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This has been an ongoing issue since February 2010. It's a bit long-winded but I'll try to be as simple as I can.
Swindon Borough Council contacted me in Dec 2009 to inform me I hadn't paid council tax for a previous property in 2005/2006. This was unfortunately due to my ex pocketing the money I gave him to pay it, but anyway....
Between December 2009 and February 2010 I had made several requests both in writing and via telephone to Swindon Borough Council to arrange to pay off £50 a month for an amount that totalled roughly £1200. I was told confirmation would be given each time.
Anyway, long story short, it took Swindon Borough Council forever to set up that arrangement, and in that period of time a debt of £125 was passed over to Equita to collect, and I began getting letters from them through my door.
Mr Bailiff1 I called first, and asked to make a separate arrangment with them. He refused.
I continued to call Bailiff1 offering arrangement over and over again, saying I could not afford to pay the total amount (including charges) of £353.50. But he wasn't budging.
So I called SBC (Swindon Borough Council), and spoke to Mr Helpful in the Recovery Department who was nice enough to send me out a letter stating how much I owed Swindon Borough Council (the total debt had been split, and part of it had been passed to Equita) and how much I owed Equita, he had also arranged for me to pay £50 a month to them, and managed to convince Bailiff1 to extend my deadline by 6 weeks and pay the amount in full.
Right....
I owe SBC £1025 in total (two Liability Orders for 2006 and 2007) and that amount is including three payments of £50 made on time in the last three months.
A payment of £353.50 has been made to Equita now, via Bailiff1, and I have received a receipt proving this, as well as an official Equita letter stating:
Original Debt: £125.00
Bailiff Charges: £228.50
Total: £353.50
Amount paid: £353.50
Amount outstanding: £0.00
(I must note here, Bailiff1 did mention a possible related case, but he never looked into it, took my payment and said that's that).
Also, at this point in the story I had only received posted letters from Equita, and no bailiff visits, so I am currently asking for a breakdown of the £228 as, as far as I know, they only charge about £12 a letter and I have only received half a dozen letters from them.
Continuing on......
SBC have confirmed via telephone (on several occasions between then and now) that they have no record on their system of me owning any further money to Equita, and that the only outstanding amount I have is with SBC.
However, Bailiff2 started sending me letters saying I still owed money, so I called him again. He agreed to chase things up, as he believed Equita and SBC are claiming for one amount, the amount I am currently paying off each month. Bailiff2 promised to chase things up and call me. He didn't.
I received another letter, saying same thing, "Removal Notice". I called him again, and everytime I call him I call SBC, who again confirm I owe them nothing and promise to contact Equita to confirm this.
Last contact I had with Bailiff2 confirmed over the phone I owe Equita nothing, and to keep making my payments to SBC as normal. Then that was it for a week.
Now! I have received a hand-posted "Bailiff Removal" notice, and have been assigned Bailiff3, a rather rude woman. Soon as I received it, I phoned her who knows NOTHING about my previous conversations with Bailiff2 and is adamant I owe £933. I tell her about all the palava from before, and I am rather sarcastically told "Well I need to call SBC and ask them about this".
I also phoned SBC straight away, and got through to someone who AGAIN confirmed I owe Equita no money, yet they are yet to send this information through to the Recovery Department so they can call Equita and tell them to leave me alone.
Bailiff2 is out of the picture, I can no longer call him as he is no longer handling my case, I now have to go through rude Miss Bailiff3. I asked to receive in writing confirmation from SBC that I owe Equita nothing but they have refused, claiming "The Recovery Department is dealing with it".
I've now started having bailiffs come to my property to collect on a debt which I've been told isn't their responsibility. Bailiff3 thinks I'm lying about all these conversations I've had. My doors are locked and my windows closed, and I'm frightened to leave the house. What I don't understand is how Bailiff2 KNEW I didn't owe any money yet nothing was done about it, and now I'm back to square 1 with Bailiff3 who is treating me like I'm a criminal.
A citizen's advice visit is arranged for tomorrow morning, is there anything else I can do? And can I complain to someone about all of this? I seem to be the poor person running up a phonebill calling a mobile number each time I receive a letter, and false promised of a callback and false promises of "getting it sorted".
What can I do?
