Lambeth council tax

[Blagsta]

What is up with them? Do they just make figures up as they please? Why do they send contradictory letters, then when you phone them up (thats if you can actually get through) do they then tell you another contradictory amount you owe? Even when actually you've paid it all? How do they get away with being such lying cunts? :mad: :mad:

[rennie]

sounds like they've pissed u off big time Blagsta. :( I try and keep my dealings with the council to a bare minimum.

[Blagsta]

We fell quite a bit behind with last years CT, but R paid it off in 2 installments. They then sent us a letter claiming we still owed £300ish, so I phoned them up and after a bit of arguing, got them to admit that we didn't owe £300ish, but they claimed that we owed £143, then after more arguing that we owed £30 (even though we don't - it was for a liability order which we shouldn't have had cos an arrangement to pay was made), but now they're claiming its £143 again, although apparently they were taking £113 of what I paid for this years CT against last years (even though they're 2 different financial years and therefor accounts), even though we don't owe anything. They then sent an arrangement to pay for this year (with no payment due for June :confused: ), even though we're paying monthly as we should. They've now told me that the bailiffs are involved (even though we owe nothing) and after much ranting at them down the phone, the bloke admitted "actually its in a bit of a mess, I'll get a manager to call you back". Who made it into a mess? Not us you incompetent wankers. :mad: :mad: :mad:

How do they get away with it?

[rennie]

ouch. it sounds terrible. can u get down there one day n speak to someone in person? Or write a really annoyed letter n CC it to you local councilor?

good luck.

[Blagsta]

I'll wait and see what the manager has to say tomorrow (if they phone me back...)

[corporate whore]

Hey Blagsta, this happened at my place this week - Lambeth forgot to amend a standing order (or set it up in the first place, or something :rolleyes: ), so we got two letters, addressed to two people, demanding the whole year in one whack.

One phone call sorted it all out - fairly painless, given past experience.

They are Grade A fuckwits, though..

[Blagsta]

Well I received a statement of account in the post this morning. However, it bears no resemblance to what we've actually paid and what we paid it for.
Bunch of jokers. :mad:

[Wintermute]

It took 18 months of letters and phone calls for Lambeth Council to reluctantly concur that our address was real and that we did, in fact, live there. At which point they threatened us with baliffs for non-payment of council tax. Fucking halfwits.

[Blagsta]

Well they just rang back and admitted it was one big cock up by them and we don't owe any money. I'm just glad I had the confidence to argue the toss with them on the phone, otherwise we'd have had bailiffs knocking at the door.

[rennie]

Congrats! :)

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Hey Blagsta, this happened at my place this week - Lambeth forgot to amend a standing order (or set it up in the first place, or something :rolleyes: ), so we got two letters, addressed to two people, demanding the whole year in one whack.

One phone call sorted it all out - fairly painless, given past experience.

They are Grade A fuckwits, though..

Addressed to three people, actually. Just to round it off they've sent me a letter asking me to verify someone elses direct debit.:rolleyes:

[corporate whore]

:D

Herne Hill councillor and oft-Private Eye figure of fun Jim Dickson has got the budget brief in the new council. Surely a co-incidence this is all happening now.

Right?

[brokenyolk]

We fell quite a bit behind with last years CT, but R paid it off in 2 installments. They then sent us a letter claiming we still owed £300ish, so I phoned them up and after a bit of arguing, got them to admit that we didn't owe £300ish, but they claimed that we owed £143, then after more arguing that we owed £30 (even though we don't - it was for a liability order which we shouldn't have had cos an arrangement to pay was made), but now they're claiming its £143 again, although apparently they were taking £113 of what I paid for this years CT against last years (even though they're 2 different financial years and therefor accounts), even though we don't owe anything. They then sent an arrangement to pay for this year (with no payment due for June :confused: ), even though we're paying monthly as we should. They've now told me that the bailiffs are involved (even though we owe nothing) and after much ranting at them down the phone, the bloke admitted "actually its in a bit of a mess, I'll get a manager to call you back". Who made it into a mess? Not us you incompetent wankers. :mad: :mad: :mad:

How do they get away with it?

Hello there B - yeah we had trouble with Lambeth/Capita the other year - ended up getting mounting costs from the bailiffs and once it goes to them, Capita will refuse to touch it, if it's anything like our situation....

What sorted it out was a letter to our local councillors and MP, stressing our responsible attitudes, decent citizens etc and how we could do without the stress as we had a new baby etc...... we got a lovely reply saying that they would contact lambeth and capita - all of a sudden, didn't hear from Lambeth, Capita, didn't hear from the bailiffs, the 'debt' was cleared and the silence was magical......

good luck!

[Ms Ordinary]

We fell quite a bit behind with last years CT, but R paid it off in 2 installments. They then sent us a letter claiming we still owed £300ish, so I phoned them up and after a bit of arguing, got them to admit that we didn't owe £300ish, but they claimed that we owed £143, then after more arguing that we owed £30 (even though we don't - it was for a liability order which we shouldn't have had cos an arrangement to pay was made), but now they're claiming its £143 again, although apparently they were taking £113 of what I paid for this years CT against last years (even though they're 2 different financial years and therefor accounts), even though we don't owe anything. They then sent an arrangement to pay for this year (with no payment due for June :confused: ), even though we're paying monthly as we should. They've now told me that the bailiffs are involved (even though we owe nothing) and after much ranting at them down the phone, the bloke admitted "actually its in a bit of a mess, I'll get a manager to call you back". Who made it into a mess? Not us you incompetent wankers. :mad: :mad: :mad:

How do they get away with it?

Oh dear - I do empathise with the way you've tried to give a brief, simple summary of the situation, and the complete impossibility of doing so when they've apparently just randomly subtracted and added figures on to each other ad infinitum.

I've recently had to send a deliciously complicated letter off to them as well - I tried to ensure it made a reasonable amount of sense, and then about half way through, I just thought 'why the bloody hell should I spend my time trying to make it all somehow make sense, its not like you ever do' and I just gave up. The letters still got all the relevant facts in it, but there was just no way to 'un-complicate' it at all.

Its really hard not to believe its some kind of plot to make people just give up and pay whatever and whenever they're told to. You can't even talk to anyone about what they're doing without sounding like an insane ranter. :D

(brokenyolk's advice sounds very sensible).

[Blagsta]

It's been sorted now - they admitted their cock up. No apology though.

Cheers