Thanks folks You seem to have confirmed my thoughts that they were taking the mike on the 2nd fee

So, settled a CT account a few months back via Rossendales and having gone back through the paperwork I was charged 2 visit fees (correctly £28 and £14) However, after finding the letter through the door from the first visit, I called up and paid by phone on that day (first instalment at the amount offered on the letter) He then came along 4 days later and posted the receipt through and claimed this as the 2nd visit at £14 Is this lawful? And if not, what can I do about it? Cheers all (yes, I know its "only" £14, but its the principle!)

Only just seen this, wishing the very best to BB and her family

BTW, cant go into detail, but I speak from experience here

I would say you were wrong not to send them a copy of the strike out (did you provide a copy for the court to send? - so in total 3 copies - 1)court 2) them 3) you) However, now they have been given the extra 21 days they cant use not receiving as a get out of jail free and the judge will be well aware of this Lack of properly acted default notice finishes them as they have founded legal action on a improperly constructed DN (and thus effectively terminated the agreement without a lawful right to do so) If (more likely WHEN) their case is thrown out by the judge,thats IT Agreement has been terminated (by them), therefore they have no agreement with you to claim you have defaulted so cannot restart the process

BUT HCE, all you ever do is state the Baliff is correct due to Sched 3, Fee 12 of HCEO regs 2004 and can basically charge what they like (such as £800 on top of a £1200 judgment) Whenever challenged regards "reasonable" justification for the fees, or the fact that HCEO regs 2004 also state an order must be obtained from the judge for the extra fees beyond the amounts prescribed by the act, you fail to make a proper justification So based purely on the above, I fail to see how you say you offer advice on an area of law you know?

Hmm Thanks folks - be good if I could find/get a link to the "big 24 hours" thread? The re sale - they have only claimed they cant sell ALL 4 nights, so basically stating they can probably let out 3, but not all 4 As they say they have given their "final word" I believe this may end up as a small claim which will of course cost them an extra £50 or so (minimum) Serve them right for taking the P though, eh?

Hi, I made a booking back in September for a hotel (b and b actually, but a posh one!) for 4 nights for September 2010 At the time I made a £150 'non refundable' deposit Unfortunately, I have had to cancel the booking but I wrote an email explaining and stated that as they had a full 8 months to re let the room (it is around the time of a very popular event in the immediate area) I fel they should return the deposit (and even offered to assist in re letting) They have point blank refused the return of the deposit, stating that they will not be able to re let the full 4 nights (Thurs,Fri, Sat and Sun) I find this extremely hard to believe as this event has people crying out for decent accomodation I replied to their 'no refund' email and stated I felt this was unfair from a legal point of view, but they have replied stating that is their view and that is how it stands What are peoples thoughts on this, as I have never been in this situation to know the true legal position? Thanks all

FT, I know its hard but you just hjave to ignore them Dont answer the phone to them and just ignore any threats they make to you as they have no legal basis on which to collect this debt

From what I have seen, assesment hearings result in minimum success for the Debtor I would think you are better off paying it all off and going to Small Claims, this way you dont have the risk of costs being awarded against you, as no costs are payable (other than minimal travel expenses, or if yoyu have behaved unreasonably - which in this case would be very hard for them to show) I would agree with HCE (thats a first) that Fee 12 does not state the extra charges have to be reasonable, but I feel it is there by implication via the fact every other section of Sched 3 states "reasonable fees" I do not agree, however, that such costs can be charged without a direct application being made prior to attempting to charge them - the statement "For any matter not otherwise provided for, such sum as a Master, district judge or costs judge may allow upon application." Seems pretty unambiguous to me

Welsh, no - you were quite wrong with your guess With the 2 pictures I was stating that HCE - //////////// "Unfortunately the judgment debt remains outstanding and you should make payment or expect the enforcement officers to remove your goods" /////////// was beginning to sound like a stuck record with his general assumptions that irrespective of what a HCEO had charged they were in the right and we should pay Hope that clears that one up

Hush!........ Can you hear that?...............

