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Hi,
I have read a couple of posts on Marstons on the forum already, and i must admit i am shocked at the lengths that this company will go to in order to get money!
So let me get straight to the point,
I live in the Cheshire region of england with my partner and 3 children, the eldest being 7 and youngest being 21 months.
Aprox 2 and a half years ago we got into serious struggles with money and struggled to come up with the money to pay our council tax. So, at that point the debt was sent to the magistrate courts and we were summons for a hearing for means or something like that, unfortunately we couldnt attend due to my partners health issues and got fined about £250 for failing to provide details to the courts.
so between late 06 and late 08 we have had a bailiff appear at our house about this once or twice and it even went as far as a police officer attending our home to arrest my partner as the tenancy is in her name the council tax bill is aswell... they couldnt arrest her as she wasnt home so the officer who i must admit was extremely helpful and understanding took some details from me about national insurance what benefits we're in receipt of and went on his way,
about 3 weeks later we got a HMCs prepayment card through the post, this was in late january this year. Bonus! we thought, after all this time they are going to accept a payment of £5 per week which we are able to meet without hurting our finances.
unfortunately late april my partner lost her purse with not just THAT HMCs card in. So i tried to contact the courts via telephone to get a new one, couldnt get thru, consistently engaged at the dept i needed to speak to. So i sent a letter, thinking that the court we were supposed to appear to is over 20 miles away and that a local court wouldnt be able to deal with our request,
The last payment on the card was made in april of this year and up until that point we were coping fine and were making grounds on paying it back, i think the problem we had though is as we get paid fortnightly we couldnt pay the £5 per week and instead paid £10 per fortnight instead which left us in arrears apparently so upon losing the card and already having arrears and the court not responding to my letter in request, we received a letter stating that the debt had been sent to marstons in late march and that any payments made to the card wouldnt be accepted on the courts behalf but they would pass them on to marstons.
2 payments of £10 were passed on because we received a letter from marstons saying they received it and that payment must be received in full.
Anyway, im now at a point that yesterday a bailiff by the name of "mr brooks" slams on my door like someone on fire and desperately seeking any means of being "put out" so i quickly jump up and answer the door to him.
Now bare in mind that this debt isnt in my name its in my partners name because as previously stated the house is in her name. So i proceed to ask him whats up and he says he is here to execute a warrant as authorised to him by the magistrates court and the fine and his charges are now £370, i already paid a fair chunk off the original fine so i was shocked to see it being so high again. I explained the situation that we requested a new payment card and got nothing, but, about 2 weeks ago my partner went into the council and requested a payment card from them to pay any arrears owing and the fine, and we were assured by the council that no debt collectors or bailiffs will make an appearance at our home and i was quite shocked that he was here, turns out that was a mistake because after the bailiff left happy that i wasnt trying to "blag him" and understood that i did make some payments already he said that my best bet is to contact the court offices to find out what when on, he gave me a number and a reference number and said that at this stage he doubts there is much the courts can do but its worth a shot because they could call back the warrant and get this whole issue fixed. Fair enough i thought.
So we get to the point of when the bailiff has gone.
I contact the council who say that the fine isnt imposed by them that its a court fine and that the person who dealt with my partner 2 weeks ago should have explained this to her but didnt.
so i then contact the courts who tell me that mr brooks shouldnt have advised me to contact them and that they would never recall the warrant and mr brooks is incorrect for advising me of this and she wanted his name so she could contact marstons and tell them off about it.
then she went on to say that marstons dont accept payment plans or its highly unlikely they will, unless i am probably willing to pay it off within a 3 week period or so... so id have to pay in full!
i explained we're on benefits my partners health has been a serious problem for her for several years and i cannot work as i care for her and need to be here for my children 1 of which isnt in school and is only a toddler, i explained the situation about attempting what forms of contact i made given that the court house is 20 miles plus away and i cant just get up and get there to speak to someone in person. To which her reply was i could have gone to my local court house anyway and even made payments over the counter and even request a new payment card with them, so for future reference to anyone with that issue just because your court hearing was held many miles away doesnt mean that your local one cant sort any issues out for you.
Anyway, things started to get a little confusing for me on the phone with this lady from the courts. I asked her from a neutral persons point of view what are my options, i understand she worked for the court but because of our financial situation and the fact we had already made payments previously what can be done so that we dont end up going into debt or struggling massively financially.
