Bristow & Sutor please help!

DebtFreeWannabe1985

Hi, last night I had 2 men (bailiffs) from Bristow & Sutor come round to my house saying they had come to take my car unless I pay them the £617.17 I owe them. On the 10/03/2010 I sent them a cheque for £117.21 which was the outstanding balance I owed them. So when these 2 men turned up yesterday I was shocked to say the least. I tried explaining to them that I had paid but all they were saying was 'not my fault' 'we ain't received payment'. Now me being worried, jumped in my car in a effort to move it, as I turned the engine, 1 of the men, grabbed the keys from the engine, which I was still holding, thus turning my hand in the process & went back to his van to call the police. After a few back & forths I decided to go bank to get the money. 1 of them drove me to the bank while the other stood outside my house. Upon getting to the bank, as I was getting out the car, the driver thought it'd be funny to drive off while I was getting out. When I got back, I paid them, took a photo of the registration plate & a photo of 1 of the bailiffs. Upon further talking to 1 of the men I asked how did it go from £117.21 to £617.17, he said it was for callout fee's as they had come 2/3 times already that day, when I asked where was the letters notifying me of this, he said 'we don't post letters', well if that’s the case how do I know that that was their 3/4 visit as each time they visit the price goes up. Is there anything I can do as this can't be right. Checked my bank & there has been no withdrawal from the cheque that i sent them on 10/03/2010. I have no idea what to do, can't wait to get debt free!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

Tixy

Hi

These guys have acted terribly and I'm certain broken several rules in the way they have behaved.

I understand why you felt you had to pay them but it could be harder to get back any money they have overcharged you.

Have they visited the house before yesterday? had they previously levied your car? (they should have left you some paperwork if they had)? had you let them in your house? had you ever signed any agreement with them?

What was the debt for originally? you need to make a complaint about their actions. If its was a council tax debt complain to your council.

You might also want to look at the website baliffadviceonline as there is lots of information on there as to your rights, baliffs powers and how much they can charge.

To know if you have been overcharged you'll need to request a full statement of what you owed the baliffs, every charge they applied and how much you paid.

Did you get a receipt for yesterdays payment?

DebtFreeWannabe1985

It was over a parking ticket i received. Yeah i got a receipt from them for yesterdays payment, as i'm at work right now, its kind of hard for me to check that website but as soon as i reach home i will check up on that website. I had received paperwork from them in the past saying that i owe them money, but i sent a cheque to them on 10/03/2010 so i thought it was sorted. The worst thing is, my mom opened the door & when they asked for me she was going to say i wasn't in, but not knowing it was bailiffs i called out when they asked for me. The rest of this month is going to be tough! Thanks for your reply. Very much appreciated.

DarkConvict

Bailiffs are difficult to deal with, and the best place for advice is the website tixy has posted. Herbie has a phone number on the site so you can ring her. Based on what you have said i would strongly suggust you do it because bailiffs touching you [STRIKE]and driving off in your car (even for a short distance) [/STRIKE]could be seen as assault [STRIKE]and theft.[/STRIKE]

http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/ - 0906 802 0273 (60p a min)

DebtFreeWannabe1985

Ok, during my lunch break i rang Bristow & Sutor, here is what happened. I explained to them about the cheque i had sent - they said they received the cheque, but as i never signed for it, they sent it back to me a few days later, to date, i still haven't received the cheque back. Is it possibe they just threw it away so they could charge me more? They also said that a man came round to something along the lines of 'value the items at the house', i asked him when & he said 16/12/2009, since me & my mom were both at work, how could they of done that? Is that something they can do without even entering your house? Then when i asked how come it went from just over £100 to just over £600 he said they had added an extra administration charge & i will be refunded £200+, upon asking for a breakdown of the charges, he said they don't keep copies. They never drove off in my car, i went in the van & as i opened the door to go cashpoint (had some money in my house) he started to drive off.

DarkConvict

This is for council tax, but it should be similar for most bailiff issues. My knowledge of bailiffs is vague so i could be wrong, take it with a pinch of salt.
i do strongly advise you get in touch with herbie21 on the website. You do pay her for it, but she is good. And the main source of info to help fight them. Although we do have some ex-bailiffs on here giving really useful info!

