refund given then bill receiced

[derek1]

We moved on the 17th April from one council to another. We informed our old council and gave them thr new address just for final bill purposes and are now paying our new council. We received a letter stating they were closing the account and we were due a refund of £228.66 which arrived separately on the 8th of May. On Saturday we received a billstating we owed £1072.44 including the £228.66 refund!

 

I have set up a payment plan and said how angry I was but every time I said about it to the adviser she pointedly ignored my comments!

 

Can they do this?

 

Also we had a slight rebate as my husband was on a low income but this bill has asked for it back from the 12th Jan to the 31st March?

 

Any advise?

 

Thanks

[ss002d6252]

They can do - if a charge has become due then they can issue you a revised demand notice at any time. The only way to find out where exactly the balance is from is to ask the council.

[derek1]

Why would an amount become due if the account was closed and they said we owed nothing! When I worked for the DSS many moons ago this would have been written off as 'office error'.

 

I spent over 2 hours on tge phone to them today - no one knows why they have asked for age exempt has been asked for repayment from jan to march but they will look into it BUT IF I HADN'T HEARD WITHIN 2 WEEKS CALL THEM BACK AND THEY WILL ESCALATE THE QUERY!

[stu007]

Hi

 

What you need is evidence as to how they have reached this total amount owed as without that information you are in the dark.

 

So a letter to the council requesting a full breakdown of council tax bill amount owed for that year.

 

when you get this ensure to check every single amount especially payments you made.

 

Please I know phoning is easy but unless you can record the call DONT as they can deny anything that was discussed during that call please put everything in writing to the council, keep copies, and ensure to get proof of posting.