Excel Civil Enforcement - TV Licence

pepperjack

poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »

I repeat, they cannot take your parents goods.

If they turn up and say they will, then you call the police. It's as simple as that.

As for your statement that you are screwed - well yes, it does sound like it. I don't know what other help you expect. Nobody on here is going to pay the debt for you. You need to get out and try and raise the money.

If the bailiffs can't collect or take goods on Monday, it will in all probability go back to the court, and you will be summoned to appear. You could then appeal for time to pay.

Thanks for that, I needed the reality check. You see, I came on here hoping that someone would just pay this debt for me out of the blue because I'm a moron, but thanks to you I can see that it was unrealistic of me to expect that.

Seriously, I came here for advice about how to deal with the bailiff, at no point have I even hinted that I expect someone else to pay this debt, I have said multiple times that I'm willing to pay it myself but I need to do it in instalments.

This has been a really !!!!!! time for me, the last thing I need is some !!!!!! to pile on the humiliation on a forum I'd come to advice for.

pepperjack

To boil it all down, is there anything I can do/say to convince the enforcement agent to accept an instalment plan rather than this lump sum they're expecting me to pull out of thin air?

sourcrates

pepperjack wrote: »

To boil it all down, is there anything I can do/say to convince the enforcement agent to accept an instalment plan rather than this lump sum they're expecting me to pull out of thin air?

Ok, look, its not your house, and very few of the possessions are yours, is there anything there of value that they could take to sell ?
If you can prove the goods aren't yours, they cant take them.


Removal of goods is always used as leverage to get what they really want, which is cold hard cash for the full amount.


When they realise you don't have it, and nothing of value belongs to you, then it will be passed back to the court, and you will have the opportunity to offer repayment at that point.

pepperjack

sourcrates wrote: »

If you can prove the goods aren't yours, they cant take them.

This is the problem. My folks don't have receipts for every item in the house, who in the world does?

Am I to assume there is no way to convince these bailiffs to accept an instalment plan?

andyfromotley

No of course you cant force them to take a payment plan, if you put yourself in a bailiffs shoes, this person who hasnt paid their bills want to set up a payment plan??? So theyu will always try to strongarm you into full or near full payment.

However you dont have the cash or any way to get it, You have no possessions. Eventually they will have to settle for a payment plan or take you to court. This would be my course of action.

1. Type a letter stating the following 1. the property is not yours, 2, all possessions in the house belong to your parents except x, y z. 3, your offer of payment by installment plan.
2. Send one copy to the debt company, keep another one by the front door.
3. When they turn up again give them a copy of the letter. Call the police, video everything from the moment the bailiffs arrive. This has a very sobering effect on the behaviour of anyone in a position of 'power'.
4. I guess that by employing these tactics you will end up with a payment plan by the end of the day.

i am no expert but this is what i would do in your situation.

poppasmurf_bewdley

pepperjack wrote: »

Thanks for that, I needed the reality check. You see, I came on here hoping that someone would just pay this debt for me out of the blue because I'm a moron, but thanks to you I can see that it was unrealistic of me to expect that.

Seriously, I came here for advice about how to deal with the bailiff, at no point have I even hinted that I expect someone else to pay this debt, I have said multiple times that I'm willing to pay it myself but I need to do it in instalments.

This has been a really !!!!!! time for me, the last thing I need is some !!!!!! to pile on the humiliation on a forum I'd come to advice for.

Yes you did. You started off by stating:
"Back in 2014 we had a house visit from a TV licence inspector. It turned out our direct debit had failed and we were a couple of months behind on the TV licence payment."

That alone was stupidity, because you must have had at least two letters from your bank informing you that they had bounced the DD's, and you evidently did nothing about it, but you make it sound as though it was just something that happened out of the blue without any warning or anything. Yet you come on here expecting everyone to run around and help you sort out the mess of your own making.

Yes, the bailiffs are demanding full payment, and if you don't have it, you will have to suffer the consequences. It doesn't take 'a smart !!!!' to know that.

I pointed out what will probably occur when that happens. That is your opportunity to pay in installments. But it may well result in an increase in the amount of money owed.

I also suggested that you take out a loan to pay the debt if possible. That way you could pay the amount in installments.

pepperjack

So first you accuse me of begging others to pay my bills for me, which was a preposterous statement and now you've found a way of pointing out how "stupid" I've been. Well thanks for that.

You know, it's not every day two large strangers enter your home unannounced, scaring the wife and kid and threatening to take property from the house, but when it happens you'd think a place like this would be a safe haven from that kind of judgement, looks like I've been stupid again though.

And as for you saying I've "come on here expecting everyone to run around and help you sort out the mess of your own making" well that's stupidity on your part, with a dash of spite as well. All I wanted to know was how to deal with a bailiff.

pepperjack

andyfromotley wrote: »

No of course you cant force them to take a payment plan, if you put yourself in a bailiffs shoes, this person who hasnt paid their bills want to set up a payment plan??? So theyu will always try to strongarm you into full or near full payment.

However you dont have the cash or any way to get it, You have no possessions. Eventually they will have to settle for a payment plan or take you to court. This would be my course of action.

1. Type a letter stating the following 1. the property is not yours, 2, all possessions in the house belong to your parents except x, y z. 3, your offer of payment by installment plan.
2. Send one copy to the debt company, keep another one by the front door.
3. When they turn up again give them a copy of the letter. Call the police, video everything from the moment the bailiffs arrive. This has a very sobering effect on the behaviour of anyone in a position of 'power'.
4. I guess that by employing these tactics you will end up with a payment plan by the end of the day.

i am no expert but this is what i would do in your situation.

Thanks for the advice, I really didn't want to bring that kind of drama to my parents, they don't deserve it. It's a quiet street and my parents have a good reputation around here. Yesterday was bad enough.

The bailiffs are not accepting an instalment plan so it looks like I'll be spending the weekend trying my best to round up whatever money I can to get this paid.

Thanks to everyone that gave advice, poppasmurf included when he wasn't being needlessly condescending.

poppasmurf_bewdley

So here we have another newby who doesn't like being faced with facts.

Yes, I think you were stupid for getting in this situation. But now you are in it, I told you a couple of home truths. I also suggested a couple of ways you could get out of trouble.

Take out a loan I suggested, and you could repay that over time. You haven't even mentioned doing that. Maybe your credit is shot and you can't do that, but you haven't even had the courtesy to mention that it's not an option.

Let it go back to court, I said, and they may let you pay it off over a period of time. Again, total silence on your part.

As for suggesting that I said you came on here hoping someone would pay it on your behalf. Well, if you read what I said, it will become clear that I never suggested that.

Sorry you don't like plain speaking. If you don't like being told the truth, you shouldn't really be frequenting these forums. There are plenty on this forum who will dish out a lot more vitriol than I can.

greensalad

pepperjack wrote: »

Back in 2014 we had a house visit from a TV licence inspector. It turned out our direct debit had failed and we were a couple of months behind on the TV licence payment.

And so you paid what you owed, yeah?

pepperjack wrote: »

Fast forward to last Wednesday when my wife got a phone call on her mobile from Excel saying we owed them just under £700,

So you didn't pay your bounced bills.

pepperjack wrote: »

Fast forward again to today. Nothing had yet arrived in the post

Didn't you set up mail redirection?

pepperjack wrote: »

So basically, we have no correspondence regarding this debt whatsoever

Because you moved house with a debt still owed and didn't give anyone your forwarding address and now you're complaining the debt has got bigger.

Two months TV license is what, £24? Next time pay a bill when it fails.