council tax rebate

19babette

Ive had a letter today from Randall Vickers they should have been sorting out all of my council tax for me ie contacting VOA and then the council afterwards. Anyway though they did contact VOA they never contacted the council and i've had to persue this for several weeks!! Every letter that Randall Vickers sent me a letter to sign for council it had the wrong name on it and they were told this every time!!! Yet they persisted in sending the wrong paperwork to sign.

I am now in a quandry as I know how much I will be getting from the council having persued this myself and its far less than the automatically generated letter that Randall Vickers have sent me!!

Considering I am the one who has had to chase for the refund, make calls, visit the council tax offices, etc I don't feel that Randall Vickers did their job...and don't personally feel that they are due their inflated fee as I did most of the work..

I would love some responses to this as to what other forum members thoughts are ...

What would be the decent thing to do ???

CIS

It would be a matter of argument between them and you. You had signed a contract with them (Ive seen a few of these letters at work and the fees are rediculous - Ive seen cases where the quoted fee was more than the final refund) and you would need to dispute this with them if you think that they are not owed the fees.

What I would say though is that the letters I have seen give authorisation for the refund to go direct to the company who then forward the remainder on to the client. I would speak to the council and remove the authorisation if you dont want the refund to be sent straight to them.

19babette

They've never been in any contact with the council.
Every letter they sent to me so as to give permission for them to contact council had the wrong name on it!
I told them this on several occasions and yet they persisted on sending the incorrect paperwork.
Therefore because of DPA they havent been in touch with council as did not have my permission to do so.
Thus in respect of getting the refund I did this myself contacting the council, telling them that I was due a refund and chasing them up.
The refund is coming directly to me.

lincroft1710

If RV did negotiate a lower CT band with VOA and you instructed them to do this, then they are entitled to a fee. However you may be able to negotiate a lower fee if they failed to carry out part(s) of their services which you agreed to. I would further add that when VOA reduce a CT band and subsequently notify council, the council then deals with any refunds and informs the taxpayer (you). There should have been no need for you to contact council.

19babette

I had the council calling me about the paperwork they had received from VOA. I also had the council calling me to advise me what they were doing as their computer systems had been changed and they would have to look back in to paper files etc. I wanted RV to sort out everyrhing so I wouldn't be bothered and they didn't do anything for me.
I have emailed them with my gripe.
I will offer them a ggw payment as they didn't do what they said they would do.

Quote :

1) Once we succeed in reducing your council tax band we will then make a claim to the Council requesting a full refund of all your overpaid tax.
2) R & V will always speed up your claim whenever possible and strive to keep you informed of the progress of your claim.

They did neither.

Mikeyorks

19babette wrote: »

1) Once we succeed in reducing your council tax band we will then make a claim to the Council requesting a full refund of all your overpaid tax.
2) R & V will always speed up your claim whenever possible and strive to keep you informed of the progress of your claim.

They did neither.

They reduced the CT band - without which the Council wouldn't have contacted you! That's the hard part - the bits you did are cosmetic?

By all means offer them a reduced fee - but be prepared they will not accept. When you sign a contract with this sort of company - they don't retract gracefully or easily.

19babette

Spoke to the bloke in their office today.
He blatantly lied to me that they had a letter from the council stating the figure I would be getting back.

I find it odd that he had a letter when the council have confirmed that the only communication they had from this company was a letter asking for the wrong person to which they ( the council) politely responded that " due to the DPA they were unable to provide any further communication as ( the person named ) was not the council tax payer!!

I have asked for a copy of the imaginary letter...as I said i would love the inflated figure that i am supposedly getting...
The guy asked me to tell him the figure i was getting!! I don't think so... if they had done the work then he would have known!
Anyway if they are so adamant that they are in touch with the council they can provide proof..

FoggyBrain_2

Mikeyorks wrote: »

They reduced the CT band - without which the Council wouldn't have contacted you! That's the hard part - the bits you did are cosmetic?

By all means offer them a reduced fee - but be prepared they will not accept. When you sign a contract with this sort of company - they don't retract gracefully or easily.

R&V did nothing of the sort. The VOA did that! R&V did nothing the council taxpayer couldn't have done for him / her self, for nothing!

All R&V did was ask VOA for a review, I would put a pound to a penny they didn't pursue the matter to Tribunal (if it was an appeal made within the valid timescale to go top Tribunal).

BTW -- at the same time the VOA issue a letter to the appellant, they alert the local council automatically. From there on the council contact the taxpayer. You can check on the VOA website what your council tax band is now ( to see if it HAS beed reduced). Then just ring the council's revenues dept. tell them the VOA has reduced the band and ask when they will be making repayment.

These companies are leeches and unlikely to refund anything they have overcharged for!

Mikeyorks

FoggyBrain wrote: »

These companies are leeches and unlikely to refund anything they have overcharged for!

Exactly - so don't be selective and fully read what I said and what I was replying to.

When you sign a contract with this sort of company - they don't retract gracefully or easily.

FoggyBrain_2

Apologies, Mikeyorks. Wasn't having a go at you. Was just highlighting the bits I was having a go at R&V over .... and emphasising that they do nothing for their over the top fees.

CIS

R&V did nothing of the sort. The VOA did that! R&V did nothing the council taxpayer couldn't have done for him / her self, for nothing!

All R&V did was ask VOA for a review, I would put a pound to a penny they didn't pursue the matter to Tribunal (if it was an appeal made within the valid timescale to go top Tribunal).

True but that is what they are contracted to do - contact the VOA and ask for a revaluation. What these companies do is no more than the OP could have done but the OP has signed a contract agreeing to them doing this.