Neil's Account
OK, so I got up for work one morning and during the usual madness getting the kids ready for school there was a knock at the door. I opened it to be met with what I honestly thought was an under dressed window salesman. "I'm looking for Mr Harrison" he said. That would be me then. "I've been ordered by the court to collect 2 outstanding PCN's". I explained that my wife and I had moved house a few times over the last 12 months and that this was the first I had heard of it aside from issuing an out of time witness statement some time ago. The bailiff, a Mr Danny Mills explained that there was no such record and that unless I set up an agreement with him there and then, he would be coming back around later and force entry to my home to levy goods. OK, so if you are in "the know" you are aware I should have told him to do one there and then, however put on the spot I set up an agreement with him to pay around £1000 at a monthly rate of £50/month and hoped that I could defend and reduce the costs at a later date. I didn't let him in my house, went inside to let the wife know what was happening and went outside to speak to him. The guy got me to sign a "Walking Possession Order" against my slightly battered Vectra and gave him our debit card details so he could take payment. He wanted some contact details so I offered him a business card with my number on and he said "I wont let my boss see this, you must be on a decent salary and should pay more" - yeah see you later...
So the payments went out over the next couple of months and to be honest I didn't think much more of it. It was one of those things I needed to get done when I got a minute. Our bank card expired and I called Danny and explained the situation, sent him new payment details and thought nothing more.
See, the thing is, I thought that was that.
A couple of months later I was sent away with work, about 300 miles from home and I got a telephone call from my wife. She was obviously distressed. Turns out a Mr Chris Office (yep - that is his real name. Does anyone think he has a distant relative who was sat in a party and couldn't stop thinking about the paperwork he had to do, retired to a small room with a desk and thought "I'll call this an office", you know, like the Sandwich feller...) had been around our house and chucked a note through the door stating "locksmith action 6:00AM" call now to avoid, or something to that effect. So I took down the number and gave the Proserve bailiff a ring.
I explained there must have been some mix up, that I was away from home and that my wife was at home alone with 3 kids, suffers from anxiety and that if he could bear with me, I'd call in to see him when I got back 2 days later to sort it out. "I'm not able to do that, the situation has escalated. if you don't pay me £500 now I'm coming into your house whether you like it or not". What a tosser. I asked how he could warrant "locksmith action" when the walking possession order was for my car and he told me that he wasn't aware of one being in place, he would come into my home regardless and "you may aswell throw that in the bin, besides, if we had one we'd just report your car as stolen, you'd get pulled on the motorway on your way home and left at the roadside". Whatever, I was more interested in making sure he didn't scare my family at home while I was so far away. I telephoned a family member and loaned the £500 for the monkey, got home and started researching the situation I had found myself in. Now, rather than banging on here like some deranged numpty, below is the email correspondence between me and Mr Mark Snape (Director of Proserve Debt Recover and Bailiff Services). I hope it speaks for itself....
25th October 2014 - Neil To Proserve
29th October 2014 - Proserve Response