Jbw bailiff being really agressive & misleading about CTAX 'debt'

[Bailiff Advice]

You had confirmation from the council (whose debt JBW are enforcing) that they would accept a payment arrangement of £120 per month.

 

A short while afterwards, you then received confirmation from JBW themselves that a payment arrangement of £120 per month was accepted. This arrangement would filter down to the enforcement agent within a few hours. Personally, I would not have called him. You already had sufficient confirmation of a payment arrangement. However, that it now beside the point.

 

PS: Bailiffs, like million of others workers, rely upon an element of commission for their income. That is probably what annoyed him.

 

By the way.....WELL DONE !!!

[unclebulgaria67]

That is no excuse for not meeting the standards expected by JBW or the Council.

 

 

Suggest a formal written complaint in writing to Head of revenues at the council about the behaviour of this enforcement agent,

[Marianne7]

Another really eventful day regarding JBW - the worst, and also the best, of all.

 

Ha just got up at 8.00 a.m. when there was fierce knocking at the door.

Go down, open door, man there from JBW who states because I haven't responded to their communications they have come down from Hull this morning to take possession of our car. Or I can pay £1074 NOW.

No negotiation possible - it's one or the other.

 

 

I showed him the letter from JBW saying that we have an arrangement in place (as detailed above).

No, he said; this relates to a different numbered case.

I told him I had been assured that it covered all three outstanding cases.

That's your problem, he told me.

I'm here to take possession of the car.

Or I could pay the money.

 

I used our joint account card - my OH had just sold a motor bike (we're moving soon and need the money) so I knew there was money in to cover it, but that was to be used for fees, removers, etc.

had no choice, as without car he cannot get to work - he works nights, out of town.

 

As soon as I got to work I emailed the helpful lady at the council.

She was on the case straightaway.

I emailed over a copy of the receipt and she contacted JBW.

She kept me informed by email while she was waiting for JBW to get back to her.

She told me I should write a letter of complaint to JBW and sent me their correct email address.

 

At just after 2 p.m. she called me to say it was a mistake,

the person should not have come to me,

there is no outstanding amount (other than that covered in the arrangement I've made)

all current council tax is up to date and THAT THEY ARE GOING TO REFUND THE MONEY.

She said that the account manager from JBW was going to call me to apologise.

 

He did indeed call;

said the mistake happened because I've moved so much (all within the same town - that often happens if you rent your house) and although they all related to the one property (from around 2006) they didn't match them all up and the same debt was covered by 6 case numbers instead of 3.

 

 

he did apologise and said the bailiff should have checked back with the office once I showed him the letter from JBW,

he actually said

"I'll bring him in for some retraining - he should know better than that".

 

 

He said the men get so used to people lying they assume everyone is lying.

Money to be refunded, and they will take the £120 due tomorrow out of it, and refund the rest.

 

 

I paid with a debit card - don't know how long it will take to get back to our account.

Oh, and he also gave me his mobile number to call if I "have any more trouble".

 

OK - satisfactory ending for me.

But it could have been so very different.

And what a thing to go through - standing on the doorstep in my dressing gown, arguing with strange man, giving him my card.

 

 

Chap eyeing up our car and checking the details to see which one we owned.

If I hadn't the money to pay, the car would have been taken and then how long until we got that back?

 

 

If I had been frailer, more depressed, more anxious, it might have tipped me over the edge.

 

 

Was pretty nearly there anyway.

And if I hadn't had the energy or thought to contact the council it seems I would have been paying the debt twice over.

 

I was late getting in to work, and if I don't work I don't get paid (work on hospital bank)

- fortunately my colleagues are very supportive

but I have had to spend quite some time on emails and on the phone sorting this out YET AGAIN.

 

Just thought I should post this to show that even when you think it's sorted, sometimes it turns out not to be.

 

 

Sorry for the long post but thought an update would be useful/interesting to those who've offered advice before

 

 

- thank you all.

[brassnecked]

Glad it was sorted in the end, At least JBW fessed up and made things right in the end with a lot of pushing.

[Bailiff Advice]

 

He said the men get so used to people lying they assume everyone is lying.

 

 

Your above comment ('He said that the men get so used to people lying they assume everyone is lying') is sadly true.

 

It really is astonishing the lengths that people will go to to avoid paying a bailiff. A dreadful example was just yesterday and concerned a person who had defaulted on a court fine. He had posted his query on social media in September. The following are extracts of the posts.

 

 

Debtor: This is from a court fine from around a year ago that id been paying off when I could I had £15 outstanding.

