For anyone's future reference. A letter signed by all those named on the bill to SWALEC seems to be acceptable, not so acceptable for Dwr Cymru but I guess you win some and you lose some.

Anyone?

Hi guys, have searched but can't find a similar thread! I currently live in a shared/student style house which I am moving out of on the 31st. Currently 4 of us are responsible for the bills, which have been amounting as 2 of the housemates are very bad at paying their part of the bill - although I realise we are jointly and severally liable. I am leaving for Europe for the summer next month and would like to pay my share of the bill and hear no more of it! I am writing a letter to SWALEC with itemised amounts each of us owes and an agreement that we each take responsibility for the relevant amounts (one guys owes £160 from the last bill, £140 from this bill, plus another £30ish!) and that once that amount is paid then that persons name should be stricken from the account. Is this the right way to go about things? Does anyone have any experience here? I don't want to pay my share and leave, only to come back to a court summons because the other guys haven't bothered. Cheers!

Seriously 100% just ignore them and file any letters you receive in a draw somewhere! As soon as you make any contact with them it only provokes them to keep pestering you. They have absolutely no power to enforce or distribute any sort of fine or penalty, unlike council traffic wardens or police. It's the same as if I sent you a bunch of letters saying you owed me £3000, you wouldn't pay that now would you! You will receive: 2 or so letters from Euro Car Parks. 2 or 3 letters from Brinx Debt Collection. 2 or 3 letters from Credit Control. Each letter you receive will be more threatening than the last, they'll even start to use red ink or capitals on key phrases and when it gets really bad you'll get a chequered border round the page (this is very frightening). After a while you stop getting letters and relax! The whole thing works on you being scared into paying the money immediately or thinking that they have legal backing to issue fines.

Pretty sure they can't break and enter but they can enter without damaging your property - like through an open window. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I had a similar situation and asked to speak to the fine support officer at my local magistrates court, I made an appointment with her and went down to see them. Explained myself in Mags court and they reduced it back to the original £60, they were very nice about it. From what I can gather in this thread have you just literally ignored all the post that you have been receiving? Like increased fines and threats through the door that you are aware of but just ignored that has got you in this situation? Cheers and good luck!

You could always wait until after Germany to send the licence off for points and paying the fine? How long do they give you these days?

This is really terrible advice, but I once didn't pay or send my licence off for a speeding ticket (40 in a 30) for 6-7 months afterwards and didn't incur any extra costs. I sent the letter back admitting it was me and then totally forgot to pay the thing (I was at Uni, parents in southern hemisphere for 6 months, all post going home!). After about 9 months they increased it to £255 and I had to go to magistrates and explain that I hadn't been getting post, they were very nice and reduced it back to the original cost, still if I'd paid it after 6 months it would have been fine!

To be fair, comments like that are hardly constructive. Yeh the guy has an idea he obviously wants to protect, but I'd sooner have a council to appeal to than a hotmail account and a mobile number with a wrong digit.

No word since they last called, in all honesty I'd quite like them to take me to court!

Thought I'd post a reasonably well outcome of a DVLA story. Mum just got back from NZ, been there for 6 months so car SORNed and in a private garage, on return she paid £700 in repairs, insurance, MOT and importantly TAX to be able to drive the car, then promptly nipped down the car wash. On return she parked outside my grandparents' house where she made them dinner, 20 minutes later came back out to find her car clamped. To say she was livid is an understatement. After spending 6 months working in a lovely, community, rural environment where she was appreciated to come back to the money making DVLA/Britain pretty much did it for her I think. DVLA received a very angry phone call, but they did send the van back to unclamp her. This is particularly ridiculous when you consider my housemate is working on their behalf on their campaign to get more motorists to apply for tax online/by phone by telling them it is ok to drive without the tax disc so long as you have paid. All's well that ends well but what a hassle!

My problem was that the bike had cost us £160, plus we'd spent £110 with them for repairs prior to it being stolen from them, so £270 in all. If they'd given us the £150 they offered, we'd still have paid for the repairs that were done before the loss. As it happens one of the other guys from the club went down there today and they agreed to pay £250, we still lost £20 but it's quicker and easier than doing anything through courts. Thanks for the help guys and sorry about the double thread. Cheers.

Basically, we as a club bought a mini-motorbike which cost about £500 new for £160 second hand that needed some work, this was taken to a motorbike repair shop where £90 work + £20 labour parts was carried out. The staff then left the motorbike unsupervised downstairs next to an open front door where unsurprisingly it wandered off. The staff then offered us £150 in cash replacement, which we obviously complained about, they are now offering us £230 to "meet us half way". My opinion is that they are totally liable for this and should refund us the full value, or replace the bike, they tried to sell us a £550 RRP bike for £250 but we have neither cash nor inclination for that one. Can someone tell me where we stand? Do they need to refund us the price we paid or replacement value? They don't seem to be interested in claiming from their insurance and when I spoke to them a day after the theft they had yet to inform the Police (which I did immediately). Many thanks if someone could reply to this quickly. Cheers.

I understand that paying by paypal gift was a silly idea, but as I say I wasn't involved in this, nor would I have paid by gift. I was just asking as I don't know what can be done. Obviously paypal aren't at fault really, but their help would be appreciated with tracking the guy down. Thanks.

Hi, this hasn't affected me directly but I'm a prominent member of a forum SDH - Forum - Index - SouthernDownhill.com and many other members have been done. Basically a lad set up a thread selling off a bike in bits, at very reasonable prices with good explanation as you'd expect from someone knowing his stuff. People jumped in buying bits they needed, however he requested all money be sent by "Paypal gift" so as not to incur costs for him. This has been done before with trusted forum members and never been a problem. The upshot of all this is many people paid him £3-400 and it seems none of the bike parts existed in the first place let alone have been sent out. Is there anything that can be done? Small claims is the obvious route but no one seems to have an address for him? Can Paypal be joint sued as they are acting on his behalf, have been made aware of what happened but are not fully cooperating? If someone more knowledgeable could help I'd really appreciated it, I'll try and get one of the guys who has been done to post up here as they'll know more in detail than me. Cheers guys, here's a link to the 2 threads detailing what has happened exactly, you may have to sign up I'm not sure, and I apologise for the long threads: Link to the original thread (sign in required) - Login - SouthernDownhill.com Link to the thread discussing the [problem] (no sign in required) - "[causing problems]" thread on clear out - classifieds... - SouthernDownhill.com Thanks.

Well, after I said all was well and done, I received a phone call today from Central DCA asking why I hadn't paid it yet, obviously I told them I definitely had paid it and they'd have to check, so they said they are ringing me tomorrow. I'll repost how it goes...