2 options were then laid before me:
1, Contact some family or friends and get them to pay the fine and pay them back, unfortunatly this is a no go, current financial climate and all that...
2, Only the bailiffs can return the warrant, the court will not request it back. i asked further into this option, apparently the bailiffs have a period of time to enforce the warrant, upon which if they cannot execute the warrant then either the time period has lapsed and it has been recalled to the courts for further appearance, or the bailiffs themselves can return it early, however i was told the latter is very unlikely because, IF the bailiff returns the warrant they are unlikely to get paid, when they return a warrant they have to show reasons as to why they couldnt get the money where as, if the court requests the warrant back then the bailiffs will be paid because the time period of when they had the warrant means they have exhausted all routes to get the money.
Hang on a sec? bailiffs can send the warrant back? court CAN request it back? but i was told by the bailiff its down to the court and the court its down to the bailiff!! something isnt right here im thinking. So what do i do??!
Ive contacted a loan company i looked up online and i could get a short term loan from them for £400 and repay it back within 1 year at just about £40 per month, which to be honest is a reasonably interest rate but it will be a bit to sort out as they want an £30 administration fee, which can be paid 2 ways, either by debit card, which i dont have, or by postal order which means it takes time to get the money into my account, altho the loan company did say i could get a friend to pay the fee on their debit card and have the money in 5 working days if we paid it by debit card. After reading up on what not to do on these things its my final hope of getting this off our backs once and for all but have a just 1 fear.
If i got this loan and i asked a friend to pay the fee and i gave him the cash what the hell do i do if the bailiff reapears before i get the money? knowing what marstons are like he will likely think im blagging him and then get the locksmiths in and the police in to execute the warrant wont he? or is that just an idle threat? Can they actually get a locksmith and involve the police??
Where do i go from here? do i get the loan or is there another way that wouldnt hurt my finances so much, especially considering the length of time the fine has been imposed? please please help im sat in my living room now as i type this with my front window curtain closed the door locked my back window in my living room curtain closed with the house in almost complete silence apart from the washing machine worried that this guy is gonna be able to get in and start taking our things.
Thanks in advance and i apologise at the length of the post
Riggs123
I have read a couple of posts on Marstons on the forum already, and i must admit i am shocked at the lengths that this company will go to in order to get money!
So let me get straight to the point,
I live in the Cheshire region of england with my partner and 3 children, the eldest being 7 and youngest being 21 months.
Aprox 2 and a half years ago we got into serious struggles with money and struggled to come up with the money to pay our council tax. So, at that point the debt was sent to the magistrate courts and we were summons for a hearing for means or something like that, unfortunately we couldnt attend due to my partners health issues and got fined about £250 for failing to provide details to the courts.
so between late 06 and late 08 we have had a bailiff appear at our house about this once or twice and it even went as far as a police officer attending our home to arrest my partner as the tenancy is in her name the council tax bill is aswell... they couldnt arrest her as she wasnt home so the officer who i must admit was extremely helpful and understanding took some details from me about national insurance what benefits we're in receipt of and went on his way,
about 3 weeks later we got a HMCs prepayment card through the post, this was in late january this year. Bonus! we thought, after all this time they are going to accept a payment of £5 per week which we are able to meet without hurting our finances.
unfortunately late april my partner lost her purse with not just THAT HMCs card in. So i tried to contact the courts via telephone to get a new one, couldnt get thru, consistently engaged at the dept i needed to speak to. So i sent a letter, thinking that the court we were supposed to appear to is over 20 miles away and that a local court wouldnt be able to deal with our request,
The last payment on the card was made in april of this year and up until that point we were coping fine and were making grounds on paying it back, i think the problem we had though is as we get paid fortnightly we couldnt pay the £5 per week and instead paid £10 per fortnight instead which left us in arrears apparently so upon losing the card and already having arrears and the court not responding to my letter in request, we received a letter stating that the debt had been sent to marstons in late march and that any payments made to the card wouldnt be accepted on the courts behalf but they would pass them on to marstons.
2 payments of £10 were passed on because we received a letter from marstons saying they received it and that payment must be received in full.
Anyway, im now at a point that yesterday a bailiff by the name of "mr brooks" slams on my door like someone on fire and desperately seeking any means of being "put out" so i quickly jump up and answer the door to him.
