Hi folks. Just a quick one. I've recently been made redundant, and Rosendale's bailiffs are swift on their heels coming to collect debts. The problem is I owe money to three creditors: HMRC, a parking fine, and a court fine. Rosendales are collecting the debts on behalf of all three clients. My question is, is this allowed? I thought a single agency can only chase an individual for the debts of one client; or have I misconstrued information somewhere? We're struggling terribly financially at the moment and Rosendale's agents are visiting at least once or twice a week. Three different Rosendales bods for three different debts. If I pay one then I still lose out to the other two. I'm in a no-win situation here and feel it's wholly unfair that I'm being harassed to the extent I am at the moment. To add, I've also got a disabled teenage daughter who's 19 years old living with us and she's about to have her first child any day now. The pressure we're under just to eat and pay for the roof over our heads is bad enough, and these leeches are making life almost intolerable. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer. Cheers. Craig

Cheers Smokiejoe I'll contact them and see what they're able to do. That's a very good idea. Thanks to you and everyone again for your help. Wishing you all a merry Christmas! Craig

Hi smokiejoe Many apologies. I think I've got the department names wrong. Yeah, it is HMRC. My daughter turned 20 in November, so no luck there. I'm just so angered that my family had to rely on food banks and family hand-outs for several months over summer, and the only income we had was £50.00 a week mistakenly given by Tax Credits. I'm angry that they want a few hundred pounds of payment we apparently not entitled to, but we cannot get the back-pay of benefits they neglected to pay us. I'm totally dismayed and really upset about all this. It really is breaking us financially as a family without adding this tax repayment to the mix. Thanks for the correction and advice. Craig

Hi Sparks_ She had been told by a friend there might be some way she can get more affordable scrips but we had no idea where to start. Looks like this could be exactly what her mate was referring to. You're a star! I've printed it off, and we'll get it filled and posted for tomorrows mail collection. Many sincere thanks for this. Craig

Hi martin. Yes my daughter does get DLA but not PIP. My wife has been told she's not fit enough to claim JSA but she's not ill enough to claim DLA. I now have to pay for her prescriptions in full. She has around 12 items of medication per month, and it's costing another £80+ a month to get these. Seems to me that being in work full time is proving harder to get by than being out of work. Well, that's providing a person does get the benefits they're entitles to. It's all so downright disheartening and frustrating. Many thanks, Craig

Thanks very much for your input folks. Appreciated!

Hi there dx100uk Yes. I am working now but I'm the only one who has an income out of three of us (wife, disabled daughter, and me). We receive no benefits of any kind. I earn £18,000 a year. During the time the DWP failed to deal with our join ESA claim, we accrued debt with rent and Council Tax. I'm now paying £600 rent every month, and £200 council tax. Add to this the DWP want to take out £320.00 per month from my income. This will literally leave my family with about £200 to live on for a whole calendar month. We're struggling without this demand from DWP as it is. Thanks in advance for your advice. Craig

Hi all. I'm hoping some of you caggers will be able to relate to my experience and hopefully provide some advice. I've received notification from DWP that I owe about £500 in overpayment of tax credits. A brief overview of the issue: We were claiming £53 per week while I was working. My wife was at home looking after our disabled daughter. I ended my employment some time in April of this year, and attempted to apply for JSA. I was advised that my wife would be better applying for ESA and having me included on the application, which she did. We informed DWP that I was no longer working, but they continued to pay the tax credits into our account. It was a good job they did because two months, and then three months later we still had not received any of the ESA or other benefits we had applied for. We basically lived on family handouts for months, and relied on the good will of our housing association as we began to fall behind on rent payments. Our arrears on council tax and also TV license all mounted up. Thankfully in June I returned to work and the tax credits payments stopped. Now I have received a demand for payment in full or they'll take it out of my wages. I've explained that their mistake in continuing to pay us was all we had to live on due to receiving no other benefits, but they aren't interested. I'm not denying we spent tax credits and I'm more than willing to make affordable payments back. However, what I do mind is the fact that they want their overpayment of tax credits back but that was just a fraction of the entitlements we were never paid. We struggled like hell as a family and now we're trying to get back on our feet and paying our way, they are forcing more hardship on us. I just want fairness and a level playing field. Any help or advice will be truly welcomed. Craig

