Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Ploddertom - thanks for your advice, you sound very knowledgeable on this subject and your guidance is much appreciated.

I have sent the email off to Rottendales (nice so I await their response.

I now have the letter that was posted through my door yesterday with me and it says:

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL NOTICE

Magistrates liability order / warrant of execution
Dated 24/6/2009 for
Unpaid x Council Tax (ticked box)

Balance in full - £ 610.00 (written) Inclusive of costs

I MUST NOW GIVE YOU 24 HOURS STATUTORY NOTICE OF MY INTENTIONS TO RECALL
AND REMOVE YOUR EFFECTS, SUFFICIENT TO SATISFY THE DEBT AND COSTS.


To keep costs to yourself to a minimum, I ask that you contact me to arrange a time suitable for
us to be allowed access to your premises. If payment in full is not made within 24 hours you
may incur further costs.

Should you wish to avoid this distressing course of action, and the resulting costs incurred
please contact me immediately on (mobile number) to arrange full payment of your outstanding
debt.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Duffy
Bailiff In Charge

Telephone number: BIG BOLD MOBILE NUMBER AGAIN

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Don't know if I am confused but are Rossendales the bailiff's or are the bailiff's just the guys that come to your house? I had an agreement with Rossendales, arranged by phone and confirmed by a letter.

I have not made any arrangements with Mr Duffy (from the recent letter) other than him informing me I have to pay before 10th June. The letter above is dated 29/5/12 but the Liability order / Warrant of execution is dated 24/6/09. As this is the first communication I have received from Mr Duffy, is it legit or have important procedures been missed out and this is therefore just a hollow threat to scare me (working!)?

And what of this levy that others have mentioned, is this supposed to happen before an attendance fee is implied on my debt?

Sorry for all the questions, but like mist I just don't understand the procedure and I feel like I am being bullied in to making payments that are not legit.

Thanks.

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

You need to speak to someone at the Council and ask the following questions: ...

Are you suggesting I ignore Mr Duffy and just get back in contact with the council? I don't think this will be cleared before the date Mr Duffy gave (10 June) and then what? I don't want him coming round to my flat and taking stuff!

Feeling better but still a little scared and confused...

[pepsie]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Are you suggesting I ignore Mr Duffy and just get back in contact with the council? I don't think this will be cleared before the date Mr Duffy gave (10 June) and then what? I don't want him coming round to my flat and taking stuff!

Feeling better but still a little scared and confused...

If this nailiff has never been inside your home to 'levy' upon your goods or if there is nothing outside your home eg: car, expensive lawn mower, then he has no levy and there is nothing he can do other than open his 365 bedtime story book and attempt to scare with his own stories.

If you take this a step at a time and follow what PT has told you, eventually you will be able to seperate fact from bailiff fiction and we can all help you move forward.

Until such time this is resolved I would suggest you write to the Head of Revenues, tell them you find the illegal methods to add further charges to your account takes away any confidence you have in dealing with their appointed agent and all future payment will be made Direct to the Council. Then using the ref no the CT in question start paying them by way of their online payment system. Make sure you do this on the same day/date every week/fortnight/month without fail.

Should the bailiff return to your home remember there is no law that says you have to deal or even speak with them, keep your doors and windows secure at all time and definately do not let him in to use the toilet,phone a hospital to see if his grannie is alright etc.

When you get the breakdown to Rottendales back post them here and we can tell you which are legal and which are going into the bailiffs holiday fund. Then Mrs Green Jones can be brought back up to speed that her bailiffs still prefer to operate outside the law and it would seem she has lost control of them altogether, despite having had her attention drawn to their behaviour in last years 'exposure' tv programme.

Pepsie


WD

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

If this nailiff has never been inside your home to 'levy' upon your goods or if there is nothing outside your home eg: car, expensive lawn mower, then he has no levy and there is nothing he can do other than open his 365 bedtime story book and attempt to scare with his own stories.

Perfect, thank you. Very reassuring and just what I needed to hear.

[ploddertom]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

All the more reason you need the breakdown. What you need is corroboration from the Council over what they say you owed, from when etc and how much the Bailiffs say you owe - very rarely the same sums. The Bailiff is the person who attends your address - Rossendales is the Company he is employed by.

If the Bailiff - whoever may have called originally, not just the one who has posted this latest letter - has never been in your your home or otherwise made a levy on goods outside then the most they can charge you is £24-50 for a 1st Visit Fee + a 2nd Visit Fee of £18-00, Total = £42-50. To apply a Van/Enforcement Fee they must have had a valid levy in the first place. usual trick is for them to levy on a car in the street & when you say it isn't yours they then ask you to prove that. However this is then when you take things up with the Council and make them take action.

Getting the info from the Council I asked for previously can usually just be done by phone. Nothing will happen quickly and you have to be prepared to play letter tennis back & forth.

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Had a reply, little bit of a shock as I had a first, second and levy charges in January 2011 which I was not aware of:


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Enquiries Rossendales <enquiries@rossendales.com>
Date: 1 June 2012 16:37
Subject: RE: Breakdown of charges
To: Me


Thank you for your email.

The first visit fee of £24.50 was incurred on January 21^st, 2011 at 12.43. Mr. Boast attended. (He is no longer employed by us)
The Second visit fee of £18.00 was incurred on January 28^th, 2012 at 19.19. Mr. Boast also attended.
The Levy fee of £49.00 was incurred on January 31^st, 2011 at 19.29. Mr. Boast attended.
The Van fee (£210.00) was incurred on May 29^th, 2012 at 12.57. Mr. Duffy attended. (He was certified at Burnley court on 20.04.12)

Your account is currently with Mr. Duffy who you need to contact directly on 07970189408 to discuss payment options.

