I think I paid on my debit card, I tend to pay for everything via debit card these days. Silverfox, thanks for your advice, I'm going to head down to the original store I bought it from (I went to their other store in PC World which is closer to me yesterday) and ask for a refund due to it being unfit for purpose. I'll keep you all updated. Ta, Rob

Hi folks, Back in January (actually 6 months ago today) I bought a SIM free Motorola Moto G phone from Phones4U to replace a faulty Samsung Galaxy S3 which I was told was no longer covered by warranty due to a small crack in the case (that's another story altogether :-/). Anyway, the phone worked great for a couple of months, for the cost (£150) it was a great purchase and did everything that I wanted. However, about 2 months ago it started to develop an annoying issue. Basically the battery was draining really quickly. If I disconnected it from a my laptop (the phone was only supplied with a USB cable, no charger) or USB charger it would sometimes drop from a battery level of 95% to 1% and then shutdown. Other times I would take the phone out of my pocket, it would be working fine and then suddenly when I started using it the phone would go off. It also gets stuck in reboot loops when plugged in where it would try and start up and then get so far and reboot again and do this about 5 or 6 times before starting. I did some research and it seems that the bug is related to the version of Android which is on the phone (Kitkat 4.4.2). Looking into it further Motorola did release a Kitkat 4.4.3 update which fixed these issues, but then was found to have a security issue so it was withdrawn, the next version (Kitkat 4.4.4) hasn't yet been made available. I took the phone into the Phones4U store today and spoke to one of their technical support staff over the phone. The sales advisor in the store went through a factory reset which hasn't fixed the issue. They advised a repair would be 2 to 4 weeks (which seems a little bit crazy to me). The only other option they suggested was that I could buy a new phone or take out a contract to get a replacement phone (something I'm not prepared to do). The phone is pretty much useless unless it's plugged into a charger (not an issue if I'm at home or at work) but when I'm out away from a power source the phone will run for about 5 minutes and then just go off. If it wasn't for these issues I'd be happy with the phone, it's a great little device apart from those issues, does everything I want it to, I'm just getting to the end of my tether having put up with this issue for so long, all I want is to get the phone replaced, either with the same model or a comparable model of the same sort of value (if they gave me a credit note it would at least mean I could get a different phone from them). So I wondered what the next option would be? Ta, Rob

Hi Dx, It's an old Council Tax debt from last year. I've contested it with the council as they didn't apply the discount, and for a while I was getting council tax benefit which the bailiffs didn't take into consideration. Rob

Hi folks, I'm in need of a bit of advice please. I've come home this evening to find my car has been clamped by Ross & Roberts. The car is parked on my driveway after it failed the MOT (I couldn't afford to get it fixed and the tax had ran out). I've had a couple of letters and a form put through the door. First of all there is a "Second Notice" asking for over £300. The original date was the 14th March, but this was scribbled out and changed to 20th March. Also in with this letter was a "Removal Notice" to say that I've failed to contact the bailiff and the case has been passed to the Removal Enforcement Department. The sum here is over £700 and the reference numbers are different. It says on the letter that the bailiff has the right to peacefully enter the premises and remove goods even in my absense. Now I'm guessing normally that would mean if someone let them in they could levy on items in the house (at least it doesn't say about forceful entry). Again this second letter has the date 14th March and the date scribbed out and changed to 20th March. Also in there is a Form 7 - Notice of Seizure and Inventory of Goods. The only item on there is my car on the driveway. It doesn't list anything else. It says it's a walking possession agreement (request not to remove goods immediately). What I'm worried about is that it says: This bit is crossed out... the goods belong to the debtor and I am authorised to sign this agreement. The amounts owing on this form say around £700 (although a different amount to the other two forms) plus over £230 in bailiffs costs giving me a total amount of around £900 to pay. It looks like the bailiff visited around 3pm, I wasn't in (I was at work) and I haven't signed anything. First of all I'm worried if they can now enter the house by force (or change the locks, call the police etc) after putting a levy on my car? Or is it as before, they can't enter the house unless I let them in (or leave the doors unlocked, windows open etc?). I'm going to speak to the council tomorrow, I've tried talking to them before but they never seem to be any help. I'm currently suffering from depression and anxiety (mainly due to the threat of the bailiffs) a nd I'm struggling to pay the bills as it is (I'm a single parent with two nearly teenage daughters and I'm working part time). I've already advised the council of this but at the time they told me they needed something in writing from my doctor which I did get and sent in but never got any acknowledgement for. I'm going to speak to my doctor again tomorrow and try and get another letter, this time I'll try and get a copy made and take the copy down to the council offices and hand it over to their staff directly rather than posting it. So I wondered if anyone could advise about the levy and what that means? Can they now enter my home when I'm at work? I was going to scrap the car anyway (I don't think I'd get anything for it as it is) but I'd rather the council take the debt back so I can get scrap value for the car (if there is any value to it) and give that directly to the council on principal. I'm also not sure if it makes any odds, but I'm the registered keeper on the car but it was paid for by my mum (and the invoice is in my mums name), I'm still paying her back a little bit each month to pay it off as she took out a bank loan to pay for it. Rob

