Thanks Rory, Warrant Surcharge: 10% of outstanding, got it. That means they've got it wrong even by their own measure. Seeing as i don't owe them anything though, it should be zero! Credit rating: Well, it's never been on my credit file at all. I check them pretty regularly. Ok, i'll send the letter and see what their response is.

So I've received this from the council... I've now received my proof of student status from the university, but nothing from the jobcentre yet. I'm constructing a reply, this is what i've come up with so far. My first question to all you knowledgeable people is, what is this 10% Warrant surcharge? Will it have any effect on my credit rating? Is it really 10% of the total council tax for the year? Was the council tax on a 2 bed flat really £2108.40 in 2000? My next question is, do you have any suggestions on how to improve my letter?

So i've received confirmation from Durham that we lived there, paid council tax and received council tax benefit from 26th July 2000. No response from Edinburgh University yet. Also received another letter from the DCA saying I haven't responded. So i penned a quick reply saying they're wrong, including a copy of my original letter to them and a copy of my proofs of postage.... That'll learn 'em

Good idea - Done! I just confirmed in writing that the account is in dispute and reminded them of the information the promised to provide on the phone. I also took the opportunity to ask them to provide me with all details they have pertaining to ourselves and the address at the time. I also asked them to provide a detailed breakdown of how they arrived at the figure they allege we owe.

OK so it's not statute barred. So i need to prove we aren't liable. They say we're liable from March - September 2000. Well, up to 24th June is easy. We have proof we were students and thus exempt. Then it gets tricky. Our landlord says we left on 22nd September. This is not true, as we left on 31st July. But we have no proof other than the fact we have a lease in Durham starting 27th July, confirmed by Durham Council. I am guessing that 22nd September is when the next people moved into our old flat, thereby neatly arranging that the landlord be not responsible for any Council Tax while it was empty in August and September. Maybe cessation of services would be proof enough? Gas and electricity? Supposing enough proof is found. We are then left with the period 25th June - 31st July 2000 where we would be liable. But we were both unemployed and claiming JSA and Housing benefit (we have bank statements to prove this). We had never paid Council Tax in our lives. Had we realised we had become potentially liable for it for that one month, we would have been eligible for it to be covered by Council Tax benefit. We were in receipt of Council Tax benefit in Durham, surely we would have just transferred this claim from Edinburgh? Hopefully the jobcentre will come up with some proof of this. What a mess. I guess i'll just have to wait for responses from the people i've contacted. In the meanwhile, what do you all think the DCA is likely to do?

OK, the plot thickens. I phoned the City of Edinburgh council tax department. It is for council tax. They believe our degree courses finished in March 2000. Our landlord has stated that our tenancy officially ended on 22nd September 2000. They are saying we are liable for council tax between these two dates. They have asked us to prove the end dates of our courses. I phoned Edinburgh University. Our courses officially finished on the 24th June 2000. They are sending confirmation in writing. We have proof (bank statements) that the last rent cheque in Edinburgh was paid out on 19th June 2000 (June rent). We verbally agreed with our landlord that he take our deposit as July rent. Our lease ran early August to early August. So we cannot be liable for Council Tax for August and September 2000. I have phoned Durham City council. On their records we started living there on 27th July 2000. We were in receipt of some council tax benefit that must have transferred from Edinburgh. I've asked them to confirm all this in writing. I have phoned the jobcentre - who told me to write. I have asked in writing for exact dates of JSA claims, which office we reported to and any Council Tax benefit claims. Our situation at the time: We finished our exams in June 2000. We both then signed on for JSA. We left at the end of July and took up a new tenancy in Durham. We transferred our JSA claims from Edinburgh to Durham. My wife started work in August 2000 and we both signed off JSA. I commenced my PhD course at the beginning of October 2000. I have sent the "Prove it" letter to the DCA.

Ta for response, rory32 We didn't live there in 2001. As soon as we graduated we left (unfortunately) for England. I continued my studies and my OH started work - and we paid council tax to the City of Durham Council from September (i think) 2000 . It's plausible that the financial year of whatever bill this is for is 2000/2001, but we weren't liable for council tax at all at the time. It's also plausible that we were still on the electoral roll in Edinburgh (we voted in first Scottish Parliamentary elections in 1999). We registered in Durham for the next local elections, but i can't remember when they were. I've got no bones with Edinburgh Council - they had discretionary power to help us out with our rent over two summers. We were utterly skint students with a young child and unpaid work experience to do - otherwise we'd have failed our degrees. They decided to help us and we are grateful, so if we genuinely owe them money we'll pay up. I don't feel the same about DCA's. Lowest of the low.

