Help with rossendales Bailiffs

sheasmum

Please help..Ill try and keep as brief as poss,
A few weeks ago i had a bailiff from Rossendales come round as i owed £211 on my Council tax i was employed the laid off and this was the amount hb didnt cover...I foolishly let him in and he leived on my goodd and i agreed to pay £10 every two weeks, Im a single parent with 2 children under 4.
I signed all the paper work saying this was what i coukld afford and sent it back..I was paying every two weeks as aggred and logged on th thie website on firday to pay £10 when i had a msg saying i couldnt log in and my case had been passed to Sam Hourani a Baliff..I rang hin at just after 9, he said he was busy and again at 10 because i thought he'd forgotten about me< he said he would call me back, at 11 he rang back and i tried to explain that i had a repayment plan in place, but he said he was coming to collect or remove goods..I said i could get the money, and he would call on friday 1st of october for the amount of £397.37 which included his fees.
I spoke to my council to say that i dont have the money, but could with the help of my mum scrape £287 togther the amout owed with fees before the bailiff came out and chrged me £110!! for the privelidge
The council said the Bailiff attended on friday just gone which he didnt we had 3 phone calls but he never attended, but no one will belive me!
I have the phone logs on my phone with times ect And tried to talk to Rossendales who just said they belive the bailiff...

All i want to do is pay the £287 i owe but they are demanding £397.
Please help
thanks
Jenna

NorthernLas

Below are links to information on council tax and bailiffs and walking posessions.

http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/counciltax_howcani.htm
http://www.bailiffadviceonline.co.uk/walking_whatiswalking.htm

Have you paid as agreed apart from last Friday?
What happened then - did the system not let you pay?

If you are a single parent you are classed as vunerable, are you claiming income support? - if you are the council could take directly from your benefits instead

I would suggest you phone the council and explain that you have kept to the payment plan, you are a single parent and you want them to take the debt back. The bailiffs are working on behalf of the council, but the council are still responsible.
I would also suggest you find out who your local councillor is and phone/email them to ask for their help to get the council to take this debt back.

sheasmum

Hi, thanks for your reply,
I had paid every two weeks as promised, but Rossendales said they never recieved the payment plan in writing from me..
When i logged on to pay on the rossendales website, it blocked me and gave me the name and number of a bailiff to ring, i was on his list of people to see that day< but i rang him at 9am and 10am and he rang me back at 11am at no point did he attened as he claimed he did at 10.50am
Yes i am on Income support
The coucil are refusing to get involved now, and have said i can only deal with the Bailiffs:(

RAS

sheasmum wrote: »

The coucil are refusing to get involved now, and have said i can only deal with the Bailiffs:(

They do this routinely. You need to find your local councillor, e-mail them urgently and then go to see them at their next surgery. There is a good chance the councillor can help you out even if the revenue Enforcement do not want to.

NorthernLas

I would also email Rossendales to tell them that you agreed a payment plan and had kept to it with payments via their website.

Tell them that they have assigned a bailiff incorrectly and he has tried to charge an attendance fee and not attended. Ask them to suspend action URGENTLY and advise how you keep paying as agreed.

Was there anything on the documents you signed saying you agreed to payments?

waszak

I feel your pain as i have the bailiffs after me & i let them in to list my possesions as they said this was the only way they would set up payment plan.They wouldnt except what i could afford which i said 200 pounds a month which i thought was reasonable considering im a single parent doing 4 nights.The horrid woman on other end of phone took the 1st 2oo but said this wont stop them from coming around & demanded 600 & odd pounds next month then 1045 next month.I dont even earn a 1000 a month so now they are constantly coming around & addind charges in the process.Council wont hear a word against bailiffs saying wouldnt use ones like that!