01427858331

To all Readers in case your wondering!!!!

Synergy Legal is run by Express Law of Doncaster Ex Minster Legal Services of Gainsborough Before that Wills and Trust of York and before that Nationwide Legal Services of Sheffield.

Thankyou for reading.

KW

To all Readers

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/337773/Legal-hitch-for-a-dedicated-carer

A COUPLE coping with dementia were plunged into a costly dilemma after paying hundreds of pounds for advice. For the past five years Ivor Price has cared for his wife Carol, an Alzheimer’s sufferer.
As her condition deteriorated the 77-year-old former mining engineer was aware he would need a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) so he could act on her behalf.
No one has the automatic right to manage another person’s affairs if they become incapacitated but this document gives legal sanction to do so.
With all the other demands on him Mr Price had not got round to sorting out an LPA so when he received a cold call from a willwriting company offering the service he welcomed it.
An Express Law adviser went to the couple’s Mansfield home in Nottinghamshire in April and Mr Price paid £450 on the spot.
“I did not know how it all worked until he told me but I made it very clear my wife had Alzheimer’s.

  I am very glad to have got it back. My wife is now in a home

  Ivor Price

"I had to help her sign the form,” Mr Price explained.
More paperwork followed in the post which Mr Price was told his doctor had to sign.
“She said she couldn’t because my wife was not of sound mind so the whole thing fell through,” continued Mr Price.
An LPA always has to be drawn up in advance when the person it concerns has the mental capacity to appoint a trusted representative to act for them if required.
“When I called the company I was told it was too late for the seven-day cooling off cancellation time to apply,” said Mr Price.
“I had to give doctor’s proof my wife had advanced Alzheimer’s.
“My doctor did this but it made no difference.”
With no sign of his refund Mr Price asked Crusader for help at the end June.
“I’m not the expert on the rules. That’s what I paid to get help with,” he said.
“I accept mistakes can be made but once I provided proof I expected to be refunded.”
Crusader contacted Express Law and the company has now returned Mr Price’s £450.
Director Andrew Young said:
“Our representative explained the ramification of a Lasting Power of Attorney to Mr and Mrs Price and it was agreed that Mrs Price understood the full implications of this product.
“We are sorry our client felt the need to contact the Daily Express. However we have already refunded Mr and Mrs Price in full.”
Mr Price, however, remarked: “I kept phoning but heard nothing for weeks.
“Then around the same time as the Daily Express’s Crusader gets involved I am sent my money.”
He added: “I am very glad to have got it back. My wife is now in a home. I realise we should have acted earlier. It would have saved us. I hope others can learn from this.”

Thankyou for reading.

KW

To all Readers for info only

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//wcprodorder?ft=1
EXPRESS LEGAL SOLUTIONS LTD
APPOINTMENT TERMINATED, DIRECTOR ANDREW YOUNG

Thankyou for reading.

KW

I had heard that he has started a new company with his civil partner Alan Benson

To all Readers info only:  http://www.cashquestions.com/threads/13953-Sh ... Legal-Solutions

   My wife and I are both in our 70s, with two grown-up children.

   Is it a good idea to put our liquid assets and house into a trust fund to protect against possible future care home fees?

   I was cold called by Collective Legal Solutions, based in Sheffield. I don't normally have anything to do with cold calls, but when my father went into a care home some years ago he had to pay out substantial fees, which broke his heart.

   I agreed to see a rep of Collective Legal Solutions, who was not a solicitor but part of a franchise system. We received the following quotations:

   Lifetime Property Protection Trust £2995 - VAT
   Power of attorney £130 oper person (possibly four)

   We have arranged another meeting, when my son can be present. If we go ahead, it will cost £4,100, including four powers of attorney, and they want the money up front.

   Do you know if this company is bona fide? Should we get other quotations? I don't want to go chasing solicitors.


   Keith Dawson

Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
19th December 2011, 12:10 PM #2
Teri Harman
Teri Harman is offline
Financial Journalist

Join Date
   Feb 2009
Posts
   383    
Blog Entries
   4

   This is a difficult one and I urge extreme caution. I have no reason to think the company isn't bone fide BUT I had a similar query to yours to my letters' page at Choice magazine where a reader had decided against a Trust. I reproduce below part of the expert's answer:

   You made the right decision not to proceed with transferring your assets into a Trust to avoid care fees as there is certainly no guarantee that this would work and there could be unforeseen consequences and implications in taking such action.

