Baliff Visit intemidated my son

[judelsg]

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?

[judelsg]

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

[i hate bailiffs]

you will need to get a breakdown of accounts i expect bailiffs figure will be different from council

bailiffs lie there was never a van of men to remove your goods

they have no power of entry cant take the dog and cat get a locksmith or any other dribble they come out with

 

you will need to put a complaint in writing to the council as they are responsible for bailiff actions copy in your local MP

 

future payments direct to council keep bailiffs out deny them a levy

[judelsg]

Thank you,

 

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

[judelsg]

Quick question,

 

Could they have clamped the car?

[i hate bailiffs]

as this is NOT CURRENT years council tax it is a low priority

 

council will probably tell you to deal with the bailiffs they always say that but you dont have to

stay off phone to bailiffs

 

move/hide your car to prevent any levy

give council a hard time until you get a result

[i hate bailiffs]

Quick question,

 

Could they have clamped the car?

 

not normally for council tax i may be wrong

[mellymoo74]

Not if they hadnt levied against it previously

[judelsg]

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

[mellymoo74]

is that the first visit you have had? if they havent levied against the car previously they cant claim attendance and removal, that £42.50 is for two visits not one and thats with my limited knowledge

[judelsg]

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

[numbers666]

Hiya,

 

I have asked site team to look at this - this does not sound right.

 

This looks like they have levy'd and charged removal at same time ? In my head there should only be 1st Visit Fee of 28.00 ?

 

More learnt members will advise the correct route to take - you will need to write to bailiff company and ctax dept.

 

N

[i hate bailiffs]

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

were all these fees charged on the same day/visit????????????

 

if so it is a NO NO

what did they have a levy on

have they been in to your property

[Hackedoffagain]

if you have no knowledge of the attending has i have previously with no calling card, this was/is over a parking fine. They said all the vehicles are gps tracked, so quick wittedly then i said can i have a copy of the tracker on the dates they specified to prove visit, fair request considering how much they want to charge me i think. I dont think i will ever get a copy of the tracker but it was to hear the smug sod backtracking

[ploddertom]

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions:

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

8 - the dates & amounts of any payments

 

You must also send of for a complete breakdown of the fees charged. Here is an example, use & adapt as you see fit. Send initially by email (tonight) followed by a copy in the post (tomorrow). When you get replies come back & we'll help you recover any overcharged amount.

 

"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

 

Ripped off customer"

[judelsg]

Thank you for all your help

[judelsg]

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

[old bill]

Do you know which bailiff company is involved? Not only are they in breach of MoJ National Standards for Enforcement Agents, they are in breach of OFT rules if they are OFT-licensed. Could you post up the name of the bailiff company, please?

[brassnecked]

Formal complaint to Council copied to CEO, leader councillor and MP. also follow oldbill on OFT Credit Fitness complaint as per OB what council and bailiff are these?

[judelsg]

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.

[lookinforinfo]

If the bailiff was working within their guidelines then their guidelines do not conform to any legislation that I am aware of. And if he were acting within their

guidelines, no way would ALL the fees be refunded.

They did that because had you carried it on they would probably have had to refund the fees and their bailiff [as well as maybe them] would be in serious trouble.

 

I can understand that you would like to drop the matter. It is a shame though that it leaves that bailiff free to terrorise another young boy or girl.

[Bandit127]

Well done Judelsg. A good result I think and congratulations.

[Andy01424]

grats on sorting it

[ploddertom]

Amazing how many gestures of goodwill Bailiff firms use. Well done.

[old bill]

Goodwill Gesture a very much abused form of settlement and, if the law is followed to the letter, they are only appropriate in cases where a company has genuinely done nothing legally wrong. In this case, what they allowed to happen was legally-wrong. Saying they acting within their guidelines is total bovine excrement and I agree 100% with Lookinforinfo that there is no legislation with which their guidelines comply. I also concur with Lookinforinfo that if this matter had been progressed through to conclusion, the fees would have had to be refunded in full and that the bailiff and management of the bailiff company would have been in serious trouble and may have found themselves facing criminal charges.

 

Whatever, this incident does need to be brought to the attention of HMCTS HQ and the police forces within whose areas the bailiff operates. There are potential child protection issues that cannot be ignored. Perhaps, contacting BBC TV's Watchdog programme or similar would draw the public's attention to this problem and embarrass the powers-that-be into acting in the public interest, not commercial interests.