Hi, my name's Chris and I have just joined.
I have been having some problems recently. I have OCD and had a major relapse earlier in the year - I was a bit of a mess and struggled to leave the house for a few months.
I'm OK now, but got behind on a lot of my bills. I'm currently paying various people back now. The people I'm having the problem with, ironically, isn't the corporations but my council.
They sent me a letter, around April, saying I hadn't paid my tax in a few months so they were taking it to a magistrate court. I'm pretty sure I had actually, but won't deny I fell behind. Cleverly, they removed my account from the web around the same time so I can't check.
Anyway, the last bill said they wanted £817 which is the entire 2014 bill for a single occupancy. I offered to pay it back at £100 a month which they a guy in an e-mail reply said was fine. And then they just went ahead with the magistrate thing anyway. As I said, I wasn't well at this time, and just gave up - I let it go to court, and would live with the concequences.
I didn't hear anything else for a while - then large chunks of money started coming out of my salary, under "council tax 1 deductions". I assume they got this through the magistrate order. It was around £270 per month. This was more than double what I wanted to pay. and it almost cost me my home - I couldn't pay rent. I told the council this in a letter/e-mail but they just ignored me and carried on taking it.
The deductions stopped after 2/3 months. So they took either £570 or the full £817. I'm checking this now, but it's certainly at least 2 deductions as I have the payslips in front of me.
Anyway, by now I'm completely lose on where I am. They didn't even tell me what the decuctions were, or that they were coming. Or what happened in the magistrate case. The money just came out. How much have I paid, how much do I owe? Do they owe me money?!
Then within weeks I get another letter from a debt collection agent called Bristow Sutor, asking for the full £817 again!
I e-mail them, telling them I have already paid the council a substancial amount of it, if not all of my debt, via salary deduction. I'm assuming it's a clerical error. But they just ignore me.
I then write to the council, saying the same thing, and for them to clear it up, and they ignore me.
I believe I wrote to both again, with the same message, disputing the debt and telling them what had happened, and they don't respond. In the meantime, Bristow and Sutor continue to escalate the debt.
I get a "notice prior to enforcement visit" from Bristow and Sutor, so I write to both again, explaining the situation, and asking for my financial information (what I've paid) by Bristol City Council - sending to both. Again, they both ignore me. I've heard nothing.
Then, literally 24 hours after I received the ""notice prior to enforcement visit" I get a bailiff visit. I can only assume they put the letter in the 2nd class post, and the bailiff used the letter date (not the arrival date) as the 7 days. The irony being, I was going to use the 7 days to contact them again to dispute again!
The original final demand bill from the council was £817 paid within 7 days- this was a demand for the entire year in advance, basically.
I have paid at least £540 through salary deductions since then. Possibly even £800+.
Now the bill I have is for £1100...........Bristow Sutor are now charging me the entire £817 again, plus over £300 in fees. Even though I've been sending letters, asking for info, and disputing it from the start. They or the council haven't replied to any of my letters or questions.
It seems the council and bailiff have just been ignoring everything I say, so they can escalate it to a point that puts me under pressure.
Is this legal? I have no idea about any of this. And thought I'd been acting quite fairly - writing to them, and pointing out what's wrong, and why I dispute it (ie I don't owe the council £817)
I'm sorry if I have gone on a bit. Maybe they're not acting as bad as I think - one of the quirks of OCD is panicking, and getting down about things quite quickly.
Council Tax Problems/Bristow Sutor Bailiff's
