I've finally lost. If there any councillors reading this the whole dept needs either training or sacking you decide.

I move from my flat to a house. No difficlut i'm sure it's been done before. I set up my Direct Debit with them, then they sent me a letter to say i was in debt :rolleyes: why beacause i owed £20 form my flat. Ok i said i'll pay by card. Oh no you can't do that we'll set up a DD for it. Seemed odd but OK if thats the way they work.

Then it really got weird. I had a letter saying i'm exempt for 6 months because the house is empty and i don't live there. (Doohh must have been someone elses furniture i moved in) So i called and they said i had moved to Abbeydale rd. This was news to me. SO they asked if i had tennant in my Abbeydale Rd Pad. I DONT OWN A HOUSE IN ABBEYDALE RD. yes you do they said because we put it on the system last week.

They cancelled all my DDs and now want me to go in to the council offices to sort it out. It was simple move what can be that difficult.

The manager at the CT office was bordering on rude so i gave up and sent a letter to my councilor. I told the manager this and she seems very helpful all of a sudden .

My point is it shouldn't get to this stage. If the staff are getting it wrong because they aren't trained it's the councils fault. If they have been trained and they still get it wrong then the job for life culture needs to stop and they need to be fired. If they get it wrong they should say hands up we made a mistake, we'll fix it rather than make the CUSTOMER do all the work and run in circles.

Who else has had run in's with the Council Tax Gistapo. I know we have councillors on here. I'd like to hear your take on this and what you would do if a constituant came to you with this issue. I await yours and my councillors reply.

Rant over

I had dreadful problems also.

Cut a long story short all I wanted to do was change over from student exempt to paying in full, it took over 11 months to sort out, loads of phone calls as they kept billing me as a student then one day a court date came through, even though I'd written phoned and done all the things I possibly could do to try and pay (and recieve) the correct bill, which arrived one week before the court letter. I rang and asked them to send me a dd form as apparently they can't do it over the phone.

Ended up paying the court costs letter, although never did go to court. When I tried to complain by letter (sent registered post) they gave me three differing addresses on three different occassions and I never got a reply. I gave up in the end. Sometimes I wish I'd let them take me to court so I could prove how useless they were.

Good Luck!

In defence..... I've alway found them helpful. Sorry!

When I left Sheffield I told them, but I had arrears that needed paying.

I travelled from Peterborough (was coming up here anyway really), and went in in person.

Apparently, my student account had been overwritten with the new tennant's details, so they didn't know I existed, but as I was in their office, they wanted me to make a whole new application for student status to enable me to give them £60.

Fine. Forget it - says I.

Except she'd now put all my details on the system, and had set the wheels in motion for me to receive a new 'normal' bill. :roll:

When I received the new bill, I sent a very polite but firm letter stating how disappointed I would be if they wasted my £60 (and more) by taking me to court as they were threatening, only to find they had no case at all.

I received a letter from them saying my account was now settled :rolleyes:


Considering that this was in '93, you'd think that they'd have had time to sort themselves out :suspect:

I have had nothing but hassles from the housing/ council tax benefits folk, every darn time I have had to make a claim, or renew a current one.

It seems like the clerks who deal with your claim have two speeds, "Stop" and "reverse".

When I moved in here, it took them from the end of April/ beginning of May right up till October to sort out that "duh!" the fact that I was on income support meant that I was entitled to a rent/ CT "rebate"

the latest fiasco is these verification visits they are meant to do every six-to-twelve months; In the last nine months, I have been visited three times. (jul/ jan, and this month)

I have tried to explain to them that, back in July last year, they promised me they'd eke out the time between visits, but they don't seem to have got the idea.

I told them, this is bordering on harassment, IMO. I do not want the hassle, or the intrusion of someone coiing to my house every four months or so, when it could be as infrequently as every eleven months.

I do not want to be invaded four times a year to tell the brain dead pen pushers that the same "Mrs P Talker" who spoke to them four months previously is the same Mrs P Talker who they are talking to this time, and that there were no changes of circumstance.

it's an exercise in futility,a waste of resources, they'd be better targetting the fraudster landlords who receive thousands in benefit from non-existant tenants. That's where the money lies.

GRRRR

PT

Mmeawwww pussy cat! But I must admit i do find the CT people here quiet useless.

Hi Plain talker,
Is that verification visiting some new trend since last year, sounds like your popular but I hope they didn,t take the liberty of just turning up on your doorstep without an appointment? What does thier office manager think about them stalking you?

Hi Plain talker,
Is that verification visiting some new trend since last year, sounds like your popular but I hope they didn,t take the liberty of just turning up on your doorstep without an appointment? What does thier office manager think about them stalking you?

Yes, this verification is a new initiative, apparently brought in by the government. Their representative did just "turn up", which annoyed me, as they had done in January this year, and in July last year.

I am awaiting their superiors' response to their staff's apparent state-sponsored stalking and harassment.

PT

Wou, plain talker those reps certainly were lucky that thier journey wasn,t wasted and that you even went to the door, loads of people don,t, especially without appointments. I know a few of them with police stickers by the front with exactly that advice. If you don,t know who,s there don,t open the door or something to that effect. May be food for thought?

I ended up taking the hassle away from my mum, as she couldn't cope with it anymore. My advice to people is to keep copies of EVERYTHING you write to them, all emails, and log all telephone calls (what time, date, who you spoke to etc).

