Customer owes £1,000 - what to do?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rapido wrote: »

Okay, it's me again!

On 27th Jan, I put in the "request for warrant of execution" (I wasn't able to fit everything in the description as it was 120 chars max, but I requested bailiffs to attend both addresses and vehicles to be included in any seizures).

This morning, I received from the court a letter that says 'please find enclosed your claim pack returned as "unserved"... If you are confident that the claim form has been served corectly, no further action is required'.

Attached was a copy of my original claim from December, and a letter supposedly from "Miss Alice Bloggs" rather than the actual landowner and proprietor "Anne Bloggs" (both first names and surnames not actual, I just want to give you the idea that the first names are different). I don't believe there is an Alice Bloggs!

The letter is addressed to the court and claims that the bill is "delivered to my address but not for me, and is not my bill"... "can you inform the relevant parties, and let me know this has been done in writing, as I don't want bailiffs at my home".

What is proposterous is that the letter is written on exactly the same computer as the letter asking to pay £100 a week starting March (they are both formatted exactly the same), and they are both ending "yours sincerely, A. Bloggs" (the signatures ARE different, but I expect she would just get a staff member to sign one of them)!

Now I just want to go for the jugular; I know the bailiffs haven't attended yet. Should I wait for them to do so, or put a charging order now?

-rapido

i thin if it says unserved, she must have known what it was, and refused to sign for it, hence the note written on the envelope....

If this has gone to judgement, you can automatically get the bailiffs in ( i think)

i wouldnt mess around, as obviously this person is having problems elsewhere too, as she knew to refuse the letter.....

they knew EXACTLY what they are doing, and hoping to stall everything.. or even do a moon-light -flit.... they might even be in arrears with everything, including mortgage etc..

the above is what i would think, and amybe not true, but it deosnt look good...

Savvy_Sue

rapido wrote: »

The letter is addressed to the court and claims that the bill is "delivered to my address but not for me, and is not my bill"... "can you inform the relevant parties, and let me know this has been done in writing, as I don't want bailiffs at my home".

I'd probably find the temptation to reply along the lines of "if you don't want bailiffs at your home, pay the bills!" overwhelming.

Does anyone know what the bit about "if you believe it's been served correctly no further action is needed" means?

Because clearly you DO believe it's been served correctly, ie to the right person, so does that mean you can carry on with the bailiffs regardless?

Is it worth a phone call to the court on Monday morning outlining what you said in your last post?

cscaramanga

If you have a debt of over £600 and up to six years old, you can apply to have your CCJ transfered up to the High Court (fee is £60 plus VAT). Then you can get a writ of execution from the High Court and can use a High Court Enforcement Officer to execute your writ. They have the legal right to seize goods to the value of the debt, plus fees, then sell them to recover your debt and their fees. Fees and interest are recovered on top of your debt - they don't take a cut out of your repayment. They also don't have to give notice that they will enforce (unlike county court bailiffs).
I would recommend The Sheriffs Office - they have a very strong recovery rate: thesheriffsoffice.com
Good luck!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rapido wrote: »

Still no news back from the bailiffs!

Amazing. Last time I had to do this (a couple of years ago), they were much quicker in responding.....

-rapido

i would ask for the contact details of the bailiff's to see waht is the problem..

unless they are not opening/answering the door to them.

keep us posted..

fingers crossed there will be an outcome soon, so you can get some sort of payment

hippyadam

rapido wrote: »

Hi, I rang the court, and they said they first sent a letter to the defendant warning of bailiff action and requesting comments within 2 weeks.

As no reply was received, the bailiffs have been instructed to go in and do their thing. If no response from them in another 2 weeks, then I should ring the court again! But they didn't give me the bailiffs number despite asking.

But I am still torn whether to wait for the response from the bailiffs... or to do the charging order now. I'm thinking that if I apply for the charging order prematurely, the judge looking at it might decline on the basis that I haven't waited for the bailiffs, and I might lose my £300 or so fee!

On the other hand, I reckon she'll be looking to sell up very soon, and I won't be able to do a charging order if she's done so by then.

-rapido

Well your on the right track, i'd let the bailiffs do their thing first before you go for the charging order. As you say it might not look good if you don't try other methods first...

Don't worry overly about the charging order, if she sells up you can get a third party debt order linky

Let us all know when you hear back from the bailiffs :beer:

Savvy_Sue

Imagine having that personal a relationship with your bailiff! How can she live that way?

hippyadam

rapido wrote: »

he "put a levy" (whatever that means) and that she has 7 days to pay up, otherwise goods will be removed. So I'm just waiting another week now.
-rapido

Basically the bailiff has pointed at goods and said i'm levying on that. Ie he effectively owns them, she can't sell or dispose of them. If she doesn't pay in 7 days the bailiff will seize those goods and look to sell them to recoup your money...

If he knows her well, it's probably the same dance every time, i imagine she waits until the very last minute before she pays...

Which is daft really as every bailiffs visit the amount goes up!

Anyway looks like your nearing the finish line now, do let us know when the money finally lands in your bank lol!

hippyadam

As a general rule of thumb they'll look to seize high value assets, vehicles and machines etc. But the Bailiff has already said she normally pays up so i'd wait and see.

If your worried the Bailiff should have a list of the items he has levied against. If you end up out of pocket im 99% sure you can add any bailiffs fee's if you go for a charge on the property... But check with the court

COOLTRIKERCHICK

any update Rapido?

i have my fingers crossed for you

COOLTRIKERCHICK

rapido wrote: »

I rang this gone Monday, and Mr. Bailiff said he still hasn't visited and collected the goods.

"I have left a couple of messages on her ansaphone telling her that it's absolutely her last chance to pay!", says he.

So... I might ring next Monday.

-rapido

is it worth telling mr Bailiff you want action straightaway, the 7 days has lapsed with no sign of paying?