Friday, June 13, 2008

I win

Yes. Apologies for that rather horrible bit at the end of yesterday's post. Spur of the moment and not warranted. Removed.

Elsewhere, I have beaten the bullies and I am pleased, especially as my pen was mightier than the threat of their swords. They are bloodied and bruised. Good, they are liars and cheats and as such, deserve nothing less.

Six years ago I left the London Borough of Bexley with a tiny council tax debt (of about £50 if memory serves). In the confusion surrounding my move north, getting a job, Sharon's subsequent illness, it got forgotten about. Last year just before Christmas while I was in Kent a collections company called Equita started sending letters to Sharon's address. She was ill and they didn't get forwarded, not her fault. When I did finally get one just after Christmas I was surprised to see this debt as I it had all but disappeared from my memory. However it was now £150 and they were threatening everything bar violence to get it back.

I emailed them telling them of my situation and that I would do my best to pay it off. They emailed back and told me in no uncertain terms to get my arse in gear. I took exception to this. They'd waited over 5 years for it, a few months wouldn't hurt. I sent them £50. Then my circumstances changed and I ended up back in Crewe without a job and on benefits. I'd phoned them but they'd been extremely unsympathetic, rude and all but threatened me if I didn't pay. They were obnoxious. They screwed another £50 out of me, money I could barely afford. I'd offered a payment plan but they'd refused. Then something happened. I found all their old letters as Sharon hadn't thrown any of my old mail away.

I opened one and in it they said they knew I still lived in Crewe because they'd checked the electoral roll so they would now send the boys round to recover goods. Result!! The letter was dated February and this was now May - during the Crewe and Nantwich by-election which, unless you lived in a cave on Staffa, was on the news a bit. On my return to Crewe I'd checked my eligibility to vote in the council elections on 1st May and wasn't on the roll. I knew I wasn't, Sharon had told me she'd not put me on the canvass the previous October. I still couldn't get on the roll in time to vote in the by-election. I was livid, the bastards at Equita had told a barefaced lie and I wrote and told them. "Tough" they wrote back, mistake, you still owe us. "Piss off" I wrote back, as I simultaneously wrote a letter to the Chief Executive of Bexley Council telling him that Equita were nasty liars.

This morning I got a letter from Equita saying the account had been cancelled by Bexley.

Bloke 1, Bastards 0.

3 Vegetable peelings:

Blogger Dave said...

Huzzah!! I shall expect a few runs from you this afternoon now, as you're on a roll.

4:27 am  
Blogger Tennessee Jed said...

coo-coo-ka-choo

Why does the world have to be on the backs of us who can least afford it?

4:09 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Because, Jed, of a very simple fact :

If you owe a bank 5000, then you have a serious problem.

If you owe a bank 50,000,000 then the bank has a serious problem.

7:26 am  

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