ive been ripped off........by the council

justin79

hi folks i hope i can get some advice on here cos im struggling with this one.
ill start at the beginning, i handed in a claim for housing benefit and did not give them any bank details as i requested payment by cheque. this was because my bank account was really overdrawn and about to be sent to baliffs as i was really struggling. after waiting from november until february for them to sort my claim out i received a letter called a remittence advice slip, i called to ask what this was to be told "its to tell you when and how much you have been paid" so i replyed " great does that mean theres a cheque in the post"...she then told me it had been presented to my bank the prevoius day, when i asked what bank as hadnt given them any details for one she gave me the account number etc for the one that was overdrawn.
i then spent nearly 2 hours on the phone as she searched through all the forms that had been scanned into there system and advised me that they must have got the details from an old claim in 2006 but not to worry she would call the payment back and send the future ones by cheque. 2 weeks later i get another slip and they have done the same again, so after another phonecall i am told that this will be called back as well and "processing" will be contacted via email and the total amount re issued to me which now stood at nearly £400. after hearing nothing for 2 weeks i call back and get told that the email was sent but never actioned and that they would contact processing to sort it out. in the meantime my normal payments start arriving by cheque. a give a little time and call back to be told that an email needs to be sent again and they have to reply to it in a maximum of 10 days, after 12 days another email is sent that they have to reply to within 5 days, 7 days after that still no reply and i am now near the end of april and real angry so i call again and speak to a manager called samantha who says she will call me back with an update, after 2 days i get a voicemail from her saying its all sorted out and will be paid with my payment schedualed for last friday soi wait for it and....nothing. i call them back and speak to there manager who tells me that theres nothing in the notes about the manager and she will call me back.

that gets me to today when she calls me back to tell me that they have decided that because they cannot get the payment back from the bank which they tried to do on the 20th of april, 2 months after the first phonecall, that it was upto me to try and get it back myself and that if that wasnt acceptable to contact the CAB.............if they had told me that at the start i would of got it back from the bank the same day but dont tell me to do it 3 months later...........i now have £400 of rent that i have been shafted for because they paid it to an account i didnt give them the details for and then didnt try to recall the payment until 2 months after they were told about it........

sorry about the long explanation but i need help and i need that money or to be honest im screwed. the bank account is now closed and i only had online statements which i can no longer access, i have read that the bank cannot legally take benefit money towards an overdraft due to the act of appropreation but will i still be able to do anything ?????

real1314

You haven't actually been ripped off (it seems no-one who uses those words ever is!).

Your debt to the bank has been reduced though, so you still receive the benefit of the money.

The "Act of Appropriation" is widely believed to apply to benefits paid into bank accounts, but in reality it doesn't. :cool:

welshmoneylover

justin79 wrote: »

hi folks i hope i can get some advice on here cos im struggling with this one.
ill start at the beginning, i handed in a claim for housing benefit and did not give them any bank details as i requested payment by cheque. this was because my bank account was really overdrawn and about to be sent to baliffs as i was really struggling. after waiting from november until february for them to sort my claim out i received a letter called a remittence advice slip, i called to ask what this was to be told "its to tell you when and how much you have been paid" so i replyed " great does that mean theres a cheque in the post"...she then told me it had been presented to my bank the prevoius day, when i asked what bank as hadnt given them any details for one she gave me the account number etc for the one that was overdrawn.
i then spent nearly 2 hours on the phone as she searched through all the forms that had been scanned into there system and advised me that they must have got the details from an old claim in 2006 but not to worry she would call the payment back and send the future ones by cheque. 2 weeks later i get another slip and they have done the same again, so after another phonecall i am told that this will be called back as well and "processing" will be contacted via email and the total amount re issued to me which now stood at nearly £400. after hearing nothing for 2 weeks i call back and get told that the email was sent but never actioned and that they would contact processing to sort it out. in the meantime my normal payments start arriving by cheque. a give a little time and call back to be told that an email needs to be sent again and they have to reply to it in a maximum of 10 days, after 12 days another email is sent that they have to reply to within 5 days, 7 days after that still no reply and i am now near the end of april and real angry so i call again and speak to a manager called samantha who says she will call me back with an update, after 2 days i get a voicemail from her saying its all sorted out and will be paid with my payment schedualed for last friday soi wait for it and....nothing. i call them back and speak to there manager who tells me that theres nothing in the notes about the manager and she will call me back.

that gets me to today when she calls me back to tell me that they have decided that because they cannot get the payment back from the bank which they tried to do on the 20th of april, 2 months after the first phonecall, that it was upto me to try and get it back myself and that if that wasnt acceptable to contact the CAB.............if they had told me that at the start i would of got it back from the bank the same day but dont tell me to do it 3 months later...........i now have £400 of rent that i have been shafted for because they paid it to an account i didnt give them the details for and then didnt try to recall the payment until 2 months after they were told about it........

sorry about the long explanation but i need help and i need that money or to be honest im screwed. the bank account is now closed and i only had online statements which i can no longer access, i have read that the bank cannot legally take benefit money towards an overdraft due to the act of appropreation but will i still be able to do anything ?????

Did it not occur to you to contact the bank in the beginning of all this?

iluvmarmite

I agree with real314, you havent been ripped off by HB, they paid you the money they owed you and its hardly their fault you owed the bank money, its rare they pay by cheque and if they can find bank details for you they will. If anyones been ripped off its the HB dept as they money they paid into the bank was for your rent not your overdraft so their money has gone to something it shouldnt have gone to.