunds’ on PPI insurance, mortgage interest etc”
hello my name is ahmad you rang me 4 weeks ago you say you want to help me and when i find out you not helping any1 you just rep me off 300pds on my credits card because of your company bank charged me 300pds onb the top i dont need your help actually i want as soon as poissible return that money on my accounts your collect call me she lies too much she told me your company belong to government your record everything if you dont want to the money as soon as poissible i will send 1000pds to take you to court and i will write watchdog as well please i dont need your help put the money back as soon as poissible i did not receive any letter from you for 4 weeks ago i dont need any help from your company you destroyed my life i own 600pds to the bank because of you
i used to work for those cowboys and they are miss selling to there customers i thought when i started they was a good company untill i found out what they was all about i warn people do not be fooled by these total con artists
honestly when i say this but some of u guys really havent got a clue ! if a company is regulated by a goverment body such asa the MOJ(ministry of justice)then they hav strict regulations to adhere to ! So the bottom line is if u r too lazy like most people r to do these claims urself then my advice is to use a company like this ! regardless of what others may say 70% of something is far better than 100% of nothing so u people that r guessing about whether or not lifestyle is real or scam use ur brains and think to urself, if that is the truth all those customers that hav taken the service up, y is it they arent on here kicking off stating they have maxed their customers cards ?
I have read the so called comment made from Stuart Mac dated the 16th August.I for my sins took on the services of Lifestyle Claims last September,and was sold a very good pitch by one of there sales team of there services.For the last 6 weeks i have been chaseing up my refund with no avail,after numerous contact with different members of there staff,all telling me my cheque would be on its way in 30 days!I like probaly many more suckers checked them out on the internet,and saw and thought they were a bonifide Company,and now find out to my cost that it is a scam!Stuart Mac must be a employer the way he supports them,you never know i might yet have to retract my comments if i ever get my money back but i doubt it.
mr brennan you need to ring there customer service number and chase it up. excactly the same thing happens when u put in a accident claim through your car insurance company for injurys! you wait for a year some times. the banks are ass holes there taking there time dont blame lifestyle how on earth could they be a scam when they are fully regulated by a governing body! please you ignorent idiots of winging british public need to stop being complete girls and relax get in contact and u will get your wonga! nuff said
Following my previous comments made on this site dated the 24th August,re Lifestyle Claims.
I can now confirm that i have at last received my long awaited cheque,banked it and it has cleared into my account.
So as promised i now say SORRY to Lifestyle for doubting them,but would add if they took more time in replying to their clients it would not create the doubt which occured in my mind,that i was being lead up the garden path!
(Chris Becks you no nothing)
Con artists, who cold call people and offer to re-claim their PPI for a high upfront fee. In fact, you can re-claim your own PPI without paying any fee.
They also trade as Lifestyle Claims, Client Connection Ltd and Cento Client Management.
Here’s a link to their Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=52202046567
Here’s an e-mail address: recruitment@cellcomcommunications.co.uk
And another e-mail address: recruitment4cellcom@gmail.com
Here’s a website: http://www.lifestyleclaims.net/
I am a 59 year old single woman and I live with my 83 year old mother. Our combined income is small but sufficient.
In brief; two years ago, I had never heard of PPI so when on 7th October 2009, I was ‘cold’ called by a young man by the name of Adam Carsley working for a company called Cento Client Review (Compensation Claims Specialists) I listened with interest; which ultimately cost me dear.
Adam and I had a very long conversation about my past financial situation. I told him that I had moved house three times after my divorce and that it would be virtually impossible for me to find any information about insurances, banks, mortgages, loans, credit cards etc from that far back! However, I agreed ultimately (after some hard persuasion… call it bullying if you like) to pay the £149.99 fee for the claim forms that I had to complete that would enable the company’s solicitors to work on my behalf. I was told, categorically, that my fee would be refunded if Cento were unable to make any successful claims on my behalf.
Some days later, I received the forms in the post and my initial reaction, briefly looking at the content of them (and not reading any further,) was total confusion and dismay but I began a search for information anyway. As I thought the case might be, I found no paperwork that would be relevant or useful to Cento to enable them to work on my behalf. I returned the forms having filled in as much information as possible, and ultimately giving them 12 ‘leads’ with further cheque payments for searches, and a covering letter.