   I would add that the money the firm is asking for is a large sum (and it is relatively simple to do a power of attorney yourself). I know you say you do not wish to "go chasing" solicitors but I suggest you get some independent advice from a solicitor or a fee based IFA specialising in long term care, who has no vested interest in selling you this product. You need to fully understand, firstly that you may be paying a lot of money for a strategy that won't work (the Local Authority could deem the action a 'deliberate deprivation of assets' and treat you as though you still owned them absolutely) and secondly that Trusts have other implications that this company may not have fully explained to you.

Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
19th December 2011, 12:12 PM #3
Jonathan Hill
Jonathan Hill is offline
Certified Financial Planner Milford & Dormor of Chard, solicitors

Join Date
   May 2009
Posts
   279    

   As has been mentioned on here before, the local authorities have strict rules which allow them to disregard any schemes which they deem to be deliberately arranged so as to avoid care fees.

   £4,100 is a substantial amount of money to part with following a cold call from a firm you have not had dealings with in the past, my suggestions would be to speak to a local solicitor who is a member of solicitors for the elderly (SFE) and for you and your family to review the very helpful Alzheimer?s Society short changed report.

Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
9th May 2012, 11:47 AM #4
Daily Express
Daily Express is offline
Question submitted via Daily Express newspaper

Join Date
   Jul 2008
Posts
   1,859    

   I totally agree with your replies. These companies, who appear to be unregulated, prey on the elderly with scare tactics.

   A client of mine had a similar experience from a company called Express Law, bespoke will and trust specialists. After a cold call he was visited and sold some £3,850 worth of so-called services, comprising a will, power of attorney and an asset trust - this being the trust designed to protect against future home care fees. They took £1,000 upfront, and had the gall to invoice the balance at the end of seven days without providing any services

   People should be aware that this kind of cold call selling is classed as doorstep sales and only has a seven-day cooling-off period.

   I spoke to Trading Standards, as I tried to cancel after eight days, and this triggered something at the local office and they got involved. It appears that they know of this company. As a result of their intervention my client is now only paying for the will and power of attorney, at a cost of £540, and I have had email confirmation that they are refunding £460.

   Victims of this kind of selling should contact Trading Standards.


 

Reply With Quote Reply With Quote
9th May 2012, 12:08 PM #5
Daily Express
Daily Express is offline
Question submitted via Daily Express newspaper

Join Date
   Jul 2008
Posts
   1,859    

   A year ago, I answered an ad in the local paper about the possibility of setting up such a trust.

   As I have an inoperable heart condition, I have been concerned in trying to put my affairs in order, just in case, and therefore protect my wife from any possible problems if I were to die early. I was 73 years old at that time and my wife was 69.

   I had an interview with a company who called themselves National Legal Assistance of Gainsborough. This trust was to include the protection of our home (which we owned), and also the setting up of a lasting power of attorney. This was all about trying to protect my wife and the family from any possibility of losing everything in any circumstance that may happen following my death.

   The problems that followed this interview were to go on for around four months, involving communications between myself and our solicitor, Trading Standards and the Insolvency Service in Manchester. Finally the company was wound up in insolvency court.

   The total cost to us was £2,545, which we lost. It was a real mess, and in the end we had to use our solicitor to set up a complete new trust document, which added another £1,000 to what we had already lost.

   We are not in any way well off, having only ever been a working class family, and we could ill-afford to lose all that money, which was almost half of our savings.


Thankyou for reading.

KW

The Express Law Scam:

www.google.co.in/search?q=%22Express+Law%22+site:whocallsme.com  (uncensored)

www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Express+Law%22+site:whocallsme.com  (censored)

www.google.co.uk/search?q=%22Express+Law%22+site:whocallsme.com

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 2 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 1 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.

0161 476 7809 is now also being attributed to an Express Law with an 0161 476 Stockport number
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01614767809

claiming for his daughter - i will look into this further as she lives with and always has done. I work for a living so no one should be 'claiming' for her.

