Freeman Jones delay in sending completion certificate

[sue605]

I am absolutely appalled by the responses I have been given by Freeman Jones- at the end of this week my IVA will have been completed for 16 weeks ( on all forums the norm is 8-12weeks ).
When I called a couple of weeks ago they told me I was high on this list but they were having IT issues for the migration of information from previous IVA practitioners- Harrington Brooks and that I should receive my certificate in 2 weeks!!!. On calling today I have now been told they are awaiting a response from one of my creditors and this can take up to 30 days. I have been on various forums (beatmydebt.com) and this sounds like I'm being fobbed off . The Forum states that the fact is once the final report has been issued by the IP your IVA company does NOT have to wait for creditors to reply,they can issue the completion certificate immediately. Although the people on the phone have been nice enough I don't think this is acceptable. Also on another IVA information site it states - 1 relatively common example is that they are waiting for your creditors to confirm that all monies have been received - and I quote "Excuses other than PPI are generally not acceptable whatever the excuse it is- normally a simple backlog in the IVA companies completion department is to blame."


Is anyone else going through the same issues and am I right to keep asking questions?

[Foggy]

I am sorry, but I have to disagree with the advice given to you thus far. A 6 month admin period is built in to your agreement. Now, some firms take a few weeks, others exceed the 6 months. The average being 2 to 3 months.

Until all claims are finalised the IP will be unable to make up final accounts and I do not agree that the arrangement can be completed before then .... so their excuse might be genuine. In any even they are still withing the time period to which you agreed in the proposal.

Regarding the forum quoting "Excuses other than PPI are generally not acceptable .... ", this is contrary to official advice with regard to PPI. The regulatory bodies actually said that PPI alone was NOT an excuse for delay.

Personally I would say that you have waited long enough, but, even delays caused by a simple backlog are par for the course these days and we have little recourse until the agreed conditions have been breached.

I might add -- these are just my opinions -- I am sure the other forums will maintain that they are correct and I am wrong .... joys of t'internet !

[sue605]

Thanks Foggy, as you can appreciate I'm just frustrated and wanted to vent- so close yet so far...and wanted to know if anyone else is going through the same delays as I'm facing , its just everyone else I've spoken to have got there certificate much quicker than this!!! -Just want to move on with my life now- fingers crossed this comes through sooner rather than later.

[Foggy]

Thanks Foggy, as you can appreciate I'm just frustrated and wanted to vent- so close yet so far...and wanted to know if anyone else is going through the same delays as I'm facing , its just everyone else I've spoken to have got there certificate much quicker than this!!! -Just want to move on with my life now- fingers crossed this comes through sooner rather than later.

Been there -- done that --- so I fully understand. The IP's never seem to realise that this is someone's life and is a momentous thing for us ! Hopefully it won't take too long.

[Lisa Thomas]

The IP's never seem to realise that this is someone's life and is a momentous thing for us !

Not all IP's Foggy!

[Financial Wellness]

Hi Sue605,

Thank you for the post. I am one of the team here at Freeman Jones.

Firstly please let me say that we absolutely do realise that our customers are real people and these things matter a great deal to you. We do work hard to provide every customer with a high standard of service throughout the life of their IVA. I am sorry that we haven't achieved this on this occasion with the delay in getting you your completion certificate. We do appreciate that you'll be very keen to get it so you can put your IVA behind you.

Generally we would usually expect to issue completion certificates within a couple of weeks of the end of your IVA. However, as my colleague has said, we do unfortunately have a backlog at present (which in inherited from another firm that we took over). We are working as fast as we can to clear the backlog and restore the service standards that you (and we) expect.

If you drop me an email to ian.williams at FreemanJones.com I will do what I can to speed things along for you.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Ian

[binhad]

Well another frustrated customer yes I said customer because we pay your fees which seems to be forgotten.

I would like to add my view regarding your comments. My belief is that you have shoved all of the Harrington Brooks cases to the bottom of the pile, you have no intention of dealing with us. As I have mentioned before in a previous post if and when we get through we have to speak to another stranger who will ask you to go through the whole thing again, who will then say we will speak to your IP or the manager has put it as urgent. You never get back to us NEVER, you don’t ever give an update. We can never speak to the same person.

I would love to one day go to sleep and not think about waking up to another oh so miserable day and mostly not waking at all. And no you don’t understand that we are real people otherwise we wouldn’t be posting these views.

