Council Tax and Bailiffs ref only - NO POSTS ALLOWED

[The Watcher]

I think Rossendales are pulling a fast one for two lots of fees?:?

 

but ... thats whe whole point !

 

Bailiffs are (usually) self-employed, and "earn" their cash by adding-on fees and taking a percentage ... the whole system encourages mis-charging (but always to the bailiffs' benefit!)

[kaijays]

Yes they get paid by the charges they impose i have a problem with £146.00 charges flor visit made while i was in the house and they did not even knock the door or ring the bell then added fees?

 

I wrote to council and bailiff letters sent last weekend offering repayment schedule and made two payments yesterday in council office one for outstanding amount from last year which is why the bailiffs are coming and one for this years? today i had a letter saying i have to go to court in another town at end of july this is from the council for this years tax as i am 24 days overdue with it, and yesterday i had a letter from the bailiff saying that they are going to get goods whether i am in or not? as in my letter i put i knew my rights and they would not gain access. now i dont know what to do.

 

so this is gonna be another bailiff job and more charges i cannot afford them?

[Guest Herbie]

KAIJAYS

 

 

It would be better if you started a new thread for your problem and I can answer you.

[derekcat928]

I have just agreed to pay back a firm of bailiffs £100 per month for my Council Tax arrears.

They got me to sign an agreement to do so, on the first day of each month.

I am happy with this, but they have asked me to pay via debit card each month.

I am wary of this, because once they have the card number, they could, in theory, take out as much as they want.

Should I send a cheque or postal order instead?

[kaijays]

Derek be careful they are unscrupulous and cannot be trusted? what did u sign?

 

my advice would be to pay by cheque, you could be right about taking money from your card.

 

Try and get it back with the council, write them a letter and ask them if they can take it back do not let the bailiffs into your house at whatever cost.

 

someone else on here i am sure will have more information and will/might be able to help you.

 

I am trying to think of a way we could all get together and make a complaint about these bailiffs and their actions.

[The Watcher]

I am trying to think of a way we could all get together and make a complaint about these bailiffs and their actions.

 

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/bailiffs/103413-time-complete-boycott-bailiffs.html

[patboyslim]

Hi all.

 

just A quick story.

 

We had a council Tax Bailiff visit us in May last year.We offerd to pay via 5 installments which was refused unless we had special cercumstances,e.g redundency etc (which I just had been made and was on garden leave) and my wife was 5 months pregnant ! but the criteria suddenly changed and we were told we had 3 months to pay the full amount which we explained we couldnt do.he then preceeded to write the registration of my wifes car down and said a Levy had been put on it of £50 which we still had to pay despite paying the full amout out of my redundency money.

[kaijays]

thankyou for that WATCHER i will take a look at those posts.

 

kaijays

[megan34]

Im in need of advice from anyone who can help.........

 

l have paid my council tax for the past few years by direct debit - at the end of 2006 my arrears were down to about £200 - I was paying £100 a month - a little of this was paying off the arrears. I received the new tax bill and rang them up - they said pay £135 a month and that will pay the arrears off aswell in with it. I told them this was fine and they said they would amend the direct debit. A few weeks later a letter comes saying I have missed the first payment this year so im going to court! - I rang again and the lady said she was very sorry something had gone wrong at their end and the direct debit hadnt been altered but not to worry it was all sorted out now. Around the beginning of June I received a letter saying I was to appear in court on XXX date and that they had also applied charges. I got onthe phone again to the council and the guy at the other end couldnt understand it - he went away and phoned the baliffs office to speak to them - came back and apologised saying the fault was at their end - he's spoken to the baliifs office and it was now all sorted -I asked for confirmation in writing as I was getting worried - he said I would get it shortly but not to worry about it . Today My husband rang me at work - he's come home to find a hand delivered letter from the balliffs demanding the money along with nearly £300 charges!! - he went on the phone and the baliff said he didnt know what was going on because hes not normally in the office - and he would ring back when hed investigated.He rang back and said the problem appeared to be that they didnt have my bank details!! -( how come theyve had their money from my account all this time then?)anyway my husband gave him the details to stop anything else happening and they said it should be ok now. Im absolutely raging at this - im frightened to come home from work now at night incase more baliffs have been - I want to write a letter tomorrow to the council offices who kept telling me it was sorted out and I also want to tell them where they can stick all their charges cos Im not paying them - I think they should be paying me - to compensate for the stress they have put me under!! Anyone any ideas what I could write?:?