Now bare in mind that this debt isnt in my name its in my partners name because as previously stated the house is in her name. So i proceed to ask him whats up and he says he is here to execute a warrant as authorised to him by the magistrates court and the fine and his charges are now £370, i already paid a fair chunk off the original fine so i was shocked to see it being so high again. I explained the situation that we requested a new payment card and got nothing, but, about 2 weeks ago my partner went into the council and requested a payment card from them to pay any arrears owing and the fine, and we were assured by the council that no debt collectors or bailiffs will make an appearance at our home and i was quite shocked that he was here, turns out that was a mistake because after the bailiff left happy that i wasnt trying to "blag him" and understood that i did make some payments already he said that my best bet is to contact the court offices to find out what when on, he gave me a number and a reference number and said that at this stage he doubts there is much the courts can do but its worth a shot because they could call back the warrant and get this whole issue fixed. Fair enough i thought.
So we get to the point of when the bailiff has gone.
I contact the council who say that the fine isnt imposed by them that its a court fine and that the person who dealt with my partner 2 weeks ago should have explained this to her but didnt.
so i then contact the courts who tell me that mr brooks shouldnt have advised me to contact them and that they would never recall the warrant and mr brooks is incorrect for advising me of this and she wanted his name so she could contact marstons and tell them off about it.
then she went on to say that marstons dont accept payment plans or its highly unlikely they will, unless i am probably willing to pay it off within a 3 week period or so... so id have to pay in full!
i explained we're on benefits my partners health has been a serious problem for her for several years and i cannot work as i care for her and need to be here for my children 1 of which isnt in school and is only a toddler, i explained the situation about attempting what forms of contact i made given that the court house is 20 miles plus away and i cant just get up and get there to speak to someone in person. To which her reply was i could have gone to my local court house anyway and even made payments over the counter and even request a new payment card with them, so for future reference to anyone with that issue just because your court hearing was held many miles away doesnt mean that your local one cant sort any issues out for you.
Anyway, things started to get a little confusing for me on the phone with this lady from the courts. I asked her from a neutral persons point of view what are my options, i understand she worked for the court but because of our financial situation and the fact we had already made payments previously what can be done so that we dont end up going into debt or struggling massively financially.
2 options were then laid before me:
1, Contact some family or friends and get them to pay the fine and pay them back, unfortunatly this is a no go, current financial climate and all that...
2, Only the bailiffs can return the warrant, the court will not request it back. i asked further into this option, apparently the bailiffs have a period of time to enforce the warrant, upon which if they cannot execute the warrant then either the time period has lapsed and it has been recalled to the courts for further appearance, or the bailiffs themselves can return it early, however i was told the latter is very unlikely because, IF the bailiff returns the warrant they are unlikely to get paid, when they return a warrant they have to show reasons as to why they couldnt get the money where as, if the court requests the warrant back then the bailiffs will be paid because the time period of when they had the warrant means they have exhausted all routes to get the money.
Hang on a sec? bailiffs can send the warrant back? court CAN request it back? but i was told by the bailiff its down to the court and the court its down to the bailiff!! something isnt right here im thinking. So what do i do??!
Ive contacted a loan company i looked up online and i could get a short term loan from them for £400 and repay it back within 1 year at just about £40 per month, which to be honest is a reasonably interest rate but it will be a bit to sort out as they want an £30 administration fee, which can be paid 2 ways, either by debit card, which i dont have, or by postal order which means it takes time to get the money into my account, altho the loan company did say i could get a friend to pay the fee on their debit card and have the money in 5 working days if we paid it by debit card. After reading up on what not to do on these things its my final hope of getting this off our backs once and for all but have a just 1 fear.
If i got this loan and i asked a friend to pay the fee and i gave him the cash what the hell do i do if the bailiff reapears before i get the money? knowing what marstons are like he will likely think im blagging him and then get the locksmiths in and the police in to execute the warrant wont he? or is that just an idle threat? Can they actually get a locksmith and involve the police??
Where do i go from here? do i get the loan or is there another way that wouldnt hurt my finances so much, especially considering the length of time the fine has been imposed? please please help im sat in my living room now as i type this with my front window curtain closed the door locked my back window in my living room curtain closed with the house in almost complete silence apart from the washing machine worried that this guy is gonna be able to get in and start taking our things.
Thanks in advance and i apologise at the length of the post
Riggs123
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