All in all I would advise everyone to go bankrupt or find some alternative way to deal with your debts, do not under any circumstances go for an IVA because it never ends. These people are making bankers look like angels.

Sorry for the rant but I sincerely hope your case is resolved ASAP but I wouldn’t hold your breath. Good luck

[Foggy]

Hi Binhad. I am sorry you feel an IVA wasn't the right choice for you. For every complaint we get on here, there are hundreds of happy souls in their IVA's. By the very nature of forums such as these we tend to only hear the bad side, but there are good stories with happy endings by the truckload.

[Lisa Thomas]

I would not recommend that 'everyone go Bankrupt' - there can be serious ramifications and it may not be the right option for all debtors.

[Tashie08]

I received my completion certificate within a couple of weeks. I’m a former Harrington Brooks customer passed onto FJ.

[Financial Wellness]

Hi binhad,

I am sorry that you feel that way. Whilst that may be your perception it isn't correct, we don't differentiate between our customers regardless of whether you came to us via Harrington Brooks or not. We do try to provide a great service to every single one. I do understand, and I am sorry, that we haven't in this case - it is certainly not acceptable that your concerns have not been addressed, and your calls should certainly have been returned. This is something I would like the chance to investigate.

As I said in my response to your other post, please do get in touch with me via ian.williams at freemanjones.com and I will do what I can to resolve this for you.

I look forward to hearing from you.



Ian

[JimmyJem]

Hi, I got my completion letter today (underwhelmed it’s not an actual certificate in frame presented at a ceremony) but that being said, I was a HB customer transferred to FJ, our payments ended in May and although there has been a long delay (PPI) they have kept us updated via lots of emails and even an email letting us know that they have a backlog but expect to be up to date by Feb 2019. Hang in there. Yayyyy merry Christmas to me

[Foggy]

Hi, I got my completion letter today (underwhelmed it’s not an actual certificate in frame presented at a ceremony) but that being said, I was a HB customer transferred to FJ, our payments ended in May and although there has been a long delay (PPI) they have kept us updated via lots of emails and even an email letting us know that they have a backlog but expect to be up to date by Feb 2019. Hang in there. Yayyyy merry Christmas to me

Well done. Nice, if disappointing, Christmas present. Mind you -- it isn't as though many of us would frame them and hang them on the loo wall, but the marching band and cheerleaders would have been nice

Shame that they are allowing PPI to hold matters up as that is no real reason for delay, according to the various regulatory bodies. I imagine the backlog was more to blame but PPI easier to lay blame on.

Enjoy your debt free Christmas.

[JimmyJem]

Hi, I got my completion letter today (underwhelmed it’s not an actual certificate in frame presented at a ceremony) but that being said, I was a HB customer transferred to FJ, our payments ended in May and although there has been a long delay (PPI) they have kept us updated via lots of emails and even an email letting us know that they have a backlog but expect to be up to date by Feb 2019. Hang in there. Yayyyy merry Christmas to me

Well done. Nice, if disappointing, Christmas present. Mind you -- it isn't as though many of us would frame them and hang them on the loo wall, but the marching band and cheerleaders would have been nice

Shame that they are allowing PPI to hold matters up as that is no real reason for delay, according to the various regulatory bodies. I imagine the backlog was more to blame but PPI easier to lay blame on.

Enjoy your debt free Christmas.

-Ahhhh foggy, I thoroughly intend to x

[Babs67]

Good afternoon
My Iva finished on 13/7/2019 and have had email correspondence with freeman jones confirming that all payments had been made with nothing outstanding and was told we could cancel our direct debit, we then emailed again asking how the completion was going and told via email everything was fine and the next correspondence we would get would be completion certificate. Yay (not) we received a letter today stating we now owe them more money I don’t understand how they can state this when we was already told we had nothing to pay no outstanding money to pay and also the next mail would be certificate I have emailed them back as we are both not happy, and also not happy about having to wait 6mths for our credit files to be cleared, we don’t want to get anything on credit as this is not the reason why we want the certificate we just want this to be ended but they just seem to drag their feet then decide to send you letter stating want more money we had our Iva for 6 long years stressed enough for that long now they making us stressed out again these companies we pay a massive fee for having the Iva yet they don’t realise that we need our life’s back debt free. Why can’t they be quicker with the completion as at the end of the day we pay on time for 6ys yet still not any closer feel like I could cry with the stress