[seanamarts]

I would write to the head of the council tax department out lining what you have said here and ask for a full explanation to why this has happened and that you are not responsible for the charges that have occurred

[The Watcher]

Im in need of advice from anyone who can help.........

 

l have paid my council tax for the past few years by direct debit - at the end of 2006 my arrears were down to about £200 - I was paying £100 a month - a little of this was paying off the arrears. I received the new tax bill and rang them up - they said pay £135 a month and that will pay the arrears off aswell in with it. I told them this was fine and they said they would amend the direct debit. A few weeks later a letter comes saying I have missed the first payment this year so im going to court! - I rang again and the lady said she was very sorry something had gone wrong at their end and the direct debit hadnt been altered but not to worry it was all sorted out now. Around the beginning of June I received a letter saying I was to appear in court on XXX date and that they had also applied charges. I got onthe phone again to the council and the guy at the other end couldnt understand it - he went away and phoned the baliffs office to speak to them - came back and apologised saying the fault was at their end - he's spoken to the baliifs office and it was now all sorted -I asked for confirmation in writing as I was getting worried - he said I would get it shortly but not to worry about it . Today My husband rang me at work - he's come home to find a hand delivered letter from the balliffs demanding the money along with nearly £300 charges!! - he went on the phone and the baliff said he didnt know what was going on because hes not normally in the office - and he would ring back when hed investigated.He rang back and said the problem appeared to be that they didnt have my bank details!! -( how come theyve had their money from my account all this time then?)anyway my husband gave him the details to stop anything else happening and they said it should be ok now. Im absolutely raging at this - im frightened to come home from work now at night incase more baliffs have been - I want to write a letter tomorrow to the council offices who kept telling me it was sorted out and I also want to tell them where they can stick all their charges cos Im not paying them - I think they should be paying me - to compensate for the stress they have put me under!! Anyone any ideas what I could write?:?

 

I agree with Seanmarts (above).

 

The moral of this story is - NEVER deal with these matters by phone !

ALWAYS put in writing, and send by recorded delivery - that way you have some evidence.

[megan34]

I agree and I usually always do everything by writing but when you come in from work and you see these letters - and baliffs have been to your door - you want to get it sorted out by phone quickly to stop the worry over it - but im definately gonna be doing some complainng by letter this week!

[casbah]

I would write to the head of the council tax department out lining what you have said here and ask for a full explanation to why this has happened and that you are not responsible for the charges that have occurred

thats the nice way of saying it I won't tellyou what I would say!

 

A word of warning to everyone, when you write to the bailiffs asking for a breakdown of their charges they will probably answer your letter with two little words across the top of theirs "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" now I am not a professional and only offer my opinion but I believe this means you can't show this in court,its not too much of a problem at the moment, but after going through some old documents (to try and persuade council to have file returned as this is the 5th year I have paid to bailiffs) theres going to be an awful lot of charges on there that I can't produce should this go to court any advice people?

[seanamarts]

thats the nice way of saying it I won't tellyou what I would say!

some times we have to bite our tongues to get where we need to go .. you know how the old saying goes. 'the pen is mightier than the sword'

[casbah]

OH!!!! If only we could put that pen somewhere the sun don't shine............form an orderly queue

[seanamarts]

OH!!!! If only we could put that pen somewhere the sun don't shine............form an orderly queue

Im right behind you *roffle

[The Watcher]

thats the nice way of saying it I won't tellyou what I would say!

 

A word of warning to everyone, when you write to the bailiffs asking for a breakdown of their charges they will probably answer your letter with two little words across the top of theirs "WITHOUT PREJUDICE" now I am not a professional and only offer my opinion but I believe this means you can't show this in court,its not too much of a problem at the moment, but after going through some old documents (to try and persuade council to have file returned as this is the 5th year I have paid to bailiffs) theres going to be an awful lot of charges on there that I can't produce should this go to court any advice people?

 

Without Prejudice means that they cannot be held to any offer which may be contained within a letter. For example, if they make an offer now, they can withdraw it at a later stage.

 

It basically means "without loss of any rights" - so for example, they may be offering you something now that they want to withdraw later on if you don't accept it.

 

You are right that it cannot be later relied on in Court (if a "settlement" fails) - but would be perverse to refuse to allow a piece of evidence in other circumstances.

