For Anyone with a Visit from the Bailiffs, Especially DRAKES

[Essex_Geezer]

I had a 5am visit from Drakes a few weeks back to clamp my car and demand £600+, they did not follow protocol and although I had to pay to stop the car from being uplifted I have found someone to help.

Please visit [link removed] and the [link removed]- Alison who runs both sites has helped me start action against Drakes for not following the law, she has also managed to get Camden Council to sit up and listen with regards to the initial ticket issue.

Even if you just need some advice then talk to her (she will call back if you fill out the form) and is trying to make the Bailiff's sit up and take note.

Drakes failed to follow at least 7 areas of law when they called, and even before then, in their initial correspondance and demands. Alison acts on your behalf and gives them only 7 days to answer, not the usual 28 days. I felt like I had been banging my head against a brick wall, searching page after page on the internet until I found her site.

On the day they clamped I lost revenue as I am a self employed trainer and felt sick to my stomach becuase I didn't have the money to pay, they clamped me at 5am and gave me till 9.00am to pay or they would uplift the car. In the end I had to place my dog and then myself in the car to stop any action while I frantically called friends for help.

I never saw the Bailiff, and he refused to come in person until the fine had been paid, I never even saw his ID Badge or Autority to Act, he did everything over the phone.

I have met Alison and she is lovely, seriously it sounds like a 'story' but she took notes and helped me get everything sorted while our dogs played outside (I even got homemade pie) - her and her partner are fantastic and prooving to be a real pain to the likes of Drakes. My letter to Drakes was sent this week so we should have a reply by next, also Camden finally sent a reply to my original repesentation that they had 'misslayed' after she spoke to them.

Don't let Drakes or the others get to you and if you have a demand letter, start parking your car away from your house (I wish I had done) but get in contact with Alison now.

Regards Marc (one man and his Staffy Puppy)

[ozzywizard]

The sites are not even set up yet. Also imo I think it stinks how people advertise their services and charge for help with debt control. I do understand that professional solicitors make charges that usually are covered by legal aid to the people in hardship and entitled etc.
If this was my forum I would be removing them links you gave as in your post you did not even specify they have charges Anyways dont get me started before I really do start to rant lol. What is all this about, unreal.

Home Health Service: $220/mo
Deluxe Car Wash: $15
Septic Tank Repairs: $75
Shoe Repair: $30

[Rich44]

It looks like a template style website that hasnt been fully filled in yet hence under contact us

info@service.com rather than anything relating to their domain name at all.

As for the other stuff theres nothing on there saying they charge yet so perhaps give them the benefit of the doubt till tomorrow when the site goes live officially

[lookinforinfo]

A bit OTT Ozzywizard.

We are extremely lucky with our forum here that the owners have given us all
such a fantastic site to reclaim our money from financial concerns. Sadly too many
appear to use the facilities to get their money back, then do not continue to support the forum or make any donation either.

But in the real world life is different. Running a professinal website where a large
number of visitors are expected is expensive and time consuming. I don't know
if there is a charge to use the bailiff site, or if there is, how the charges break down.
Now there is a site that specialises in giving advice and help against bailiffs. I
see nothing wrong with that. Time will tell whether the site fulfils its promise.

[ozzywizard]

As I said just my opinion.

[Rich44]

If it is a private company charging then I think theyre on VERY dodgy grounds referring to themselves as "Watchdogs" if thats the case I think TS would be interested and if theyre solicitors possibly the law society too

[Essex_Geezer]

Ok guys, the bailiff Watch Dog site is NOT a pay site, it is a collection of people just like the London Motorists Action Group, but we have had problems with Bailiffs. In my case Drakes extorted money from me without following protocol. I am told the watchdog will be featured on the forthcoming Bailiff program as a source for people who need help. Alison has taken on many of our cases, all free of charge, in order to show these people that they cannot just bully and demand payments that are not due. As for it being a loophole for those of us who don't want to pay?? Camden Council now can't tell me when they issued their 'Notice to Owner' (something I have disputed all along) and my original parking ticket was over a 5 minute time descrepancy on two residents day permits. Without proper notice they refered my case to Drakes who then broke the law in their collection.

I think it is sad that anyone should begin to rubbish good work just as it starts, maybe some of you who have had problems would like to email support or help?

