Just received a debt from bailiff company? Advice from ex bailiff employee. Please read!

[consumer_justice]

I'm just giving honest information from working for these people.

I'm guessing not all bailiff companies send out a first letter then, just send it straight with a first calls bailiff? I can obviously only talk from my experience and I know at least one other company also sends a similar letter.

The first letter basically says "we have taken over the case from the council / client, contact us to arrange payment" As I said before, some councils allow immediate enforcement action.

I don't disagree with paying the council direct, if they accept it and you may say they can't refuse it but I'm afraid they do, I've seen it many times. Not every council is the same.

From experience, it can be a nightmare sometimes to get fees removed, even through the council because they then have to pay them.

[seanamarts]

Yeah that can happen, depends what area of the country you're in usually. A few councils down south send the case straight to an enforcement bailiff but not many. The company I worked for almost always sent a first letter then if the person called back within a week to make an payment arrangement (monthly/weekly) then that was that, they would send a levy bailiff if one was around but not always and even if he couldn't do the levy they would still leave the payment arrangement in place as long as it was kept to.

It happens in all bailiff companies around the country, and I am sure that the company you worked for did just the same at least the bailiffs did, Its rare to hear of a bailiff who sticks to the law half of them dont even know their own codes of conduct. The one I fought in court and won by the way thought that sticking his foot in the door was peaceful entry, shocked the judge and she tore him off a strip or two and corrected him in saying that he could not do this in future or he would be placed in front of her again and he would lose his certificate.

[consumer_justice]

Not talking about bailiff action though, I'm talking about the methods the company uses, the company I worked for sent a first letter asking for payment arrangement, then it went to first calls and then enforcement if no payment. I dealt with thousands of these cases.

You seem to think I am defending bailiffs for some reason? I could tell you what unlawful methods bailiffs use every single day and one of the reasons I am here is to try and stop them, if only in the company I worked for but hopefully more.

Once again, this thread was to help people to avoid getting to the point of enforcement action, not everybody wants to go to court.

[seanamarts]

Bailiff companies defend their bailiffs regardless whether they are right or wrong so are just as bad, just because your company as you say did the right thing which I have doubts that it always did, not saying you didnt but they are there to make money as well as bailiffs by what ever means. You obviously had issues with the way they conducted their business otherwise you would not be an ex employer of the company so they wernt as rosey as you have made out. I am sure you are a nice person as you come across as one but people are and always will be wary of bailiffs and the companies who employ them.

[consumer_justice]

It's going round in circles a little here. The company I worked for were completely unlawful, especially the enforcement bailiffs and the company itself added many illegal fees, however, what I described about the first calls bailiffs and how the company sent out 'first letters' is true. In my experience it was much easier for a person to set the payment plan than to ignore it and try and fight them. The councils were often on the side of the company too. I'm not defending the company in any way. It is true that the way they (and other companies) make money is mostly from people who ignore correspondence and have huge fees added on for enforcement visits. If you speak to many people who had payment plans and paid off their debts successfully and then to those who didn't and ended up with huge fees, which the council wouldn't always remove then you would get very different answers on who was glad of their actions.

Again, just personal experience.

[seanamarts]

It's going round in circles a little here. The company I worked for were completely unlawful, especially the enforcement bailiffs and the company itself added many illegal fees, however, what I described about the first calls bailiffs and how the company sent out 'first letters' is true. In my experience it was much easier for a person to set the payment plan than to ignore it and try and fight them. The councils were often on the side of the company too. I'm not defending the company in any way. It is true that the way they (and other companies) make money is mostly from people who ignore correspondence and have huge fees added on for enforcement visits. If you speak to many people who had payment plans and paid off their debts successfully and then to those who didn't and ended up with huge fees, which the council wouldn't always remove then you would get very different answers on who was glad of their actions.

Again, just personal experience.

ahhh am a little wiser now

[nightsurf]

i had a bailiff contact me about just over a year ago,regarding an unpaid debt (not council) and it can be a stressful time when you think your going to be hounded by these parasites,,but i knew one way or the other it had to be paid and i wasnt trying to escape from paying what i owed, but couldnt afford to pay what they wanted me to originally pay due to finacial circumstances,how ever i did contact the bailiff company which takes some courage for some people to actualy do,due to being scared witless ,and i made a payment arrangement with them and this was accepted and 2 monts ago the last payment was paid and i wasnt bothered by them as long as i kept the arrangement in place or defuat on paying the weekly instalments,i have since finished paying wht i owe and its a relief its done,how ever i dont think that its all down the these rip off merchants,that try to make your life a complete and utter misery its the system its self those in power the courts and the goverment,for allowing these **** to rip you off with ficticous fees,,wonder if the bailiffs were sent to the mp,s that stole tax payers money, and did the same thing to them,made them pay what they stole by way of instalments and ficticous fees

[gustavius rex]

More ostriches and more bad advice. The point is and should always be that bailiff's are an anomaly in a civilized society and their clients, be it councils or traffic authorities, are tacitly supporting these parasites. The only way to deal with them is to not pay at all and then take them to court or report them to the police in each and every case where 1 sigle pence is illegally charged. All this advice about payment plans and how nice it is to be debt free after you have been paying £15 a month for 25 years is just silly. As it is now, the debt collection with associated bailiff industry is having a boom and as people are getting in to more and more financial problems and cannot pay their bills, it will get worse. The current system must be changed and enter the 21:st century where we treat people with respect and not as criminals and feed for leaches.