To all Readers info only from  http://expresslawltd.co.uk/tag/express-law/

Finally, it has come to our attention that there is defamatory information displayed online, via a US forum, regarding Express Law Complaints and its staff.
This attack, by a competitor company, has obviously worried some of our clients however I must stress that this information is inaccurate and false and is not representative of our Company in anyway. We have now reported the matter to the Police and we are in the process of bringing those responsible to account.
Hopefully this clears up any potential doubts you may have had about putting your affairs in order with Express Law

Thankyou for reading.

KW

To all Readers info only from Express Law Doncaster complaints by Dan Young.
Internet Law is a very complex subject, this is mainly down to the majority of people not really understanding whats legal online. We've ran into our own problems online with certain websites.

The website in question allows users to leave comments on a phone number, this system can easily be abused though and ex-employees has used this forum against us to form a hate campaign, and it's been a long drawn out process but we're close to being clear of libel defamation.

This forum allows users to post any content with no moderation and it's full anonymous.

At first we didn't really know how to handle the situation as it's still quite uncommon for libel defamation to affect a company, but I suspect that it's frequency will increase dramatically in time. We tried contacting the owner of the website, but didn't get any assistance.
The forum in question wouldn't remove any comments even ones that were PURE defamation against our name, eventually we got in contact with ...... who were very helpful in removing some of the individual pages that contained defamation off their search index, but the site still exists if you know the exact URL.

But this experience has made us think about how to handle our reputation on the web due to the lack of moderation out there.
Ads by ............

We kind of harmed ourselves by wanted to constantly check the defamation and it gave the page a lot of publicity which then made it rise above out site on ......., which then some of our customers were viewing and it started making them question us, this is where ...........came to the rescue and removed any pages they deemed libel defamation. But we had to also prove that the accusations where false to ........., but it should be the perpetrator who has to prove themselves.

There has also been similar cases to our which can be viewed online if you check the Chilling Effects website.This whole scenario asks the question "how safe is a companies reputation on the web"? and we believe more should be done to increase a company's defence to online defamation and there should be more assistance due to the nature of the comments, which the perpetrators identity is kept hidden.

We post weekly on our blog to help people in similar situations overcome false accusations, you can view this blog by visiting..............- hopefully this article will give you the knowledge you need to defend against libel defamation.

Thankyou for reading.

KW

To all Readers the above two posts contradict one another first Express Law say

"This attack, by a competitor company",

Then say

"Ex-employees has used this forum against us to form a hate campaign",

Please form your own opinion

Thankyou for reading.

KW

Well spotted KW!

Express Law state "by a competitor company" ha ha!

They should have been honest and simply stated by people who enjoy exposing scam artists such as Express Law

Salutary warning about Pension Scams from the BBC which some the firms in this thread may find as attractive as scam Will services

23 Feb 2013's MoneyBox BBC Radio 4 Programme continued to discuss the great Pension Liberation Scam with the Minister responsible for pensions, Steve Webb. Listen to the grilling Webb gets and how little the government is doing despite the £4 million a week being scammed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01qspjg PENSION UNLOCKING
For the third week we return to the growing crime of persuading people to transfer their pension savings into recently registered pension schemes and taking huge fees for illegally letting them have some of their money back. This week - the legal aspects. Is the law adequate to help trustees stop the transfer when they suspect a scam? And if not, will the Government pass new laws to protect desperate people from the crooks - and themselves? We speak to a pensions lawyer and Pensions Minister Steve Webb.

PDF Tapescript:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/program ... x_23_feb_13.pdf

MP3 Audio:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/mo ... 30223-1204a.mp3

Related Links:
Action Fraud: Reporting Pension Liberation Scams:  www.actionfraud.police.uk
The FSA: Consumers warned over pension liberation schemes www.fsa.gov.uk
The Pensions Regulator: Pension liberation fraud www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk
The Pension Advisory Service: Pension liberation plans www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk
The Money Advice Service: Pensions: www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk
HMRC www.hmrc.gov.uk/pensionschemes/pen-liberation.htm
ICO for reporting pension scam calls and texts https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=134674895144

MoneyBox E-mail your questions www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/money-box/contact/ or call 03700 100 444 from 1pm to 3.30pm on Wednesday.

