Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

[bellabeagle]

Please can someone help me with a nightmare i am having with Rundle over unpaid parking tickets. It is a very long story but in July this year, i woke up to find my car had been clamped, having paid them over £300 to get this unclamped( the receipts for which were practically illegible, BTW and the bailiff was very threatening) i have been wrangling with them ever since to resolve things since the amount they said i owed them has been constantly changing. I asked them to break out what these charges are and it took me 2 months to get a response, in the mean time i had luckily got the council to agree to take the tickets back( the reason for which is long story) as long as i sorted the fees with Rundles. When i recevied the fees a lot of them seemed incorrect or charged in error, as they were apparently visiting my previous address and charging for it, even when they had been told that i didnt live there. I actually think they were just trying to bump the charges up and i have double checked with the new owners of my last house that they sent all communications back- they did, plus visited the council for good measure

I have read lots of posts about what to do when they visit i.e dont answer the door at any cost but have some extra questions i am really hoping someone can help me with:

Will they put their foot in the door if they get any opportunitity?

Will they barge past or manhandle my children to gain access, i am single mother with 2 children and i will still have to get them to school, etc and gain access, how do you do this?

With regards to fees and their conduct, i complained to the MD of the bailiff firm andthey said they would half the fees they were going to charge me but that on the personal intervention of Chris Rundle the bailiffs had asked the council not to take the tickets back and they would still visit unless i paid them the full amount. This is outrageous as i thought the council told the bailiff what to do not the other way around and why would Chris Rundle do that?.

How do i file a form 4 complaint against the firm rather than an individual bailiff? there have been 3 bailiffs on this case, all worthy of complaint under the guidelines for overcharging , aggressive unreasonable behaviour etc but theunderlying problem is the firm and the way Chris Rundle seems to encourage illegal behaviour and now have decided to start a personal vendetta against me but he is no longer a certificated bailiff just runs the company( having looked at the very useful certificated bailiff link from this site)?

Their bullying behaviour is so awful and unbelievable, so i really need help to resolve this as i am worried about my children and my pensioner mother who lives with me and has a debilitating illness. That said i dont and wont give in to bullies and i will do whatever i need to to get a proper complaint made about this sort of conduct so i can resolve this and other people hopefully wont have to suffer the same so i need to be ready for when the call to prevent them gaining access whilst i pusue formal complaints, but i need to make sure those complaints are worded properly and to the right people so they get upheld.

Also i read that bailiffs cannot charge multiple fees for the same visit even if they are attending for multiple warrants, please can you confirm if this is true and if so where i can find it in the law?

Please help, sorry for the long post

[Amy]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

How much were the original parking fines?

Do you now know what fees have been added and why? Can you post up the details?

I have read lots of posts about what to do when they visit i.e dont answer the door at any cost but have some extra questions i am really hoping someone can help me with:

Will they put their foot in the door if they get any opportunitity?

Will they barge past or manhandle my children to gain access, i am single mother with 2 children and i will still have to get them to school, etc and gain access, how do you do this?

They certainly should not do any of these things. If they try anything like this then tell them you are going to telephone the police, but I'm sure this will not happen.

How do i file a form 4 complaint against the firm rather than an individual bailiff? there have been 3 bailiffs on this case, all worthy of complaint under the guidelines for overcharging , aggressive unreasonable behaviour etc but theunderlying problem is the firm and the way Chris Rundle seems to encourage illegal behaviour and now have decided to start a personal vendetta against me but he is no longer a certificated bailiff just runs the company( having looked at the very useful certificated bailiff link from this site)?

Have you previously written a letter of complaint to Rundles?

Also i read that bailiffs cannot charge multiple fees for the same visit even if they are attending for multiple warrants, please can you confirm if this is true and if so where i can find it in the law?

Yes, this is true. It doesn't cost a bailiff twice as much to visit you just because he is collecting more than one fine. He should only charge for the work he has done and are only allowed to charge "reasonable costs and charges". Therefore it is not reasonable to charge twice simply because he is collecting multiple debts.

[bellabeagle]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

Bellabeagle:
Thanks so much for coming back to me Amy, especially so quickly, it is so helpful

How much were the original parking fines?

Bellabeagle
£660

Do you now know what fees have been added and why? Can you post up the details?

