Hello everyone, I would really appreciate any advice anybody can give to me. I am really sorry this is going to be a long post as i tend to waffle and the story is a bit all over the place. A few years ago (2005) my partner committed a driving offence as he had no insurance (please dont judge he was young and we all make mistakes). The original bill was £455. It got taken to court, my partner received something through the post regarding the court case as i have this (we were not living together at the time). Now my partner never got round to paying this and it went to Moorcroft debt agency. They started sending me letters and i explained he did not live with me I sent off a utility bill and never heard anything else about this). A couple of years later we moved in together and had a child we now live together at a completely different address to where i was living before. A few months ago i had a letter from HMCS saying my partner owed this fine i looked back over all my paperwork and realised this was the debt that Moorcroft had once wrote to me for.I started paying in cash on my partners behalf £50 a month. I forgot to pay one month as i had a lot going on, by the time of the next payment my partner was out of work and i had a lot on and again did not pay (how stupid am I). Altogether i managed to get the debt down to £250 so i had paid £205 to HMRC before i forgot and was worrying about partners unemployment. The next thing i know i had a phone call at work from my partner on Wednesday 9th November saying a bailiff was at the door demanding £525. The bailiff showed my partner some documents (not sure what though). I asked my partner to pass the phone to baliff in which he told me my partner owes this money he needs immediate payment or he is taking goods from my home. I explained to him that my partner is out of work, i am at work and i could not pay straight away. I then said that I had not had a letter from his company saying they were now in charge of the debt or giving me any time to pay before bailiff was sent. I asked him to leave a copy of the letter that was previously sent and he said it was at the office. I asked for the office number but he said he had to contact them. To which i replied i have every right to speak to his office. I then told him that my partners name was not on the tenancy agreement of our property or any bills and everything in the house was mine. So i then told him to wait on my doorstep i would leave work and be home in 15 mins, when i got home he had left, but did leave a letter. When i got home i started to look through paperwork and found that Moorcroft bailiffs had now become Marston (not sure if i am right though, but they share the same address). I phoned the bailiff and said i would pay the fine of £250 and £75 administration fee but i would not be paying baliff fee (£200) as i had never received a letter to let me know they (Marston) were now handling debt and given me seven days to pay. He said he had a warrant and if i did not pay up he could come and take my stuff or my partner could go to prison.( I am a little feisty) so i said well arrest him then, he can do a stint inside and the debt can be wiped or go back to court, as i am not paying the bailiff charges. The bailiff then said about removing possessions again so to buy some time i said i would pay money i tried to put it off until after weekend but he said he would be back Friday. I then contacted Marston by phone and asked to discuss my complaint that i had never received any info before bailiff came out etc and would not be paying bailiff fee, the lady said a letter had gone out on 28th October 2011, but i have still not received. I asked for proof and said i would have to e-mail customer care (as if). I e-mailed Marston and said i was happy to pay the £250 and a admin fee of £75 because i should not have let it get this far, but i wanted proof that they had sent a letter. i received a reply back to say someone is looking into this and a copy of their complaints procedure. After reading some stuff on internet i e-mailed them again to say now i have lodged a complaint and received a confirmation e-mail back that i expect the debt to be frozen and calls from bailiff to be frozen. I also wanted a copy of their fees which they have agreed could be charged with HMCS. Since then heard nothing back. I then panicked because i had not heard anything back so i rang the bailiff and said do not go to my house i have not got the money, so he said to me you lied to me in which i replied i could not get the money. He again mentioned about removing property so i said again about my name on tenancy etc. So i then told him my final offer of money of £325 when i could get it and if he was not going to drop this then i will have to ask my partner to leave my property and then they would have to track him down. He then tried to make me feel guilty by saying you would throw your partner out just for £200. as i replied well yes i would (I think he was a bit taken aback by my callousness). He then said so if i go round your house your partner will have left so i then said yes he will have gone altogther. The bailiff put the phone down on me. That is last contact - not sure what to do now. any help would be much appreciated i am happy to pay the debt i am just not happy about the £200 bailiff charge with no previous correspondence otherwise i would of paid then. Over Weds and Thurs started looking through information on internet and it is all getting pretty confusing as so much conflicting advice. i came to this website and noticed what great advice you guys are all giving. So i have now signed up.

hello night owl and kurvaface, i have just been reading some of these stories on here and they are making me cross just reading some of them. Hope to speak you guys soon. littlekim

hello, i have just joined the site. I am amazed that there are so many illegal goings on from such large companies. Kim