Good afternoon all, Just though i would let everyone know where i am at with my problems. As advised my complain to the council seemed to be going in the right direction from my last posts and after a lot of responses and counter responses the current situation is as follows. Equita have now paid back 1 levy fee and attendance fee totaling £161.00 in addition to the unpaid direct debit fees totaling £95.00. I have also received from the council this week that they have instructed Equita to repay the other Levy and attendance fees incured against one of the liability orders which will be £202.00. The cheque for this amount is hopefully in the post as we speak. In addition to the repayment of these charges i have received a goodwill payment of £100.00 from the council for the way in which this case had been handled. All in all a satisfactory result and i could not possibly have achieved this without the help of fellow Caggers on this site. Your help and guidance has been inspirational and you guys empower people with your knowledge. I salute you all - Thank you I will off course be donating in some form as i could not have achieved this without the free advice offered on this forum. To anyone finding themselves in similar situations, please, please take all the advice you receive on this forum and never give in!!!! Once again thank you everyone. NigelC:wink:

Good Evening Everyone, I recieved today from Head of Partnership & Customer Services of Southampton City Council a reply to my formal complaint (Stage 2). To summarise he accepts that this whole debacle has been totally unsatisfactory and apologises. He goes on to state that as a consequence of the seriousness of Equita's failings with this he will be taking up all of these issues with Equita at their regular meetings!!!!!!!. He states that Equita have asked him to apologise on their behalf for any upset and distress caused. And the bit i find most amusing is that the Council expects their agents acting their behalf to conduct themselves in a professional & He goes on to say the following " I would ask that you accept my apologies for the inconvenience caused to you in this matter and given the seriousness of the errors made i have asked that a goodwill payment of £100.00 be issued to you" Now i will obviously not rest on my laurels here and will pursue them for all unnecessary charges which i will do over the weekend but just wanted to show the charges applied to the liability orders which was also shown in this letter. LIABILITY ORDER 2008/09 Statutory Visit Fees £42.50 Incurred 05.08.09 & 06.08.09 (dont remember these at all but not saying that didnt happen) Levy Fee £42.00 Incurred 22.09.10 ??????? Returned DD Fee £31.28 Incurred 29.10.09 Attendance Fee £160.00 Incurred 30.11.09 Dont understand this as this is the date that Equita collected a direct debit of £264.91 and the date i paid by debit card £490.00. Card Charges £2.00 Incurred 30.11.09 & 13.08.09 LIABILITY ORDER 2009/10 Statutory Visit Fees £42.50 Incurred 16.09.09 & 21.09.09 Returned DD Fee £31.98 Incurred 04.05.10 Returned DD Fee £31.98 Incurred 03.06.10 Levy Fee £51.00 Attendance Fee £110.00 I have also had confirmation in this letter that the cheque recieved for £161.00 is indeed the Levy & attendance fee being returned. Now before responding to SCC i wanted just to clarify the actual charges they could have imposed against these liability orders. I will then once again go and get them for all their worth. Thanks in advance for your replies....... NigelC

Hi Hallowitch, Thanks for your reply. The cheque came attached to a compliment slip as did the retuned postal order but nothing else??? I guess iam being a little presumptious regarding what the £161 relates to however cant think why else they would send this amount. Hopefully there are indeed on the ropes and i can reclaim all the charges accrued on this account and would be very happy to contribute finacially to this wonderful site which has been a blessing and is so empowering thanks to you guys!!! Thanks again. NigelC

Good Afternoon All, Just a quick update. Having received from Equita on Saturday the £161.00 which equated to the Levy & Attendance Fee charged for when their Bailiff visited on 20th July which i have to say came as a bit of a surprise i have now received in the post today the Postal Order for £10.00 i sent them when requesting the full breakdown of charges in order for me to pursue my case further. The reasoning behind paying for the Subject Access Request was as a result of advice given on the forum which i am eternally grateful for and also the fact that they were playing hardball when i sent over the first request for this information and said it was indeed a subject access request and did incur a £10.00 fee. Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts as to the game Equita are playing - Do i have them on the ropes?? I am still awaiting a response from Southampton City Council regarding my formal complaint so have Equita been prompted by SCC to get their house in order?? Your thoughts would be appreciated. NigelC

Thanks Fork-it, Appreciate your advice. Hallowitch reckons i have accrued in excess of £500 of excess charges and this cheque is clearly for the unlawful Levy & Attendance fees charged against me on the 20th July. Do you think Equita will send me the computer screenshot and breakdown of charges that i have sent them recently? I also paid the £10.00 as again this seemed to be the advice online even though this isnt the norm but i believe i have a very strong case against Equita/SCC. Without this full breakdown it is difficult to pinpoint the charges. Thanks Nigel

Good Afternoon Everyone!!! Just thought i would update as to where i am currently regarding this whole episode. I have sent a subject access request to both Equita and to Southampton City Council and as yet have not received he breakdown of charges requested from either party. In the meantime a couple of weeks ago i wrote a formal letter of complaint to SCC for the Chief Executives attention. I was notified that the complaint would have to go through their normal complaints procedure. I wrote to express disapointment that the CEO would not be handling the complaint personally and received a response from the PA to the CEO to say that he would be monitoring the progress of the complaint. I received a response from SCC on 16th September explaining that they had taken up the issue with Equita as they can confirm that all liability regarding CT had been paid at the end of May as stated and confirmed that both Equita and the Bailiff in question had been notified of this on a number of ocasions including the very day the bailiff attended. They say in their response that Equita had recorded my direct payment to SCC on 27th May as £177.99 and not the £204.97 actually paid. This was obviously the ruse for the bailiff to apply even more additional fees and collect any outstanding fees. They go on to say that the overpayment of £32.98 has subsequently been credited against this years CT bill which i can confirm, however they seem to think that this response should satisfy me. I replied requesting the complaint be taken to stage 2 and cited the reasons for this also listing in chronological order the timeline of events since September 2009. I received in the post today from Equita a cheque for £161.00 which is clearly the Levy Fee and Attendance fee charged to me on the 20th July when Bailiff attended. I could now do with some further advise as i do not think this is acceptable. From talking with you guys online it seems fairly clear that they have overcharged me much more than the £161.00 they are thinking i will accept. Some advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated as to what i should do next. Do i send the cheque back to Equita?? Thanks Nigel

Hi Hallowitch, Bailiff levied goods on 20th July at approx 10.30am Goods levied were golf clubs, Panasonic TV & theater system. Bailiff name was Brian O'Shaunessey (nasty piece of work) - If only he wasny 2 foot taller and 20 stone heavier tha me!!!! Nigel

Just re-read my last post and the Statutory Visit Fees should read £42.50 not £425.50 Sorry:madgrin:

Evening Guys, On the response letter back from Equita i received recently they show the following. Debt - £1324.56 - SCC advised recently that Bill 12 (2009) Liability order was for £1254.56 Statutory Visit Fees - £425.50 Unpaid Direct Debit Fee £63.92 for 04.05.10 & 03.06.10 - agree with May's but Bailiff notified 28.05.10 of nil balance. Levy Fee £51.00 Attendance Fee - £110.00 TOTAL - £1591.98 PAYMENTS 23.09.09 - £105.00 05.01.10 - £264.91 03.02.10 - £264.06 03.03.10 - £264.06 07.04.10 - £264.06 04.05.10 - £204.97 - Returned unpaid 03.06.10 - £236.93 - Returned unpaid 13.07.10 - £171.99 - Paid to Council - The actual amount paid to council was £204.97 which matches what was expected on the 04.05.10 and this was paid to council on the 28th May not 13th July has advised by Equita. They also fail to mention anywhere that there was the bill 11 (2008) liability order. £748.00 paid by debit card to bailiff 02.12.09. The Bill 11 Liability order for 2008 was as advised by SCC for £519.00. Why would Equita collect a payment in September and leave me alone until January which they obviously did not. I intend to request from both Equita and SCC a full breakdown of charges and will keep everyone informed of progress. Thanks again chaps.... Nigel

Hi Hallowitch, Thanks for the above. I do have pretty much all of the letters i have received from both Equita and the bailiffs themselves. So i now request a subject access request from both the council and from Equita?? So do i pay Equita now for the subject access request? I'm guessing this whole process may take some time but hey i have plenty!!! Should i put a hold on the letter to the CEO and local MP? Thanks again Hallowitch Nigel

Hi Hallowitch & Seanamarts, Thank you both for your posts. Hallowitch will you be re-posting what you couldny send yesterday. I have started to prepare a letter to the CEO of the local council but have put a hold on it as it is already like "War & Peace" and i am only half way through it. Hopefully you guys can offer a little more guidance. Thank you Nigel

Hi Hallowitch, My understanding is that they were collecting against one liability order only as the £748 paid at the end of November basically cleared the first liabilty order. They did however not show this as a payment on a recent correspondence which i found was odd. They showed the September payment and then nothing until January??? I do however have proof of this payment which was made by debit card. The debit card payment came about because when i made the initial payment at the end of September i agreed to set up a direct debit of £264.00 per month commencing 1st November as i get paid the second last day of each month so it made sense, however Equita attempted to take payment on the 28th October which was obviously returned unpaid. The account was then passed onto another bailiff who basically said that he would give me until the end of November at which point i would have to pay Octobers missed payment in addition to November's and December's which would clear trhat particular liability order. Ironically the very day i made the debit card payment they also collected a direct debit payment which was subsequently refunded. At this point the bailiff said he would allow me to have a peaceful xmas and would contact me sometime in January to set up a new payment plan for the remaining liability order, however Equita took a further payment from my account on 28th December which appears from them as a payment on 2nd January. The goods listed on the form 7 were Dunlop Golf Clubs Panasonic TV (on HP) Sky HD Box Panasonic Sound System (on HP) Sorry another long winded reply and i really do feel like i have been well and truly taken to the cleaners which is why i intend with the help of you wonderful people of getting back what these bar stewards have theifed from me. Thanks Again Nigel

I also forgot to mention that i called Equita on 2nd August stupidly to follow up on my initial complaint and was obviously speaking to the call centre. The chap i was trying to speak to said that he would put me through to the bailiff dealing with the case. I tried to explain to this numpty that there was "no case" however he put me through anyway. I then spoke to a bailiff that i had dealt with previously and he explained that he was making a visit on me the following morning to collect outstanding monies. I explained to him that i had paid a bailiff some 13 days previously and that i had a receipt to prove this which he accepted. Three days after this i received a further enforcement notice which i ignored. Sorry just a bit more info... Nigel

Hi Hallowitch, My understanding is that back in September there were two liability orders in force. Bill 11 - 2008 £519.00 Bill 12 - 2009 £1254.56 I have calculated that in total since this farce started in September i have paid £2371.00 as shown below. September 2009 - £105.00 November 2009 - £748.00 January 2010 - £264.91 February 2010 - £264.06 March 2010 - £264.06 April 2010 - £264.06 May 2010 £204.00 - Paid directly to SCC to clear what they said was outstanding from an Equita letter in May stating outstanding balance to be £236.00 so assuming charges of approx £32.00 remaining. July 20th 2010 - Paid to bailiff at home £257.90??? No breakdown of what i was supposedly paying for and have not received anything since. When they attended the property on the 20th July they did complete a form 7 - notice of seizure and inventory of goods however i did not sign anything. The breakdown on this is as follows Amount owing penalty notice/council tax/non domestic rates - £51.40 Bailiff costs - £206.50 Total Bill - £257.90 How can i owe £51.40 if i paid all outstanding monies directly to the council and subsequently the bailiff in question had been notified that payment had been received in full on three occassions yet he still attends??? I have kinda been wondering as to whether or not this is a case of mis representation as he knew he nothing other than potentially ficticious charges to collect. Thank you again for the help. Nigel

Hi Hallowitch I forgot to mention that Capita are indeed employed by Southampton City Council Nigel