Gustavius

[BSC]

More ostriches and more bad advice. The point is and should always be that bailiff's are an anomaly in a civilized society and their clients, be it councils or traffic authorities, are tacitly supporting these parasites. The only way to deal with them is to not pay at all and then take them to court or report them to the police in each and every case where 1 sigle pence is illegally charged. All this advice about payment plans and how nice it is to be debt free after you have been paying £15 a month for 25 years is just silly. As it is now, the debt collection with associated bailiff industry is having a boom and as people are getting in to more and more financial problems and cannot pay their bills, it will get worse. The current system must be changed and enter the 21:st century where we treat people with respect and not as criminals and feed for leaches.

Gustavius

 

Amen!

[jackieandwayne]

I for one would like to hear more from the OP about the unlawful practices he is aware of. This is the sort of info that is needed, so can we let him just have a chance? After all, if we disagree with anything he says we don't have to follow his advice. I would still like to hear from him though. Actually, I think he is quite brave posting on here, and if he is genuine, and time will tell, I admire him for that.

 

This guy is NOT personally responsible for any misfortune that anyone on here has suffered at the hands of these thugs, but he may well have some very good ideas and advice if we allow him to voice that.

[BSC]

I agree but the OP needs to pitch what he is saying as 'information' not 'best advice'

[gustavius rex]

l've got nothing against advice or inside info., but, l still see this as a fight a Savid against Goliath.

GR

[dannybro]

hi there don t know if this is the right place to put this as i am not to good with computers, here goes i was in a business partnership which folded last year most of my suppliers excepted my arangement offer but one did not they took me to court and after determination they got judgement of £10 per month in may this year so i made the £10 payment well before time i spoke to the count court to make sure that it was £10 per month they said yes it was a joint judgement and £10 per month total which i paid a couple of days ago an enforcement officer turned up saying he had a high court writ and unless i paid the now 5100 pounds he would have to take goods i spoke to nat debt line who said the writ should not have been given as the payments are upto date so i rang je baring and co of london who got the judgement a lady on the phone said i had missed a payment as it was £20 per month because there was 2 in the partnership i asked her to ring the court to find out after 2 days she still had not bothered and said i would have to find the money to pay the bailiff which i don t have the bailiff is still saying i have to pay she won t ring the court and then call the bailiff off no one will tell who gave out the writ to apply for a stay but surely this is wrong and must beable to got to a court to get the bailiff stopped any advise would be grateful cheers

[dx100uk]

hi there don t know if this is the right place to put this as i am not to good with computers, here goes i was in a business partnership which folded last year most of my suppliers excepted my arangement offer but one did not they took me to court and after determination they got judgement of £10 per month in may this year so i made the £10 payment well before time i spoke to the count court to make sure that it was £10 per month they said yes it was a joint judgement and £10 per month total which i paid a couple of days ago an enforcement officer turned up saying he had a high court writ and unless i paid the now 5100 pounds he would have to take goods i spoke to nat debt line who said the writ should not have been given as the payments are upto date so i rang je baring and co of london who got the judgement a lady on the phone said i had missed a payment as it was £20 per month because there was 2 in the partnership i asked her to ring the court to find out after 2 days she still had not bothered and said i would have to find the money to pay the bailiff which i don t have the bailiff is still saying i have to pay she won t ring the court and then call the bailiff off no one will tell who gave out the writ to apply for a stay but surely this is wrong and must beable to got to a court to get the bailiff stopped any advise would be grateful cheers

 

go here:

 

Bailiffs and Sheriff Officers - The Consumer Forums

 

and click on the new thread button on the left of the page

 

dx

[tomtubby]

The Ministry of Justice have today introduced an on line website to enable debtors to check whether a bailiff is certificated.

 

I have started a new thread and the details are here:

 

On line search to check if a Bailiff is Certificated.....

[gustavius rex]

The Ministry of Justice have today introduced an on line website to enable debtors to check whether a bailiff is certificated.

 

I have started a new thread and the details are here:

 

On line search to check if a Bailiff is Certificated.....

 

 

Dearest Tomtubby, what would we do without you. Thanx a lot.

GR

[consumer_justice]

I'm starting to think I should have named the title something like 'Have you decided to pay the bailiff company? How best to go about it' Maybe my thread was missing the target audience, either way I am sure I can help in other ways so take the advice or leave it. If it was me, I would fight to the death but I know how to without being confrontational, others don't.

BSC, I'm sure many people have given their advice on here before. Giving advice and opinion is part of being human, so is ignoring it if you don't agree.

 

I am working on a full write up of illegal / unethical / unfair / extortionate acts and fees, and how to avoid them, I'm sure it will be an interesting read. There really are easy ways to get a lot of these fees stopped, not just one off but stopped for every one. People just have to get together and do it. I will probably start a new thread for that though but it will have to wait until tomorrow as a long day at work.

Thanks for all the replies though, either positive or negative, I've had a really good insight to the feelings of people who have dealt with bailiffs.

Back tomorrow...

[ami1]

thank you

[Jach]

Hmmmmmmmm???????? Consumer Justice's advice goes against most of the advice I've read on this excellent forum. And I know who's advice is preferable