Posted 23 December 2021
Hidenda threatening letters/emails
Afternoon all,
Need some help here please.
On 23 Nov 21, HIdenda sent FiL a letter saying he has requested their services to arrange a Marriage Tax refund - they sent a screenshot of his signature (electronic signature). They requested additional documents and if not sent, they would charge a £300 fee.
Unfortunately FiL is nearly 81 years of age and in failing health, he is currently awaiting the results of a brain scan due to suspected onset dementia. He is not well and does not recall making the application; he does not require Hidenda’s services.
T&C say:
8.2 You have a total of 14 days (which starts from the date you signed these terms & conditions) to cancel your authorityinstructing us to act on your behalf without incurring any charge. Additionally, you may cancel your claim at any stageproviding the claim has not been submitted to HMRC. Cancellation after 14 days of you signing these terms & conditionswill mean you must pay us our reasonable costs.
8.2.1 Our reasonable costs shall be calculated by multiplying the number of hours work completed by the rate of seventyfive pounds per hour.
I emailed Hidenda this and they have replied today saying either send the documents or pay £300 to cancel.
Any ideas on the way forward?
Need some help here please.
On 23 Nov 21, HIdenda sent FiL a letter saying he has requested their services to arrange a Marriage Tax refund - they sent a screenshot of his signature (electronic signature). They requested additional documents and if not sent, they would charge a £300 fee.
Unfortunately FiL is nearly 81 years of age and in failing health, he is currently awaiting the results of a brain scan due to suspected onset dementia. He is not well and does not recall making the application; he does not require Hidenda’s services.
T&C say:
8.2 You have a total of 14 days (which starts from the date you signed these terms & conditions) to cancel your authorityinstructing us to act on your behalf without incurring any charge. Additionally, you may cancel your claim at any stageproviding the claim has not been submitted to HMRC. Cancellation after 14 days of you signing these terms & conditionswill mean you must pay us our reasonable costs.
8.2.1 Our reasonable costs shall be calculated by multiplying the number of hours work completed by the rate of seventyfive pounds per hour.
I emailed Hidenda this and they have replied today saying either send the documents or pay £300 to cancel.
Any ideas on the way forward?
Community Updates
72 Comments
sorted byIt took months and several emails and a registered letter - but it was worth it to get them off our backs.
We were prepared to go to court over this, but I get the feeling it would never have come to that and they are just scummy chancers.
Replying to
At least that's what I've just read.
register.fca.org.uk/s/f…QAH
"5.The Firm will use best endeavours to direct HTL to initiate a redress exercise to repay all customers the £300 cancellation fee charged by HTL."
shannon.millwardAThidenda.com
but all i got back from them was that the 'fee' of £300 was to paid and 'sorry, nothing we can do'.
We then sent a letter saying, "see you in court" and got a reply back saying they were not taking it any further.
But yes, they are threatening and our inlaws were terrified too - scum, absolute scum.
Is this a copy of the actual reply you sent?
Because you've said "my Father in Law is an 81 year old vulnerable adult and did make this request", thereby admitting that he did request their services. I presume you missed out the word "not"?
Recalled and replaced - ffs! Ty.
Sorry, bit stressed.
They don't have the money to pay the £300, never mind a solicitor.
Good mornin, my 72 year old parents are going through the exact same thing at the moment. Could I please ask how you got them to stop in the end? Is there anyone in particular I should contact? They are scared witless. Any help would be greatfully recieved xx
From my research so far they operate completely by putting fear into the older generation.
I have found precisely no evidence of them taking anyone to court. (edited)
Similar with us. Exact same format. They haven’t got a legal leg to stand on.
I think these letters would cause anyone anxiety and that’s precisely what they are looking for. They are vermin.
I found an article on Pinsent Masons solicitors page regarding the validity of "e-signatures" in the English and Welsh courts and whether or not they hold up. As of the article's date (2020) there hasn't been a test case. Tell your friend to tell them to **** off.
The sad part in all of this is the older folks with no one to rationalise their bollocks with might just pay out or allow them to go through with it.
My relative most definitely didn’t sign anything, rather entered his name and address and backed out as soon as they asked for more details. They have now sent him unsolicited emails and I plan to carry this through to the Information Commissioners Office along with the FCA.
Their sole business, which is filling marriage allowance claims on behalf of people who can’t be arsed doing it themselves nets this 40% of the entitled pay out. Whilst unethical, it’s not much different from the old “no win no fee” stuff.
Harassing people who have not entered into anything in wet ink crosses from immoral into illegal for me.
I hold a degree in Scots law and work in the legal profession and whilst not a solicitor, I have enough knowledge to know that these cowboys operate using highly underhanded (at best... illegal at worst) tactics.
Replying to
My father has also just signed up to this company a few weeks again - I have just found out For those that have communcated to this company on behalf of someone, did you email them or write to them? If so can you share the email or address please.
