Tax refund to Agen

Hi. I received a letter from HMRC saying I had a tax refund due and that I would receive a cheque in my name within 14 days. After waiting 60 days and no cheque I decided to ring them only to be told my money had gone to consumer claims uk. I am beyond speechless and furious that my money has been sent tothis company. The HMRC told me they had received a form signed by myself claiming on my behalf. I have never done this. I have reported this to action fraud but I feel so let down. I cannot get hold on consumer claims uk. All the numbers are dead. HMRC will let see if the cash has been cashed nor will they send me a copy of the form they received. I am at a loss at what to do.

Hi Bronwyn Beswick,

We can send you a copy of the form that was received.

I apologise if you were told we could not do this.

Please contact our helpline again to request a copy of the form.

You will find our contact details here: 

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you. 



 

I have received two letters from HMRC stating that I have overpaid income tax, one for the tax year 2018-2019 and another for 2021 - 2022. both amounts are the same except for 20p One of the letters states that the cheque will go to Brooksdale, the other letter states the cheque will be sent directly to me. I don't know who Brooksdale are.

Hi SHAYNS,

If you contact our helpline we can issue a copy of the correspondence we received regarding the claim
Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

I received an email from HMRC to check my status . When I logged onto the website it stated that I was due a rebate. I have today received an email from Brooksbank Ltd to say the cheque has been sent there! I spoke to an adviser at Brooksbank as I had no idea who they were - he ridiculed me and told me that I had signed either an email or txt from the claimsguys to which I have no recollection of! I thought they were to do with PPI?? not general overpayment of tax?? I’m confused, upset and angry that this has happened it seems such a scam and reading through this forum it seems I am not the only one that thinks this!!

[Personal information removed - Admin]

On 28th august 2022 we received a P800 letter from HMRC informing us of a tax refund for the year 18/19 and that the cheque had been forwarded to Brooksdale Ltd. We have never given explicit authority to this company to act as our agent. We have in the past used the Claims Guys to recover PPI payments. Other posts on this site have said that Brooksdale have been passed Claims Guys customer details which is how they become involved in this shoddy unethical business practice. To which regulatory body do we complain about this apparent misuse of our data? Should HMRC not check with the customer first that this “agreement” has in fact been made with the customers prior explicit approval.

Hi John Seton,

We would advise you to contact Brooksdale first, and if you are unhappy with the response then you could contact the Financial Conduct Authority:

Contact us

Thank you

I've had the same - they are asking for bank details, DOB, name, address, and a copy of my driver's license or passport!! They say this is because they are now required by law to use BACS. I've also done some investigations, and if someone at HMRC would do the same, they would see the connections between company directors, solicitor firms that they use, and employees. This is nothing short of a scam on a networked scale involving several individuals. They recently sent out (on the 4th October) a new T&Cs implying that if I DIDN'T share all of this information with them, they would wait 90 days and charge me £60 for each attempt they make at getting that information. Question for anyone at HMRC: is this acceptable? Outwith any signature they say I have given, am I to just give out all of my personal information to a company whose own website has an expired SSL certificate, whose solicitors share the same address as them, and who tells me that one of their 'data processors' is a sole trader in a 'flexible office space'??? Did I mention that their ICO registration expires next month? The evidence I have about this company and its affiliates is nothing short of damning, and I will be looking at all avenues of expressing this. Can I ask someone at HMRC to tell us all HOW they were allowed to do this - without any investigation at HMRC as to who they were? Does someone at HMRC know them....

My husband, who is severely dyslexic, has got caught up in a contract with Brooksdale, he doesn't think he ever signed anything. The first he ever heard of them was several weeks ago in a letter from HMRC, saying his refund cheque was being sent to Brooksdale. A phone call to HMRC informed him he had allegedly given his permission for them to act on his behalf, and they couldn't cancel it! Then a text arrived from Brooksdale asking for his bank details to claim his refund, minus their 48% fee. When he eventually got through to Brooksdale, they said they could not cancel the contract until all on-going claims were cleared, and that there was another claim on-going. Just 2 days ago he received another text from Brooksdale with a link to their revised terms and conditions (we have never seen a copy of their unrevised terms and conditions for comparison). This states that on signing, you have a 14 day cooling off period in which you can change your mind. This only works if you know you've signed up in the first place! The vast majority of complaints I have seen anywhere, (and I have looked everywhere, not just on this forum) are about people being unaware they have signed. HMRC advised my husband to call their Fraudline, which he did. He then called Brooksdale and told them. Lo and behold within a few hours he received an e-mail saying that they (Brooksdale) had drafted a letter to HMRC asking them to remove their deed of assignment, and that he would also have to write to HMRC asking them to do the same, as HMRC need to see that both parties agree to the cancellation. So, he got a result, and will now try to get the other 48% of his tax rebate back from Brooksdale. This is his money, he earned it and overpaid it, and he would have got it back eventually anyway, without Brooksdales interference. The way these companies work is underhand and borderline fraudulent! They should be made to pay back every penny. Actually , I can see the advertisement now! " Have you ever had a tax claim made on your behalf that you were unaware you asked for? If so tick here []. " And so it goes on.

