© 2022 All rights reserved
This Agreement and the Letter of Authority form make up Your agreement with Us – please read them carefully.
“Account” – the account(s), policies, plan(s), investments identified by You as being relevant to the Claim.
“Agreement” – the agreement entered into by You with Us, incorporating the Letter of Authority Form and these Terms and Conditions.
“Claim” – the claim or claims made by Us to the Provider on Your behalf.
“Claims Payments” – the payments that You have paid to Your Provider in relation to the claim
“FCA” – the Financial Conduct Authority.
“Fees” – the fees payable by You to Us under paragraph 4.1 and/or any other fees or other amounts payable by You to Us under the Agreement.
“FOS” – the Financial Ombudsman Service.
“Letter of Authority” – the document which You complete appointing Us to perform the Services and providing full details of Your Claim.
“Personal Notice” – written notice provided by Us to You at least 15 Working Days in advance (or such shorter period as may be necessary to ensure We comply with our regulatory and legal obligations) by post or email (in each case provided to the most recent contact details provided by You to Us).
“Provider” – the bank(s), financial institutions(s) or other provider(s) of generic financial services against which We bring a Claim on Your behalf.
“Redress” – all amounts paid or to be paid by the Provider to You in settlement of Your Claim (gross of any tax You are liable to pay), being the total value of the benefits to You, monetary or otherwise, and including any case or cheque payment, any reduction in Your account balance, any reduction in Your account arrears and any interest paid by the Provider in relation to the Claim.
“Services” – the services that We agree to provide to You under the Agreement, being the assessment, preparation and negotiation of Your Claim.
“Settlement Amount” – all amounts paid or to be paid by the Provider to You in settlement of Your Claim (gross of any tax You are liable to pay), being the total value of the benefits to You, monetary or otherwise, and including any case or cheque payment, any reduction in Your account balance, any reduction in Your account arrears and any interest paid by the Provider in relation to the Claim.
“We”, “Our” and “Us” – The AI Desk Ltd (07812164) whose registered address is Unit 19, 1-13 Adler Street, London, E1 1EG or anyone to whom We transfer Our rights and obligations under the Agreement including but not limited to independent Solicitors to act on your behalf.
“Working Days” – any day on which banks are open for business (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays).
“You” and “Your” –the person(s) engaging Us in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Agreement.
2.1 You appoint Us or our selected solicitor to act as Your exclusive representative in your Claim and We agree to act on Your behalf and to provide the Services on the terms of the Agreement.
2.2 Your appointment of Us, and the Agreement, starts when We accept a completed Letter of Authority form from You. By providing Us with a completed Letter of Authority You are agreeing to enter into a binding contract on the terms of the Agreement.
2.3 By appointing Us (including our panel of solicitors) You:
2.3.1 confirm that no agency or person other than Us is acting for You in relation to the claim and you agree not to appoint any such agency/person in relation to the Claim;
2.3.2 understand and acknowledge that we cannot guarantee the outcome of your Claim; and
2.3.3 accept responsibility for payments that you may be liable for under this Agreement.
2.3.4 Authorise us to investigate any other claims held with that provider and submit a claim for which you are subject to our fees as detailed in section 4.
3.1 You agree to provide us with all appropriate and available information relating to your Claim as soon as possible. We will rely on all of the information that You provide being true and complete.
3.2 Once We (our solicitor panel) have received your signed Letter of Authority Form or, if later, sufficient information from You, We will contact the Provider to obtain transactional information such as statements and agreements which will enable us to assess whether We consider your Claim to be viable. We will also asses your claim by asking you questions in relation to your interactions with the Provider. We reserve the right to refuse to provide the Services to You where We believe that it is not in Your best interests for Us to provide the Services. If We consider that Your Claim is viable, We will:
give you advice on the merits of your claim and any particular steps you need to take;
raise a formal complaint to the Provider regarding your Claim, requesting a full refund of all Claims Payments relating to the Account and any other accounts that You have or have had with the Provider, plus statutory interest;
notify You at key stages of the process at no less than 6 monthly intervals by phone, sms, email or in writing.
provide the Provider with the relevant information that We have received from You;
request from the Provider a full financial breakdown of all charges that relate to the Account and any other accounts that You have or have had with the Provider;
use Our reasonable endeavours to negotiate with the Provider for a settlement of the Claim on Your behalf;
promptly notify You and advise once We are informed of the Claim outcome.
3.3 If, at Our complete discretion, We consider that Your Claim is not viable, whether due to the claimed amount being too small or for any other reason, We will notify You, following which You will not be required to pay anything to Us and We will have no further obligations to You under the Agreement.
