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My sister has just recieved a letter from Jacobs re CTax non payment. She already has an acct with them and is paying £10 per fortnight.

 

She is in reciept of incapacity, housing and ctax benefit and lives alone. She has arthritis and depression which she is under her gp and on medication for.

 

This debt is for the current year which she admits she has not been able to pay. However she doesnt remember recieving a court hearing notice (although this could have been sent and she not remembered)

 

She cannot afford another £10 a fortnight...she certainly cant afford another £50 1st fee which Jacobs want in order to set her up on a payment plan.

 

The bailiff wants to call at the house within the next 24 hours....she lives in rented accommodation and has very little possessions. What she has got has already been noted for the debt she is currently paying with them.

 

I have no idea about how the bailiff system works. Advice please my lovely caggers!!!

 

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Does she receive FULL Housing and CTax benefit? I presume there is no income support top up to the Incap. She is very likely to fall within the vulnerable category under the National Association of Enforcement Agencies Guidelines 2002 on vulnerability that make bailiff action with the consequential addition of fees inappropriate. As hallow has posted she does not have to deal with the bailiff, in any event if they already have a levy, they cannot levy the same goods again, and should ask the council to take the account back, and consider deduction from benefit.

 

Vulnerable situations

 

 

  • Enforcement agents/agencies and creditors must recognise that they each have a role in ensuring that the vulnerable and socially excluded are protected and that the recovery process includes procedures agreed between the agent/agency and creditor about how such situations should be dealt with. The appropriate use of discretion is essential in every case and no amount of guidance could cover every situation, therefore the agent has a duty to contact the creditor and report the circumstances in situations where there is potential cause for concern. If necessary, the enforcement agent will advise the creditor if further action is appropriate. The exercise of appropriate discretion is needed, not only to protect the debtor, but also the enforcement agent who should avoid taking action which could lead to accusations of inappropriate behaviour.
  • Enforcement agents must withdraw from domestic premises if the only person present is, or appears to be, under the age of 18; they can ask when the debtor will be home - if appropriate.
  • Enforcement agents must withdraw without making enquiries if the only persons present are children who appear to be under the age of 12.
  • Wherever possible, enforcement agents should have arrangements in place for rapidly accessing translation services when these are needed, and provide on request information in large print or in Braille for debtors with impaired sight.
  • Those who might be potentially vulnerable include:
    • the elderly;
    • people with a disability;
    • the seriously ill;
    • the recently bereaved;
    • single parent families;
    • pregnant women;
    • unemployed people; and,
    • those who have obvious difficulty in understanding, speaking or reading English.

     

I would initiate a Formal Complaint if they continue with the jokers known as Jacobs, with the council CEO copied to elected leader councillor and MP, who you can contact through www.writetothem.com, as you are most likely vulnerable quote the guidelines in any complaint, and demand it is taken back off Jacobs

We could do with some help from you.

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Does she receive FULL Housing and CTax benefit? No, there is a shortfall of roughly £30 p/m on each

I presume there is no income support top up to the Incap. No top up.

She is very likely to fall within the vulnerable category under the National Association of Enforcement Agencies Guidelines 2002 on vulnerability that make bailiff action with the consequential addition of fees inappropriate. As hallow has posted she does not have to deal with the bailiff and should ask the council to take the account back, and consider deduction from benefit.

 

Thanks, so how does she go about this? Should I email the Council on her behalf and explain the situation?

Vulnerable situations

 

 

  • Enforcement agents/agencies and creditors must recognise that they each have a role in ensuring that the vulnerable and socially excluded are protected and that the recovery process includes procedures agreed between the agent/agency and creditor about how such situations should be dealt with. The appropriate use of discretion is essential in every case and no amount of guidance could cover every situation, therefore the agent has a duty to contact the creditor and report the circumstances in situations where there is potential cause for concern. If necessary, the enforcement agent will advise the creditor if further action is appropriate. The exercise of appropriate discretion is needed, not only to protect the debtor, but also the enforcement agent who should avoid taking action which could lead to accusations of inappropriate behaviour.
  • Enforcement agents must withdraw from domestic premises if the only person present is, or appears to be, under the age of 18; they can ask when the debtor will be home - if appropriate.
  • Enforcement agents must withdraw without making enquiries if the only persons present are children who appear to be under the age of 12.
  • Wherever possible, enforcement agents should have arrangements in place for rapidly accessing translation services when these are needed, and provide on request information in large print or in Braille for debtors with impaired sight.
  • Those who might be potentially vulnerable include:
    • the elderly;
    • people with a disability;
    • the seriously ill;
    • the recently bereaved;
    • single parent families;
    • pregnant women;
    • unemployed people; and,
    • those who have obvious difficulty in understanding, speaking or reading English.