The LO is addressed to my address. I just went to my mums as I was worried they'd be hanging around outside my house. Maybe my fear is unfounded but I'd got my daughter with me and I didn't want her to get upset. My daughter wanted to go to my mums house to stay overnight so I dropped her over there. Thanks, I did call them back again but wasn't able to get hold of them, so I'll stop all contact with them. I've been reading some of the other posts on the forums about R&R, I gather they'll try and scare me into opening the door to them. I'll get on to the council again tomorrow and see if they've updated the amount. Thanks I will do. I was worried about my car, being a contractor if I don't work I don't get paid, so any time off work reduces my income further and if they clamp my car it's going to make it difficult for me to get to work. I will do, I've already told my eldest daughter not to answer the door, thankfully my middle daughter is away on a school trip this week and my youngest daughter lives with my ex wife and only visits a couple of nights a week. I didn't have anything through the door this evening when I got home so I don't know if the bailiff has visited or not. I live in Torquay. I gather they have offices in Torquay too. I stopped taking the anti-depressants of my own accord as they made me feel worse, although my mood seems to be going up and down like a yo-yo at the moment, it certainly isn't helping with the divorce either. I think I'm going to go back and see my GP and see what they advise. Thanks for all your advice, I'll get cracking on it tonight It's certainly put my mind at rest a bit, I was worried about it all afternoon and couldn't concentrate at work... luckily my boss is fairly understanding and knows a bit of my situation at home at the moment although I don't want to push my luck as I'd like to get a decent reference. Rob

Thanks for the advice so far. I've spoken to my mum, she has some of the paperwork for my car (an invoice when she bought the car and the loan agreement, although it was a cash loan and not secured on the car). I had a call back from the bailiff but missed the call (I was on the way home at the time), I'm a bit worried about the next step, I picked my eldest daughter up from the child minder and went straight round to my mums house in case they were waiting outside the house. I'm worried that they're going to demand unreasonable amounts of money that I can't afford. I'm more than willing to pay what I owe and hopefully the amount will be reduced but I don't want the bailiff coming around banging on the doors, I've told my kids to keep the doors and windows locked and they're never in the house on their own. Rob

Thanks,I'll try and find the original letters from the council tonight and try and make a payment. Not sure what happened with the post, I think it might be the browser I'm using at work, previewing the post puts it in one large block of text too unless I use HTML tags to put lines in. I'll try and edit it now, failing that when I get home this evening. Ta,Rob