Hi all Just want to thank everyone for their responses. I've got a lot of valuable information from you all as to how I should progress. In answer to the questions; yes it is Council Tax and we're running several paid accounts which are all up to date. We pay a monthly fee via DD, and they even take out 15% of my wife's income from the bank. It just seems that as soon as we get one unknown account up and running for repayment, Rossendales seem to magically summon another in its place. It's got so complicated that we just don't know where we stand anymore, or what, exactly we're paying for. So our next step will be to request the information suggested by the poster on this forum (thanks so much for the template!). My main concern was my wife. We have a disable daughter and my wife's health isn't great either. She's worried sick they are going to send us to prison. I just thought the letter of threats with prison from a debt collection company could be considered as intimidation. Thanks again so much everyone for your assistance. It means a lot and is sincerely appreciated. Best regards. CP

Sorry for my omission. Yes, it is Council Tax.

Dear all. I'm hoping someone can help me with this one. We've had a history with this business for many years. They seem to magically make new accounts appear from nowhere and up to now we have several. Anyway, this latest letter announcing a new unpaid account of more than £1000 has got me very angered. It's basically a letter threatening us to pay up or go to prison for up to 90 days. Here's a taster of the letter's contents: "As you have failed to make payment arrangements on this account with us, the next stage in the recovery procedure is to formally report this to the Local Authority, recommending that they make application to the Magistrates Court (their emphasis) for a hearing to consider your committal to prison. The Magistrates Court costs associated with this application will be £305.00 payable by you." Whether or not I do owe the money on the account is not for dispute at this time. However, my question is: can a bailiff company legally use tactics or language like this to encourage you to pay them money? I was unaware that debt collection companies were authorised to recommend non-payment for prison custody. I hope somebody clued up with this type of legal stuff could advise me as to the legality of this letter and what I can do in response. I can provide the full letter in full if required and requested. Many thanks and regards.

Hi all I thought the drama with VP Parking Solutions Ltd had been played out, since I've not heard from them for at least a couple of weeks. However, they're still hanging on like a reluctant piece of arse-fluff. It seems from latest correspondence received from VP Parking solutions, that they're well aware of the advice given to their persuees via websites like this, and they may well know that I personally visit this forum, as the latest letter from their solicitor attests: Roxburghe Debt Collectors Client AS Securit-T "We are fully aware of anecdotal information being presented via the internet and on various websites and you may well feel this guidance worth following. We strongly urge you to seek independent legal advice rather than rely on these opinions, and we would retrospectively suggest that you refer to the Civil Procedure Rules part 31*, and specifically parts 31.16 and 31.7." Okay, so firstly, who am I dealing with? Is it VP Parking Solutions or Ass Security? Strange that one. Secondly, they're obviously aware of their fabulous reputation and bully boy tactics and the power of the FREE internet. Ten or twenty years ago people being persued for debts they don't owe would feel there is little option available to them and pay up. Now, though, the worm is turning and heartfelt, sincere, and evidence based advice can be sought and retrieved as easily as a mouse click. No longer are the days when the bailiff and solictor could lie, bully, and threaten innocent folks in to paying them siginificant amounts of money they rightfully do not owe. These vermin must realise quickly that advisors on forums such as CAG have experience, knowledge of law, expertise in dealing with cases such as these, some Cagger are CAB advisors and lawyers. It really is reaching levels of desperation when a debt collection firm pleads with its victim to ignore solid, freely given advice and support on CAG and other websites. They obviously know me by now, and I say this to them: persue all you want. I've taken legal advice as suggested and I've been told to ignore you because at the end of the day it will cost you money to put me in court, and since VP Solutions have not even made any attempt to obtain the money from the speculative invoice in 2008, a court is liable to laugh you out of court, meaning VP Solutions will accrue the costs of the failed attempt. At this point I'd like to also tell them that my own solicitor is advising me on making a counter-claim against them for harrassment, and attempting to extort through deception. After all it's taken nearly five years for a company to ask a driver to pay an invoice? They could so easily have got my details from a database and decided to invoice me for something I've never done. Got to admit these guys are starting to **** me off. Please discuss!