     

I would initiate a Formal Complaint if they continue with the jokers known as Jacobs, with the council CEO copied to elected leader councillor and MP, who you can contact through www.writetothem.com, as you are most likely vulnerable quote the guidelines in any complaint, and demand it is taken back off Jacobs

 

Thanks again....*makes a mental note to read up on bailiff system*

 

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Oh, another question...will it matter that she took on a payment plan with Jacobs last time? Will she still be able to use the "vulnerable" status?

 

no it doesn't matter

 

what council is it

find out about this debt

 

Amount of liability order (confirmed by council)

what goods were levied

 

send this by e-mail to Jacobs and council recovery dep so we can see what fees have been added to the debt

Name

Address

bailifflink3.gif Ref: Account No: 123456

Council Ref No: 435672

Date

Dear Sir,

With reference to the above account please provide me with a breakdown of all fees charged and payments made for the above account

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - The reason for the fee.

c - The name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - The name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificated at.

e - The date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject access requestlink3.gif under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10.

The National Standards for Enforcement Agents state that if a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.

Please provide the information requested within 14 days of this E-mail /recorded delivery letter

Yours faithfully

Ripped off customer"

  • Haha 1
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Do as hallow suggests pdq, and read up on the stickies on the forum, others will be able to advise as to how the vulnerability aspect could be used, you will get good advice on here

We could do with some help from you.

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no it doesn't matter

 

what council is it

find out about this debt

 

Amount of liability order (confirmed by council)

what goods were levied

 

send this by e-mail to Jacobs and council recovery dep so we can see what fees have been added to the debt

Name

Address

bailifflink3.gif Ref: Account No: 123456

Council Ref No: 435672

Date

Dear Sir,

With reference to the above account please provide me with a breakdown of all fees charged and payments made for the above account

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - The reason for the fee.

c - The name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - The name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificated at.

e - The date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject access requestlink3.gif under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10.

The National Standards for Enforcement Agents state that if a written request is made an itemised account of fees will be provided.

Please provide the information requested within 14 days of this E-mail /recorded delivery letter

Yours faithfully

Ripped off customer"

 

Done, thanks..my sister feels a lot happier now. I knew CAG wouldnt let us down x

 

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  • 11 months later...

Hi guys. Just a quick update.

 

The local council wrote to my sister and said they had no responsibility over Jacobs. They gave the details of how much was owed, and it seems Jacobs have added £80 to each account (only one had a levy at the time) so I am not sure why £80 was added to the second. Plus, the £80 is a weird amount?? Anyway, my sister had a full breakdown. this had other consequences, but I ensured her £10 fortnightly payments were made by putting the money in her account myself.

 

So, the monsters that are Jacobs have raised their ugly heads. It's been ridiculous over the last 11 months. A short breakdown is they kept writing to My sister, telling her she was in arrears with her account. This is of course a load of b..rubbish. She paid the original £10 per fortnight for acct 1, then paid £10 the other fortnight for acct 2. They wanted to join the accts together, even though they have separate acct numbers and ref numbers. I wrote to them on her behalf and told them it would not happen. I have replies from them telling her she remains in arrears..even though every fortnight the payment is made. We took a screen grab of her banking and sent that. A jobs worth called her and basically told her she 'had a mental health illness, which seemed to come and go on demand'. It took all my strength not to go to their local office and show her what a mental health illness is.

 

Anyhow, eventually they 'agreed' to let her pay the two £10's (good of them). Now, she has fully cleared one, the one with the levy on her few possessions and is still paying her other £10 a fortnight. Today, she received a letter saying she needs to prove she is still on benefits, giving her 7 days to provide evidence.

 

I am currently putting a letter together to email them. I want to know what I left to pay and whether there has been any levy for this second account (it is possible she let them in during her manic times and not remembered). I will update again when she receives a response.

 

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Which council is this, they need to be named and shamed, as

Firstly they and Jacobs should be signed up to the NAEA guidelines, and are most likely in breach for ignoring the obvious vulnerability of your sister as i previously posted.

 

Secondly, no matter what the council says or denies, under the law, they ARE WHOLLY VICARIOUSLY LIABLE, both jointly and severally with and for any wrongdoing or criminal act by their agents Jacobs. Nothing can absolve or negate that liability.

 

I would think that there ARE dodgy fees in there, so the next step as you have paperwork and hopefully breakdown of fees and costs, is a Formal Complaint to the Head of Revenues, copied to the CEO of the council the elected leader, local councillor and MP, highlighting the bullying, the denial of a vulnerability and the constant harassment of someone with mental illness with spurious and constant wrongful arrears notices.

