Marston Group trouble with High Court Enforcement Officer

[xemmzzx]

Hi, I am new to all this and desperate for some advice, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

My husband had an account with Howdens last year, he used it to buy materials for a job he was doing which totaled around £450. Following this he had no work and could not afford to pay the balance off, he contacted Howdens and explained the situation.

 

Then 2 weeks ago a man knocked the door and when i opened it he asked for my husband, he wasnt here so he handed me a letter to give to him. The letter had Marstons on it and a Writ from the high court with all sorts of fees on and total balance £1,140. I phoned my husband at work and gave him the mobile of the officer to call....he phoned the man and explained that he would clear the debt off over the next 3 months, Mr Andrews said he could not talk about it unless he had a reference number (we now know he didnt need one) anyway my husband got the ref off me and then attempted several times to contact Mr Andrews back, left messages and had no reply.

 

4 days ago I am at home when someone starts pounding on my door, shouting. I was terrified!! The door was locked and I did not move from the livingroom, I had a good idea who it was!! He kicked my door (there is a dent in the door to prove this) and was trying the handle. After several minutes they put a letter through and left.

 

The letter was the same as before but costs were now £1,287 and the bailiff was now Mr Wright.

 

I telephoned the office and said my husband had been waiting for a reply from mr Andrews so why has another visit occurred? they explained that we would have to contact the new officer and that they could not do anything.

 

I telephoned Mr Wright and very politely explained the situation to which he said "its not my problem I want full payment" after repeatedly telling him we have 3 small children and cannot afford it he said if we did not get £500 to him by Friday he would be back with equipment to break into our home and take our things.

 

We offered £300 and installments of £100 a week (not that we can really afford it) he wasnt having any of it so we tried to sort it out with the office!! in the meantime I checked out Mr Wright, who is not on the certified register....when questioned he got very defensive and put the phone down. We asked the office, who said he was a certified high court enforcement officer and they did confirm that he had no right to threaten to break into our home. The office accepted our payment arrangement and everything was fine, or so we thought!!

 

My husband phoned the office Friday to pay and was told it was not accepted by Mr Wright, the gentlemen he spoke to also said that he wont be on the register because he is a sheriff and does in fact have the right to break into out home???

 

Sorry about the essay just wanted to get as much in as possible.....any advice on the matter would be greatly received

 

Thankyou in advance

Kind regards

Emma x

[ploddertom]

Moved to Bailiff Forum

[i hate bailiffs]

There is no right of entry for the bailiffs

Did you know about this going to court did you ever receive any court paperwork

[xemmzzx]

Hiya,

 

He didn't receive a letter from the court although he did receive one from Howdens threatening court action a few months ago...as he wasn't in work it was easier to ignore it and deal with it once he was earning again.

 

Next thing we got was the Marston letter.

 

Do you know if there's any truth in the Sheriff statement? Or is this just scare tactics?

[i hate bailiffs]

The bailiffs no doubt will be acting on a CCJ

If you received no paperwork untill now from the bailiffs you may be able to get it set aside

 

Thompsons solicitors if I remember correctly would be the ones dealing with the account

 

There is little truth from a bailiff

Check if there is a CCJ

[citizenB]

You can check if a Judgment has been awarded by default by checking trustonline..

 

http://www.trustonline.org.uk/search-yourself

 

I think it will cost about £4.00 for you to do the search.

[ploddertom]

When your OH opened this account did you have a different address to what you have now?

[xemmzzx]

Hi all, thanks for replies

 

They are acting on a High Court Writ on behalf of Howdens. And yes it was in our current address.

 

I have written a letter of complaint to Marstons but not sure if it is good enough :/ dont know whether they will just laugh it off.....is it ok to copy and paste it here and see what you think?

 

Thank you

Emma

[i hate bailiffs]

Hi all, thanks for replies

 

They are acting on a High Court Writ on behalf of Howdens. And yes it was in our current address.

 

I have written a letter of complaint to Marstons but not sure if it is good enough :/ dont know whether they will just laugh it off.....is it ok to copy and paste it here and see what you think?

 

Thank you

Emma

Have you checked if there is a CCJ?

If there is and you never recived paperwork you can have it set aside

 

Have you seen the writ

 

Bailiffs lie

[ploddertom]

Hi all, thanks for replies

 

They are acting on a High Court Writ on behalf of Howdens. And yes it was in our current address.

 

I have written a letter of complaint to Marstons but not sure if it is good enough :/ dont know whether they will just laugh it off.....is it ok to copy and paste it here and see what you think?

 

Thank you

Emma

 

Thank you for that. Are you saying you never got anything at all from the Court about this? You will need to contact the Court where the CCJ was awarded and ask for the exact address everything was sent to. You need details of amount you were ordered to pay and I assume as a business debt it will have been a Forthwith Judgment - meaning the whole lot has to be paid in one lump sum. Until we know some more it is difficult to say what to do next.

 

Marstons are only carrying out instructions and would suggest a complaint to them at this time is not required.