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Hi All, Joined today after another dealing with Eqita Bailiffs, a company I hope never to have to deal with again especially when it's not me that owes anything but my son, who no longer lives with us.
My son managed to collect 3 parking tickets from Plymouth City Council during 2010 & 2011 however he only ever found 2 on his car, the 3rd he has never seen. Like a lot of youngsters he adopted an ostrich approach to these tickets in the silly beleif that they would go away as he had no money to pay them being unemployed and was trying to make his own way and not burden us, his parents, with more of his debts.
As we all know these things don't just go away and the fines were escalated to Equita for payment. This is the point at which I became aware of the issue having received a rather aggressive phone call from the Bailiff demanding to speak to my son who was living with us at the time.
At this point Equita were chasing 2 of the 3 tickest for payment for a total of £581.88. After some checking with my son I determined that although he had received 2 letters from Equita, no bailiffs had ever been to the house while he was there and no notices had been left at our address by any bailiffs at any time. Under my direction my son rang Equita to question the charges but was quite rudely told he should pay up or face further charges. I then checked with the local CB and they advised that I my son should pay the debt to prevent further chargers then instigate a complaint with Equita to try to rcover some of the charges that had been made for visiting the house when this had not happened.
The complaint was duly sent but nothing further was heard from Equita and we have been chasing it without success since.
Today without any notice a bailiff turns up at my house to serve my son with a bailiff removal notice. Fortunately (or not depending on your view) I was at home ill when he called and had the misfrotune to speak to this disagreable character. I explained that my son no longer lived with us, that I had no forwarding address for him and had very limited contact with him (another story). The bailiffs resonse was 'Well you have to give this to him somehow or throw it in the bin for all I care' then drove off. He was in a very offical looking white van with spotlights on all 4 corners of the roof and was wearing what can only be described as a police uniform without any badges and what looked like a anti stab vest. I know it doesn't seem relevant but I'm sure it was done in the hopes of giving himself a more authoritative appearance and or to embarrass us in front of our neighbours as this is a quiet and respectful area with little or no police activity.
After paying the previous 2 debts we had checked with both Equita and Plymouth city council to make sure there were no other outstanding tickets that needed paying and we were assured that these 2 were the only ones by both parties. So you can imagine my surprise and my sons, when I finally got a message to him, that another ticket was due that had been issued several months before we paid the last 2.
The upshot is that even after repeated phone calls to both Equita and Plymouth CC I have had to pay another £414.44 to Equita for my son who is stil unemplyed to clear another debt we knew nothing about and had taken all possible steps to ensure we were not in debt to either. I've done this as I don't want this unsavoury character calling round when I'm not here and breaking in to remove things that do not belong to my son, who has no belongings at my house now.
Any advise on how I go about claiming any of this money back and who I should direct my complaints to regarding this whole sorry sage would be much appreciated. I have no confidence in any complaint sent to Equita being dealt with as they have already failed to do so and we all know how difficult it is to get anywhere with any council jobsworth.
Sorry my post goes on a lot but I am very angry and frustrated by this whole thing and worried that it could happen again as I have no control over what my adult son may do in the future although I don't think he would intentionally allow this to happen again.
My son managed to collect 3 parking tickets from Plymouth City Council during 2010 & 2011 however he only ever found 2 on his car, the 3rd he has never seen. Like a lot of youngsters he adopted an ostrich approach to these tickets in the silly beleif that they would go away as he had no money to pay them being unemployed and was trying to make his own way and not burden us, his parents, with more of his debts.
As we all know these things don't just go away and the fines were escalated to Equita for payment. This is the point at which I became aware of the issue having received a rather aggressive phone call from the Bailiff demanding to speak to my son who was living with us at the time.
At this point Equita were chasing 2 of the 3 tickest for payment for a total of £581.88. After some checking with my son I determined that although he had received 2 letters from Equita, no bailiffs had ever been to the house while he was there and no notices had been left at our address by any bailiffs at any time. Under my direction my son rang Equita to question the charges but was quite rudely told he should pay up or face further charges. I then checked with the local CB and they advised that I my son should pay the debt to prevent further chargers then instigate a complaint with Equita to try to rcover some of the charges that had been made for visiting the house when this had not happened.
The complaint was duly sent but nothing further was heard from Equita and we have been chasing it without success since.
Today without any notice a bailiff turns up at my house to serve my son with a bailiff removal notice. Fortunately (or not depending on your view) I was at home ill when he called and had the misfrotune to speak to this disagreable character. I explained that my son no longer lived with us, that I had no forwarding address for him and had very limited contact with him (another story). The bailiffs resonse was 'Well you have to give this to him somehow or throw it in the bin for all I care' then drove off. He was in a very offical looking white van with spotlights on all 4 corners of the roof and was wearing what can only be described as a police uniform without any badges and what looked like a anti stab vest. I know it doesn't seem relevant but I'm sure it was done in the hopes of giving himself a more authoritative appearance and or to embarrass us in front of our neighbours as this is a quiet and respectful area with little or no police activity.
After paying the previous 2 debts we had checked with both Equita and Plymouth city council to make sure there were no other outstanding tickets that needed paying and we were assured that these 2 were the only ones by both parties. So you can imagine my surprise and my sons, when I finally got a message to him, that another ticket was due that had been issued several months before we paid the last 2.
The upshot is that even after repeated phone calls to both Equita and Plymouth CC I have had to pay another £414.44 to Equita for my son who is stil unemplyed to clear another debt we knew nothing about and had taken all possible steps to ensure we were not in debt to either. I've done this as I don't want this unsavoury character calling round when I'm not here and breaking in to remove things that do not belong to my son, who has no belongings at my house now.
Any advise on how I go about claiming any of this money back and who I should direct my complaints to regarding this whole sorry sage would be much appreciated. I have no confidence in any complaint sent to Equita being dealt with as they have already failed to do so and we all know how difficult it is to get anywhere with any council jobsworth.
Sorry my post goes on a lot but I am very angry and frustrated by this whole thing and worried that it could happen again as I have no control over what my adult son may do in the future although I don't think he would intentionally allow this to happen again.
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