Hi Folks This VP Car Parking Solutions Ltd, are bloody irritating the s**t out of me now. I've had another two letters from them in two days, basically saying the same stuff: PAY NOW OR ELSE! I've been reading a few of the threads on this forum and elsewhere and it seems many of these car parking solutions companies have very close associations with oneanother. Do Roxbridge Solicitors/Roxburgh Solicitors/VP Parking Solutions/Total Parking all share the same offices? If this keeps up I'm considering counter-suing them for harrassment. If these are nothing but invoices -not forgetting, they're also issued without cause - it's got to be unlawful surely; more akin to legalised [causing problems]. I think I might post them a voided cheque in a parcel full of my dog's 'bowel evacuation'. Thanks for your replies guys and gals.

Hi everyone. I received a letter (charge) from a car parking solutions company a week or so ago. I thought it was a joke to be honest. And today, a week or two later, I've received another from the same company. I've never heard from them before, but they're threatening me with court and bailiffs if I don't cough up £197.00 for a parking charge they say the'd issued me in 2008! Yes, you read it correctly...2008. As I said earlier, I thought it was a joke, but alas no, they are very serious. I ignored the previous letter but this one is personally signed by their General Manager and the letter is quite intimidating in its language. I have never had a notice from them prior to these two letters, and cannot understand why four years after the offence they have now decided to instigate proceedings (their words not mine). I could really be doing with out this now, I've got enough on my plate as it is. What advice can you give me about this and/or what action do you recommend I take? Thanks very much in advance for reading and any help you can afford me. I'm extremely grateful. BTW, the company in question is called VP Parking Solutions Ltd. Cheers:) Craig

Hi The payments were taken directly from my bank account using my Visa Debit card. If I have to change the card it'll mean changing my current account also. I've never fallen foul of any scams before so I can only imaging how many unsuspecting people have fallen for this trick. With the amounts of complaints about this company on this site and on the Compliantsboard and others, I just cannot understand why the authorities haven't yet done anything about them. Their methods are so blatently f r a u d u l e n t and underhand that any where else in europe they'd be in the dock by now and doing porridge.

Hi there Got my bank statement today and was browsing it and saw two payments had been taken and at the same time. Quickcreditscore £19.95 and Rewardsnow £19.95. I couldn'y understand where they came from and thought I'd better check my previous statements. I was amazed to see that these exact payments had been taken every single month from February totalling about £200. I cannot ever remember having any contact from this company and feel duped. I've searched my in and outbox on e-mail to see if I'd registered for anything (even my [problem],phish, and junk mail/deleted mail) nothing at all. I really think that the BBC and OFT should be looking into this [problem] artist and shutting them down and prosecuting. It's a clearly fraudulent operation in my opinion. I'm contacting my bank now and getting this debit stopped and then I'm going to pursue the bank and companies for a refund of the payments, but I don't hol out much hope.

What to do? I posted earlier this week about my Virgin Media bill. I'm on the X phone and broadband package, and amounts to around £40 - £50 a month, depending on the charged calls I make. I got my e-invoice a week or so ago and it said £306.89 for the period of 8th January to 7th February. I though they'd made a typing error and presumed they meant £36.89. Anyway, I received an e-mail a few days ago saying they were unable to collect the bill payment from my account because not enough funds were available. With this in mind I phoned Virgin CS to query the problem. They basically said the bill of £306.89 was correct! I asked how this could possibly be right, £306.89 in one single month? The reason for the large bill is because I hadn't been charged for chargeable calls from November 17th to February 8th, and had only been paying for the service charge and some chargeable calls. I didn't accept this and so registered and viewed my bill on the e-billing section. On here it said I'd accrued over £280.00 in chargeable calls for the period November 2010 to February 2011 and it was now payable on the latest February bill; hence £306.89. I immediately called Virgin to ask how they could possibly do this when I'm meant to pay monthly, and they said the calls were slow to register with their systems due to a backlog? The lady at Virgin said that they can charge people six months later in instances such as this. If you're with me so far, I thank you. So, what can I do? I cannot possibly afford to pay £306.89 with no advanced warning or notice, and they're sure to disconnect me anytime soon. I find it totally unfair and unreasonable to do this, and it certainly doesn't say anything in the small print about the practice of storing bills up and lumping them on a customer in this fashion. I'm at a complete loss as what to do and if this is legal and fair. Do I have any come back or do I have to get disconnected for three or four months until I can pay it off? I'm not sure this ast one is possible because from what I've read on this site, they start sending out bailiffs don't they? I'm so frustrated and helpless...please can anyone here clarify the legality and fairness of this practice? I've been with Virgin for over 2 years and nothing similar to this has ever happened before. Please...please...can anyone give me any snippets of hope? Thank you all in advance. Craig & Marie

