Picking the right IVA Company

[frequentflyer]

Some of you may have seen my post of yesterday regarding the rough ride I appear to be getting from my IVA company....see below

This brings into question the subject of which IVA company to go with and I like many others I suspect did not happen upon this excellent forum and its sound advice until I was well into the process. I found myself looking on the web to find a debt company to choose to take my case on, of course it is a subject which none of us are proud to be in and we dont particularly wish to discuss our innermost secrets with numerous deby advisors until we make a decision. I chose Thomas Charles for no particular reason other than they appeared very professional and were sympathetic and appeared to know their business. I did not realise at that early stage that they were what is known as an introductory company and they would not actually be the company who would prepare my proposal etc, once they had completed their intial preparation, they passed me on to Wilson Phillips who I was told was their parent company who then prepared the proposal and dealt with the creditors meeting etc.
My IVA was approved at my creditors meeting on 17th Dec. which was a Monday, on the following Friday I got a call from the IP company Wilson Phillips who are part of Accuma saying that due to a problem with their systems and the large amount of modifications I had they had been unable to register my iva with a court within 4 days and therefore my meeting had been what they called "internally adjourned" until 28th Dec. This sent me into wild panic but I was told that it would not prevent the iva being approved as the majority of creditors were in favour in any case.
I also received a letter from them just before xmas with the chairmans report together with a notice of adjournment until 28th Dec at 13.30hrs.
Strangely enough I have also received a letter from Egg that they had been advised my IVA had been accepted.
Anyway....today I waited for a call from Wilson Phillips with the result of the meeting, failed to get one so I tried to ring them on just about every number I have only for it to ring out!!!!
My suspicion is they are closed for xmas, but in tht case why schedule a creditors meeting for 28th???I am not sure if this procedure is standard practice, but I would have much preferred to have had one company dealing with me throughout. In hindsight I would have taken a different route, the way that I have been treated since my creditors meeting is extremely shoddy and I am not particulary happy to say the least. I paid over £1000 to Thomas Charles up front and expected a more professional service than I have received. It would appear that once they have received these fees they have no further concern with their clients, indeed I have not had one phone call from Thomas Charles since they passed the file to Wilson Phillips. I know there are a couple of Thos Charles People on this forum and I would be interested in their views on this....In addition I would like others to learn from my experience to take their time before going with the first company you come across.

[Adam Davies]

Hi
I'm sure that Thomas Charles will respond to this once they are back in the office,probably Jan 2nd.
I agree that the interest of an introducer should not end once they pass your case on,and will be interested in their response.
Regards

Andy Davie
IVA.co.uk Spokesperson and Website Manager

About me:
http://www.iva.co.uk/andy_davie_profile.asp

IVA Helpline: 0800 197 4838
http://www.iva.co.uk/iva_helpline.asp

[frequentflyer]

Dont get me wrong, the Debt Advisor at TC was very good but I got the distinct impression that as soon as the case had been passed to Wilson Phillips that was going to be it....and I was right! And once the case was with Wilson Phillips the service was poor and it was more of a case of my having to contact them for information all the time. The debacle over the creditors meeting has to be the icing on the cake. I will certainly be asking some questions of both companies when they return from their xmas holiday!!

[frequentflyer]

Has anyone ever heard of a creditors meeting being formally adjourned to a date when the IP & associated company were on holiday?????
What would have happened had I decided to attend this meeting in person as I believe I am entitled to do??

[MelanieGiles]

No - and yhis is very bad practice giving you grounds for a complaint, but you may just be happy to have the IVA confirmed as accepted when they do return to work???

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[Martin2011]

Sounds far from ideal FF, but at least you can be certain it's agreed.... I don't doubt you'll get a deserved apology, and importantly your advice about careful selection of a firm and IP is important for anyone stepping into the process....like you I googled, and I think have been lucky with the service offered by Clearstart so far..... Would have been great to have found this site first, somehow fairly sure I'd have been trying to persuade Melanie and her team to take my case on.... C'est la vie...

Martin

[frequentflyer]

I will definitely make a complaint about this, I am wondering if the meeting was scheduled for the 28th as the courts were open on that date but not the IP company...I dont really know I am just hoping they will finally return to work tomorrow the 2nd Jan.
Most of us really have no idea of the quality of the IP company and tend to get swept along happy that their situation is being handled and not really having any benchmark to compare it with

[MelanieGiles]

The date of Court openings has no relevance to the timing of your IVA. Are you sure that this firm was closed over the whole holiday period - I would find that hard to believe in a large company.

Regards, Melanie Giles, Insolvency Practitioner for over 20 years.

To have me propose an IVA for you, please visit:
http://www.melaniegiles.com/ivaEnquiry.asp

See customer feedback at:
http://www.iva.com/iva_companies/IVA_Advice_Bureau.asp

[frequentflyer]

The told me on the Thursday before xmas that my meeting had been adjourned as a formality as they had been unable to register the result with the court. They then told me the date of the new meeting was 28th. They said that they were shutting down for xmas on that Thursday. I tried phoning them on 4 of their telephone numbers on 27th/28th/31st on numerous occasions and failed to get a reply each and every time. I concluded this must mean they were shut as in the past when I have rung them I have not had problem getting through to someone.

[frequentflyer]

have not had a response from anyone from Thomas Charles regarding this so I am posting to try and get someones attention!!

[Martin2011]

Be cool and persistent FF, I'm sure you'll get a response soon and remain confident it'll be a positive one.

Best wishes

Martin

[Oliver]

Hi Frequentflyer

Firstly please let me apologise that our service hasn't met with the usual high standards which we would expect and also let me apologise on behalf of my colleagues at Wilson Phillips whom also seem to have fallen short of their usually excellent service.

Our Associates are committed to seeing your IVA proposal through from point A (the introduction of you as our client) to point Z (the acceptance of your IVA proposal), it seems that on this instance we have fallen short of this mark and I would therefore like to again offer our sincere apologies.

We pride ourselves in world class customer service and when we fail to achieve this we take this incredibly seriously. I would be more than happy to discuss this further with you, if you would like to do this please feel free to contact myself anytime.



Best Regards
Oliver

Thomas Charles and Co Ltd.
Experts in personal debt solutions.
Read customer feedback at: www.thomascharles.com/about_us.asp