 

As another attack angle, oldbill has been highlighting a tactic whereby a bailiff companies fitness to hold a Category F debt collection licence is brought into question. They need this licence to collect debt so it may be worth writing to these people also (thanks OB):

 

Perhaps a formal complaint against Jacobs to the OFT's Credit Fitness Team. Jacobs has a CCA Licence to collect public and other debt. Send an email to [email protected], inserting the words CREDIT FITNESS in the subject box. Give a clear and concise resume of your complaint.

 

I will post back with the company number and CCA licence later

 

A complaint to the Department for Communities & Local Government wouldn't go amiss. Their contact details are as follows -

 

Eland House

Bressenden Place

London

SW1E 5DU

 

Email: [email protected] .uk

 

Rt Hon Eric Pickles (Secretary of State)

Rt Hon Grant Shapps (Minister of State for Housing & Local Government)

Sir Bob Kerslake (Permanent Secretary)

 

These people both council and Jacobs need a severe kick up the backside imho

 

 

Just to redress the balance and show that Jacobs are capable of doing the right thing when prodded and threatened with reputational damage this thread about a vehicle they wrongly seized and sold, then had to trace buy back and return is worth a read:

 

http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/archive/index.php?t-646595.html

Edited by brassnecked

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Agreed PT perhaps OP should send the Acme bailiffs letter for information on the charges:

 

 

From:

My Name

My Address

To:

Acme bailifflink3.gif Co

bailifflink3.gif House

Ref: Account No: 123456

Dear Sir

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

This includes:

a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.

b - the reason for the fee.

c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.

d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were certificatedlink3.gif at.

e - the date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject access requestlink3.gif under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

I require this information within 14 days.

Yours faithfully

 

Then post them up for dissection

We could do with some help from you.

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Do you still have the Notice of Seizure for the goods which were seized/levied? If so can list what was on there exactly as it says, there is a possibility the levy could well be invalidated for some reason and the charges if removed may help pay off the other debt.

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Do you still have the Notice of Seizure for the goods which were seized/levied? If so can list what was on there exactly as it says, there is a possibility the levy could well be invalidated for some reason and the charges if removed may help pay off the other debt.

 

Hopefully the levy will be on exempt items, and or insufficient goods if removed for auction to pay all fees, and a portion of the principal debt.

We could do with some help from you.

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Did you ever send a formal complaint to the council ?

Help us to keep on helping

Please consider making a donation, however small, if you have benefited from advice on the forums

 

 

This site is run solely on donations

 

My advice is based on my opinion and experience only. It is not to be taken as legal advice - if you are unsure you should seek professional help.

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Thank guys..I really appreciate your help in this. Give me a mortgage co or bank and I can run with it...bailiff action has me confused and I just cannot get the information to sink in and stay in my brain!

 

BN: thanks, I will get the figures from them as I have sent the Acme bailiff letter in today's post. As soon as I get the info, I will publish. I have checked all the paperwork and it looks like she hasn't kept anything of importance..hopefully they will adhere to the acme letter and produce what we are looking for.

 

PT: I cannot find the Notice of Seizure...she is not renowned for keeping paper work safe *rolls eyes*. Would this be included in the info they send in reply to the acme letter? I do know they used a TV which was on HP, because I remember informing them they should take it off as it was not hers as such (she had only had it weeks from BH). Whether they did WIL be highlighted if they send the notice of seizure.

 

Ell-enn: I made a formal complaint back in December 2011 to both the council and bailiff. The response drom the council was to wait for the complaint to be dealt with from Jacobs and then follow it on. Due to family commitments this was not followed up and so as soon as I get the information, I will make the complaints to DCLG, OFT and Head of Revenues.

 

Below is a copy of an email I sent when she was harassed over the phone with regards to having two accounts. This was sent after the woman told her the mental illness was 'on demand'.

 

Dear Neanderthal man or woman.

 

I represent my sister, Miss XXXXXXXX and have had numerous correrspondance with you regarding her alleged debts.

 

Are you retarded? Are you hoping to get IDIOT OF THE WEEK award at Jacobs...Bloody hell, with the level of intellegence there, it must be a hotly contested trophy!

 

Do you really have nothing better to do than chase a client who is PAYING every bloody payment. I am furious..to say the least!

 

The two accounts my sister has with you are up to date. Pease see attached a screen grab of her banking which show EVERY payment made. My sister has just had a 20 minute call from a colleague of your's where this issue was discussed AT LENGTH. In that call, a Jacobs representative, Christine, said only one debt was being paid. My sister gave her explicit details that a subconcious monkey would understand. Which are the SAME DETAILS I gave in an email DATED 02/09/2011 (which Christine agreed to seeing), which are the SAME DETAILS I gave to some other jobsworth who called last week. I will NOT be giving you the details again. If your SYSTEM cannot deal with TWO DIFFERENT ACCOUNTS, with TWO DIFFERENT REFERENCE NUMBERS and TWO DIFFERENT STANDING ORDER REFERENCE NUMBERS then I suggest you call the Scouts, because it is simple IT and math.

