Thread: Stick at it and you can win

I am currently struggling with some shocking behaviour from a bailiff company as are many others on here.

As I have received some good news today (not in respect of current case but good none the less) I thought I would share it in the hope that it gives others the inspiration to fight on

To cut a very very long story short

2006, bailiff knocks at door claiming we owe council tax from a house we hadnt lived in for over 18months. I dispute figure completely. Man says he will stand at door all day till I either pay in full or let him in. Stupid me panicking as I had visitors due let him in and made agreement to pay absolute minimum, thinking just get rid of him and get it sorted with council, walking possesion order was made and signed and off he went. Council were no no help what so ever. so we begin payments.

2007 Receive a letter out of the blue - amount owed has been reduced by £400. Continue to make payments to clear the rest. Had a few little blips but on the most part they were quite reasonable. Their office staff could do with a good kick up the bum though.

2008 I realised that the end must be in sight and asked for statement. Statment arrived and I couldnt really find any charges to pull them up on. Send off the last payment by BACS. The same day I make this payment, I receive a phone call from home to tell me that a bailiff has put a letter through the door saying that they have come to remove goods or they want £****. This figure is allmost double the final balance owed. Rung the baiiff up straight away and said that I had sent balance that morning and explained that it could take up to 5 working days to appear in their account. NO problem he says I shall tell office tomorrow that payment was sent prior to visit today. There is no more money owed, balance is cleared there will be no further action.

Some weeks later I receive another letter through the door for removal of goods unless I pay £**** this is now nearly £200 over the final balance they claimed was owed. Ring them up again, explain re previous bailiff. This bailiff is not such a nice man and insists that there is no way that previous bailiff would have said this. I managed to get him to agree that he would give me untill following morning to try and sort out. He told me and husband that the entire amount owed was made up of their charges.

Ring their office and it's like taking to a brick wall but the lady did say that it's wasnt all their charges. They had used ALL of my last payment against their charges (the one that I was told but be removed) and had not sent a penny to Council. Council therefore think that I havent paid and agreed to enforcement action.

I decided to ring the council themselves and luckily spoke to the two most helpfull people ever. They were incredibly shocked at my story and horrified at the amount of charges incurred and the fact that no one would tell me what they were for exactly. Was asked to write in and they would review my complaint.

Today I received a letter from the Bailiff co, which contains a whole load of terminolgy, bailiff says he has no recollection of speaking to you, no contact was made etc etc etc. Basically all my fault, they are within their rghts etc etc.

The final 3 sentence paragraph states - that depsite the above they are clearing the £230 charges on my account as a gesture of goodwill, I no longer owe them a penny :grin:.

Niceman from council rings me today to confirm that I got letter and says that my letter was very precise etc et and that he was very happy with outcome.

Now although I did not start a thread for help with this, this inspiration did come from this site. If I had not read everyone else's stories then I would probably have been to afraid to challenge this.

So once again THANK YOU to all you annoymous people on here :grin::grin:

Keeping my fingers crossed for the next one now.

Sheraton

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Hi Sheraton
What an fantastic outcome! I hope your story and indeed mine will inspire people to fight on. This site is fantastic for advice/help/comfort and indeed support for people who are trying to fight their corner.
I believe that some ( b4 Kermit jumps on me!!!) bailiffs charges and their tactics to frighten/harrass and bully people to cough up money that they haven't got needs addressing firmly but legally and many many people are unaware of their rights in this matter, therefore cough up and are made to feel frightened, intimidated and suicidal in some cases. I found this site in the nick of time and what is a worry for some debt councillors is the elderly people who do not have access to the internet and are subject to this behaviour of some of the rogue bailiff companies and some of their bailiffs. This site does make a difference and I for one am so grateful for finding it. Reading your post does give hope for a lot of people out there it has given me the courage to fight my corner.