Please help Philips Bailiffs

[astraea]

Hi

I have a court fine for tv license of £170. (it was about 300 but i had paid some off and then lost my job). i recieved a letter from philips saying i had to phone and make an arrangement to pay. which i did but the automated line would only let me set up a plan for more than i can afford, and there was no option to speak to anyone.

 

I then recieved a letter dated 1st July, stating that despite a visit to mu property and letters i have ignored them.

 

I rang them and this time i managed to get through to someone who told me i cannot make a payment plan as i defaulted on one already. i explained that i did not make the arrangement as i put the phone down because i could not get through to an agent, but they would not budge on this.

 

I was told that they had already visited my house on the 23/6 at 8am and that my house has a for sale sign outside. this is incorrect and i know they did not visit me at this time, but they said it is their word against mine and i would have to write in to dispute it. they have gone from £170 to £445 in bailiff fees and they have not even visited! the woman told me that the bailiff would use physical force against me to get entry to my house, and that if i resisited then they would arrest me!

 

I hung up, and then rang back a bit later to see if i got through to someone human!, but this time i asked him to clarify the description they had of my house and the name of the bailiff who came to visit me for the letter i was writing and he refused, saying he is not at liberty to give me that information! also he re-itereted that they would arrest me if i did not pay and that the police would be called to help them break in.

 

I said that as far as i knew the police could only attend to keep the peace, but he said NO the police are there to back up the bailiff, not you. and refused to make an arrangement again.

 

Now i want to pay the £170 but i cannot pay all in one go. i know i owe the money and i am not disputing that fact. but they have threatened and bullied me and i cannot sleep for worrying about this.

 

What can i do????? i have done a bit of reading - can i get my husband to do a statutory decleration saying everything in the house is his?

 

I have rung the court and they have refused to take the debt back.

 

please help me i am going out og my mind worrying about this.they have now started sending me bt sms voice texts about 3-4 times a day saying they are coing to enter my house.

 

thanks for any help

vikki

[honey b]

write to them, telling them

-you want to make an arrangement to pay and offer an amount (whatever you can realistically afford).

- also ask for a full and complete breakdown of their costs, including dates and times

-also demand the name of the bailiff

 

save the voice texts as these are tantamount to harassment.

at a later stage you can use these as evidence when (if) you decide to put in a complaint against them.

 

if you must speak to them over the phone then you must record the conversations as further evidence.

 

dont let them scare you or bully you.

dont answer the door to them if they ever come round and make sure all your doors and windows are locked shut.

[dx100uk]

Hi

I have a court fine for tv license of £170. (it was about 300 but i had paid some off and then lost my job). i recieved a letter from philips saying i had to phone and make an arrangement to pay. which i did but the automated line would only let me set up a plan for more than i can afford, and there was no option to speak to anyone.

 

I then recieved a letter dated 1st July, stating that despite a visit to mu property and letters i have ignored them.

 

I rang them and this time i managed to get through to someone who told me i cannot make a payment plan as i defaulted on one already. i explained that i did not make the arrangement as i put the phone down because i could not get through to an agent, but they would not budge on this.

 

I was told that they had already visited my house on the 23/6 at 8am and that my house has a for sale sign outside. this is incorrect and i know they did not visit me at this time, but they said it is their word against mine and i would have to write in to dispute it. they have gone from £170 to £445 in bailiff fees and they have not even visited!

 

 

...ask for a screenshot of bailiff charges

 

the woman told me that the bailiff would use physical force against me to get entry to my house, and that if i resisited then they would arrest me!

 

oh how illegal that is.....

 

 

I hung up, and then rang back a bit later to see if i got through to someone human!, but this time i asked him to clarify the description they had of my house and the name of the bailiff who came to visit me for the letter i was writing and he refused, saying he is not at liberty to give me that information! also he re-itereted that they would arrest me if i did not pay and that the police would be called to help them break in.

 

...wrong again.

 

I said that as far as i knew the police could only attend to keep the peace, but he said NO the police are there to back up the bailiff, not you. and refused to make an arrangement again.

