Heir hunters companies have been in the press today, but not in a good way. This follows allegations made in the press by people claiming to have been "ripped off" by heir hunters. One such press article is
this one in the Daily Mail.
One woman complained that she was charged 33% of the estate of a cousin three times removed. Having seen the Heir Hunters show, I can see for myself how much it must cost to keep about 30 people in an office in full-time employment, plus several mobile interviewers and researchers, plus the cost of certificates (which Neil Fraser himself has said costs F & F about £100,000 a year), and the costs of the property itself, and the heating, lighting and maintenance of it. Bearing in mind that not all cases actually yield benefactors, I don't feel that the commissions charged are too high. In the case of the woman whose benefactor was a cousin 3 times removed, she probably would have been quite oblivious to his passing, if the heir hunters hadn't contacted her.
Bearing in mind that if these companies didn't exist, the government would pocket all the money, and that distrust in MPs is at an all-time high, I don't think that any of the companies featured on the BBC show are guilty of ripping people off at all. It really annoys me that people like MPs and bankers who are ripping us off on a regular basis attract little attention, whilst those trying to run honest businesses are hounded by the press.