What has that got to do with this thread???

Webfusion :-( Profiting from and supporting crime

I have read that Identity Protect Limited t/a Identity Protection Service, PO Box 795, Godalming, Surrey. GU7 9GA is a scam operation that registers lots of the scam artists' sites who wish to conceal their true identity from us and the cursory glance of the under-resourced trading standards officer.

Some of these data criminals are complained about on whocallsme. Identity Protect Limited run their own servers with Webfusion, and are linked to crime networks in Germany, London, Manchester , Liverpool and the Midlands.

You will see lots of postings on here telling you NOT complain to the ICO & TPS because they are "useless". Ignore them. Two of the syndicate were recently fined £440,000 by the ICO because of our complaints and this cost the crime syndicate introducer fees.
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01614750375

The frequent "not worth reporting" posts are made by the syndicate to discourage us from contacting the ICO. TPS pass the complaints on to the ICO, so are equally slated.

Report EACH non-compliant call to the ICO. They require evidence to act.
https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=134674895144

Likewise, report each and every scam attempt to Action Fraud. Attempted fraud is still a crime.
www.actionfraud.police.uk

Magrathea Telecomms are another scam operation with Columbian connections and work with Identity Protect Limited and Webfusion

If you see any of the above names or addresses in a whois do NOT deal with the company or website.

Likewise, if Magrathea Telecomms is the callers' telecom provider, avoid them.

At best you will be supporting crime and at worst you will end up being defrauded.

Google the names above and the word scam if you are in any doubt.

https://www.duedil.com/company/07407280/identity-protect-limited

Identity Protect Limited
Company Number: 07407280
Company Type: Private limited with share capital
SIC Code: 7260, Other Computer Related Activities
Inc. Date: 14 Oct 2010
Annual Returns: 14 Oct 2012
Annual Accounts: 31 Dec 2011
Last Updated: 23 Oct 2012

Registered Address
5 Roundwood Avenue
Stockley Park
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB11 1FF

Trading Address
The Old Forge
Shackstead Lane
Godalming
Surrey
GU7 1RJ

ABOUT IDENTITY PROTECT LIMITED
Identity Protect Limited was registered on 14 Oct 2010 with its registered office in Middlesex. The business has a status of 'Non-trading'. Their founding director was Matthew Mansell, who is British, aged 36. There are 2 shareholders of Identity Protect Limited. They have no known group companies. No annual accounts have been filed as the company is either too young or exempt from filing accounts.

These are just the reports lodged on this domain:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+9GA+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+1RJ+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU1+2RD+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=UB11+1FF+site:whocallsme.com

All domains:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+9GA+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+1RJ+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU1+2RD+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=UB11+1FF+SCAM

Webfusion :-( Profiting from and hosting criminals and their scam sites

I have read that Identity Protect Limited t/a Identity Protection Service, PO Box 795, Godalming, Surrey. GU7 9GA is a scam operation that registers lots of the scam artists' sites who wish to conceal their true identity from us and the cursory glance of the under-resourced trading standards officer.

Some of these data criminals are complained about on whocallsme. Identity Protect Limited run their own servers with Webfusion, and are linked to crime networks in Germany, London, Manchester , Liverpool and the Midlands.

You will see lots of postings on here telling you NOT complain to the ICO & TPS because they are "useless". Ignore them. Two of the syndicate were recently fined £440,000 by the ICO because of our complaints and this cost the crime syndicate introducer fees.
https://whocallsme.com/Phone-Number.aspx/01614750375

The frequent "not worth reporting" posts are made by the syndicate to discourage us from contacting the ICO. TPS pass the complaints on to the ICO, so are equally slated.

Report EACH non-compliant call to the ICO. They require evidence to act.
https://www.snapsurveys.com/swh/surveylogin.asp?k=134674895144

Likewise, report each and every scam attempt to Action Fraud. Attempted fraud is still a crime.
www.actionfraud.police.uk

Magrathea Telecomms are another scam operation with Columbian connections and work with Identity Protect Limited and Webfusion

If you see any of the above names or addresses in a whois do NOT deal with the company or website.