[MizzPiggy]

Dear All,

I am the Director of the Bailiff Watchdog, and feel that I need to make clear some of the issues that have been raised.

I am dissapointed that a very genuine client that has posted with sincerity, that the feedback has been as it is.

Firstly.....to the comments about the site.

Out site is the bailiff watchdog PLEASE NOTE THE CO.UK

When our site went live though we have not yet advertised, it is interesting to note the date of the messages here, but on the 15th of September, someone purchased five domain names in the same name as ours. This has been in an attempt to confuse people when they typed in Bailiff Watchdog and to give people the impression we were not up and running yet. Our email address xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and has never been the one as stated above, so it appears the person that has tried to deceive and confuse the public for our service has done well. This matter is with our lawyers.

Secondly........to the comments about charging.

Bailiff Watchdog has NOT received any money for the over 115 clients we have taken on. NO ONE has been charged and the only charges there are as clearly stated are for those people that cannot or do not want to use every bit of information that is given to them to act and do things for themselves.

The site was set up, so that everyone had the knowledge at no cost. We did not want to disadvantage anyone. So everyone has free access to the site and to be a member and can log their case online if they so choose. Complaints and every area is handled for free with Bailiffs. The only part to which I wish to make clear, is that the Act for ME is for those, that just want to hand us the Bailiff letter and go to work to know the matter is dealt with and they don't hear another word from the Bailiff! No phone calls nothing. Each case is handled individually and you have the services of people with legal knowledge in our actions, the highest amount of support and professionalism. We do entirely everything for them. That could not be a free service. If you need a hair cut you pay a hairdresser. TRUE? Why is it , if we give the scissors you may not choose to cut. Therefore, the service is there as just that...just a service.

Our site gives information, I am sure no one could possibly act for every single client here on money claim for free for the reality of staff and costs etc. Again, we give you all the information to do it yourself, and provide live free phone help to back it up, so how then can we be unfair or be seen to be charging for debt help?? We are not a debt help service. We are a crisis service for those dealing with a Bailiff Issue.

Thirdly...............

Our site that now receives over 80 calls a day, and for fairness, we have not charged a person a penny. We have not lost a case yet for return of fees, and are acting in free capacity for some clients with court actions that are about to begin.

There are three staff, an office and many hours that go into the service and to people with helping them. We know that not everyone is sure how to word a letter or how to get companies to listen, we do. As I said, our service is FREE!

As for money claim, there is a process and if you read all the pages carefully, again you will note you can do it all yourself, we even help! But again, if you want us to do all the work for you, then fairly we ask a small charge only if you win!!!

Fourthly......

If you visit the site you will see we are a debtors site only. We are not impartial due to the level of total outrage with the system and how it places people in further debt and the issues that are to me, with behaviours of various Bailiffs lawless.

Fifthly...........

Please...before you condemn a Company, and paralegals that do not make any claim to be Solicitors or act in that capacity nor charge for any advice or help when you are willing to help yourself, you appreciate and see that some people do things because they are good people and believe in what they do.

You will see our site staying around...and you will see how many reports you get back from people....have some faith in us!! I thank the person that was realistic about the costs of running such a business and would like to say...do you know how and why our service desires to keep going?

Because...we don't take money...and for every person we help, the emails of support, the offer to help pack envelopes or for the offer of free training like the client that posted here on first aid...people who offer their time to edit or care about the contents of the site or just those that say thankyou and are relieved we were there...when the Bailiff was at the door and they made that call...and we acted for them.....(and yes free! to which our accountant has a fit!) the people that are affected that our service gives back some feeling of control and authority to deal with the bully or the loss of money and issues that are there...and know they have rights is what keeps us going. This was and never will be a money making venture.

SO PLEASE>.....try us............don't condemn us..............thousands have gone into the site and it is still not launched yet...(you can read about why on the site).....and yes we have become an annoying daily issue for the Bailiff Companies...so if you need help....we are there.....!

[josh w]

Alison has been very helpful in regards to a problem I had with a Bailiff. The problem has not been resolved yet but it is still early days.

I would advise anyone who needs help in regards to bailiffs, especially if you need immediate advice and can not wait for an answer in these forums, to take advantage of their service.

Finally a public thank you to Alison and her team for the help they have provided, and keep on providing, for me.