Thanks all three of you! Conniff - yes, I thought so! creditcardmug - I'll send him a PM. ODC- Excellent! Just the sort of thing i'm looking for. Should I contact the Council separately? What i'd really like is for the council to acknowledge that i don't owe them anything. I'm not keen on these DCA people - can I also put my arsey hat on and put "Letter before action" at the top and detail the charges i'll be pursuing them for should I need to instigate action against tham. Like my reasonable hourly rate for letter writing and also compensation for harassment etc. etc.? Or do you think that's laying it on a bit thick for the moment?

We've just had a letter drop on our doormat from: Debt Managers Ltd. PO Box 168 4 Jamaica Street Edinburgh EH3 6UP It reads... This is a total surprise. As far as we are aware, we do not owe anything to the City of Edinburgh Council and have never been contacted before. We now live in Cheshire. We lived in Edinburgh from October 1995 to July 2000 - we were both students and therefore the property where we lived was exempt from council tax for the duration of our tenancy. So we can't see how we would owe them anything. About a year ago we spent a lot of time on this site claiming back charges (£4000) and cleaning our credit records. We're now totally on the straight and narrow and have absolutely no desire to get back into the legal shenanigans. We're aware that DCA's are tricky to deal with and want to ask people's advice on how to go about sorting this. The other half wants to phone them up, but I don't want to do this as I feel a paper trail is essential. Do we contact the DCA or Edinburgh Council direct? How can we permanently impress on the council that we don't owe them anything? How can we ensure that we never hear from the DCA again?

The problem I have is with my Orange broadband connection. I have signed up for an 8mb connection, but since mid June have been getting speeds of closer to 56kb. Needless to say I’m not very happy about this. The first three times I spoke to their technical support I was told that they knew of the problems and they should be resolved in the next few days. Today I have been told that in fact it is likely to take up to another month to fix. Whilst I may be able to end my contract with them for broadband on the grounds that they are not fulfilling their part of the agreement, the £5 per month package I have with them is dependent upon my having a £35 per month mobile phone contract which I cannot end for another 14 months. Of course the value of the broadband is offset by the cost of the phone. I do not need a £35 per month contract. The problem arises now when the cheap part (ie broadband) is not provided. Does anyone here have any experience of a situation like this? Basically I would like to cancel my phone package on the grounds that I was mis-sold it by promises of a reduced price broadband connection which they have subsequently failed to provide. Alternatively I would accept them paying me the difference between the cost of the broadband they have offered me (£5) and that of another ISP (£20-25) for the remainder of the mobile contract. What do people think? Do I stand a chance, or do I just have to lump it? (Oh, and after speaking to the guy who told me it would be at 56kbps for around another month I phoned their “new customer” line who took my phone number and said they are able to provide 6.5-8mb in my area at the moment!!)

subbing

Thanks for the congrats! Got the equifax one this morning - they're efficient eh! It's gone! I saw it with my own eyes! FULL REMOVAL of the entry! I'm ecstatic and am celebrating with liquid refreshment. This all make me think just how important this credit referencing lark is. It can really rule your life. And when they get it wrong..... There must be a better way of sorting out problems than going to the courts. The system has to be reformed - with some serious independent arbitrator - not just the spineless ICO. Our personal data must be treated with much more importance than it is at the moment.

Well - thanks for the responses!!! willowb: Creditexpert - Yes i've tried that, i had an account with them a while ago at an old address - they can't update the address unless i write to them - so i may as well get the statutory report. zoot: i'll give it a go calling them to confirm it specifically. I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone properly for their support. I hope none of you take offence if I single out zootscoot for special thanks in constructing a rather intricate particulars of claim. If it weren't for this site and the people that inhabit it, I would not have had the confidence to challenge the unfair situation I was put in. There will be a donation to the site from this claim to add to the ones previously made. Seeing as the monetary value was small here, I'll give more than the 5% suggested. This was our last claim - all have been successful. Natwest three times, Egg once, Ikano once and now HSBC. We (and it has been pretty much a joint effort) will endeavour to keep posting to the site and help out others embarking on the same path. We're certainly no experts, but having been through the mill a few times, we may have some useful insights. Good luck to everyone with ongoing claims - not that you'll need it .

I wasn't keen on spending the extra cash on this so I thought i'd chance my luck with DG solicitors. So I phoned them on tuesday and left a message asking if they wanted to reconsider their offer. Then, yesterday the male half of us filled in the form and the female half was about to take it to the court when the post came. We have victory! :D:D:D They have said the default entries have been removed. The only small problem is that I want to confirm this with the CRA's. For some reason none of them will let me sign up for their mucho-money instant file access, so i've sent off for the £2 statutory ones. Trouble is these may not arrive until after the standard disclosure deadline. I don't want to discontinue the litigation until i'm sure they are telling the truth. They also want confidentiality, which i won't agree to. But I was just going to cross this out on the acceptance form. I don't want to have a premature celebration, but I think we're nearly there!

