Bainbridge Simpson Ltd

Nick_C

I received a letter from Bainbridge Simpson Ltd a couple of days ago, trying to sell me their service for challenging my Council Tax banding for a 30% cut of any savings.

The letter said "We are writing to you because one or more of your neighbours from [name of block of flats] has already been reclassified from a band B to a band A, meaning they now pay less than you"

[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM] There have been no revaluations in the flats where I live.
[TEXT DELETED BY FORUM TEAM]

Bainbridge Simpson has the same director (Michael James Pilgrim) as "Randall & Vickers" "Consumer Champions" (sic) and "Consumer Refund Service".

Mr_Red78

Information on rebanded properties can be verified by visiting the VOA's website. Perhaps this will be useful to confirm that there have indeed been any properties in your block of flats that have been revalued since 1991.

Band reductions are not common but are possible and they do happen.

lincroft1710

Mr_Red78 wrote: »

there have indeed been any properties in your block of flats that have been revalued since 1991.

Band reductions are not common but are possible and they do happen.

!993 is the start year for CT in England and Scotland not 1991, Wales had a revaluation so is now 2005.

As a percentage of total dwellings banded the number whose bands have been reduced is indeed very small, but as a percentage of dwellings where a reduction has been sought, the figure is much higher.

Mr_Red78

1991 is the date of valuations. 1993 is the date that council tax was introduced.

Dean1432

Had a letter from this company but there are a few bad reviews of them. Anyone used them before?

Nick_C

Dean1432 wrote: »

Had a letter from this company but there are a few bad reviews of them. Anyone used them before?

Well my views on this company have been censored by the mods! Draw your own conclusions.

saintlyman

Hello all

I don't get to post very often but have been researching Bainbridge Simpson for my dad, aged over 80, who got a similar letter to that outlined above.

I found this ASA ruling against Bainbridge Simpson A13-240406 and I think that they might have breached this because the mailing my dad received had identical wording.

I have followed the advice elsewhere on MSE main site to apply for a council tax rebinding. It took a few minutes to do all the checks and make the application.

Thanks to all at MSE and please everyone else beware of money-leeches

Cheers

Chris

Nick_C

I find it slightly annoying that my original post on this was censored. I think I said this company are liars. That is a statement of fact, not an unfounded allegation. The letter they sent to me contained statements that were untrue.

dunstonh

I have been caught by the board team before on this. The problem is that some companies monitor the board and will report posts that criticise them and threaten legal action if the post is not edited/removed. If you can provide adequate evidence to support your comments, the board will typically leave them up. However, it has to balance the comments which could well be true but unprovable or hearsay with the threat of legal action.

Nick_C

Thanks for that. The lie in my case was they said that one of my neighbours had successfully had a banding reduction. There is a mix of bands in the flats where I live because there is a mix of 1 and 2 bedroomed flats, but no flat has had a banding reduction. I've owned the property since the 1980s, and compared my banding to the others when Council Tax replaced the Community Charge.