 

'Four weeks ago I received a letter saying that my remaining balance had been passed over to Collectica and a £75 fee had been added.

 

This was sent to my old address luckily a friend still lives there and passed the letter on to me at my new address '

 

As soon as I read the letter I jumped onto the courts website and paid the £15 using the online payment system (so in effect my fine has been paid in full)

 

I then received a letter (at my old address) from the courts saying that my fine has been passed on to Collectica

 

The advice that he received was this:

 

They cannot visit you until you have been correctly served the Notice of Enforcement at your new address.

 

Email back and say that no Notice of Enforcement has been issued as prescribed in the Taking Control of Goods Regulations.

 

He was then offered assistance with drafting of a complaint. The person assisting him posted this:

 

I'm happy to draft a complaint for you. I would like this thread moved from public view.

 

In that draft letter (dated 4th October) the fine defaulter said this (PS: He was told he must not reveal his new address to the Court !!).

 

Collectica

have not given me notice

, to either my home address, or a place where I carry on a trade or business.

[/i]

 

 

It would seem that the court responded to his complaint and sent the response to his previous address. He received that response. The person who help him draft the letter asked him the following:

When you wrote your complaint, did you send it by email so they still don't have your current address? If so, how have you got the letter?

 

Debtors response:

 

Luckily my old house mate still lives at the old address and passed on this letter to me.

The level of deception was absolutely extraordinary. The person assisting him said this:

 

My feeling is that the crafty manager has purposely sent the letter to that address, in order to see if you still receive mail there.

I would play him at his own game.

Write another email to him, not addressing him by name, unless you did so in your previous email.

 

Debtor obliged and sent yet another complaint to HMCTS on 18th October. In that complaint he said this:

 

The whole point of my complaint is that

I have not been given notice of enforcement action

, as prescribed in legislation.

To conclude, the debtor confirmed in September that he had received a Notice of Enforcement from Collectica Ltd and that he was aware that a Compliance Fee of £75 had been applied.

 

He also stated that he immediately made payment of the amount of the court fine only (minus the Compliance fee of £75) to the court direct.

 

He also confirmed that he had received the letter from the court advising that his payment had been forwarded to Collectica.

 

As I said above, the level of deception that some people will go to in order to avoid paying bailiffs is simply extraordinary.

[Bailiff Advice]

 

'Four weeks ago I received a letter saying that my remaining balance had been passed over to Collectica and a £75 fee had been added.

 

This was sent to my old address luckily a friend still lives there and passed the letter on to me at my new address '

 

As soon as I read the letter I jumped onto the courts website and paid the £15 using the online payment system (so in effect my fine has been paid in full)

 

I then received a letter (at my old address) from the courts saying that my fine has been passed on to Collectica

 

For the sake of accuracy, the initial letter that the debtor received, was clearly from Collectica Ltd. It referred to a Compliance fee of £75.

 

The letter was almost certainly not from the court.

[lookinforinfo]

Bailiff Advice it should hardly be a surprise that debtors lie when confronted with bailiffs many of whom lie through their back teeth from the moment their knock on the door is answered.

On top of that the sheer injustice of being charged £75 when the majority of money had been paid off and only £15 remaining would be enough to push all but the most saintly to try and

avoid paying the fee.

[ss002d6252]

Got to say I agree with the last 2 posts.

 

I worked for 10 years in a local authority - primarily in recovery and the amount of deception you saw from some people was massive.

 

You got to know names of people that would lie outright to the point that you knew they would before you'd even spoken to them - they'd send you documents and then lie the next day that they never done so. They'd discuss something with you and tell you all the details (that could only have come from the letter) and then deny they'd ever seen the original letter.

 

As enforcement agent (or a council tax officer) you do get cynical due to the number of people trying to cheat the system but they should be trained and experienced enough to deal with these sorts of cases and sort the wheat from the chaff.

 

I had no problem encouraging people to complain if the enforcement agents were causing problems (or even reporting them myself) - as a local authority we had a few agents removed from our contract due to their behaviour.

 

 

Craig

[wonkeydonkey]

So pleased to read you have resolved this with both the Council and JBW.

 

 

It is so true what was said to you, 'they get so used to people lying to them and just assume everyone is lying'.

 

 

There are of course those who will lie through their teeth to avoid paying the bailiff fees and that is why genuine folk often find themselves time after time being tarred with the same brush..

 

Time to put it all behind you and Well Done to you for seeing it through to a good result.