Equita Again!

Tups47

I am compleletly new to the site, but would like some advice regarding Equita's fees please.
We received a letter from Equita saying we owed council tax of £197, we had overlooked a couple of payments. We called the council who confrmed that we had to pay Equita directly, which we did by sending a cheque for the full amount.
The following week at 6 am we had a letter from the Bailiff shoved into the door, (he didnt knock) saying the payment had not been made and he would be returning within 48 hours to remove our things. There was a phone number which we rang and the Bailiff stated on the phone that the cheque had not been received and that we had to pay up. We said we had the money to pay and were happy to pay the full amount. He said the debt was likely to be more and but he couldnt tell us how much at that point and would come back to the house with a breakdown of the charges but it would be around £110.We told him NOT to come.
To avoid him revisiting, as we expected that might incur a further charge, my husband went onto the Equita website and paid the original debt online.He then stopped the original cheque.Two days later we paid online the £110 charge he had stated verbally after receiving another Removal Notice letter from them.

We thought they had gone away but no. On saturday (always a saturday when the Equita phone lines are closed) we have yet another removal notice letter. My husband phoned the council to say the debt had been paid, but they had not received a payment from Equita! We have now sent copies of the receipts to the council as proof of payment.
He then called Equita to ask what the problem was. They said we still have outstanding fees to pay of £82. Today a statement has arrived:

Debt: £173.05
Statutory Visit Fee: £42.50
Levy Fee: £28
Enforcemnt Fees: £118
Failed Payment Fee: £32.64
TOTAL £394.19

Total received:
£197.55 (Bounced)
£198.55
£113.30
Balance to pay £82.34

As far as I am aware he only visited once, was not let in so could not levy. If he had levied on my car which was in the drive, how would I know? Must he have left paperwork to show this because there was none. Can they charge a failed payemnt fee? The cheque was stopped toavoid payment being made twice.And what on earth are the enforcement fees? Can they legally charge this?
As far as I can see we have overpaid them.

Sorry this is so long, thanks for any advice you can give.

RAS

naughty equita.

Oh dear

RAS

From hallowitch's posts. I think equita's e-mail is [EMAIL="info@equita.com"]info@equita.com[/EMAIL]

I know you know that they have "preloaded" the fees but you need them to know that you know and dispute them.

Once they remove the levy and enforcement fee, you can argue about the other fees.

You do however need to pay the £24.50 for the first visit.

send this to the equita and the revenues Dept of your council by e-mail

From:
My Name
My Address

To:
Acme Bailiff Co
Bailiff House

Ref: Account No: 123456

Dear Sir

With reference to the above account, Can you please provide me with a breakdown of the charges.

This includes:
a - the time & date of any Bailiff action that incurred a Fee.
b - the reason for the fee.
c - the name(s) of the Bailiff(s) that attended on each occasion a Fee was charged.
d - the name(s) of the Court(s) the Bailiff(s) was/were Certificated at.
e - the date of the Certification.

This is not a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act S7 1998 so does not incur a fee of £10. You are obliged to provide this information.

I require this information within 14 days.

Yours faithfully

Tups47

Thanks Ras much appreciated. So am I right to think I should know if they had levied?
I will send the letter, any ideas what I should expect from them? Will I have to fight them for a refund or is it not worth it.

RAS

Warning

Move the car, as he could well have taken the number to try and levy later.

But he must have provided the levy at the time it was taken.

So it is essential that the car is not there if s/he comes back.

better still , "flog" it to a family member for £1 and get a receipt.