Following on from our conversation, and your subsequent e-mail, our Managing Director, has again reviewed the case and although he is happy the bailiff has acted within our guidelines he has decided, as a gesture of goodwill, to refund all fees charged. Although we believe we have acted in a professional and courteous manner when dealing with your case we feel that this best resolves the matter both for our Client, and for yourselves. This refund will be for the amount of £195.50 and will be done today so should be back in your account on Monday at the latest. The monies have been paid onto the same card payment was taken from. We hope this clarifies our position and concludes the matter satisfactorily. I am happy to get the charges back so I have ended it there.

So I found the personal email address of the MD and I have sent him direct the complaint. I will aslo complain to the Council tomorrow and I am going to see my local MP. Thank you for your help

Thank you for all your help

The first time they have visited the house to our knowledge. If they have been before they have not left anything behind to inform us they have

He had a piece of paper with him and left a copy behind. He wrote the details of the car whilst standing on our drive awaiting my son to contact us. The charges are: council tax £133 Walking possession £26 Attendance to attempt to levy distress £42.50 Attendance/Removal £125 Total £326.50

Quick question, Could they have clamped the car?

Thank you, The council had closed by the time I got home, but I will be following this up tomorrow.

Sorry , my son is 17, not 16..crickey they grow so fast

Hello All, My 16 year old son was at home babysitting my 5 year old autistic grandson while his mother popped to the Doctors. A man came to the door and asked to speak to his parents and he explained they were at work. The Bailiff said and I quote "Well son, you need to get them on the phone right now as a van full of men are on there way round now to take all your goods" My son very very anxious ( he is a quiet shy boy ) stuttered that he dare not ring us at work he might get in trouble, but the baliff persisted at the door becoming louder each time stating over and over the men in the van were on their way and would take goods whether his parents were there or not. MY son explained that is was 3.50pm and Dad ( my husband ) finished work at 4 and would be here soon and the baliff just said "lets hope he gets back in time" My son came inside, burst into tears which set off my 5 year old grandson having a meltdown and my son and he tried to call us at work. I was in mweeting without my mobile, but husband managed to pick up his phone, finished work straight away and ran home. My husband seeing our son in bits and my grandson having a meltdown was very anxious and angry. He explained to the baliff the story ( see below ) but the baliff would not except ANY payment unless it was the full amount and failure to do so within the next five minutes meant he would clamp our car and that would cost even more. About the debt: Council Tax, 3 weeks worth £125 from last year which we did not realise we had missed until 14 days ago when the council tax people sent a letter saying they had passed to a baliff. We rang the council and they gave us the baliffs number. We rang the number but without a case number they could do nothing and the lady at the council said we would here about it in the post from the baliffs first. 14 days later, not letter from Baliffs but this visit that happened today. My husband today explained to the baliff that his wife ( me ) handled the bank accounts and he was trying to ring me to ask which bank to take it from, but of course I was in a meeting. IN the end, because the baliff was trying to clamp the car my husband rang our office and got someone to disturb me in the meeting. I Spoke to the baliff on the phone and trust me he was not listening when I explained we had received no letter. He said that everyone says that, and this infuriated me. I did not know at this stage how he had spoken to my son. I gave my husband the instructions on the account we had money in. Payday not until 28th we had only 340 left and the baliff took £330. I agree, I should have maybe tried to contact the baliffs again and again to say not recieved letter yet, but I didnt. I was not aware it could ge this agreesive. I know have my son so upset he wont stop shaking. My daughter has took her son home in complete frenzy and the whole family in shock. Can this happen?

Hi, The Judge has ordered they produce documents to prove how old the debt is and proof of when payment was last made. I hope we get another Judge ! Fingers crossed

Also, we had offered before the court case to pay £40 a month, they turned it down and insisted on £600 up front then £40 a month. This was discussed in court and the Solicitor argued that at £40 a month it would take a long time to clear the debt. The Judge told her to speak to her client about that they should have accepted the £40 a month. My Husband piped up " They say they allowed us to make a payment in 2004 of £1.93 but £40 is not good enough? Something stinks about this if you ask me" Nobody else said anything.