On 14th December 2009, after 3 emails and one surface letter accompanying the claim forms I telephoned Cento’s customer services number for the 3rd time; (the first and second times I was told that someone would call me back, but no one ever did,) asking when I would receive my £149.99 refund. I was then asked to call another department on another number! Why had I not been asked to call this number before?? So, I spoke to a lady by the name of Kirsty who said she is the ‘first point of contact’ and I could call her at any time. I asked when I would be receiving my refund and she proceeded to provide information that was completely new to me… i.e. as I had missed the 14 day cooling off period for returning the documents I had forfeited my opportunity to receive the refund! The covering letter (which incidentally does not state the 14 day cooling off period) for the claim forms was dated the 07-10-09 which is the day I paid the fee. I am absolutely sure that the letter did not arrive the day after and if it arrived the day after that I would be surprised. So I can count on at least a 2 day discrepancy in my 14 day cooling off option. Something else that I was unaware of came as a further blow during my conversation with Kirsty as I was certainly NOT told by Adam Carsley during his original telephone call that if their solicitors were successful in making a claim on my behalf, 30% of it would go to them, but it is there in the proverbial ‘small print’! Now, if this information were forthcoming during my initial conversation I would have been just as flabbergasted then as I was that day and would have immediately said that I did not want to partake in this scheme (and I have to say, scheme is absolutely the best word to use on this occasion) … 30%!!!! Therefore, they are saying that if, for example, my claim was worth £12,000, I would be giving away to their solicitors £4,000 of my money!! Or, if they had recovered £30,000 I would be giving away £10,000??
Nearly 2 years to the day… I have been advised that my bank paid a sum of £26.50 into my credit card account in May and Lifestyle Claims want £9.38 of it! What was the £149.99 for that I paid initially???!
I actually received a rare phone call from a woman at Lifestyle demanding the £9.38 and threatening to take me to court if I didn’t pay it, because I had signed the document which allowed them to take 30% of any claim that is refunded to me. I asked her to take it out of the £149.99 but she gave me a lot of waffly bollocks about why they couldn’t do that!
I have subsequently heard from my bank that the last and final claim for a credit card is worthless and PPI cannot be traced for it. It will now be interesting to see whether I do actually receive a refund of my £149.99!!!
How stupid was I!!!
like sea shells i`v been a stupid there phone me 2yrs ago and i paid them 220pds and when i phone i get told someone will phone me back there don`t and there keep sending me forms to fill in there all the same forms.There keep telling me it`s in the hands of there solicitors i just whis now i look them up on this website now i never got any money back
There seems to be some hysteria here. When I was called, the salesperson claimed that all mortgages were sold with PPI which they will claim back for me.
I took on their services and did my own research in the meantime. I found out my mortgages were not sold with PPI, so there was nothing they could do for me. I called them up, told them this and cancelled our agreement and they refunded me 4 weeks later as promised. No big deal.
YOU GUYS R MAD. IF U AINT HAD YOUR WONGA BACK U AVE THERE MOJ NUMBER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT MORE DO U WANT PLUS CREDIT CARD INDEMNITY !!!! GET FULL REFUND.BARRY GOOD WORK MATE HAPPY SPENDING
i took on the services of this company and after looking online didnt like what ppl were saying about them, called to cancel and refunded my money straight away
Lifestyle claims is a scam… They will be closed down in 12 months! keep all your money and declare themselves bankrupt! Yes they have a good website, however I can make a website in under 30 minutes and put it online too.
The sales pitch we had was full of holes and full of lies.
1. They said that they would get all interest charges from mortgages and credit cards, and that the charges were illegal and unfair. However I knowing entered into the agreement with the credit companies!
2. They said that I would be entitled to over £3500 in claimed back charges, however they have no idea how many charges, if any, have been charged to me. Alarm bells ringing.
3. Told to pay £350 up front! Alarm bells ringing.
4. They got my details from a friend who had already paid them and they called me 20 minutes later. 8 googled them. I’m a fanatical adviser and all the details they had given me were incorrect. They prey on the week and sorry to say. Stupid.
