ross & roberts HORRIBLE

[mummyhaigh]

Hiya weve got an outstanding council tax debt from 07 previous address,a bailiff come to the door of new addy telling my husband he wants £356 now then he will set up payment plan,my husband told him our situation were in with new council tax bills rent other bills going out and 4 children to feed n dress.But he was still having none of it my husband is on medication for panic n anxcity attacks.Weve phone head office to talk to the head bailiff but they cant put us through.He said if we dont pay he can enter property change locks and take goods.Some advice would be helpul please,weve offered him £200 then monthly payment plans but still refused its not like we are refusing to pay hes just not being realistic HELP !! I dont want my hubby being ill again his come along way up to date.

[ims21]

Thread moved to Bailiff forum

[mummyhaigh]

And where would that be thanks

[padja]

Is you husband under doctor for his anxiety & panic attacks? is he classed as having a disability? Are you on benefits? if so then you are classed as vulnerable and council have to take the debt back, did you allow the bailiff in your house? if so did he do a levy on goods?

 

Right he has lied he CAN NOT enter your property, he CAN NOT change the locks, he CAN only remove goods if he has a valid levy on goods and you let him in. he CAN NOT get a locksmith to enter the property he CAN NOT get you arrested or get the police to get him in. Keep off the phone to these clowns, if you can pay then pay the council direct using the correct liability order numbers other wise it will just go on this years council tax. Council can not refuse to take payments (although the muppet at desk will say so) if they refuse get their name the date and time you went to pay and the reason for refusal. What charges has the bailiff added so far?

[padja]

the admin has moved it for you dont worry about that

[mummyhaigh]

my hubby is under doctor but not receiving benefits as he works full time havent tried too either.we havent let him in and never will my brother was a bailiff so we know some bits.Weve phone council the muppet on phone as u refer (lol) sais they cant take payment because its gone to bailiff.We moved out of property so this is the first time weve recieved letters about this account all we wanna do is take it back to court with council do a means so they can see outgoings and sort out a reasnable offer so annoyed.

[hallowitch]

send this of to Ross&robbers with a copy sent to the local authority

 

From:

My Name

My Address

To:

Acme bailiff Co

bailiff 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 certificated at.

e - the date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject access request 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

 

you should also find out from the council

 

1 - how many Liability Orders they have against you

2 - the dates they were obtained

3 - the addresses they were for

4 - the period of time each covers

5 - how much each one was for

6 - how much is still outstanding

7 - the dates they were passed on for enforcement

 

when a local authority takes a debtor to court the liability is granted for the full amount outstanding for the remainder of the financial tax yr if you moved during the liable of yr debt you need to find out if your account has been adjusted to reflect this (question 4 )

 

Is your bailiff certificated

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?210956-On-line-search-to-check-if-a-Bailiff-is-Certificated.....(1-Viewing)-nbsp

[unclebulgaria67]

If there is a liability order you can I believe go to the court and ask for your repayment plan to be considered. Do you live near to the magistrates court, where the liability order was granted ? If so, you could speak to them to see whether you can ask a magistrate to consider your repayment proposal. You don't have to be bullied by bailiffs.

[Ell-enn]

You can make payments direct to the council via their online payment system - they cannot refuse payment from you (although they all say you have to deal with the bailiffs - you don't!).

[hallowitch]

If there is a liability order you can I believe go to the court and ask for your repayment plan to be considered. Do you live near to the magistrates court, where the liability order was granted ? If so, you could speak to them to see whether you can ask a magistrate to consider your repayment proposal. You don't have to be bullied by bailiffs.

 

No you cant not for council tax the courts only involvement is the issuing of the liability order (unless the council issue committal proceedings)

 

If the bailiff is trying to make you agree to a payment proposal you cant afford then you send a letter (e-mail ) to the council telling them you are not refusing to pay the debt however the bailiff want £xxx before he will set up a payment plan the bailiff said this is non negotiable you don't have £xxx you are now left with no way to pay the debt as the council has also refused to return the debt to local authority control do an income /expenditure send it to the council offering to pay £xxxx per month to be paid before the end of each month

you can pay the council on-line if you have the account number

 

you send it to the revenues department . the CEO, local councilor, and your MP

[mummyhaigh]

We have been in touch with debt line via CAB theyve advised us not contact R&R anymore do everything through writing also email birmingham city council and tell them whats happened they will reply within 14 days.Debtline are putting together a file for them with our means and offer and sending it to R&R so if he comes to the door again ignore the bailiff tell him its being delt with debtline and write down what time he called his name and his conversation we have with him they can only charge us £14 per visit now.So watch this space. thanks for al;l ya help.

[brassnecked]

I think ythere are issues with Birmingham council and their back office provider, Capita, who guess what own Ross 'n Robbers, so when you contact what you think is the council, you get Capita who will naturally tell you to deal with their pals at R & R.

