Bailiffs just turned up: Collectiva Enforcement Agency

LDoc

Good morning

Out of the blue, a bailiff just turned up (9am Saturday) demanding £603 (£353 for the remainder of an unpaid SP30 courtesy of Staffordshire and £250 fee for the 'Enforcement stage' visit). He said a payment had been missed a few days before on and demanded the full payment or said he could enter and take goods, including getting a locksmith if we refused entry. I've paid the full amount, with fee.

My question is whether they can simply come out and demand this payment and self-certifying fee. Our payment plan is £33.73 per week. We received absolutely no notification of a missed payment. We could have simply paid the missed installment over the phone. This seems a gross use of their enforcement process to extort money. Surely, they can't take this enforcement fee. Please help. Thanks.

LDoc

That's Collectica, not Collectiva.

LDoc

Update: the collection agency signed us up to a direct debit. They now tell us they don't use a direct debit instruction; they simply take the money out each week as a transaction' 'because the banks charge them if it doesn't go through'.

This week they only left 6 days and the money wasn't there. They said over the phone, 'Oh, we don't tell people if a payment doesn't go through. It's your responsibility. You would have been told the policy for non-payment over the phone' (ie instructing bailiffs without warning). No, we weren't. I asked for the recordings of the calls. 'We can't do that.' Yes, you can under the DPA. 'Oh, yes, you're right: we can.' I'd like the name of the person we spoke to. 'We can't give you that.' Yes, you can. 'Oh, OK, it's xx.' And so it went on. How they can even fight this. I told them we will be claiming it back, if necessary, through small claims'. I intend to charge them interest as well. Crazy.