Replying to
I have now managed to find the complaints process for this company Complaints Procedure • Hidenda - Specialists at Getting Your Money Back i will send them a email, failling thei complaints procedure I will submitt to Financial Ombudsman Service: our homepage (financial-ombudsman.org.uk)
"To whom it may concern,
I have received several letters relating to an innocent enquiry I made whilst browsing the internet in August.
I have absolutely no intention of paying any sum of money to your company.
These letters are addressed both myself and my wife. She has not made any enquiry or signed anything. I'd question if this tactic is not in breach of the Harassment Act 1997.
I have passed all correspondence to my solicitor, as well as countless online accounts/reviews of others dealing with Hidenda (of which I wish I'd read some time ago).
Please reply and confirm this enquiry has been cancelled. I am more than happy to go a different route if not"
They immediately emailed back and closed the claim, without quibble.
They are bullys. Bully the bully, its the only thing that works!
Ive found out quite alot about them - In particular their directors Lee Mellor (lee.mellor@hidenda.com) and Gaynor Birchall - He has 7 companies registered at the same address and is connected to some in tax, legal and insolvency business - Dont think they employ more than 4 people max - Ive also found out where he lives!
Yep, got all of that as well. Their letters, whilst consisting of threatening undertones have remained moderately professional, so I will reply with the same just now apart from the spelling of “excellent” at the bottom of their letters
Or contact them and tell them as such
Since Hidenda are unwilling to cancel this and insist on a £300 cancellation charge, we have carried out further investigation. Kenneth did not submit this claim nor is it his signature on the contract - the signature is vastly different to his own signature (driving licence etc) - we are happy to provide proof of signature if required. The signature Hidenda has, has been added either maliciously or fraudulently, either way, we will dispute this in court if necessary and will be contacting our local MP.
This is causing unnecessary distress to both my Father and Mother in Law who are both in their 80's, especially to my Father in Law who as mentioned, is suffering from onset dementia and other serious medical conditions.
I am hopeful Hidenda will cancel without any further charge."
Depends how much they want their £300 now. I suspect we will have to go to court
I thought he may have done, but he is saying he hasn't and the signatures are nothing alike.
they will need to prove that he did sign the document. i would just stand your ground and wait for them to take action as it would be very believable that he was confused but the signature being totally different may not be accepted as evidence.
you could ask them for evidence that he did sign that document as the signature is totally different and your father in law states that he did not instruct them.
you could ask to see the whole form with all his details on it as this will prove whether he did complete the form or not. if there are personal details that only he would know on the form then he would have had to complete the form as they wouldn't have been able to make that up. (edited)
Recalls dont work
I suggest sending a letter by tracked post that you can keep as proof that it was sent as a correction - so they cannot say they did not get the second one.
Also, would he actually be eligible for a a refund? (edited)
Your post says
”they sent a screenshot of his signature (electronic signature)“
so his electronic signature may be different to his true signature (assuming it was online, using a mouse)
however
does the electronic signature match the way that he signs
eg
If his driving licence signature is
j bloggs
then hilendas should be the same
if however theirs says
joe bloggs
then it is probably fraudulent
have you looked at reviews?
trustpilot. uk.trustpilot.com/rev…com
facebook reviews. m.facebook.com/fin…ews
perhaps use your case details and the Facebook/truspilot reviews to get trading standards to look into this
there seems to be other cases of elderly being scammed by them
also, their website does not allow you to fill the forms in online unless you have contacted them. So either your father in law did ring them or he responded to a cold call telephone or he has used them before to claim ppi and he is still on their records
hidenda.com/
their website does let you log in with your claims number to get an update so a lot of information may be on there (edited)
In the meantime, the inlaws have received a Letter Before Court Action from Hidenda stating we have until 12 Jan 22 to either provide the information or pay £300 cancellation fee or they will issue court proceedings. Hidenda have stated on the claim form that they want it heard at Derby Combined Court Centre - if this goes to court, the inlaws are unable to travel due to their health and so would prefer it to be held at their nearest court - can this be done?
But bottom line, the inlaws are now terrified of fees, ccjs, court etc and i do not know how to help them.
Hi there, I wonder if there is an update to this? A family member is in a similar predicament with these chancers.
Seems like a friend of mine is now having the same problem re marriage allowance - I will pass this email address on as she has tried on numerous occasions to contact them either via call or email and no one has got back to her other than sending threatening letters through the post! Glad you got it sorted
how long has this been going on for you? The first threatening letter my friend received was on Friday last week - apparently she has until the 9th June to send her completed forms back or its £300 she will be billed for - from what I understand, she didnt fully complete the forms online but obviously enough for them to get arsy with her
Hope they dont as she suffers from serious anxiety issues over the years and these threats arent helping - I will get involved proactively though I fear as she signed electronically early May, it might be a difficult one - but they now want her to sign the paper documents she received last Friday (which I've told her not to as her NI number was missing) and requiring her to sign again! - Might take some legal advice from those in the know about this kind of thing