The debt was a credit card with HSBC Bank. We also had a bank account with them which was overdrawn I believe. My husband and I separated and I opened a separate account in another bank. So did he. This was in March 2003. Neither of used the account or the card since then. They are saying that a payment of £1.93 was made in July 2004 from my husband. We dispute that. When we first received the Petition asking us to go to court we sent a letter to both the court and Lowell saying that a) this debt is statute barred and b) we did not receive the statute demand and asked for proof it was statue barred After two weeks we received nothing from either Lowell or the court. I rang the court first and asked that this case should not be going to court until they have proved it is not a statute barred debt. The court said the case WILL go ahead but my letter would be taken into consideration. I then contacted Lowell and asked again for a copy of the signed contract, and accounts details of when these payments were supposed to have been made. They aplogised and explained they are sorry for being unprofessional and will get back to us. I made this phone call to them every two weeks until Jan 8th our court date. IN court I told the Judge I had asked for these details and that I had rang them every two weeks, I even told them the guys name who apologised to us for being so unprofessional. Their Solicitor then piped in saying that the documents had been archived and it takes time to find them. That is when the Judge said you have 4 more weeks to find them. The Judge did said to their Solicitor to ask her client to consider the £40 payment as this debt is obviously an old one. She said she would speak to them. Right at the end, I was crying and trying so hard to hold it in and no make a fool of myself when the Solicitor asked for "reasonable costs to be added" and the Judge said yes. He then said see you in four weeks and we were all stood up. BY the time it had sunk in they were getting costs we were out the door and too late to say anything. When we go back I want to say: a) How come they bought the case on Jan 8th without having the account details with them and forcing my husband to take a day off work with no pay and yet we took with us all our documents. b) If it is Statute barred, what happens next? Do we get our costs paid for false claims? Should I ask? c) If they prove it is not statute barred ( what happens if some money went into our account that we were no longer using and they made a min payment to the card from that account? Can that Happen? £1.93 is such a weird amount. Could it be a rebate from some other company? If it is not statute barred, do we just agree to paying the £40 a month or do we still dispute the extra costs added? d) Can I suggest to the Judge that in most cases at the first court case if they cannot prove after we have requested it is statue bared then the case is thrown out? Thank you for anything you can help with

Hi Sam Yes this is the same one. The court hearing was today. I felt such a fool. I an unsure what I can and cannot say to the judge. AM I allowed to say hang on, your charging us for them not having the documents ready for a case they brought ? I am supposed to be going to CAB on Monday, but I have been offered 4 weeks of work, which in our current circumstances I think I should take. When can I get the time to go see CAB when you have to turn up at 9am and queue? Totally shocked and not understanding what is going on. Mu Husband and I are putting our house on the market next weekend. Sell up, pay off and run for cover. Breaks our heart as the house we live in was built by his late parents. BUt what else can we do?

I also was led to believe that should you ask the creditor for a copy of the original agreement and a copy of the account and they did not bring it to court that the judge would say no to the petition, but he just agreed all the time with the solicitor when she asked for a adjournment.

Hello, We went to court today to face Bankruptcy from an old creditor. Their Solicitor turned up and sat down with us for 15 minutes before we went in front of the Judge. We explained a) We did not receive the Statute Demand. They claimed we did. The have a written truth something from someone saying they sent us a card saying they would turn up at 9pm, but came at 5pm and pushed it through our letterbox. b) We believe this debt to be statute barred which we told them back on October to produce proof it was not. They turned up at court claiming the documents had been archived and it takes time to get them out c) We offered to pay £40 a month to try and stop this going to court. They declined saying they wanted at least half the debt £600 straight away and suggested we borrowed it from friends, PLUS £40 a month. The Judge told my husband and I to go see Citizens Advice Bureau immediately. The case has been adjourned for 4 weeks which allows the creditors to pull out the documents to prove it is not Statute barred. If it is not statute barred the Judge will put the debt against our home and should we fail to make the payments of £40 a month ( which has still nto been agreed with the creditor ) then the home can be sold to pay off the debt. The solicitor for the creditor then asked the judge if it was OK to give copy of the statute demand to us there and then..he agreed. I was trying to hold back the tears as they explained to us what was happnening. THe Judge again looked at my husband and said Go SEE CAB ! We went to CAB straight from court but you have to turn up in a morning at 9am and queue. I will do this Monday. I thought though the only a debt signed to be secured against your home could in fact be secured against your home? Should we get a solicitor? Do they cost much? My husband has suggested we sell the house now and go into rented accommodation, pay the debt and then see if we can buy again. We have a £35k equity in the house. The debt today stood at £1500, but the Solicitor asked the judge if she could add today's court proceedings costs to the debt and he said yes, so it continues to go up and up. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.