That way when they tell you they havent heard from you, you send them a nasty letter with a copy of everything that you have and every bit of correspondance that you have from them, inlcuding the phone calls. You keep doing this until they get the idea.

Sounds like a lot of hassle, but at least then if they do drag your ass to court, you've got proof of everything you've sent the ********.

******edit: sorry for the swearing, by the way******

I have to say that although Council Tax where truely rubbish (even got it wrong AGAIN) The letter to my councilor did the job. A quick response and someone further up the CT line sent an apolgy, and explaination and i've got his e-mail address :hihi:

I'd say if your having problems mail your councillor. She certainly did the trick for me. Its what they are there for and as long as you give all the details and keep it civil and clear they should help.

Thanks

Good tip cuey thanks. Up to now my mum hasn,t had a problem but you never know especially when they bring in old methods with new fancy names, that failed first time around. Like those waste of time unanounced verification visits plain talker mentioned.

A few years back that was the in thing, and the visitor ended up having to go back for people who were not home. Ie on holliday, at the doc,s, shopping, out for a walk, in the bath, in bed with flu, on the loo etc. As the visits were unanounced there was nothing unusual about this.

What happend then, a threatening note in the letter box initially, some more pen pushing, may be a claim suspended on paper, then after contact a vist would be made (on days when the person would be home), then more pen pushing reinstating the benefit that was only suspended on paper in the first place.

This waste of resources should be investigated, instead of adults playing sherlock holmes.

Yes, this verification is a new initiative, apparently brought in by the government. Their representative did just "turn up", which annoyed me, as they had done in January this year, and in July last year.

I am awaiting their superiors' response to their staff's apparent state-sponsored stalking and harassment.

PT

Hi PT,

This sounds to me very much like they think there is something 'not quite right' about your claim and they perhaps believe that you are in some way on the fiddle.

I had a very close friend a few years ago who was a benefits rights advice worker in a CAB. This reminds me of the sort of things that he told me the PMs at the DHSS used to do to those that were suspected of any dodgy claims etc.

They were known a PMs because that was short for Professional Mourners. Apparently all the advice workers at the time thought this was what the fraud investigaters should become, because they were all such a miserable gang of woebegotten, poe faced, t***s who would sooner F*** you up the a**e with a blunt rasp than smile and profer you a pleasant 'good morning'.

Be very careful of these people as their only purpose in life is to make your very existance as difficult as they can. If possible, I would imagine that your best bet would be to answer any questions which they may wish to ask while keeping them standing on your doorstep. If they insist on gaining entry perhaps you could explain that your parents told you to never talk to strangers and certainly never allow them into the house. Further insistance should be met with a phone call to the Police.:lol: :clap: :heyhey:

A few years ago my mum had 3 visits over a 3 year periode, but at that time it was the in thing and every one got suprise visits.

On the last occasion the lady looked around mums house briefly, probably because she,d been away visiting a relative and on her return home didn,t respond straight away to the cards in her letterbox with threats of supended housing benefit. If I rememer rightly she saw the cards for junk mail at first. Another tenant who was on holliday also had her housing benefit suspended.

All a complete waste of time as once the visit had been made it lead to more paper work reinstating the housing benefit, which was basically stoped for leaving the house.

We wonderd at the time if the housing department thought people who have housing benefit have a genie in a bottle providing all thier needs and thus making it possible to stay in forever?

A few years ago my mum had 3 visits over a 3 year periode, but at that time it was the in thing and every one got suprise visits.

On the last occasion the lady looked around mums house briefly, probably because she,d been away visiting a relative and on her return home didn,t respond straight away to the cards in her letterbox with threats of supended housing benefit. If I rememer rightly she saw the cards for junk mail at first. Another tenant who was on holliday also had her housing benefit suspended.

All a complete waste of time as once the visit had been made it lead to more paper work reinstating the housing benefit, which was basically stoped for leaving the house.

We wondered at the time if the housing department thought people who have housing benefit have a genie in a bottle providing all their needs and thus making it possible to stay in forever?

Never, ever, let these people in unless they have have a court order. All they come to do is prowl around your home (probably taking secret video footage from hidden cameras) and assess what you have got and how you can afford it. They will also ask lots of damned impertinent questions about your private life. :nono: :suspect: :shocked:

Not directly relevent to this thread, but the useless people at Howden House have lost some paperwork I handed in recently, including a copy of my passport and copies of some of my bank statements. I'm quite concerned about what has happened because I trusted the council to keep those details secure, and they haven't done so. Obviously if these details fall into the wrong hands, the consiquences could be quite severe.

What also concerns me is the attitude of the member of staff I spoke to about this - she didn't seem at all bothered about what had happened. I was told I'd have to provide all my information again. I wonder if I'll be offered compensation for the inconvenience and tram fares getting to town to hand in my paperwork again?

I did email the council to ask what had happened to my paperwork, who had it now and what steps the council intend to take to ensure it's not used in a way that can be detremental to myself. They have not had the courtisy to reply.

That sounds familiar Andy, that usually happens whatever dealings i have with the council. they lose at least 3 copies of everything before finally getting on with the damn job!
I emailled on more than one occasion about it, i got semi-automated replies telling me my case had been handed on to a special team who would deal with it as soon as they could....that was in march.... i've not heard anything from them specifically... but they did at least manage to send me a bill!!! :rant: