I am so angry right now. I received a reminder notice about 2 weeks ago which stated I had not paid my council tax for July. I had. I made the payment, online, on the 29th June. My mistake was that I overpaid by £1 so it was all offset against next years bill. However after speaking to them, they sorted it out and everything was ok. Today I have received a final notice. This states that I now have to pay the amount in full within 7 days or else it goes to court. I have also lost the right to pay by installments.

I called the council straight away and they confirmed that they received my payment for July. But, to stop proceedings I now have to pay by Direct Debit. Well, I hate Direct Debits with a passion and I want to use their online payment service. I was told that if I do not pay as they want me to, they will issue a summons.

I am just boiling with rage. How can they get a liability order against me for paying my bill using one of their methods (clearly stated on the back of the bill). They also state that I did not make the payment until the 2nd July yet I can prove I made the payment on the 29th June. It does not say to allow 3-5 days for the payment to go through (it does state this for 2 of the other methods of payment though so I would expect it to state the same for online payments if this was the case).

I am due to pay tomorrow so I asked them just how they expected me to pay this by direct debit.....I made it clear I will be making a payment tomorrow, online or, if the payment processes quicker, over the telephone. They said this was fine, but for future payments I must pay by DD.

Do I really have to? As long as I am paying have they really got a chance of continuing with proceedings? Wouldn't they look a bit stupid in court when I turn up with proof that I am paying my bill in accordance with their instructions and that they have received every payment to date?

Waiting for someone else to call me back to explain why they are threatening me with court action for paying my bill using one of their prescribed methods. Should be interesting.

Ok, it's all sorted now. Spoke to someone else at the office and they were more helpful. I can continue making payments as I have been and no further action will be taken. Still angry that it got this far though.

Glad to hear that, clemma.

I have had similar problems with my own council in the past whereby they have issued court summons willy-nilly without any form of warning. The last time it cost me over £300 to buy a scanner/printer, inks, papers etc just to be able to copy and print a full ten years of council tax payments amongst other evidence to the court. I also had to send copies as part of my complaint to the head of the council, a councillor and for my records. The councillor was useless and simply deferred to whatever the head of the council decided to do.

I got the council to back off, not for the first time, because I showed they were clearly in the wrong but I didn’t receive an apology, instead I got a terse letter from the council head demanding it had been dealt with and I had no right to complain.

Yeah - dealt with after I took immediate action because they hadn’t done their jobs in the first place. I found out they hadn’t updated my records in six years and refuted all my claims that they should have received paperwork which should have been added to my file, even those that had been sent recorded delivery. I’ve lost confidence in my council.