Yours sincerely.

Freya Morrison
Debtor Correspondence Officer
Rossendales Ltd
Wavell House, Holcombe Road, Helmshore, Lancashire, BB4 4NB
T: 08447013980
F: 01706831126

DX745020
HELMSHORE

Campaign for change

www.rossendales.com

__________________________________________________ _________________________


But I haven't been able to get in contact with the council as yet.

The levy cannot be legit as no-one has ever been to my flat that I know and definitely have not been inside to asses for a levy.

[pepsie]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Well if this was Mr Boast's work you can tell them where to stick their fees..or prove them?..Britains most infamous crooked bailiff http://www.bailiffjob.co.uk/itvs-exp...uct-2-127.html

Pepsie

[IanM]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Papasmurf, please forgive me, i have to hijack your thread for a moment, i hope you don't mind!

Has anyone got a copy of the Rossendales ""Green Form"", it is titled "Instructions", with a Rossendales letter head?

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

I am attaching a copy of the Fraud Act 2006. When you write to Mrs Green-Jones, enclose Sections 2 and 12. Highlight Sections 2(1) and 12 in their entirety. Often, seeing the legislation in the flesh is sufficient to give a businessperson who is allowing criminal behaviour to go on in their business a very nasty shock. Be prepared for her to claim she didn't know about the Fraud Act. That one is a favourite of banks and finance companies and it's worn very thin. In any case, ignorance of the law is neither a defence or an excuse.

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Well if this was Mr Boast's work you can tell them where to stick their fees..or prove them?..Britains most infamous crooked bailiff http://www.bailiffjob.co.uk/itvs-exp...uct-2-127.html

Pepsie

Your post made my day Pepsie, thank you.

However, before I get too excited and tell Mr Duffy to stick his fees, what does this actually mean to me and what is the best way to proceed?

I obviously know nothing about the levy from Mr (haha) Boast, it can't be legit and therefore cannot stand but I doubt very much that Mr Duffy will accept that. He has a whiff of easy money from me and he will do what he can to persuade me that his actions are all above board and in accordance with the law (or something to that effect).

If I write to Rossendales and dispute the calls and levy of Mr Boast, do they then call off the dogs and write off the fees or is this just the beginning of a long battle?

[pepsie]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Write to them and ask for the evidence to these alleged visits and a copy of the alleged 'levy' and walking possession notice. That 16months have passed since this levy was put in place tends to suggest the levy can be seen to have been 'abandoned' and the debt should have been returned to the Council long since.

I will need to ask you a few personal questions before I can advise further regards to the Council and repayment to the original debt, if you are ok with answering these on forum I will do it here, if not please send me a PM and we can look at the best options available to you.

Pepsie

[bluebottle]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Mr Boast is a loose cannon and has done a lot of damage to Rossendales' credibility and that of its bailiff employees. If Mr Duffy and Mrs Green-Jones have any sense, they will drop any fees Mr Boast has been allegedly responsible for like a hot brick. The fact that Boast has been exposed, publicly, as untrustworthy, amongst other things, it is going to be very difficult for Rossendales to enforce or quantify any fees he has allegedly incurred. If Rossendales argue, just remind them that the onus is on them to prove the fees are legitimate, not you.

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

Thank you all for the time you have taken thus far, it is more than I hoped to obtain from posting my fury on a forum.

I have just found and watched the ITV Exposure programme. Unbelievable.


I have no issue in paying the Council and the original debt, I had no issue in paying Rossendales until I saw Mrs Green-Jones' cringe worthy performance on the Exposure programme! However my real contempt is with the bailiffs and their fees.

With the advice I have received here and after watching the Exposure programme, I simply feel like calling Mr Duffy and telling him to get stuffed... although something tells me that is not the way forward! Serious head on - from all I can gather I am in the driving seat now and fortunate, or not, that my bailiff was Mr Boast who thanks to ITV's exposure programme has absolutely no credibility nor his actions. I will write to Rossendales, I will ask them to provide evidence of his visits, justify the claims of Mr Boast and report back on the forum.

My only question now is what to do with Mr Duffy. I don't want my wife (on maternity leave) to have to deal with a visit at the door from him on 10th June and I do not believe that this will be resolved before then. So now that I am much better prepared (and although it is against all the advice I have received) should I call him and let him know I do not intend to make payment?

[ploddertom]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

It appears to me that the crux of the fees they are trying to charge is for the alleged levy and a supposed van fee. I believe the Visit Fees may well be correct and upheld but would imagine the levy will turn out to be a random car. If that is the case then there are at least 2 things of note:

1 - they will insist you prove you don't own the car/goods - fairly easily dealt with
2 - as a period of some months passed between the levy being made and their next visit when the made the van fee then it is quite easy to argue the levy was abandoned.

In each case the levy fee and any & all associated charges must be removed. They cannot be replaced with a Visit fee as that matter has already been exhausted to its limit of £42-50. Whatever you do about the Bailiff now attending just make sure you deny him entry.

If Rossendales drag their heels, remind the Council of their responsibilities and make them provide the alleged levy.

[papasmurf]

Re: Rossendales - Missed payment, received Baliff charges of £210

That's thrown me a little as I have not had any visits plus I did not even own a car in January 2011. How can the onus be on me to prove that the car on the levy (presumably) is not mine?

I live in a flat with limited car parking outside the entrance, maybe five cars for 30(?) flats so I do not understand how they could even justify 'guessing' which car was mine even if I had one.

It's also worth pointing out that if fees have previously been added to my account then I will have more or less settled the original debt to the council. I need to get a full statement and cross check with my bank statements.

I'll contact the council and get in contact with Rossendales Wednesday and see who is claiming what.