Cheers for your help Rebel11. I'm in the process of writing them a letter now. I've been reading the link you've supplied and also trawled through their Code of Practice and other stuff. I'm so dismayed about this, and I really think the women I originally spoke to knows this practice is wrong. I definately agree with you when you say that CS are designed to frustrate, I thinks that's all they do. Thanks again, I'll update when I get more news.

Hi folks I'd be really grateful I'd someone could help me out with this. I'd had problems with Sky in the past and thought it was all over when I joined Virgin 2 years ago. I've been on the Broadband, landline and telephone (evening and weekend calls) package for most of the past 12 months. I'd noticed our bills (paper) were gradually rising, from the £40 or so pounds per month, up to over £75 last month. I queried this and they told me it was for out of hours calls. I didn't agree with the amount but nevertheless accepted it...I really didn't need the hassle of complianing and so on. However, yesterday I received an e-mail bill from Virgin. It said: "your Virgin bill..blah..blah..will be deducted from your account on such and such a day...Don't worry there's nothing I need to do. Just make sure the total of £306.27 is available [or something like that]". £306.27!!!! Surely, I thought, this is a typing error, and it was meant to say £36.27? Today, I called Virgin CS to query the mistake, and they told me there was no mistake and the bill was for this months package charge plus telephone calls eminating from August of 2010. I said that this is wrong, and the calls are inclusive. And, any out of hours call charges are placed in the monthly bill: hence the package deals. The woman says, this is the case yes, but we are allowed to withhold bills for six months and put them into one bill. Is anyone else thinking I'm being duped here, or is it just me? I was assured that the package included calls evening and weekend, and other calls e.g. 0845 numbers and mobiles are included in the monthly bill too. Hence, the reason for bills getting larger every month. I get online billing and as it's a package deal, I don't receive an itemised bill. I'm absolutely disgusted and feel exploited, hoodwinked, and calously ripped off. I'm a very light user of the phone in any case and make sure to only use the phone at weekends and the evening. I've probably made two or three calls to a mobile in the last 12 months. Surely this can't be right? The woman at Virgin was keen to underline/highlight the fact that they ARE ALLOWED to do this. I'm not so sure. There's no way I can meet the bill and so will be definately cut off in a few days and then I'll have no way to sort this out. Even if I was owing this money, I can't see how they'd basically leave it six months before informing me. I was assured by the sales guy that I'd be better off upgrading to this package, and for an extra fiver a month would work out cheaper over the course of time. PLEASE HELP ME. This has got to be stealing AND Miss-selling of a package service isn't it? I'm so angry and frustrated. I need the phone so much, because my daghter is very ill with anorexia nervosa and liver damage, and resides 6/7 days a week at hospital. I'll be totally lost without the phone, if something happens. Thanks in advance of any replies. Craig

Thanks 2ltr16valve and drpellypo, Firstly, yes it was a Warrant Enforcement Officer, and he did show me the arrest warrant. However, he was indeed too a much nicer bloke than the average baliff. I agree with you both, and I will call DVLA to report van stolen and I'm also no longer the registered keeper. After a lot of trawling around our house, my has thankfully found the original receipt. It was made to a cash payable account of the magistrates at The Halifax bank. The date of the payment was early November 2005. Only problem now is they only have records of the fine being issued in 2006, so it seems their own slapshod administrators might still have presented me with another problem. I'm glad I've got the receipt though, becaus it'll still make my case a lot easier. Thanks again to you both, your advice has been gratefully received. I'll update later in the coming week. Cheers