[kaijays]

if you read my previousw post you will see i wrote to the bailiffs and the council this was well over a week ago the first repsonse was another standard letter from the bailiffs saying they are going to get in my property, the next a letter saying i got to go to court on 25th June, i am in hospital on 24th? i have had no direct response to either of my letters, funny though i came home today and a man knocked the door asking for the previous tenants saying he was the bailiff? they have been gone a while, then another man knocked the door asking for the previous tennant saying it was an inland revenue matter? strange all this, has anyone got any advice on what to do about my replies from council and bailiff how long should i wait.

[megan34]

Re: my above post:

 

I rang the council offices today to ask them what the problem was before I wrote to them - and I was put through to the mose snottiest jumped up little Sh** - he spoke to me like he's just scraped me off the sole of his shoe! - I asked him why this was the 4th time Id had to phone to try and put this right and why each time I had been told it had been sorted out - his reply was " I sorted this out with your husband yesterday so what is the purpose of your call?"

I told him the purpose was to find out why they were keep saying they wanted money when it was supposed to be sorted and he said - but we havent had the money - thats the problem !! then the phone went dead- and it wasnt from my end!! - im gonna write such a letter of complaint - who the hell do they think they are talking to?

[joesoap]

Don't mess around with the jumped up little tw*ts! Contact your local councillor, your member of parliament or write direct to the Leader of the council, hand deliver it and get a receipt for it.

[megan34]

You think my local councillor would do something? Its worth sending him a copy I suppose:| didnt think they would get involved buit its worth a try cos im not taking this - I want to write to someone whos going to do something about it cos ive just looked again and they have actually had their court date and been granted a liability order against me!! - can this be lifted?

[kaijays]

i tried my local councillor and guess what they did not want to know? anyhow i dont suppose they are all the same and might help.

 

something stinks the way they can do what they want, you got drug dealers and murderers walking the streets and the council tax office got more power than the police?

[casbah]

i tried my local councillor and guess what they did not want to know? anyhow i dont suppose they are all the same and might help.

 

something stinks the way they can do what they want, you got drug dealers and murderers walking the streets and the council tax office got more power than the police?

 

 

 

yOU TRIED YOUR COUNCILLOR AND THEY DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW???? guess you won't be voting for them then. Seriously you have more than one councillor, try another and tell him, if he blanks you, that you want his MP ( that is the party he represents) Then if he doesn't budge go to that MP but if he does then tell him all that has happened, and remember YOU HAVE NEVER REFUSED TO PAY BUT HAVE NOT AFFORDED TO PAY.

Another thing in jolly old england money is the be all and end all, how else are these idiots going to be able to afford their holidays next year

[megan34]

Yep - you can batter someone senseless and get off with a fine or a suspended sentence - but owe inland revenue money and they want to put you in jail!!:o owe council tax 'IN ADVANCE' payments and they wanna take your furniture away! - its crazy.

RE: my post on council tax above - I have just wrote a 2 page letter - sending a copy to the head of the council tax department and a copy to my local councillor - I know him actually so he might do something about it.

[kaijays]

i wrote over a week ago to bailiff telling them i know my rights and asking for a breakdown of charges, and the council explaining that the bailiffs have been posting letters through door and not knocking adding on charges, i have had no reply so far, if i do not get a reply by monday i will send it again. I did email a welsh assembly member through the welsh assembly website asking why these bailiffs are allowed to do this to people and why the council can authorise this for a service not even received as yet? etc....i know it got there and i have heard nothing no acknowledgement or anything.

 

sick to death of this.

 

I am due to go into hospital on 24th and the council have ordered me to court on 25th this is in another town and is quite a travel for me.

 

Another thing i did not mention is that i am disabled and if i am sick i do not get paid so i never get a full salary at the end of the month, as our sick pay is done on a rolling year basis and i have had a lot of sick due to my illness this is why but i dont seem to be able to claim any other money when this happens i have been there nearly twenty years and have had this ilness for 4 years, i work in the civil service and i feel like jacking it in and claiming the bloody dole?

which is one thing i vowed never to do infact for the past 4 years i have struggled to get there, to keep a roof over my kids head as i am the only breadwinner. its costing mo than i earn for the childcare?

 

I dont even claim disability, as i did not feel i was disabled enough and others needed it more than me, dear god where have i gone wrong.

 

Maybe i should take up drugs, kill the bailiff and i could get off because i would be deemed as addicted and needed help.? theres a thought for ya!