 

YES There are two accounts, YES there are two reference numbers and bloody YES they are paid separately. UNDERSTAND? COMPRENDE? Maybe I should write all my correspondance in IDIOTIC, you might actually understand it!

 

Further, Christine made a discriminative comment about my sister documented illness. NO, her mental health illness does not 'come and go on demand'. She is a manic depressive, on medication, under the Mental Health Team. Your representatives comment seems to devalue the PROFESSIONAL assessments she has endured. I ask you have Christine forward her medical certificates to Dr Bennett at XXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXX, as she is most interested in the slur your representative made against her judgement.

 

DO NOT contact my sister again over this matter.. This is fair warning. Any more CRAP from your company then you can go and procrastinate with yourself. I will take this matter further for harrassment. YOU ARE GETTING PAID AFTER ALL. No Court in the land would agree that your company are not receiving the money owed, BECAUSE YOU ARE!

 

Now, be good children and go and play somewhere else, because you have truly FU@KED ME OFF

 

 

OK, so I wouldn't actually take that into a court, but it had some effect as they did stop calling her over the two accounts.....and it gave me a lot of pleasure lol

Will update as soon as we receive the information. Thanks again guys

 

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If you would really like to p*ss on Jacobs' bonfire, you have a pretty strong case to report Jacobs to the OFT's Credit Fitness Team. This is because Jacobs hold an OFT Debt Collection Licence. You need to send an email to [email protected] and insert the words CREDIT FITNESS in the subject box. Give a clear and concise resume of your complaint. You will need to quote the following information in your complaint -

 

Company Name: Jacobs Certified Bailiffs Ltd

Company Reg. No.: 07916165

 

Hope this helps you and your sister and gives Jacobs something to think about.

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Thanks for rooting out the company number OB, but can't find any trace on OFT website of jacobs, but then they must hold the licence to be able to operate.

 

Mrsfoot, the council themselves MUST investigate, not wait for Jacobs to paint the coal with blanco, they are wholly liable AT ALL TIMES for anything Jacobs does, so as the TV was on HP, the levy is invalid anyway, if you can turn up proof all the better. It won't be easy but you probably can get most of these fees refunded, and clear the debt. they may even owe your sister a refund.

 

You can send a Formal Complaint at any time and copy in all the bigwigs.

 

Which council is this?

We could do with some help from you.

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See what you get back on the breakdown of fees first. There are 2 ways of tackling what may be missing:

1 - sending off for a SAR to the Bailiffs - cost £10

2 - as the Council are responsible make them cough it up - yes they may spit their dummy out but if threatened with the LGO they may cave in.

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Don't forget that there are provisions under Regulations 45 and 46, Council Tax (Administration & Enforcement) Regulations 1992 that enable CT debtors to have the LA summoned before the magistrates court that issued the LO in cases of irregular levy or distress. That is an avenue that is open to you.

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Ok, so we have received one portion of the info. The first acct, had the levy, walking possession and visit fee. It also has a Sch 5 Head H fee included? Fees are as follows:

 

Visit fee 1: £24.50

Walking poss: £12.00

Levy fee: £27.00

Sch 5 Head H £24.50

 

The last three fees are from the same date, the first from the day before. There was no levy paperwork included in the information, so I am unsure what possessions of hers they included.

 

They are sending the current acct paperwork separately so will get that up ASAP.

 

I wrote to the LA. The woman is away on hol but will deal with it on her return apparently.

 

Now I know there were fees added, I will make the formal complaint, including their behaviour.

 

Would it make a difference if they didn't know about the mental health issue when they first visited? Only because the first time they were told about it was after the visit and arrangement was made.

 

What should I include in the complaints?

 

Thanks again guys, your help is really appreciated :-)

 

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Sch 5 head h, is contentious, as unless goods have been removed and advertised for sale, this fee may well be invalid.

We could do with some help from you.

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As has been mentioned kick up a stink, contact your councillor, MP, offical bodies and anyone that may have some influence. Go to your local press and tell them about your sisters condition and the illegal actions of the baliffs. It does work!

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If they claiming a walking Possession Fee then someone has signed the levy? As far as "vulnerability" issues are concerned, it is very rare that the Council or bailiff know of these when knocking on the door and the first they may know is when someone then tells them. However to claim on this proof must be provided to both Council & Bailiffs - I'm not defending them but Bailiffs are not Social Workers or medical experts although they may need their heads examining.

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