3.4 You authorise Us (our solicitor) on Your behalf and as Your representative to take those actions set out in paragraph 3.2. You also authorise Us to carry out the following actions on Your behalf:
request appropriate further information from the Provider relating to Your Claim
settle the Claim;
give binding commitments on Your behalf that You will not bring any further claims relating to the Claim following settlement and release the Provider from any obligations or liabilities to You relating to the Claim;
withdraw Your Claim, at our absolute discretion, in the event that the Provider provides Us with evidence that the Claim duplicates a claim made by You or on Your behalf other than through Us;
take any other actions which We are reasonably required to do in relation to the above.
3.5 You agree that You will:
provide any further information that may be necessary for Us to progress Your Claim as soon as possible on request;
notify Us within a reasonable time of any direct communications that You may have with the Provider regarding the progress of Your Claim (which may include telephone calls, receipt of statements and gestures of goodwill settlements), forward any paperwork connected with this to Us as soon as possible if We request it. (Please note that if You fail to advise Us of any communication from the Provider, You may impede the progress of Your Claim and we may terminate the agreement with fees payable detailed in section 5);
not accept any settlement that is communicated directly to You by the Provider unless agreed in writing in advance with Us.
3.6 If the Provider fails to respond to Us or to You within 8 weeks of Our communication under paragraph 3.2, You may have certain options including to issue a formal complaint to the FOS and/or the FCA. We will discuss these options with You at the time.
3.7 You acknowledge that settlement of Your Claim may result in the termination of your account, benefits, policy/investment.
4.1 Where your claim is successful, Our Fees will be calculated on the gross settlement amount.
4.2 In cases where the redress is paid directly to you we will issue an invoice and send it to you as soon as possible following the earliest date on which we become aware that the Provider has offered to Pay you or has paid you a Settlement Amount which We are or would have been prepared to accept on Your behalf. You must settle our invoice within:
4.2.1 14 days of it being issued if You receive a settlement of Your Claim from the Provider in cash or cleared funds; or
4.2.2 12 months of it being issued if You receive any other form of redress from the Provider.
4.3 Where the Provider pays some or all of the Settlement Amount directly to you or the provider reduces any of your account balances in payment of the Settlement Amount:
You will notify us of such payment or reduction within a reasonable time of You becoming aware of it;
We will notify you of such a payment or reduction within a reasonable time of us becoming aware of it, should we become aware of it before we have been notified by you.
4.4 You agree that we can deduct the Fees from your credit/debit card where You have provided us with those details for the purpose of payment of Our Fees.
4.5 Once You have settled your invoice in full Our responsibilities and obligations to You in connection with this Agreement will cease.
4.6 Subject to paragraphs 5.2, if we submit a Claim on Your behalf but no Settlement Amount is paid by the Provider in respect of that Claim, You will not be required to pay any Fee to us.
4.7 In respect of any unpaid invoices, We may at Our discretion:
commence debt collection proceedings to recover the amount due;
charge interest on the amount unpaid at the rate of 8% per annum; and
add to the amount outstanding the costs of any telephone calls and invoice reminders at the following rates – £10.00 plus VAT for second and subsequent written reminders – £4.00 plus VAT for second and subsequent telephone reminders – £50.00 plus VAT for a letter from a solicitor on our behalf.
5.1 We must allow You a minimum 14 days “cooling off” period from the date that You sign the Letter of Authority. You can cancel the Agreement during this 14 day period by using the form in your pack, letter, telephone, e-mail or in person.
5.2 You can terminate this Agreement at any time outside of the 14-day cooling off period referred to above. We reserve the right to charge you a reasonable fee based on the work carried out in relation to your Claim at a rate of £80 plus VAT per hour and £10 plus VAT for each individual piece of correspondence we have issued to either yourself or your creditor.
5.2.1 If this agreement is terminated by us/you in accordance with paragraph 5 and an offer of settlement has been made which we recommend you should accept; we reserve the right the charge our full fees as detailed in paragraph 4.1
5.3 We may terminate this Agreement and We reserve the right to charge You a reasonable fee based on the work carried out in relation to your Claim at a rate of £80 plus VAT per hour and £10 plus VAT for each individual piece of correspondence we have issued to either yourself or your creditor If any of the following events occur:
5.3.1 We become aware that You are pursuing Your Claim independently;
5.3.2 You provide Us with any information which is untrue;
5.3.3 You knowingly submit any frivolous or vexatious Claims;
5.3.4 You fail to respond to Our reasonable requests for information to support Your Claim.
5.3.5 You fail to remedy a breach of this Agreement if we have asked You to remedy such breach, within 28 days of Us asking You to do so;
5.3.6 You unreasonably refuse to accept an offer of a Settlement Amount which We recommend that You accept, and which is reasonable having regard to any guidance issued by the FCA or FOS.