Hi Any help with this dire set of circumstances will be gratefully received. I apolgise for the post's length, but I think a good general picture might be helpful in what I think is quite a unique case. In 2004 (about October) I closed my business as a foam supplier. The reasons for this are not relevant to this problem. Because I was unable to pay the remaining rent on the business property, the Landlord (with help from her solicitor) confiscated my LDV Van. The van was paid up and had no outstanding HP. The Landlord's solicitor then sent me a letter a week or so later stating that my vehicle had been disposed of. I informed the DVLA in writing about what had happened, and because I had no real idea of where the vehicle was, or how it had been disposed, I could not fill out an SORN form (Statutory Off-Road Notice). I also told them that the vehicles forms including the Log Book were still inside the van. The DVLA didn't reply in kind or send me any reminders for retax or SORN and so I assumed it had all been sorted. Some months later, at 0230 in the morning my family and me were sound asleep in bed, when we were awoken by loud knocking at the door. I answered, and was aghast to see two police officers standing at my door. The police officers said they had to speak to me regarding a vehicle that had been involved in an offence in Wrexham. I live in Staffordshire and Wrexham is about 100+ miles away in Wales. They would not disclose what the offence was, but they did say it involved my van. I told them the details about the van being taken by my Landlord etc. They were less than understanding and polite, and said that the van was still registered to me and so I was liable for any offences the van driver had committed. To say I was gob smacked is an understatement. A few weeks on and the Magistrates Court in Wrexham informed me that I had a court date coming up to discuss the case and I was not required to attend. However, they did send an accompanying form in which I had to plead guilty for the offence or not and return it forthwith. An additional enclosed form also detailed the alledged crime: speeding at 42 mph in a 30mph zone. To me this was going from laughable to completely ridiculous. Why did two coppers ned to get me up in the middle of the night for a speeding ticket? I still don't know to this day. A week or so after the hearing, I received another letter. This one was the verdict and punishment for an offence I didn't commit: £350.00 plus court costs = £450.00+ total. Reason: Found guilty of not furnishing police with information. Again, I still have no idea what this actually means, and I've had no answers regarding this to multiple enquiries. Anyway, weeks passed and a bailiff or enforcer attended my address demanding payment. To speed things up at this point I'll spare you the details of this, but needless to say his aggressive manner resulted in me borrowing money to pay the whole £400.00 in full, within about two hours of his visit. The money was paid directly into the magistrates NatWest bank account. He receipted me and went on his way. I really thought this whole nightmare was over, but no it was far from being over... It must have been possibly 12 months or more later when I received a letter from my local Magistrates Office in Stafford. Stafford Magistrates informed me in the letter that they had the van case transferred to them from the Wrexham Magistrates, and they were now pursuing the payment of £400.00 as served to me in the original hearing. I was absolutely dumbfounded by this and phoned their offices immediately. I told them the fine had been paid in full and supplied them with the details of my receipt, as given to me by the debt collector. They said they'd check the details and get in touch with me within days if there was still a problem. I didn't hear anything again for about another twelve months. This time it was by phone. I told the guy that this fine had been paid years ago and I thought it was sorted. He sad it hadn't and they were pursuing me again for payment. As in the last instance I gave him the details of the receipt of payment and also sent them a photocopy of the receipt. As in the last case, he said he'd be in touch and if I hadn't heard anything from them within ten days I was to assume the balance was cleared. Needless to say, I told him I was getting distressed by it all and was becoming angry and fed up. All the above happened from 2004 to - I think - 2007. I was sure this horrible experience was now a closed book...Alas no. Yesterday, 4th February 2010, I was greeted at my doorstep by a large bloke dressed in black with a clip-board and telephone. He said he was an Enforcement Officer who was at my address to collect this outstanding and totally unpaid fine of £400.00 for a fine incurred on a LDV vehicle in 2006/7. He informed me of my rights and his right to arrest me. He even showed me the Arrest Warrant. I told him how angry and totally fed up with this debacle and I had made payment in full years ago and had been harrassed every year or so ever since! He was slightly sympathetic to me but said the matter had now come to a head. I won't reply here what I said in reply. However, since I was disputing the matter he said he could not collect and advised me to visit my Magistrates Finance Department to sort it out ASAP. I'm going to the Mag. on Monday, 8th February, to hopefully put thi whole thing to rest. I don't hold much hope out now though, because the Enforcement Officer informed me that they only have details of my case from 2006, around a year following the payment I made in full. This originally happened six years ago, and I've moved address since then. I have no idea where the receipt is for the payment I made and never received any other correspondence from the courts about it either. I'm in an absolute dilemma: I've been chrged with offences I haven't even committed - yet grudgingly paid for it - and now they are still outt get me by saying I never did! I'm definately not paying this a second time round and I'm not telling my nearest and dearest either, or they'll probably pay it again for me and that's not fair and isn't going to happen. Even if I let them pay it, I know they'll think I spent the fine money on something else, so I lose the trust of my family when I'm totally innocent. It looks like if I stick to my principles I'm going to be doing a stretch inside. Is there anything I can do? Ths all smells of corruption, scape-goating and a devil-may-care attitude and total incompetence by court administrators or whatever they are. Please help me? This is becoming distressing to my wife and kids. Thank you in anticipation of any (I mean any) advice you folks can give. Craig

