Help with Bailiffs please

[Mja1983]

I had an agreement in place with council to pay off council tax arrears at
£20 a month via bristow sutor(balif) site which I have been doing for several months now.
yesterday there was a not through my door drom
bristow sutor balif saying debt was now £528 which Included a
CHARGE OF £235 for him putting a note through my door even though when I called him he said it was first time he's beeen asked to come out.
council had canceled agreement even though I wAs
paying each month As apparently it should always have been paid by 13th each
month!! Anyway agreement reinstated but the council nor bristow sutor wrote to
me to say anything now they wanna charge me 235!!
surely this fee is unfair especially as I have been pagong
what
can I do about this charge ita
not as if the guy has done any work!

please help thanks

[Kati]

Re: Help with Bailiffs please

Hi [MENTION=61227]Mja1983[/MENTION] - I've put your post on a new thread so you can get help and advice from the Beagles :tinysmile_twink_t2:

Kati x

[ploddertom]

Re: Help with Bailiffs please

With any agreed payment schedule you must rigidly stick to it, they will also be looking for payment in cleared funds meaning if due by 13th of the month then you should make payment on the 8th to allow for banking time. I appreciate we have the Faster Payments Scheme but I hear time & time again payment has to filter through to the correct account. How long have you been paying this & do you know what other charges have been made by B&S?

[Guest]

Re: Help with Bailiffs please

It looks to me like B&S have given you 14 days grace before acting.

It may be that you did not understand the terms of the agreement? Were you given it in writing?

The only possible challenge that you can have is to write to B&S, copying in the council, asking for them to provide evidence that the agreement was that you should pay by the 13th. For the money they are getting paid for the compliance fee, the least that should be expected is something in writing to confirm agreements.

It may be worth going down this road, arguing that you agreed to pay monthly and as January had not finished, you intended to pay at the end of the month. They won't accept this but if you are prepared to continue writing letters, you may get somewhere. B&S do record all telephone conversations with debtors, so if you did agree to pay on the 13th over the phone, you don't have any grounds to argue.

EDIT* Actually, you still might have grounds to argue-If something was agreed on the phone, then it should have been followed up in writing, otherwise, it could be argued that B&S acted with too much haste, given the month hadn't expired. Question it-You have nothing to loose & £235 to gain