Likewise, if Magrathea Telecomms is the callers' telecom provider, avoid them.

At best you will be supporting crime and at worst you will end up being defrauded.

Google the names above and the word scam if you are in any doubt.

https://www.duedil.com/company/07407280/identity-protect-limited

Identity Protect Limited
Company Number: 07407280
Company Type: Private limited with share capital
SIC Code: 7260, Other Computer Related Activities
Inc. Date: 14 Oct 2010
Annual Returns: 14 Oct 2012
Annual Accounts: 31 Dec 2011
Last Updated: 23 Oct 2012

Registered Address
5 Roundwood Avenue
Stockley Park
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB11 1FF

Trading Address
The Old Forge
Shackstead Lane
Godalming
Surrey
GU7 1RJ

ABOUT IDENTITY PROTECT LIMITED
Identity Protect Limited was registered on 14 Oct 2010 with its registered office in Middlesex. The business has a status of 'Non-trading'. Their founding director was Matthew Mansell, who is British, aged 36. There are 2 shareholders of Identity Protect Limited. They have no known group companies. No annual accounts have been filed as the company is either too young or exempt from filing accounts.

These are just the reports lodged on this domain:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+9GA+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+1RJ+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU1+2RD+site:whocallsme.com
www.google.co.uk/search?q=UB11+1FF+site:whocallsme.com

All domains:
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+9GA+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU7+1RJ+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=GU1+2RD+SCAM
www.google.co.uk/search?q=UB11+1FF+SCAM

To all Readers, yet another dissolved company (Countrywide Law Ltd), owned by Martin Smith and Andrew Young also of Express Law Ltd Doncaster & Synergy Law T/A Synergy Legal

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk//compdetails  

Thankyou for reading.

KW

Collective Legal Solutions were set up in the former offices of National Legal Services in Sheffield by people who worked with or for Gerry Barton's NLS.

Chris Dingley who I had dealings with when I was an NLS agent was the business development manager for NLS and  was one of the four who set up Collective Legal Solutions.

They were set up with great haste when NLS were closed by the DTI. They were based in the same Banner Building and used the same firm of solicitors Woskow and Brown as Barton's NLS (Sheffield) did.

If they are still in business then I can only assume that they are legitimate because the DTI were made aware of this business being founded from the ashes of NLS and haven't closed them down as they did Jonty Trotter's and other businesses which were set up by people who were associated with Barton and appeared to be using the same business model.

There was a group of ex NLS agents who were monitoring the activities of ex NLS associates and reporting back to the DTI.

My own dealings with Dingley were not pleasant ones and I still have all the letters and e mails which passed between us including the ones he sent to me claiming he was generating hundreds of thousands of pounds of business for hard working NLS agents. This was at the time trading standards and the DTI were investigating the Company just before they were closed down.

Just in case you throw a strop Dingley I still have all the letters and e mails which passsed between us so don't even think about threats of legal action.

I would advise anyone to use a firm of solicitors rather than this type of company.

Collective Legal Solutions were set up in the former offices of National Legal Services in Sheffield by people who worked with or for Gerry Barton's NLS.

Chris Dingley who I had dealings with when I was an NLS agent was the business development manager for NLS and  was one of the four who set up Collective Legal Solutions.

They were set up with great haste when NLS were closed by the DTI. They were based in the same Banner Building and used the same firm of solicitors Woskow and Brown as Barton's NLS (Sheffield) did.

If they are still in business then I can only assume that they are legitimate because the DTI were made aware of this business being founded from the ashes of NLS and haven't closed them down as they did Jonty Trotter's and other businesses which were set up by people who were associated with Barton and appeared to be using the same business model.

There was a group of ex NLS agents who were monitoring the activities of ex NLS associates and reporting back to the DTI.

My own dealings with Dingley were not pleasant ones and I still have all the letters and e mails which passed between us including the ones he sent to me claiming he was generating hundreds of thousands of pounds of business for hard working NLS agents. This was at the time trading standards and the DTI were investigating the Company just before they were closed down.

Just in case you throw a strop Dingley I still have all the letters and e mails which passsed between us so don't even think about threats of legal action.

I would advise anyone to use a firm of solicitors rather than this type of company.