I'm hoping someone can give me some solid advice/help here. We had a magistrates court summons for unpaid council tax, and as a previous years was on an attachment of earnings already, wrongly assumed that when the liability order was granted, this would be collected that way too. Around 1 week ago, we received a letter from Chandlers advising they were going to visit. At this stage I tried to speak to the local council who have refused to queue it as an attachment and wouldn't consider my payment plan or recall from bailiffs and allow me to deal direct with them. Next thing I know we were woken up at 8 today with knocking on the door, and as we didn't answer a Notice of Enforcement was put through the letterbox. I spoke to the council again as well as bailiff and the bailiff told me that no it was too late to make a payment arrangement and he would be back in hour and a half to seize goods. I went to speak to the CAB who phoned both bailiff and council, and got told much the same, bailiff went on to say he was coming back tomorrow morning and if we didn't let him in next step was apply to courts again for a locksmith. CAB arranged an appointment to come back in tomorrow and do a money plan/budget thing with them which they say will go in my favour and help in trying to sort this. I thought, but admit this could be wrong, that bailiffs couldn't just come and take your goods they had to levy them first. So am I falling for scare tactics from Chandlers or can they if they were to be let in, just up and seize stuff? Any advice on what my next steps should be, as it is a minefield when neither Council not Chandlers are prepared to talk to you and let you arrange a repayment plan.

Sorry for perhaps not being clear in my original post but rather than a general moan about Argos I am hoping one or more of you knowledgeable caggers can give me some advice and some legalese for contacting them. I guess my questions are: My contract of sale was with Argos I believe, as they sold the goods and took my money, is this correct? Are they in breach of contract due to their failure to deliver and failure to resolve my complaint? Should I get an immediate cancellation of contract? Does this then mean Argos should refund my money straight away? Are there any specific phrases I should quote when contacting them via email? Should I be giving them a timescale in which to resolve this before I escalate it? If I should need to get a body involved would it be Trading Standards? All help and advice most gratefully received!

On 30th April, I placed a large order with Argos online. Fridge freezer turned up when it was supposed to to, as did the kids bike and single bed frame. However, the set of garden solar lights I ordered have not arrived and despite chasing every week they have never been able to give me any explanation other than goods coming direct from supplier and they will chase it up. I have now reached the end of my tether as on 31st May I was told they would contact me in 48 hours with the suppliers response. I have of course heard nothing from them so emailed them to say cancel the order and refund my money ASAP. They have responded with this: I am sorry to read that you wish to cancel your order. I have notified the supplier of your desire to cancel. Once the order is cancelled, the refund of £25.99 may take up to five working days. Please note, in the event that the goods have already been despatched, a free return will be necessary before the refund will be possible. I am not at all happy with this response as surely the cancellation should be immediate and the supplier must be able to say if items have been sent or not. Instead I am left kinda hanging not knowing if they will eventually turn up or I will get my refund soon. Can someone give me advice on how to handle this please as I'm about to go off the deep end! Yes it's only £25.99 but they've had my money for over a month now.

I will do, we can move our vehicles to the local shopping centre car park and keep them there for awhile today. I will then get onto the Council on Monday and see if I can get things sorted through the bailiffs held off. Really good advice from this site as always. So nice to have somewhere to turn to when you don't have the answers yourself

So we still need to move them tomorrow just in case? Am planning to pay off a large chunk anyway to the Council, just don't know when it will be as waiting on some funds to come through. Maybe I can get the Council to put a hold on the bailiffs in the meantime if I'm lucky! Out of interest, since our vehicles are parked right in front of our house, I asusme he can pop back at anytime and levy them?

Can he still levy on our vehicles though if he turns up here anyway?

My husband said he did have an attachment of earnings when he was working and was paying all this off then. He lost his job and went onto JSA and the payments stopped, he heared nothing more from the Council and knew nothing about a bailiffs visit. He wants me to query all this with the Council in the hopes we can get it taken back from the bailiffs and pay the Council direct. The bailiff had mentioned we'd have to pay £25 for him to do a levy so our first payment would be £50 for their charges. He now thinks it best to tell the bailiff it will be queried first with the Council before we make an arrangement so not to bother calling round. If he does, we won't answer the door and I said to hubby we need to move our car and bike away for the day! Will we have any luck getting the bailiff to wait awhile until we talk to the Council?

Nope am sure he hasn't as all he did was hand me copies of the liability orders from the Council. Think my obvious lurgy was putitng him off having any dealings with me!

OK thank you for this advice, will make sure my husband knows not to let him in and we will need to move our cars. Does it matter that he already saw them today? Or that our lounge window is at the front and if blind isn't down you can see in the house?

I opened the door this morning to find a bailiff on my doorstep. This was over Council Tax from 2011/2012 I think. He gave me a copy of the liability orders when I spoke with him.I was surprised as had forgotten I owed this, especially as I thought my husband had put it all in his name now and had been handling it. I do know at one point deductions were being taken from his wages, but they stopped when he lost his job. He is now back at work and I'm thinking he hadn't expected this to happen either. As I can hardly talk at the mo due to laryngitis, the bailiff asked me to get my hubby to call him to make an arrangement. Hubby phoned him and the guy will be coming round tomorrow to do paperwork and make an arrangement. Seems we have to pay £50 straight off which we won't have until hubby gets paid. I don't work due to health issues and hubby is on a very low wage so is concerned we might struggle if they expect big repayments every month. Am I right in thinking we shouldn't let the bailiff into the house as that gives him access another time, or is that old thinking these days? Any advice on how we should handle this as I'm dreading losing our belongings. Thanks.

OK guys, looks like I'm crystal clear on all this now, so thank you all very much for the help and advice it's much appreciated

If I can at least get half that's better than nothing. I'm guessing the loan was done in both names due to it being secured on a jointly owned house, so may well be that the PPI was joint as well. So the fact all payments were made from an aco**** in my sole name has no bearing on this? Neither does it matter they have his name wrong?

Well I shall wait to hear from them as I sent the acceptance back to them signed by me but with a covering letter explaining I am no longer in contact with him and he was only a signatory due to owning the house with me. So I can expect them to come back and tell me not good enough whereupon I will ask for proof that it was joint cover. I so hope it wasn't, especially as I was the one making the payments. Guess if someone avdised it to be joint we may have gone for it but time will tell. I can at least get something out of them as another loan was solely in my name and they have agreed a PPI refund on that one. Out of interest, if the PPi refund in question was on a joint cover, can I get anything without his signature such as half the amount they are offering? On their acceptance forms they say they will pay by cheque, no doubt hanging onto it as much as they can. Cheque in this day and age???!!!

OK so I ask them to prove it was joint cover, and if they can't they then have to pay just me? As this was a loan from the then Cedar Holdings that they took over, I'm gonna hope they don't have any proof!

I don't have the agreement as this was a very old loan taken out at least 10 years ago, and long since paid off. I think his name had to be on the agreement as the loan was secured on the property we jointly owned? Possible only myself covered by ther insurance as I was the one paying but no way of knowing. Perhaps I should mention they had his name wrong on their acceptance form, which amkes me wonder if they couldn't read his writing when he signed something.