Bailiff Arrives (no one in, leaves a letter) 1st visit and letter charge
Bailiff Arrives (no one in, leaves a letter) 2nd visit and letter charge
--They can't charge anymore without a levy/gaining entry
Bailiff Arrives (no one in, leaves a letter) cannot charge
Bailiff Arrives (no one in, this time, levies the closest car) levy charge
--If a car is used for work, or does not belong to you, the levy is invalid and they have to drop that charge.
--Basically at this point they can't charge anything until they get in.
Bailiff Arrives (you do not let them in) already done maximum visit charges so no charge
Bailiff Arrives (you let them in) Once peaceful entry is gained you cannot ask them to leave, they can then make a levy of goods inside the house i think its called a walking possession. At this point you have to pay up the instalments on time, failure to do so and they can force entry to remove items.

Peaceful entry can be gained without you been there, open doors/windows etc. A BBC programme showed them using a ladder on a 1st floor window in extreme circumstances.

DebtFreeWannabe1985

Your knowledge is more than welcome, more than welcome. No bailiff has ever enterd the house, even yesterday the furthest they got to was the front door. So i ring the number given in the earlier post & ask for Herbie21? Wish i had just stayed upstairs instead of coming downstairs upon hearing my name. Once agian, thankyou for all your help.

DarkConvict

The odds are if Herbie is by the phone she will answer. I think it is just herself running the phone line but i could be wrong. Herbie used to be a bit of a regular here but rarely comes over. Probably on her site answering questions

Ring the phone like you would any company.
Help will probably still be posted here.

RobertoMoir

I think this is one for Herbie but from my experience:

Did they levy on the car prior to the visit to "enforce the debt"? This is central to the issue - you'd have been left with paperwork saying the car had been seized / levied upon. Bailiffs can not charge a levy fee & an enforcement/removal fee on the same day/visit.

I suspect if there are no witnesses then proving it will be a problem but I would start a complaint against them right now for the assault. If you have witnesses I'd do so with the police as well as to their employer.

Lastly, and most importantly, it seems they are trying to charge you an enforcement fee for each of several alleged visits in one day.

What kind of parking fine was this? Was the paperwork issued through northampton courts? I think most parking fines usually are these days. In any case, I'd contact the court who issued the warrant for non-payment of the fine at the earlier stage and ask about what they consider reasonable fees and behaviour. They won't consider the behaviour of the bailiffs as you describe it to be reasonable, nor those fees. At this point you need to complain about the behaviour of the bailiffs to the court. I really would get Herbie's help at this point about what else to do.

girlracer

i have had dealings wit b & s, and they are absolute !!!!!!

shell7t8

Hi,

As per one of my other posts i am also having problems with Bristow and Sutor and just wondered if you had got anywhere with your complaint?

My story is similar although not exactly. I had an outstanding debt for council tax for teh 2009 tax year and made an arrangemetn directly with the council to pay £150. Unfortunately the council had already passed it to B&S but agreed to intervene saying i had to pay B&S direct which i did for 3 months (August, Sept and Oct). In november i was struggling as my partner is out of work so i rang B&S to ask if i could reduce the payment. They said they couldn't agree anything over the phone but once i'd missed a payment a bailiff would be out to see me and at hat point, we could set up an agreement. I waited and nothing happened. I rang them in December and was told the same thing. I rang again in January as i was dreading the visit every day and scared to open the door even though i knew i had to deal with it and spoke to a manager who agreed to set up a payment plan of £120 per month starting end of Feb. End of Feb i paid, end of March i paid. THe payment due for end of April i had intended to pay on the 12th May. I was aware it was late but had had an unexpected bill i had to pay and couldn't afford to do it on the last working day of April in the end. On the 11th May bailiffs were at the door saying they had come to take goods to teh value of £650. My original debt with the council was around £1100 (and some pence which i can't recall exactly). I made 3 payments of £150 and two payments of £120 bringing the balance to around £410 or so i thought. They said that the extra was £230 for their van to attend on that day to remove our goods.

Scared, we borrowed the money from my mum and off they went. Afterwards we got very upset about it and then in turn, angry too as we feel we have been ripped off. We have done all the legwork to try and make an agreemetn to repay the debt. B&S have NEVER visited our property or posted a note through the door. The yhave definitely never completed a walking possession order and we have nEVER signed anything with a list of our goods on it.

My question is, are they able to turn up with the van and get peaceful entry and take goods at the same time without having previously done a list of inventory or are they able to turn up, demand the money and charge the call out fee of £230 all in the same day?

I have written a letter to my council, copying in B&S and am currently waiting for a response. I am prepared to take this as far as i needs to go but want to be sure of what i'm saying before i start writing formal complaint letters etc.

Can anyone help??

Shell