 

Now i want to pay the £170 but i cannot pay all in one go. i know i owe the money and i am not disputing that fact. but they have threatened and bullied me and i cannot sleep for worrying about this.

 

What can i do????? i have done a bit of reading - can i get my husband to do a statutory decleration saying everything in the house is his?

 

I have rung the court and they have refused to take the debt back.

 

 

...pay the court the money via internet banking.

 

please help me i am going out og my mind worrying about this.they have now started sending me bt sms voice texts about 3-4 times a day saying they are coing to enter my house.

 

thanks for any help

vikki

 

 

oh this is going to be good

 

keep those txt msgs they could get into alot of trouble here.

 

dx

[astraea]

When i rang the court they told me that if i paid a payment to them it would just get returned to me??? can i pay it in a couple of installments on the internet?

 

They told me that because it is a court distress warrant thent he rules are different and they CAN force entry they can get a locksmith and come in no matter what?

[astraea]

sorry also i have saved the messages but they are sent on the BT sms text service thing and it says messages are only saved for 24 hours?

[honey b]

can you ask BT whether there is any way of saving the messages and tell them you are receiving malicious texts and you wish to use them as evidence. I am sure they will be able to do this for you.

 

failing that, you could use your mobile phone put it on record and hold it near the landline receiver and replay the messages so that they get recorded onto your mobile.

 

I am not too sure about the court distress warrant but i did have a look on the hmrc website. if the bailiff cannot get the payment for the debt then eventually it goes back to the originator (creditor). the court can then look at getting the money via a different route (eg attachment of earnings, instalment order, etc)

 

if the court isnt willing to take the payment and you dont want to spend the next few months hiding from the bailiff then make the offer of payment to the bailiff in WRITING. and also get the rest of the information I suggested.

 

at a future date you may be able to get compensation from the bailiff (if you keep the evidence) because of his (their) unreasonable behaviour.

 

hb

[astraea]

sorry for the multiple posts. they have informed me that they have charged me £75 for admin (2 letters) and £200 for an attendance visit (even though they have never been, i know that when you put my postcode in a sat nav it takes you about 6 streets away (its a new build). )

[honey b]

you need all this in writing as evidence otherwise its just your word against theirs.

 

try communicating with them via email, that way you get a quick response but you've also got the written evidence.

 

hb

[honey b]

i am not 100% sure about what bailiffs are allowed to charge as most of my dealings have been with hceos. I am sure someone will be along sooner or later to tell you exactly what bailiff charges should be.

 

hb

[astraea]

i can email them now but what do i say?

i dont understand how they can get away with threatening me like that. what do i send to them? but i dont want to pay the fees, especially when they have not visited, but how do i prove this when they will not give me any information??

 

As i was told by their agent "we are not here to help you, we are here to get our money!!"

 

will a stat dec saying my hubby owns everything stop them entering my house?

Edited July 16, 2010 by astraea

[honey b]

email them saying that you wish to make an offer of payment of £xx per month (whatever you can realistically afford). Say that you are not refusing to pay and that you do want to clear the debt but that you are not in a position to pay the whole lot in one payment. Ask that they provide you details of how to make your monthly payments.

 

ask for a breakdown of their costs along with dates.

 

ask for the name of the bailiff who was dealing with your case.

 

google "screw the bailiff". there is some information on that site.

 

although I am not 100% familiar with the tv licence type fining procedure, I think it goes to the magistrates. The bailiffs that are then instructed do not have a set fee scale. BUT the charges must be agreed with the court beforehand and must not be disproportionate. Apparently you can write to the relevant authority to get the fee tariffs to make sure the bailiffs are adding costs correctly.

 

hb

Edited July 16, 2010 by honey b
oops

[hallowitch]

your bailiff fees are correct for a magistrate court fine £75 letter fee and £200 visit fee (however they cant charge this fee if they have not attended your property)

 

I think (not 100% sure about Philips Bailiffs ) most bailiffs contracts with the court allow them to spread payments over 6months