[PriorityOne]

Originally Posted by The Watchdog

Out site is the bailiff watchdog PLEASE NOTE THE CO.UK

Secondly........to the comments about charging.

Bailiff Watchdog has NOT received any money for the over 115 clients we have taken on. NO ONE has been charged

The site was set up, so that everyone had the knowledge at no cost.

Our site that now receives over 80 calls a day, and for fairness, we have not charged a person a penny.

There are three staff, an office and many hours that go into the service

Please...before you condemn a Company, and paralegals that do not make any claim to be Solicitors or act in that capacity

Because...we don't take money......

(and yes free! to which our accountant has a fit!)

This was and never will be a money making venture.

............thousands have gone into the site and it is still not launched yet

Please tell me if I am missing a very obvious point here, but why would anyone invest "thousands" into a limited company... and then not make it into a "money-making venture"? You are giving all this time and energy to 115 clients for nothing? By making yourself into a limited company, I doubt that you are as big on charity as you are claiming.

[MizzPiggy]

Priority one you obviously either are a Bailiff or a person with an axe to grind. To be honest on a forum, I won't please everybody all the time nor am I going to justify myself constantly.

The choice for being a limited Company was so it was transparent. The public had access to our records and could see we had nothing to hide.

Priority One if you look around, see the people we help, the hundreds we save them and how the service works. It isn't all about money. People offer their time and support to our service, that makes a bigger and better reason to stay out there.

You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. If I was to charge a penny for services, for the letters we send the faxes the phone calls the entirity of what the service offers, I am told it is wrong. You can't charge people and shouldn't. Everything in life is free?

So I don't charge anything other than for the court processes and work we do through Money claim which is no win no fee. It is true, the service might be silly enough to run on pure belief at best, but people make donations that have saved money.

Put yourself in our shoes sir. You have someone with a crisis issue and it is immediate. What sort of service would we be if we said pay something now on the off chance we can help. We would be put down and named as acting wrongly.

So we help the client and they do in every case have a result and we act for them. Do we go back to the client and say well now you owe us money? No we can't, as we did not enter into any contract or let them know at the start. So we rely on people and the value they have had from our service, to say, ok I saved this much thanks to this service, I will give something back.

The system is abusive enough to the public, we did not want to represent another area of the same by taking money in a crisis or urgent situation. Our whole site is based on trust. It may not pay the bills sir, but I as the founder will find another to keep the resources going and will keep this site alive.

It was never to be a money making venture. If it can hold its own, then I am happy. Ask anyone we have helped till now.

Obviously not a great business head I have on, however the public are constantly being taken advantage of by the Councils and Bailiffs and I refuse to be another person or organisation that again takes advantage.

I do hope this answers your expressions of interest and the support in your wording that did nothing more than doubt our intentions. Obviously sir, you have not used our service and you question peoples genuine and good intent for helping others.

[PriorityOne]

I think you need to learn how to take public scepticism on board a little better! I am not a bailiff and have no "axe to grind", but anyone who claims to have invested thousands into a company that makes no money will always ring alarm bells with me, especially when they could be dealing with some of the most vulnerable in society.

No hard feelings though.

[distressed01]

Hi Essex Geezer,

Any chance you can provide information on who Alison is and how I can make contact? I am also trying to get hold of Drakes' Code of Practise, stumbled accross it on Sunday, but now can't find it. I have been up all night trying to locate it. Can anyone post a link or thread please for Drakes' Code of Practise?

Thanks,

distressed01

[PriorityOne]

Originally Posted by distressed01

Hi Essex Geezer,

Any chance you can provide information on who Alison is and how I can make contact? I am also trying to get hold of Drakes' Code of Practise, stumbled accross it on Sunday, but now can't find it. I have been up all night trying to locate it. Can anyone post a link or thread please for Drakes' Code of Practise?

Thanks,

distressed01

The Bailiff Watchdog folded some time ago. As far as I'm aware, the company was also involved in High Court litigation involving JBW Enforcement and their solicitors placed some kind of gagging order on the MD. I'm unsure as to whether this action is still ongoing against BW or not... as nothing has been posted on here for months and Alison now appears to have left this site.

Interestingly, she then began a site offering debt collection services some months earlier... but I have no idea how she's doing with it, or even what it's really trying to be/prove. Strange...