Equita now threatening to enter home!

indianprincess81

Ok so its a long story, I missed an arrangement for my council tax as someone had hacked into my internet banking missing my last payment of £210 in December.
Was told by the council that they cannot to anything and that the baliffs will be contacting me soon. I found out who the compnay was and told Equita.
I called them asap as I was worried and never been in this situation before. And told I will be allocated a baliff in the next few weeks as they only recieved the information that day.
So I asked if I can make an inital payment of £50 and was told yes thays fine and a letter will come out to me soon with my reference number and pin code??!!
So after 2 months I get a letter and so i called the man and told it was now £350 or there about! I challenged it as I had read somewhere that they charge £24.50, I thought this was per letter! Anyway he asked whether he should come over and I said no (thankfully) as was on my way to work! He said ok, call me back in 40mins and ill take the payment. I called and he never answered after that I called countless times and either got "Im driving call me back later" or no answer! I even texted him with no response. So out of frustration I called the head office and told I am unable to make payment via thema but she will put a note on the file to say I have been trying to make contact! So then I get a letter again and I try to call head office only to be told call the baliff who now is someone else. I called him and told that I have to make full payment otherwise they are scheduled to come on Monday and remove goods. I had read somewhere about walking possesion and meantioned it and told by the baliff "ok well we'll see about tha on Monday, we have a liabilty order"!!! I asked how much do I owe and told its £389, but I had a letter from them a few weeks ago saying £220!!! I have only had one hand delievered letter and the rest via post! So I panicked and put the phone down, CRYING thinking oh my god they are going to force entry maybe .Then called head office and rudely told that nothing can be done, just pay your debt, I even spoke to the manager and basically shouted at and told "what you want me to do"!!! So I called him back and made a payment of £100!! I can now not afford to buy enough groceries and asked when I next get paid! I said the 20th and Ill make another payment of £100 then and told NO you must pay it all otherwise I will come to your house. I explained to him I have made countless attempts to pay and have itemised phone bills to shiw this and he said once I make full payment, he will give me the details of who to write to and they can refund the money if they feel is unfit but I have to pay otherwise I will have my goods removed!
Help what shall I do?

chevalier

first off. don't let him in. if you let him in then he can come back at any time and get in through any unlocked door or window.

You REALLY need to talk to the council who has instructed these bailiffs at they should NOT be overcharging you, and the council ARE RESPONSIBLE for the actions of their agents.

I would also suggest you pm Herbie21 as they are an expert on bailiffs. And have a look at www.bailiffsonline.co.uk i think it is for more help
chev

RAS

Hi love

Do you have a car. If so, move that away from the house, preferably out of sight on provate land - friends garage or garden.

Beyond that, you have NOTHING to worry about. Just about everything you have been told by Equita is wrong. Lying barstewards.

A liability order gives them no rights to enter your property. They can only do a WPO if you want to let them in the house or leave a door or window unlocked.

I am going to go and find a couple of other threads about Equita, people who Herbie21 helped.

See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1565473
and http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1513439

I hope you eventually got some sleep, but once you get on here, there is two things you can do to help yourself now.

Since this was a mis-payment because of a criminal action against you, the attitude of your local council stinks. Get on the Council web-site and find out who your local councillors are, then send them an e-mail covering the story above. They may well then be able to get the Council to take the account back.

And in the meantime do as Herbie21 advised another user

You need to WRITE to Equita or better still send an e-mail to:

[EMAIL="info@equita.co.uk"]info@equita.co.uk[/EMAIL]

You need to say something along the following lines.

I refer to the above account in relation to unpaid council tax due to xxxx

As you will be aware from your files this account has been assed to your bailiff Mr xxx to enforce.

The query that I have is concerning the amount that your bailiff is now stating is due. You will be aware that your bailiff visited my premises on xxx and for this visit I am advised that Mr xxx may only charge a fee of £24.50 for "attending to levy where no levy was made". I am further advised that it would appear that Mr xxx is attempting to charge me an "enforcement fee" which is NOT provided for in the statutory regulations unless a valid levy was first undertaken. No levy has been made on my goods and no documentation provided as proof.

As a matter of urgency can you please provide a full and detailed breakdown of the charges made by your bailiff.

In you case, I suggest that you mention that you have made repeated attempts to contact the bailiff but on each occasion he has refused to accept payment. If you have the information still on your mobile, list the dates and times of the calls and texts.

So chin up. You had a horrid night but things will be OK.

roughyed

Simple things -

Don't let them in your house. No matter what they say. They cannot break in, they cannot get a locksmith.

They can only charge you £24.50 for the first time they visit and get no entry and £18 for a second visit with no entry. They can then visit every day and cannot charge a penny more.

They are telling you fibs with what you owe. You are liable for whats on the Liability Order (£210?) and the 2 charges (they will add them regardless of whether they visit.....). All the other charges are them banking on you panicing.

They will say lots over the phone (I'll be round tomorrow to remove goods etc, I'll charge you for removal team etc). Don't panic, be firm but polite. Try to use letters rather than the phone (as no evidence of whats agreed etc).

Email your councilor. They usually will help, and get things sorted very quickly. They will talk to the head of department and you will be suprised how quickly they can get things in order!

Overall don't panic. PM herbie (a genius in these matters!)

indianprincess81

Thank you for your help and advice everyone. I feel slightly better this morning when I finally managed to get to bed
Ill pm Herbie now and hopefully I can get this sorted asap! Ive also noticed that the payment I made on Thursday has not cleared or even pending from my account. Ni idea what is going on? And if I worked it out correctly I now only owe about £84. Eventhough Equita seem to think its £289.

RAS

Any news here?

indianprincess81

Hi all. Ok so I called the council last week and told them of my experience. I spoke to very helpful woman who suggested I pay them directly when I next get paid which is on the 20th.
Today I recieved a letter hand delievered. Saying that they attended today to remove goods and chattels as are ness to discharge outstanding council tax liability order and any additional enforcement costs incurred. I will re attend at your address immediate effect and mya remove goods even in your absence. Blah blah!! This person is driving me insane, as I asked him for a breakdown of the cost and was refused unless I pay the full amount.
I will now email the above template to equita and hopefully I will get some more info. Can they still enter my home and remove goods and what is an enforcement costs?

indianprincess81

Can anyone help plz?