Ok, this N244 is a bit confusing to a mere mortal like me. From what I gather, I need to attach a fee of £65 . Are these the right answers ..... How do you wish to have your application dealt with? c) without a hearing.(?) Level of Judge ?? Parties to be served. Defendant. PART A I, kateandpete intend to apply for an order that .. the claim be reallocated to the small claims track because As the claim is under £5000 it was the claimant's understanding that they would not be liable to pay the defendant's legal costs in accordance with CPR 27.14. PART B I wish to rely on evidence in Part C in support of my application. PART C 1.It is a consumer dispute and should be allocated to the small claims court which is designed particularly for consumers. 2.Under the overriding objectives of the Civil Procedure Rules there is an obligation on the judge to ensure the parties are placed on an equal footing. As the defendant is a large financial institution it would be unfair to place this in the fast track as they would have the advantage in being able to bear the risk of costs whereas the claimant does not. 3.The claim is well below the £5000 threshold. The claim was filed in the belief that it would be dealt with in the small claims court. Claimant did not anticipate the risk of bearing the defendant's legal costs in the Fast Track. Therefore to allocate to the fast track would be grossly unfair. 4. In the event that the claim is allocated to the fast-track it is respectfully requested that the court does so on the basis that the claimant should not be ordered to pay the defendant's legal costs as the claim is under the £5K limit and thus the claimant submitted the claim in the belief that that they would not be exposed to such liability in accordance with CPR 27.14. This is all probably very obvious to you guys/gals, but I do want to get it right.... Also do I need to do anything about the draft order? And the standard disclosure of documents by list? These have to be in on the 6th!

Yep, i most certainly did.

Another thing willowb. You mention defendants counter-claim - there isn't one here. In fact, I have been expecting one (but not for costs) as I still owe them some money. I've informed them (and the court when I submit correspondence) that I don't intend to defend any counter-claim for the remaining lawful part of the debt (about £305 at the moment). But there hasn't been one.

N244 and mention CPR 27.14. Great thanks zoot and willowb. One thing though - I do want them to have to provide the breakdown of how they arrive at the charges figure etc. can I still have this if I am successful at getting it off fast track. Or is that having my cake and eating it?

Thanks. I've looked through all my previous letters and i've already sent this to them back in september, although i didn't mention the fine. I'd love to know if there is a template for asking the judge to waive costs somewhere, does anyone know - can't find it myself....

Flattery is always appreciated . I'll look for this too as i'm not keen on getting back into financial hell :o. £2500 eh !?!?!?!?! I didn't know that. Well, well, well :grin:. The whole section? No, I haven't. I have stated their non-compliance in my POC's and in various letters. The situation is that they did not comply to the request within the prescribed time period. Subsequently, a good few weeks after the deadline expired they "complied" by sending me a copy of their terms and conditions and argued that this was sufficient under regulation 3(2) of the 1983 regulations. It would appear that they are correct about this. Nevertheless, they have still committed an offence by not complying in time.

Well, it's been over a month since i updated this, so here is the news. I sent a copy of my allocation questionnaire to DG Solicitors on 23rd Jan. I received a without prejudice letter from the dated 5th Feb offering me £175.15 in full settlement. No mention of defaults at all. The amount offered is actually less than the previous offer made as they seem to be arguing with the fact that 8% interest is due on the interest they charged on the penalties. So I replied .... No response from them on this. However, the day I sent this I received my notice of allocation from the court. I have been fast-tracked. Here is the exact wording..... There is no mention of the draft order I sent with the AQ. This strikes me as bad news. I'm going to need a lot of guidance on this . I almost got to the court bundle stage with my Natwest charges claim. I'm going to need other stuff aswell as what's in the court bundle because of the default / DPA stuff. I'd really appreciate people looking through my POC's and HSBC's defence (all on the thread). Getting nervous now!

And mine.. kateandpete vs. Egg Claim number: 6WA02787 Court: Warrington County Court Issued:16/11/06 approx Acknowledged: 28/11/06 AQ's filed by: 08/01/07 Settlement in full sent on: 9/01/07 Total sum: £456.72 (of which £320 charges, remainder interest charged on penalties, 8% interest on both and...) Court fees: £50

I've had another look through the draft order thread and noticed the "statement of evidence" posted. This seems to cover the "fee for service" argument nicely. So i'm going to fill in the AQ now (an N150) and attach the draft order to the "proposed directions" section.

Thanks jonni - yes i used the draft order against Egg and it worked nicely. Have got the AQ today - deadline of the 29th so no hurry. If it's OK to leave the countering of the "fee for service" argument until the document bundle, then i'll do that. As long as it doesn't compromise my case.

Indeedy yes.. I returned from holiday yesterday (4 days late as our car broke down in the Alps ) to find a little defence on the doorstep. Here it is On first glance i thought this was pretty half-arsed, but then i read it again. They're using the "fee for service" argument. I missed out a paragraph arguing that if it is a service then it must be reasonable under the supply of goods and services act 1982. Looks like i'll have to amend my particulars of claim or something - can i still do that now i've received a defence?