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Sorry about all the waffle, but it all ties up to my current predicament
Swindon Borough Council contacted me in Dec 2009 to inform me I hadn't paid council tax for a previous property in 2005/2006. This was unfortunately due to my ex pocketing the money I gave him to pay it, but anyway....
Between December 2009 and February 2010 I had made several requests both in writing and via telephone to Swindon Borough Council to arrange to pay off £50 a month for an amount that totalled roughly £1200. I was told confirmation would be given each time.
Anyway, long story short, it took Swindon Borough Council forever to set up that arrangement, and in that period of time a debt of £125 was passed over to Equita to collect, and I began getting letters from them through my door.
Mr Bailiff1 I called first, and asked to make a separate arrangment with them. He refused.
I continued to call Bailiff1 offering arrangement over and over again, saying I could not afford to pay the total amount (including charges) of £353.50. But he wasn't budging.
So I called SBC (Swindon Borough Council), and spoke to Mr Helpful in the Recovery Department who was nice enough to send me out a letter stating how much I owed Swindon Borough Council (the total debt had been split, and part of it had been passed to Equita) and how much I owed Equita, he had also arranged for me to pay £50 a month to them, and managed to convince Bailiff1 to extend my deadline by 6 weeks and pay the amount in full.
Right....
I owe SBC £1025 in total (two Liability Orders for 2006 and 2007) and that amount is including three payments of £50 made on time in the last three months.
A payment of £353.50 has been made to Equita now, via Bailiff1, and I have received a receipt proving this, as well as an official Equita letter stating:
Original Debt: £125.00
Bailiff Charges: £228.50
Total: £353.50
Amount paid: £353.50
Amount outstanding: £0.00
(I must note here, Bailiff1 did mention a possible related case, but he never looked into it, took my payment and said that's that).
Also, at this point in the story I had only received posted letters from Equita, and no bailiff visits, so I am currently asking for a breakdown of the £228 as, as far as I know, they only charge about £12 a letter and I have only received half a dozen letters from them.
Continuing on......
SBC have confirmed via telephone (on several occasions between then and now) that they have no record on their system of me owning any further money to Equita, and that the only outstanding amount I have is with SBC.
However, Bailiff2 started sending me letters saying I still owed money, so I called him again. He agreed to chase things up, as he believed Equita and SBC are claiming for one amount, the amount I am currently paying off each month. Bailiff2 promised to chase things up and call me. He didn't.
I received another letter, saying same thing, "Removal Notice". I called him again, and everytime I call him I call SBC, who again confirm I owe them nothing and promise to contact Equita to confirm this.
Last contact I had with Bailiff2 confirmed over the phone I owe Equita nothing, and to keep making my payments to SBC as normal. Then that was it for a week.
Now! I have received a hand-posted "Bailiff Removal" notice, and have been assigned Bailiff3, a rather rude woman. Soon as I received it, I phoned her who knows NOTHING about my previous conversations with Bailiff2 and is adamant I owe £933. I tell her about all the palava from before, and I am rather sarcastically told "Well I need to call SBC and ask them about this".
I also phoned SBC straight away, and got through to someone who AGAIN confirmed I owe Equita no money, yet they are yet to send this information through to the Recovery Department so they can call Equita and tell them to leave me alone.
Bailiff2 is out of the picture, I can no longer call him as he is no longer handling my case, I now have to go through rude Miss Bailiff3. I asked to receive in writing confirmation from SBC that I owe Equita nothing but they have refused, claiming "The Recovery Department is dealing with it".
I've now started having bailiffs come to my property to collect on a debt which I've been told isn't their responsibility. Bailiff3 thinks I'm lying about all these conversations I've had. My doors are locked and my windows closed, and I'm frightened to leave the house. What I don't understand is how Bailiff2 KNEW I didn't owe any money yet nothing was done about it, and now I'm back to square 1 with Bailiff3 who is treating me like I'm a criminal.
A citizen's advice visit is arranged for tomorrow morning, is there anything else I can do? And can I complain to someone about all of this? I seem to be the poor person running up a phonebill calling a mobile number each time I receive a letter, and false promised of a callback and false promises of "getting it sorted".
What can I do?
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Sorry about all the waffle, but it all ties up to my current predicament
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