5.4 We may terminate the agreement If any of the following events occur:
5.4.1 We reasonably consider that the process of pursuing Your Claim has become abnormally delayed or time consuming;
5.4.2 We become aware that Your Claim is unlikely to succeed;
5.4.3 You enter into any bankruptcy proceedings including an individual voluntary arrangement with Your creditors.
6.1 Where the Provider makes an offer of a Settlement Amount, We are under no obligation to verify the calculation of the amount other than to confirm that the offer of a Settlement Amount has been calculated by the Provider as required under the process rules of the FCA and FOS.
6.2 If any form of tax is payable by You or on Your behalf in relation to the Settlement Amount (such as income tax which is payable by You in respect of the interest paid to You as part of the Settlement Amount), You shall be fully responsible for such payment and We shall have no responsibility to make such payment on Your behalf.
6.3 We shall have no liability to You for any loss to the extent it arise as a result of the information provided by You on Your Form of Authority being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading.
6.4 Nothing in the Agreement shall exclude or limit any liability of Ours which may not be legally excluded or limited.
7.1 We may make changes to the Agreement, including introducing new fees and charges and making changes to the basis on which We charge for providing services, by giving You Personal Notice.
7.2 We may be required to make changes to the Agreement in order to comply with the law and/or requirements of the FCA and/or FOS, and if We do, We will give You Personal Notice.
7.3 Where We make any change under paragraph 7.1 or 7.2 the change will be proportionate to an underlying reason for the change.
7.4 When We give you notice of a change We intend to make in accordance with:
7.4.1 paragraph 7.1, before the change takes effect You may end the Agreement by giving Us no less than 10 days notice in writing at no charge to You; or
7.4.2 paragraph 7.2, before the change takes effect You may end the Agreement by giving Us no less than 10 days notice in writing and We reserve the right to charge a reasonable Fee based on the work carried out in relation to Your claim at a rate of £80 plus VAT per hour and £10 plus VAT for each individual piece of correspondence we have issued to either yourself or your creditor.
7.5 If You do not tell Us that You want to end the Agreement and if We do not hear from You as described in paragraph 7.4 before the date each change is to take effect, then You will be deemed to have accepted the change and it will take effect automatically.
8.1 We recommend that You read this statement carefully as it defines the use of personal information, We obtain about You and how the information is used.
8.2 We confirm that all personal information supplied by You will not be passed on to anyone other than:
8.2.1 as required by law, court orders or as requested by any government or law enforcement authority;
8.2.2 associated companies as set out in paragraph 8.3;
8.2.3 any company or other entity to which We may either transfer or subcontract any or all of Our obligations to You under this Agreement.
8.3 Legitimate Interest.
We have a legitimate interest in keeping you updated of any further serviuces offered by us which may be of interest o you both during and after the conclusion of the contract with us. We will use the contact information you provided. We may offer other services in other areas of financial mis-selling which may entail us a direct referral to third parties. Your consent will always be obtained before doing so and it is entirely your choice.
8.4 If You have chosen to receive information by e-mail please be aware You are solely responsible for the security of your personal computer and every reasonable precaution must be taken to ensure no unwanted access to the information is allowed. If You feel that someone has accessed the information We have sent You or your computer is lostof stolen please contact Us immediately.
8.5 You can contact Us at any time by writing to the Data Protection Manager at the above address for any information You require and also if You would like copies of any or all personal information We hold about You. Please be aware that We may record and monitor your calls to maintain or improve our services.
9.1 By giving You Personal Notice We may transfer our rights and obligations under this Agreement. Your rights under the Agreement will not be reduced as a result of such a transfer.
9.2 You may not transfer Your rights and obligations under this Agreement unless We agree in writing.
9.3 This Agreement is between You and Us. No other party shall have any rights to enforce its terms.
9.4 Each clause in this Agreement operates separately. If any court or relevant authority decides that any clause is unlawful the remaining clauses will stay with full force and effect.
9.5 If we fail to insist that you perform any of Your obligations under this Contract or if We do not enforce Our rights against You or if We delay in doing so, that does not mean that We have waived Our rights against You and will not mean that you do not have to comply with this Agreement. If We do waive a default by You, that does not mean that We will automatically waive a later default by You.
9.6 If any event beyond Our reasonable control prevents or hinders Us from performing Our obligations under this Agreement We shall not be deemed to have breached this Agreement.
9.7 The Agreement will be governed by English law, and each party submits to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. However, if You are resident in Northern Ireland or Scotland, You may also bring proceedings in Northern Ireland or Scotland.
© 2022 All rights reserved