 

It may be time for a Formal Complaint about R & R copied to all the council bigwigs and your MP

[hallowitch]

Stephen Hughes is the CEO of Birmingham City council I'm sure he will be happy to pass your FORMAL COMPLAINT on to Chris Gibbs,Assistant Director, Revenues and Benefits, he can investigate your complaint along with one he is investigating concerning Equita

 

 

[email protected]

[padja]

re: the charges he can charge you £24:50 for first then £18 for 2nd visit and thats it nothing more so where they got he can charge you £14 per visit from I dont know he cant

[tomtubby]

Mummyhaigh.

 

What you must first do is call Birmingham and ask them to confirm the amount of the Liability Order.

 

Ross & Roberts have not levied upon goods and therefore you will need to see whether they have charged either £24.50 to your account or whether the MAXIMUM fee of £42.50 for 2 visits have been charged.

 

At present you cannot afford to pay the debt to the council. If you allow the bailiff into the house you will then be responsible for having an additional levy fee of £12 added to the account togther with a levy fee of approx £45. These two fees alone will increase your debt by ANOTHER 15% !!! You would be CRAZY to allow a bailiff into your home. However, if the baliff cannot gain entry he will try instead to levy upon a car of yours. you need to be very careful about this.

 

It is most important to ensure that you WRITE to R&R and that you copy the letter to the council.

[old bill]

The threats the bailiff made against you are totally unacceptable and totally unlawful. He has no power of entry, unless you let him in, and he certainly cannot change the locks. Ross and Roberts have a history of this sort of behaviour and it should be reported and action taken.

 

As chance would have it, Ross and Roberts just happen to hold an OFT Debt Collection Licence which the OFT can take away from them if they consider their fitness to hold the licence is in question.

 

In order to make a complaint, 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 include the following details in your complaint -

 

Company name: Ross and Roberts Limited

Credit Licence No.: 500100

 

You should also make a formal complaint to your local Trading Standards Department about Ross and Roberts.

 

As far as Birmingham City Council is concerned, you can complain to the Department for Communities and Local Government. Their contact details are -

 

Department for Communities and Local Government

Eland House

Bressenden Place

London

SW1E 5DU

 

Email: [email protected]

 

The people you need to write to are -

 

Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP (Secretary of State)

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

 

I am attaching the National Standards for Enforcement Agents, which governs the behaviour of bailiffs, and the OFT Debt Collection Guidelines. Read through the OFT Guidelines, identify which parts Ross and Roberts have breached and list them in your complaint to the OFT. It might be a good idea to take a hard copy of the complaint with you to Trading Standards. It would save them having to look it up.

 

One last thing, OFT Licence Holders are not permitted to make you pay more than you can afford through a repayment plan. It is a breach of their licence. If Ross and Roberts try to do this, remind them they are in breach of their OFT Licence and cannot make you pay more than you can afford. Have the Guidelines handy to show or belt the bailiff with.

OFT Debt Collection Guidelines (2011).pdf

national-standards-enforcement-agents.pdf

[mummyhaigh]

We wrote en email to complain to them last night husband got a phone call saying they will except £200 then a payment plan will be set up.2 blokes came today mr roberts and mr streetly they done a levy on the 2 cars on our drive which is funny because 1 was my brothers who dont live here and was visiting at the time to witness this and also he is an ex bailiff and our vehicle is on finance and my husband uses it for work and according to there website they are not aloud to take it if it interferes with getting to work.Also we owe them £3345 over the 5 accounts theyve put on £514 charges OMG im soo mad.gotta email n complain B******!!

[hallowitch]

5 accounts & £514 charges multiple fees have a read of this thread

 

 

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?358537-Local-Government-Ombudsman-Report-Issued-in-the-quot-public-interest-quot-........Bailiff-fees

[old bill]

We wrote en email to complain to them last night husband got a phone call saying they will except £200 then a payment plan will be set up.2 blokes came today mr roberts and mr streetly they done a levy on the 2 cars on our drive which is funny because 1 was my brothers who dont live here and was visiting at the time to witness this and also he is an ex bailiff and our vehicle is on finance and my husband uses it for work and according to there website they are not aloud to take it if it interferes with getting to work.Also we owe them £3345 over the 5 accounts theyve put on £514 charges OMG im soo mad.gotta email n complain B******!!

 

I think this shows what muppets Ross and Roberts employ as bailiffs. The levy on the cars is not only invalid, but illegal, also. Levying on third-party property is a definite no-no. If they are served with notice that they have levied on third-party property and attempt to remove them, they will be committing Attempted Theft and be liable to arrest. This needs to be added to a complaint to the OFT Credit Fitness team.