RESULT Just received a phone call from Tory MP Mr Bill Cash. Sounds like he's vigorously upheld our complaint against these ruthless moronic thugs. The collection has now been withdrawn from Rosendales and placed back with the Council. However, Rossendales will still be holding details of the account - whatever that means. I've never in all my time as a voter (20 years) felt the need to go as far as contacting an MP for assistance, but my, how much power and clout these guys have got is amazing. MP Bill cash asked Rossendales why they were so intent on removing goods to pay the debt. Rossendales replied by saying that we had beautiful and expensive items that could easily be sold to clear much of the debt. Apparently, according to the bailiff my home had: 1. A large flat screen HD TV. In fact I have an old square trinitron concave screen tv that came from the attic of an old person, following the sudden breakdown of a small flat screen tv about 6 months ago. 2. Fine pine and oak antique furniture. This was actually, flat-packed pine mdf units from Argos in 2002. 3. Cream leather 3-piece suite. It's really a 2- piece suite - sofa & chair - upholstered and worn out. Bought from Katherine House Hospice Charity Shop for £75.00. 4. Pioneer state of the art DVD player. It's about ten years old and I even failed to sell it at a boot sale last year. I only wanted a tenner for it! These people are not only liars but they're also blind ones. It's easy for me to say don't be afraid of these people because I'm sorted out, but when you've got nothing to lose it's often worth going for it. With the help and advice from folks who do know on CAG you've already doubled your chances of success. Thank you so much everyone, and I sincerely hope anyone here who is suffering like my family and I have will get through it. My thoughts and best wishes are with you all. Yours gratefully Craig

Okay guys and gals... firstly can I thank you all for replying to my OP. All the information and advice received has been top notch. I've checked out the links you provided and got a better understanding of what I can do to resolve this appaulling and truly undeserved treatment from these gangsters. To date my home has not been revisited to carry out the order, probably because I took the opportunity to get in touch with my local tory MP. I sent him an e-mail along with a copy of my post on here. On Friday morning at 0901 I got a telephone reply from the conservative office saying they received the mail and would pass it on to my MP. Well, this morning, about 20 minutes ago, my wife got a personal call from the MP! He says he's dealing with the matter personally, and immediately. What's more...the tory office have contacted another office; something to do with community debt. Not sure if anyone's familiar with this one, but they say they are going to help too. Things are looking a little more promising at the moment, but Rossendales being Rossendales will probably lie and bully there way into trying to enforce this order. What's so funny and rediculous about it all is that this bill for council tax is totally incorrect in the first place! Anyway, I'm just waiting now and hoping for the best. Fingers crossed. I'll keep you all posted with updates as they arise. Just one more thing. These so called bailiffs and collection agencies seem to operate above the law and will use any threatening tactics possible and available to them to scare decent people into giving up their money and posessions. Everyone should have a right to protest and dispute these orders before these charlatans are authorised to process their so-called "orders". The whole system is disgusting, out-of-date, and brutally unfair. I thought that stricter regulation on bailiffs were now in place. What happened to that? These yobs still parade themselves with total and utter contempt for moral codes and the law. Don't give in to these morons. I'm very grateful for you all taking the time to post and for providing me with insight, advice and support. Thank you all.