CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

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MattS
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Joined: 15 Jul 2014, 10:38am

CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by MattS »

Hi All,

So I was knocked off my bike early this week. The third party insurance took responsibility and seemed nice enough to try to settle.

I was advised to seek legal advice and stumbled upon this review from London Cyclist: http://www.londoncyclist.co.uk/claim-cycling-accident/
They mentioned using CAMS and I now think it was mentioned ONLY to get their cut of the fee - great, thats the last time I use that website. I got in contact with CAMS and found them to be lovely on the phone and felt much better. They organised for my bike to be taken to be inspected by a repair garage in north london quickly and efficiently.

They have sent over the contract paperwork to complete my claim and when I started researching deeper into the solicitors I found a few bad reviews about the companies sister company.

I am now worried that I could be getting myself into more trouble than its worth. I want my bike fixed, I want them to cover my expenses whilst I cant cycle - getting into work and I would, ideally like some sort of pain and suffering compensation BUT I dont want to get stuck with a rouge company who will make my life hell!

I'm also considering leaving this weird arrangement of injury scouts paying solicitors and solicitors paying scouts and just go to a law firm like Slater and Gordon who seem to get great reviews.

Any experience would be great as I have an opt out form but would need to do this ASAP.

Thanks.
MattS
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Joined: 15 Jul 2014, 10:38am

Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by MattS »

I must also add; that this is where I found the reviews - not directly related to the Cycle but doesn't scream competence from their main holder company..

http://insurancecompanyreview.co.uk/ins ... anagement/
Edwards
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by Edwards »

Slater and Gordon took over the solicitors used by the CTC. As they are handling my wife's claim, I hope they are good.
Last edited by Edwards on 19 Jul 2014, 9:47am, edited 1 time in total.
Keith Edwards
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gaz
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by gaz »

CAMS are part of Direct Accident Management Ltd, clearly stated on their website. I cannot find a connection between them and Slater and Gordon.
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thirdcrank
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by thirdcrank »

Under the current arrangements, so-called no win, no fee provides personal injury solicitors with a big chunk of their business. It doesn't make much difference to them where that business comes from, because they get their £££ from the costs paid by unsuccessful defendants. I don't know anything about this company, but in general, claims handling organisations drum up business which they pass on to solicitors and make their £££ from a rake-off. It's hard to see what added value they provide to the individual customer.

The CTC arrangement, which is similar to that of many trade unions and other bodies is, afaik, called a collective conditional fee agreement. In short, anybody entering into a no win no fee case (AKA conditional fee agreement) has to pay upfront for an insurance policy to protect against losing and having to pay the other side's costs. The CTC pays for that policy on behalf of its members and makes a profit from it.
Edwards
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by Edwards »

Sorry for the mistake, it should have read CTC. I have edited the original post to this.

Thanks to Gaz for showing me my mistake :oops: . In my defence I was using a horrid tablet thing that changes words as it thinks :twisted: .
Keith Edwards
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MattS
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by MattS »

I wanted to clarify. Slater and Gordon are not linked to CAMS.

C-AMS are linked to the solicitor Armstrong.

I was going to think about cancelling the agreement between myself and C-AMS and use Slater and Gordon due to their reviews on trust pilot etc - They are meant to be very good.

My worry was also elevated when I read the line in the contract;

"... I also agree to discharge on my behalf out of any agreed sum or award made to me, any liability I have to DAML." cont.

I'm not totally sure what that means but it doesn't sound beneficial to myself :/
thirdcrank
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by thirdcrank »

MattS wrote: ... My worry was also elevated when I read the line in the contract;

"... I also agree to discharge on my behalf out of any agreed sum or award made to me, any liability I have to DAML." cont.

I'm not totally sure what that means but it doesn't sound beneficial to myself :/


AFAIK, if you hold money for somebody, you can't summarily recoup debts etc from that money unless they agree. You have to go through the debt recovery process if they refuse to pay. The T&C's of bank accounts tend to include a clause saying that they can recover charges from any money held on behalf of the account holder. This looks like a version of that to me. Presumably, their T&C's include details of their fees etc. That's the bit you need to check carefully.
MattS
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by MattS »

thirdcrank wrote:
MattS wrote: ... My worry was also elevated when I read the line in the contract;

"... I also agree to discharge on my behalf out of any agreed sum or award made to me, any liability I have to DAML." cont.

I'm not totally sure what that means but it doesn't sound beneficial to myself :/


AFAIK, if you hold money for somebody, you can't summarily recoup debts etc from that money unless they agree. You have to go through the debt recovery process if they refuse to pay. The T&C's of bank accounts tend to include a clause saying that they can recover charges from any money held on behalf of the account holder. This looks like a version of that to me. Presumably, their T&C's include details of their fees etc. That's the bit you need to check carefully.



That sounds about right. The fees seem to be around £750 for everyone involved. Upon calling and enquiring they seem to charge that additionally to the third party directly and don't take any from the compensation amount which upon a google search seems rare (Most accident management services give you 75% of compensation arising from an injury upon a winning claim).