5. I told my friend to call back and get a refund, they cut him off 3 times and then ‘Steve’ was out of the office.
6. He quoted their terms and conditions about the 14 day cooling off period and they said that they could not refund yet and a letter had to sent to them advising off the cancelation….I guess that they think you will miss then14 day cooling off period.
How is it they can claim to get you £3500 back in charges but cannot even refund your own money from them….WHY….cause they are scammers.
If you use any common sense you will not use this company.
In response to the other replies that claim that this company is reputable, they work for them, they have an invested interest to back up the company.
“The Ministry of Justice has responsibility for different parts of the justice system – the courts, prisons, probation services and attendance centres. We work in partnership with the other government departments and agencies to reform the criminal justice system, to serve the public and support the victims of crime.
We are also responsible for making new laws, strengthening democracy, and safeguarding human rights.”
They are not financial regulatory bodies!!!!!! They will not help you get your money back from these scam artists.
I hope this at least saves someone from These people who pray on the old, single mothers and the stupid.
I will make a web site now condemning them. That will be worth the £7.50 set up fee!
Oh and I can spell but the iPad corrects things wrongly and I’m infuriated….thankfully that did not correct to I fumigated!
They cold called me today. When I said I would have to contact my cc company they hung up. Enough said.
the dumbest scam ever….they don’t know anything when they call you and suddenly they establish your claim is worth thousands of pounds.they bullshit loads of jargon, which doesn’t make any sense.guys you need to do a little more homework before you can really master this scam.please stay away from these suckers.
I had a lenghty conversation with a welshman from Lifestyle Cliams. He actually talked a load of rubbish. No Win no Fee yet i am supposed to part with over £300 of my hard earned money. If they were so good at getting money back they should do it for free THEN take out their cut. They tell me it is 70% for me 30% for them load of bull. He was as excited as a cat gettibng the cream…not this sucker all he got was sour cream BEWARE of this company….It stinks they should be closed down or regulated correctly……Save your money as you will never get it back….
I had a call from 2 different people claiming to help reclaim the interest back from, credit cards, mortgage and loans as far back as 20 years. During the call I was asked to give details of the date of issue from one of my credit cards to see whether this falls into the varying rules the credit card company’s make up as a new card is issued. Instantly I tell them I had to leave the house, like 5 minutes ago. Does that stop this caller ”NO” they just continue talking to you as though if you hang up, you could miss out on an opportunity which will benefit you. Absolute bullies. Do not fall for this, it’s a wonder how they got my mobile details too.
Your name is honest Chris but you speak bollocks! but weird isnt it! Ministry Of Justice http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/cmr.htm go there its called claims management regulation u thick shit do your research first before you comment!dministrative Justice and Tribunals Council
Court Funds Office
Claims Management Regulation
Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Criminal Cases Review Commission
Commission on a Bill of Rights
HM Courts & Tribunals Service
HM Inspectorate of Prisons
HM Inspectorate of Probation
HM Prison Service
Independent Monitoring Board
Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman
Law Commission
Legal Services Board
Legal Services Commission
Legal Services Consumer Panel
Legal Services Research Centre
Legal Ombudsman
Ministry of Justice
National Offender Management Service
Office of the Public Guardian
Official Solicitor and Public Trustee
Parole Board
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman
Probation Service
Victims’ Commissioner
Youth Justice Board
theres your list of ministry of justice organisations
so not just the ones you mentioned! its a good job your not a solicitor because you wouldnt win a case you dont know anhything about what your talking about! the license is there for your protection! you lot are just the ignorant percent of the uk that needs to put there hand up there squirts and find there balls as these companies are trying to help you get some money back but you lot are so stuck in the old fashion ways scared of your own shadows! busy bodies who only care about digging and digging and digging! money back guarantee! and even for some bizarre reason you dont get your money back if you pay on credit card you have credit card indemnity! so just grow up! kids aye
Am I the only one who can see a similarity between this comment left by “Gordon Gekko” and the one left earlier by “Stuart Mac”?
If these comments are typical of the language and approach used by Lifestyle Claims and their associates, I can see why so many people are unhappy with them.
Has anybody got an email address for lifestyle claims trying to cancel but cant get through on the phone. Been on hold for over 20 mins.