My first ambulance chaser claim firm contact

[funkyrobot]

I've just had my first ambulance chaser contact, 3 months after my car was written off by an uninsured foreign national.

The text states that according to their records, I may be entitled to £3750 as a result of the accident I had. Hmmmm, nice!

Now, what has irked me about this is the fact that somebody has obviously passed my phone number on to these slimey money grabbing bds. I am not interested in a 'free' payout as I know where the money ultimately comes from, and I wasn't hurt in the accident.

Is it worth ringing my insurance company and enquiring as to who they have sent my details on to? Or am I wasting my time? The only companies who should know about my accident are my insurance company and their legal cover company.

I've googled the number but it hasn't come back with anything. There is also no mention of a company name on the text.

bds!

[Garlick]

I received a text too, but haven't had an accident in approx 10 years??

[JB!]

same here.

[funkyrobot]

Hmmm. Maybe they want some money to clean?

I did wonder if it was a scam number as it said at the bottom - 'text AID to get money or text STOP to opt out'. So texting STOP will really opt me out? Doubt it!

[notalways]

They are just texts sent to thousands of random people. Some people will of course have had an accident recently, but it's just a coincidence.

Where they get all the numbers from in the first place, I have no idea.

[Jeffmaniac]

Quite easy either the Police, recovery company, person at your insurance company etc... has a deal with the compensation company for a percentage of any money the ambulance chasers make.

My advice is tell them to go away and get your insurance company to sort out any compensation or rehabilitation that you need.

[Trevelyan]

It's just a spam text fishing for business. I received the same text yesterday, and apparently I was entitled to about the same amount of money for an accident which (to my knowledge) has never happened. Unless they're referring to my last car accident about 12 years ago of course.

[sleep envy]

Garlick said:

I received a text too, but haven't had an accident in approx 10 years??

I received a call last week from an outfit based in brum, the bloke asked me about an accident I had last year

I thought about it for a second or two and said he knows more about it than I did as I don't recall having an accident last year

when I asked him if it in any way stopped me getting free money he put the phone down on me, how rude!

[130R]

If you register with the TPS and a company calls you without your consent (excluding companies you have an ongoing relationship with) then they are breaking the law. Unfortunately there is no such law for SMS marketing that I know of other than you replying to the text to opt-out. The law needs to be changed to cover SMS too IMO.

[twazzock]

I received one of these texts the day after bumping a lamppost at about 3mph.

I shat myself.

[dumbfunk]

twazzock said:

I received one of these texts the day after bumping a lamppost at about 3mph.

I shat myself.

Easily done I hear - even small car accidents can be extremely alarming!

[Blown2CV]

had a phone call today from one of them, i think i have had about 3 for the same incident where i was mostly at fault. I was told that the call was being recorded for training purposes, so I gave them a nice recording of what i thought about his company's business and this manner of engagement (without swearing I might add). The bloke didn't get a word in edgeways. I didn't feel sorry for him as an individual however - he should re-calibrate his moral barometer.

[wibble cb]

had a call from them as well, wouldn't have minded, but I live in Canada...The halfwit didn't even realize he was calling a foreign country.