They seem to have represented a few cyclists in their time (since 2006) so I am suprised no one on the forum has used them before - I will write a review somewhere on here for future searches.

Thanks for all the help on the situation but I'd still be interested in finding anyone who has used C-AMS.
thirdcrank
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by thirdcrank »

I'd bear in mind that if you go to any national organisation, they are unlikely to have one person or small team covering the entire UK. They will either have local offices or they will use local firms as agents. This is just an observation on providing national cover. That inevitably means that the experiences of clients in different parts of the country are likely to vary a bit.
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gaz
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by gaz »

MattS wrote:...The fees seem to be around £750 for everyone involved. Upon calling and enquiring they seem to charge that additionally to the third party directly and don't take any from the compensation amount which upon a google search seems rare (Most accident management services give you 75% of compensation arising from an injury upon a winning claim)...


Sounds like a "success fee", a little background here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=74346
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thirdcrank
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by thirdcrank »

gaz wrote:
MattS wrote:...Sounds like a "success fee", a little background here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=74346


gaz

It's reassuring that somebody actually reads some of my output, but disconcerting that until I followed your link, I'd completely forgotten about that thread. :oops:
aaap
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Joined: 6 Sep 2014, 11:05pm

Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by aaap »

Hello guys,

I had an accident this week (not my fault) and was advised to contact CAMS as well, which I did today. I've just seen these posts though and I feel like I did a mistake.
Would you advise me to call them back and say I don't need their help anymore?
Who would you advise me to contact?

I'm completely lost over how to handle these accidents issues and some help would be much appreciated!!!

Thanks a million,
GregWoods
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Joined: 25 Feb 2015, 9:57am

Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by GregWoods »

I'm in the process of using CAMS (C-AMS)
In November 2013 a parked car driver opened his door on me, knocking me into the road. I wasn't seriously injured, although my hand hurt like hell (from what I thought was it hitting the ground). I almost didn't take the guys details. Glad I did. After straightening the bike handlebars I rode it home. On further examination, I noticed the frame was bent. I googled around on how to handle accidents like this, and being a lazy sod, decided to let a company handle it for me... enter CAMS.

When I phoned them I initially only wanted a payout for the damaged bike. They refused to take my case, saying they wouldn't make any money off it. If I were to add cycle hire and a personal injury claim, they'd take it. After a couple of days it became clear from the bruising and swelling that I hadn't hit my hand on the ground, it had taken the impact of the edge of the car door. I'm just glad my handlebars had twisted to the side to absorb some impact. Some interesting bruising to my left bicep and shin made it clear that my whole body had hitthe edge of the car door - the bruising formed a perfect line down my left side!

So I phoned them back and tell them I may as well take the bike hire and injury claim.

When the overly small hire bike arrives, I have to sign a contract hire type of agreement, with the (verbal) assurance that I'll never have to fork out the money. Good job too, I could hire a VW Polo for the same price as this bike is costing per day! No Kidding. Also, unbeknown to me, all the time the damaged bike is in the shop, they are charging a storage fee, to which CAMS add on a suitable multiplier to be charged back to the guilty party's insurer. As I'm unaware of this fee, I'm in no rush to take the old bike back (which I plan on breaking for spares) as I have no space to store two bikes.

Now in fairness to CAMS, they do get the payout for the bike sorted pretty quickly.
After a doctor's examination, I also get an interim payment for my injuries.

However, the remainder is not forthcoming.

The problem, only found out after emailing and writing a letter to them, is that the other party's insurers are disputing all the other parts of the claim - firstly, they means test me to make sure I couldn't aford to pay the cycle hire fees up front - which was nerve-wracking, as it was a sizeable chunk of cash. Then they dispute the storage fees, asking why it was so long in storage - the real answer is that no-one told me it could be a big deal, so I left the bike there as it was convenient for me.

It is several months since either CAMS or the Solicitors have been in contact. I think they are hoping that I'll quietly forget about the whole thing.

If I were to do it all again (not that I intend having my hand mashed again... I give parked cars a wider berth now) I wouldn't use CAMS, probably wouldn't use any claims management company, and would head to a local solicitor instead. Hire a bike by all means, but from a local shop, and see if they'll extend some credit, maybe with a letter from the solicitor.

I hope this helps others see that letting an accident management company handle things for you isn't straightforward. The excessive charges they add onto everything make the insurers baulk, and it looks like some will fight back.
Elizabethsdad
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Re: CAMS (Cycle Accident Management Service - Help!

Post by Elizabethsdad »

We loathe and detest these claims management companies who have for the last few years been a royal pain in the neck with unsolicited calls following a minor bump my wife had in her car. We keep telling them that everything has been settled and not to phone us back or pass our details on but they still do. On a few occasions I have taken to be very rude to them as polite reasoned requests seem to fall on deaf ears - pox on the lot of them.
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