Hi PM_CO,

If you have concerns about how an agent is operating, you can contact us with the details:

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

Has anyone had any luck with getting their money back? I also had a P800 and my tax refund had been sent to Brooksdale who I had never heard of. I reported to Fraud online & got a crime Ref number but HMRC won’t remove the assignment! I have written to them instructing them to remove anything to do with Brooksdale as it was fraudulently obtained. Do i just get my 52% of rebate & forget about it? I’m so angry that this scam is allowed to continue. Thanks

Hi I had refund from brooksdale LTD case was settled in May but they are just giving me excuses. First excuse was in June saying they received the check but was in the wrong name and told me I have to wait 12 weeks for HMRC to resend. 2nd excuse was after the 12 weeks they told me that HMRC had sent out a new check but Brookside had not received it so I would have to wait enougher 6 weeks, and I would receive payment by the 25th November, it's now December 7 months since the the settlement and cant gat a reply from Brookside. I see that plenty of other people are having the same problems. just wondering if they are holding back money for there gains

Hi Eddie Howe,

If the company are saying they have not received the refund. 

You can contact our helpline and to check and confirm if the repayment has been  reissued and when this was done.

Contact details here: 

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you. 

 

I entered into an agreement with Brooksdale to chase a number of PPI tax refunds for me. Early last year (2022) I received one cheque payment of £105 relating to one of the PPI references. I then received several e-mails from Brooksdale stating on some of them that the claim had been successful and was being checked / reviewed by Brooksdale and some that my claim had been resubmitted to HMRC. I e-mailed Brooksdale through their own enquiry form 3 days ago. I informed them that they hadn’t contacted me in any way since early 2022 and l quoted all the references given on Brooksdales early 2022 communications, along with the dates of their e-mails. Their form states that they would get back to me within 48 hours. Unfortunately I have not received any response. Additionally I have recently read numerous reviews about Brooksdale in which customers (and non-Customers) had been awarded HMRC payouts via Brooksdale but due to the payout links either very quickly expiring or not working at all they had not received anything. Can HMRC please advise of any payments made to me during 2022 via Brooksdale and the dates they were made. Thank you.

Hi PaulT,

If you contact our Income Tax team, we can advise amounts that were issued and the dates of the payments.

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you.

This has happened to me the only link I am familiar with is use of the Claims Guys. I am following the activity indicated by HMRC and have reported to Action Fraud and will be approaching Brooksdale. My concern is that HMRC are aware of this company from this forum and contact we have made, that Brooksdale are receiving payments but not paying the due payment to us as tax payers.yet they continue to keep paying over money we will never see.

Dear team, I recently received a p800 from HMRC and noticed that over 50% of the refund had gone to 'The Claims Guys Legal'. The only time I remember dealing with this company was in regards to a claim about having worked during the covid pandemic. I do not recall authorising them to make tax refund claims on my behalf. Either way, I would like the Claims Guys Legal removed from my account. How do I go about doing this? best wishes 

Hi, Looking for some assistance. I received a letter from HMRC on 02/02/23 saying I was due a tax rebate from April 2017/18 period. However, the cheque will be sent to Lakeshore Services Ltd. At no point have I contacted them... in fact, the first I heard about them was through the letter. I applied for PPI directly through my bank years ago not through a 3rd party agent. I have been on hold with HMRC for 30 mins and counting. I have tried contacting Lakeshore directly, and get nothing back. They don't even list a phone number on their website! It has been nearly a month and still no cheque or contact from Lakeshore. Has anyone dealt with this company? My biggest concern is they said they will take 36% + VAT!!!! That's ludicrous and half the money I am due. Any help would be grateful

Hi Ashley Stratton,

If we have sent a refund to an agent, we will have received a document with a signature.

If you don't recall using this agent please contact our helpline again and we can send a copy of the document we received.

Once you have seen the document you can report this to Action Fraud if you didn't make the agreement:

Income Tax: general enquiries

Thank you. 

Like many on this forum, I too have had a letter from HMRC stating I have a tax rebate and a cheque was being sent to Brooksdale. I do have some recollection of having a company check into tax paid on PPI claims, so am under the impression this is them. And like everybody else on here, seem to be having issues obtaining said refund. I have tried on more than one occasion to submit my bank details. I have tried to respond to their email, but it has bounced back. I have tried contacting by phone, but again like others no reply. Clearly this company is in receipt of a number of peoples rebates, but are not forwarding them. Clearly something should be done about this. Surely now, with the number of people complaining, and am sure there are many more out there, some action from yourselves is required.