Hi folks, I wonder if someone could possibly help?I received a letter last Saturday from Ross & Roberts bailiffs with regards to unpaid council tax. The letter was dated 26th June 2012 and I didn't receive the letter until Saturday 7th July 2012. It said in the letter I had 14 days from the date of the letter to contact them. I tried calling both numbers which were given on the letter to try and make arrangements to pay the debt but one one number the office was closed, and the other there was no answer despite the opening hours being listed as 8am until 1pm on Saturday (I called around 12:30pm when the post arrived). I've since called Ross & Roberts today to try and arrange a payment plan. The lady at the call centre for R&R advised that I'd have to speak to the bailiff directly, so I called the bailiff up and left a message for them to call back. I then spoke to the council who advised that they can't take the debt back unless I make a complaint to both R&R and forward a copy to the council. To be fair the lady at the council did sound sympathetic but I guess she was just going by the policies at the council.The amount they say I owe is around £1400 and is from December 2011 when I moved in to the property until March 2013. However I did find out that the council have over charged me for council tax. They had me listed as two adults living in the property despite the fact that I am the only adult in the property with my two daughters (aged 12 and 10). So the council advised that I should get a 25% discount to start with, although they said that in the mean time I need to contact R&R and advise them and come up with some sort of payment plan. Basically I split up with my ex wife in December last year, the split hit me really hard and I was put onto anti-depressants by my GP, I just seemed to go into an auto-pilot mode to find a new home for my daughters and I to live in and some of the bills just got missed. I'm also due to stop working in mid August as I'm a contractor and my contract is coming to an end. They advised me that if I'm not working I'll be eligible for council tax and housing benefit so the amount I owe would be reduced if I'm eligible.So they have put a note on my account and it's been passed on to the council tax team. I'm now not sure what to do, I'm guessing that R&R are going to expect a high initial payment and expensive monthly payments based on the amount they currently have me down as owing. Don't get me wrong, I'm more than willing to make the payments and pay off any arrears I just feel that this extra stress is not going to help, it's hard enough as it is going through a messy divorce without having to deal with bailiffs too. So I wondered if anyone could advise what to do please? I'm not sure if I should complain to R&R and to the council or what? So far the only complaint I have against R&R is the fact that I had literally one working day to speak to them to come up with a payment plan (and the fact I haven't been able to come up with an affordable agreement). My complaint against the council is that they've screwed up and won't take the debt back from R&R so I can make arrangements to pay the correct amount (I'm guessing that the payments would be much more affordable based on what I should be paying rather than without the 25% discount?). In the mean time I'm also worried that they can put a levy on my car, it's a complicated situation, the car is registered in my name but my mum took out a loan to pay for it and I'm paying my mum back the loan payments every month (I had a bad credit rating so I couldn't get a loan, I still don't think I could get a loan to pay off my priority debts due to a default on my credit card and this debt).Anyway, any advice would be much appreciated. Regards,Rob

Okay, but this debt was my own debt from when I was single, about 5 months before I met my wife. What I'm concerned about is not being able to take my belongings out of the house if/when I leave if a walking possession has been signed. I'll keep in mind what you mention about the council tax though, if I leave (which I don't want to have to do, but it looks like it might be the only option) then I'll make sure I let the council know that I'm leaving (the council housing department are already aware of my pending situation anyway). Rob

Hi there,I'm wondering if maybe someone could give me some advice with regards to separation and where things stand with Bailiffs?Basically my wife has told me that she wants to separate from me. At the moment I'm the only one working and we're strugging financially as it is.I have a debt for over paid council tax benefit from where I was living before I moved in with my wife. I've had issues paying the debt and finally the council have taken the step of referring the debt to Ross & Roberts. I've had dealings with Ross & Roberts in the past and generally in the past had to borrow large sums of money to stop any action.When I received a letter from Ross & Roberts asking for full payment of the debt (around £700 ish) I called them up to try and make arrangements to re-pay the debt over a few months. At the moment my wife tends to deal with the money in the household, I go out and work, she has my bank card and she gives me money which I then use for things like fuel to get to work. She deals with paying the rent, council tax etc. She also tends to put money on my credit card (to keep it under it's limit) which I can use to pay for things like shopping.I've now opened a new bank account with Nationwide. It's a current account with online banking and a debit card (my other account is a basic cash card account with no debit card facility or online banking). I've told my wife that I want to have more control over the money situation, at first it sounded a bit harsh but after thinking about it I explained to her that I understood it was stressful for her so I wanted to deal with paying the bills etc. She's not said if she is happy with this arrangement but I've decided to be assertive and get my bank details changed with my employer to my new account.My concern at the moment with with regards to a visit from Ross & Roberts. I made a token payment a couple of weeks ago for £29 (I paid £30 but they took £1 as a card payment surcharge). They advised that the minimum they were prepared to accept was £70 a month which we can't currently afford. I tried to argue my case but they were adament that if I didn't pay £70 a month starting from the 1st December they would send a Bailiff around to our property.I'm currently working full time hours (I'm out at 8am and not back until past 6pm, and due to car troubles it looks like I might have to get the bus so I'll be out from 7am until past 7pm). I think my wife may be suffering from stress and depression because of the situation at the moment (I can hardly blame her, I'm also suffering from depression), and I'm worried that she will let the bailiffs in or the kids might let them in when one of us is home.I was wondering, if they do manage to get in and they put a levy on my belongings, what would my rights be for removing my belongings when I move out of the property?Basically the debt is in my name and nothing to do with my wife, it happened before we met. We're in the process of working out who is going to have what and I fear that if the bailiffs put a levy on my belongings (a small amount of electricial items, some furnature, a microwave etc) that I won't be able to remove them from the property and I'll be left having to replace them either new or second hand leaving me with even more to pay out.Rob