Bellabeagle
Yes, i do know what was added. they charged the following( all ex VAT):
First letter fees: 89.20( all at 11.20 each)
7*First Visit Fees( please note that all of these are on the same day):£218- shouldnt these be £28 each unless it for the ones at £110 where it should be £30.20?
6* Second Visit fees again these are all on the same day 2 weeks after the first): £230. these fees varied from £33 £34, £38, £39, £43, not sure why they are all different

on the secondary sheets for all my cases there was actually notes of lots of other activity which they hay have oringally charged for and then removed when they knew i was seriously querying it, which may explain the constantly changing figures


They certainly should not do any of these things. If they try anything like this then tell them you are going to telephone the police, but I'm sure this will not happen.

Bellabeagle
This is the bit i am really worried about, concering the visit should i text the bailiff in advnace to let him know if he does do either of these things that i am wiill telephone the police?

Have you previously written a letter of complaint to Rundles?

Bella beagle
Yes i have i emailed them and also emailed Chris Rundle directly, cc'oing the council asking him to provide me with a copy of their complaints procedure as it is not listed on their website, so i can follow this. I asked him to do this in 10 days as Rundle and Co are an ESA member their code of practice means they should respond in 7 days. This was perhaps made him intervened to make life more difficult for me with the council as he reduced the fees via his representative to a total of £193( as they are obviously wrong, as the letters were returned, the visits were in error, if they took place at all and they are mulptiple charging for one visit) but said he had asked to council not to take back the tickets so i now had to pay for all the tickets as well as the fees. whereas before the agreement was that i would liase directly with the council on the tickets as long as i sort out the fees with bailiff. Still so shocked by this behaviour, it is really evil as i cant understand what difference it makes to Rundle other than to distress me more.

Yes, this is true. It doesn't cost a bailiff twice as much to visit you just because he is collecting more than one fine. He should only charge for the work he has done and are only allowed to charge "reasonable costs and charges". Therefore it is not reasonable to charge twice simply because he is collecting multiple debts.

BellaBeagle
Thanks! Do you know where i can find this clause in law or the case which set the precedent so i can quote it back to them as part of my complaint?

[Amy]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

Do not text the bailiff. Do not telephone the bailiff. He cannot break in and you do not have to let him in, so don't.

Instead, I would write one more time to both the council and Rundles and explain forcefully that you are going to file a Form 4 complaint against all the 3 bailiffs for their conduct, or lack therefof unless he reduces the fees to a sensible level.

Inform the council in your letter that they will be named in your complaint as they are vicariously liable for the bailiffs in their employ despite what they may think, they are able to deal with this.

[bellabeagle]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

Thanks again

I will write another email to the council and bailiff in the morning, as you suggest and will also place a call to the council. All my communications have been by email with them so far, is this ok or do i need to actually post a letter?

i am still concerned about the lengths they will go to gain access to the property, as i will need to leave and return to it at points in the day. Are they allowed to touch or push me aside in order to gain access to an open door? i have a feeling that the bailiff is question is relishing this confrontation and may be prepared to push the boundaries of what is acceptable/ legal
Also am i correct that they can only make 3 visits in total? any more legal info you have around this visits thing and multiple visits bit would be great.

so grateful for all your assistance

[Amy]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

Thanks again

I will write another email to the council and bailiff in the morning, as you suggest and will also place a call to the council. All my communications have been by email with them so far, is this ok or do i need to actually post a letter?

No email is fine.

Are they allowed to touch or push me aside in order to gain access to an open door? i have a feeling that the bailiff is question is relishing this confrontation and may be prepared to push the boundaries of what is acceptable/ legal

Absolutely not. Email the letter here in post #9 Urgent Help Needed - Bristow and Sutor Bailiff - Legal Beagles

Also am i correct that they can only make 3 visits in total? any more legal info you have around this visits thing and multiple visits bit would be great.

I am not sure about the maximum of three visits. However, I do know that it is unreasonable for a bailiff to charge multiple attendance fees when attending the same property for separate fines. This is supposed to cover their costs of attending it is not intended to boost their profits.

[bellabeagle]

Re: Please Help Rundle and Co coming in 2 days

Thanks that is very helpful. I will send this now.

Actually i think i meant they can only charge for 3 visits per warrant, is that correct?