Yes, at fair interest! The current S69 8% interest that I believe most HCEO's rely on is not a fair reflection of the current financial situation (BOE base 0.5%, most building society accounts paying around 1%) I even had the S69 8% argued by a County Court Judge when I was claiming it well over a year ago! Also £3000 was the supposed original CCJ amount (despite two months rent being around £1100!) The HCEO then added a frankly ludicrous £3145 on top! Hi Hardworking, dont let this get you down - with alll the help on here you will take the fight back to them! How anyone can do this to someone with 2 little kids is beyond me

I'm sorry HCE but in that statement you have lost all credibility with me Your comments above are just complete and utter rubbish So you seriously expect us to believe that 99% of cases a HCE deals with are actively avoiding their debts when they are in fact fully able to pay? As for the costs charged being those needed to run a HCE business - running the business at a ridiculous level of profit maybe (note - profit is fine, but the profit levels HCE's and the like must operate at and the fact part/a lot/majority of these fees are taken by intimidation (Intimidation as in "I have a court order, you need to pay or I will attempt to take your goods away") against often vulnerable people is beyond the pale) In my one case alone just one (and the rather obvious) example was the £120/hour waiting charge for a person to sit in a van - which was beyond ridiculous - there is no way this can be justified when the individual charging only has basic occupation related qualifications gained from in employment training (as this is all I can see being required for such a role) £120/hour is a rate more expected of a junior solicitor with a law degree and around 3-4 years experience behind him/her I am at a loss to understand why you continue to frequent this forum as I for one feel you add nothing, a debtor could come on here quoting a total of £1200 charges on a £1000 debt for a situation where the HCE turned up, issued the writ and was paid (all within, say, 30 minutes?) and I fully believe you would comment this was a fair charge - so to my mind you offer nothing and merely serve to muddy the waters when others are attempting to help

Someone with better knowledge will hopefully be along soon, but as these are parking fines (all council from what you say above?) the fees they can charge are VERY strictly limited Ask for a full breakdown of the fees from them - insist this is in writing I know (been there!) this is hard, but do NOT let them bully you (obvious advice is DO NOT let them in the house - if you talk to them do it outside with the door SHUT - they cannot force their way in!) £323 from £125 means they have added almost £200 which seems like daylight robbery and well above prescribed amounts to me Also, if you are on anti depressants and can get your Dr to write to the council on this, I think you would be classed as a vulnerable person (again, others more knowledgable will confirm this)

SFU, I think the issue is that the above example is NOT the most common scenario Most, upon receiving a decent looking "blue peter" for a s78 would then start paying something (albeit £1/month, etc) Thus keeping the debt alive and helping the bank towards its collection of lifetime debtors

Menatl considering someone on the M S E PPI Success threads is reporting a Barclaycard payout of a mammoth 20k across 2 accounts!

Pu - this on VAT is new to me, where does it say they can only charge VAT on the stat fees?

Certainly doesnt read to me as if its a blanket approach I see it as them having to apply each time they charge a debtor PT, can you show some examples or other evidence that shows the HCEO's just make a blanket application to charge a certain amount for their fees (such as "debtor advice", etc)

Same here - I'm set as instant email notification for thread updates, but not getting them

Hi folks, whether I make an actual post or use the "subscribe" tool, I never seem to get email notifications when threads are added to, any ideas?

RMW Quite interesting your issue with the Default being registered late I wonder if there is mileage in a claim on this, as it strikes me they are just stringing it out and you could argue the records are wrong E.g: if you showed payments stopped in, say, April 05' but they didnt register the default until September 05' then realistically the Default should drop around June/July 05'? (This of course is before we get to the "where in law does it say 6 years?")

The problem I keep coming back to though is Fee 12 says nothing about the fees being REASONABLE, so effectively gives them carte blanche to charge what they like?

Fair comment, sorry OP I'll keep that for the HCEO fees thread