Bristow & Sutor Bailiffs

le5589

Hi , My partner had a debt for council tax which he received a letter for from Bristow & Sutor .. My partner rang Bristow & Sutor to make up a payment plan for a debt of aprox £500 he set the plan up and kept to each payment agreed however a few months down the line without any warning I opened to door to a Bristow & Sutor agent who asked to speak to my partner (We kept the agent outside and did not allow him into the property ) the agent then went on to tell my partner that he still has a remaining outstanding debt of £39.00 BUT that the debt had now gone up to £274.00 as he had to visit , My partner received no letter from Bristow & Sutor to advise him of the outstanding debt of £39.00 ( like he did the first time) My partners car was also on my front while this happened and we were wondering if there was any chance the agent could have levyed the car and would he have had to sign any documents (or be told about any) for this to happen ? also wondering where he stands with this as he didn't receive any letters nor did he receive any letters in relation to a visit from the Bristow & Sutor agent , who told him he rang before he came however he rang a number which didn't belong to my partner .... my partner didn't ever give a contact number as he only spoke to them on one occasion to set up the payment plan and has never spoken to them again until this agent came to my door . has anyone got any information in relation to my current situation regarding Bristow & Sutor Bailiffs TIA

Herbie21

le5589 wrote: »

Hi , My partner had a debt for council tax which he received a letter for from Bristow & Sutor .. My partner rang Bristow & Sutor to make up a payment plan for a debt of aprox £500 he set the plan up and kept to each payment agreed however a few months down the line without any warning I opened to door to a Bristow & Sutor agent who asked to speak to my partner (We kept the agent outside and did not allow him into the property ) the agent then went on to tell my partner that he still has a remaining outstanding debt of £39.00 BUT that the debt had now gone up to £274.00 as he had to visit , My partner received no letter from Bristow & Sutor to advise him of the outstanding debt of £39.00 ( like he did the first time) My partners car was also on my front while this happened and we were wondering if there was any chance the agent could have levyed the car and would he have had to sign any documents (or be told about any) for this to happen ? also wondering where he stands with this as he didn't receive any letters nor did he receive any letters in relation to a visit from the Bristow & Sutor agent , who told him he rang before he came however he rang a number which didn't belong to my partner .... my partner didn't ever give a contact number as he only spoke to them on one occasion to set up the payment plan and has never spoken to them again until this agent came to my door . has anyone got any information in relation to my current situation regarding Bristow & Sutor Bailiffs TIA

Without knowing some further details it is difficult to respond (although I have to say that I am already uneasy with the visit made which has been charged at £235).

How much was the debt owed?

When roughly did you your partner make the payment arrangement?

Was the arrangement made after receiving a Notice of Enforcement ?

When the arrangement was set up did Bristow & Sutor specify an actual date each month when payment must be made?

Were the payments made by those dates?

le5589

Hi , The original amount my partner owed was roughly £500 he set the payment plan up around April 2014 and kept to the agreement that was made between him and Bristow & Sutor to pay a certain amount each month(no set date) which they said they could accept ( the payments were made after receiving a basic letter to say he owed the money) then the Bristow & Sutor agent came to my home yesterday without warning and told him that he owed £39.00 still from this £500 BUT that the amount he owed had gone up as he had to make this visit so this £39.00 owing has now turned into £274.00 this was the first he had heard about owing more money .

FireWyrm

I'm pretty sure that they have to give you clear warning of an impending visit and frankly, a 'visit' for £39 outstanding is ludicrous. How much did you partner believe he had left to pay?

le5589

As far as my partner was aware the debt was fully paid and then yesterday approximately 3 months later this agent arrived at my door without any warning (yesterday) he also handed my partner a letter that said basically if payment was not made then they may seize goods from this property however this is my property and my partner doesn't actually live here so all the items in this property belong to me .

FireWyrm

le5589 wrote: »

As far as my partner was aware the debt was fully paid .

And he has a letter of satisfaction which says that? What made him 'think' the debt was paid?

le5589

He never heard anything back from them he made the payments that they asked for each month and then tried to contact them to make sure this was correct however there was never any answer / response from Bristow & Sutor he thought if there was any issue they would then contact him either by phone or letter seeing as he tried numerous amount of times to contact them directly.however they left it 3 months and sent an enforcement agent to my door and added £235.00 to this silly £39.00 outstanding .. my partner would have happily paid this had he known , why would he pay almost £500 and then decide to leave £39.00 and risk them turning up at my property to seize goods :S

le5589

I should also add he never received any confirmation of any payments he has made !

FireWyrm

I think you may have to pay it.

As far as Bairstow and Sutor are concerned, you simply stopped paying. The collector claims he tried to contact you by phone to sort this out, but he got no answer. In reality, what should have happened is that you were pro-active and persistent and either got a letter of satisfaction, or, a list of payments made. You ought to have kept track of what was paid and how much as well as when. Never rely on a company to inform you. You should be well aware of how much needed to be paid and what frequency.

Having said that, it is a bit ridiculous as you have said. I would be inclined to ring them tomorrow morning and INSIST on speaking to someone in authority. Point out that it was £39, you were not informed, they have delayed recovery processes and the collector 'says' he called, but you have not received any written warning of an impending visit. I'm no expert, but I do believe that a written warning is required before they can actually attend and charge you for it.

Stand your ground and see what happens. Come back with the response tomorrow.

le5589

Hey thanks for that , the agent said he tried to ring before he came on a number my partner never put down as a contact number for him funnily enough the number belongs to me (which was unknown to the agent) however my phones away for repair as I broke it so its not on (obviously) My partner didn't think to be quite honest as he made sure he made the payments that were asked of him so really 39.00 shouldn't have even been left as Bristow & Sutor set out the amounts per month which should have totalled up to the amount but for some reason it hasn't panned out that way . my partner barley has time to sit down and eat with the amount of work he does let alone anything else unfortunately, He just did what was asked of him and thought that was the end of it .. apparently not though thanks for the response though . also the letter that the agent handed my partner stated we should not contact the Bristow & Sutor office as we would just get passed back to this particular agent and that the office would not intervene .

FireWyrm

le5589 wrote: »

Hey thanks for that , the agent said he tried to ring before he came on a number my partner never put down as a contact number for him funnily enough the number belongs to me (which was unknown to the agent) however my phones away for repair as I broke it so its not on (obviously) My partner didn't think to be quite honest as he made sure he made the payments that were asked of him so really 39.00 shouldn't have even been left as Bristow & Sutor set out the amounts per month which should have totalled up to the amount but for some reason it hasn't panned out that way . my partner barley has time to sit down and eat with the amount of work he does let alone anything else unfortunately, He just did what was asked of him and thought that was the end of it .. apparently not though thanks for the response though . also the letter that the agent handed my partner stated we should not contact the Bristow & Sutor office as we would just get passed back to this particular agent and that the office would not intervene .

Hmmm...

Bumping and hoping that someone like DancingFairy has ideas. I would try to contact them anyway and I would also make it clear you wont lay down for this and you are researching ways to complain to higher authority. At the end of the day, the agent cannot just ring a random number and claim that he did enough to justify a visit. I remain convinced that they are required to send you a letter and certainly, that would have solved this long before it got this far, but then, they wouldnt be able to levy the additional costs.

Dont let it get out of hand though. Sometimes, it just isnt worth it. Plan B would be to pay the robbing s0d off and be done with it...owe someone else the money who are not likely to keep slapping you with ever increasing fines for non-payment and argue the toss later.