Paying your Council Tax !!!!!!

[Uncle Mick]

Just been in to pay my latest installment and been told that the payments desk will be closed down from the end of September. I was handed a leaflet which told me this was to modernise ways of paying bills and to save money from the councils budget.
I asked the lady on the desk if she was being made redundant, but no, she was being moved upstairs. I was handed another leaflet for signing up for a swipe card ( Hummm, they look expensive to produce) and then a direct debit form and then another leaflet to make an official complaint. I`ve not identified the budget savings yet but I`ll keep on looking.
You can now pay your council tax, rents and rates in a number of local outlets, the post offices, newsagents and Boozebuster!!. This then is modernisation in Hyndburn, paying your domestic bills in an off-licence
I would like to point out Hyndburns two current mottos;
"Making Hyndburn a better place to live, work and visit" better than where?, Albania?
"1974-2004 30 Years service to the community" So I presume the service ends this year then!

[Ceejache]

There was a post in another thread where someone set up a Direct Debit to pay their council tax and the council never took the cash and are now threatening the person involved - this is the way forward?

[pendy]

Yup, that was me. Still trying to get some sense out of Hyndburn as to what they want me to pay and when.

As I also said on the other thread, HBC cannot ban you from paying in cash, but they are entitled to stipulate that you pay it elsewhere than at their offices. Serve them right if the offy proves too tempting!

[Busman747]

When I moved to Accy at the beginning of the year, I tried many times to inform HBC that I had moved into the area and wished to pay my council tax. Each time I phoned I went through the usual option 1/2/3 business, then asked to wait only to be finally told by a recorded voice that the computers were down and to phone next Monday/tomorrow etc etc.
This went on for several weeks until finally.......I got through to a human being!!! I explained the situation and the fact that I wished to pay some money only to be told that she can't take details as the computer "is down!" The next thing I know, a threatening demand for council tax is posted through my door addressed to me personally even though I had been unable to give them any details about myself, and to make it worse, they "assume" that I have a family and charge me as such even though I only share my house with my dog. They eventually sent me a form for me to declare that I was living on my own BUT IT IS NOT BACK-DATABLE! so I have to pay a few months at the family rate

The whole system in this area needs attending to as it is so out of date. I know I harp on about the south but down there, I would go into the council offices, be seen by an officer within 15 minutes without an appointment and my circumstances put on the computer in front of me and any problems solved!!

[Ifty]

I am still wondering why you left south to come here if it was so much better down there.

[Darby]

HBC does not have a monopoly on feigned ignorance or incompetence.

I have had the same problems here in the 4th Reich. So I wrote to them and sent it registered.

And by gum did it make them shift when I enclosed a note from my solicitor saying that he had recorded my attempt and any delay would ensure a day in court!! It was better than having to pay some penalty or a higher rate for a few weeks!!

[Ceejache]

I hope that you flat out refuse to pay the few months at the higher rate Busman747. A couple of years ago I lived in a bedsit for six months and at the start of my tenancy I was employed but after two weeks due to illness I had to leave my job. The first day I was unemployed I filled out ALL the forms regarding Sickness, Housing and Council Tax Benefit and handed them in to the relevant authorities. My Sickness Benefit was sorted out fine two weeks later but despite numerous calls to the Council nothing happened on the Housing and Council Tax front. Six months into my tenancy my landlord who was understandably upset at having received no rent for five months chucked me out onto the streets and whilst then crashing at a friends house I received a letter telling me I was to attend court for non-payment of Council Tax for the period I was living at the bedsit. I was unable to attend on the date given so I wrote and explained my situation - I heard nothing for two years until the baliffs called and told me I had to pay three hundred pounds or else.

Housing and Council Tax benefits are there to help people who are genuinely in a position where they cant afford to pay rent or their Council Tax (although they are abused by the dossers) and they exist due to people like you and me paying our taxes when we are in positions to do so. HBC failed over a period of six months to help me when I needed it and then after two years of making no attempt to contact me they sent in the heavies.

You will understand if my views of HBC in the past of in the future are less than favourable.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Busman should try charging HBC for all the phone calls he had to make and didn't get through never mind the overcharging of council tax! It's only their inability to do anything when the computer is down that caused the problem. What ever happened to good old pen and paper? Why can't they write things down when their technology fails? He contacted them early enough. The failure to act is on their part.

[Busman747]

"I am still wondering why you left south to come here if it was so much better down there."
When are you going to grow up Ifty? I was making the point that if one council can do it, why can't HBC? It has nothing to do with me preferring to live in one place or another.... and why are you trying to deny me the right to critisize the HBC just because I am a "new comer" to the area?
Perhaps you would prefer ALL members of this Accy site to be born and bred here!
Thank you Ceejache, I will certainly put up a fight against the over charging..but it will be an up-hill battle against beurocracy.