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Post by Ivor E Tower on Jul 3, 2023 17:27:11 GMT
Our local council offices are in the town centre so for the past few years I have paid my council tax instalments by dropping a cheque (in an envelope) through their letterbox each month, usually on a Saturday morning when I do some shopping. today I returned home from work to find a threatening letter that my account is in arrears; the letter was dated 20 June (our post is terrible despite being only 3 miles from the local sorting/distriubution centre).
Checking my records I dropped the most recent payment through their letterbox on Saturday 3 June, so where do I stand? I've given them the money but it looks like they have lost it as the cheque has not been cashed yet. Their records should show that I am a regular payer by cheque through their letter box. Is it my problem if they loose a cheque and react by sending a strongly-worder letter implying that I have avoided paying? It's quite upsetting especialy when they threaten to take away the ability to pay monthly.
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Post by andy on Jul 3, 2023 17:51:02 GMT
Contact your bank to get the cheque cancelled, square up the council and then write them a strongly worded letter in return telling them their procedures are lacking and the upset and inconvenience their failures have caused you.
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Post by peterob on Jul 3, 2023 18:20:47 GMT
Our local council offices are in the town centre so for the past few years I have paid my council tax instalments by dropping a cheque (in an envelope) through their letterbox each month, usually on a Saturday morning when I do some shopping. today I returned home from work to find a threatening letter that my account is in arrears; the letter was dated 20 June (our post is terrible despite being only 3 miles from the local sorting/distriubution centre). Checking my records I dropped the most recent payment through their letterbox on Saturday 3 June, so where do I stand? I've given them the money but it looks like they have lost it as the cheque has not been cashed yet. Their records should show that I am a regular payer by cheque through their letter box. Is it my problem if they loose a cheque and react by sending a strongly-worder letter implying that I have avoided paying? It's quite upsetting especialy when they threaten to take away the ability to pay monthly. Set up a direct debit, that is what they expect. All the responsible [for your letter] people will see is an account balance. How the money gets there is irrelevant - either it is there or it is not. I'm staggered that they have been accepting post "through the letterbox", I'd have thought they would take a direct mailbag delivery to a central department. You remind me that, as an executor, I have a credit for a council tax overpayment due to me from 12 months ago. It would have been more helpful to get a cheque than a credit note. |
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Post by willien on Jul 3, 2023 18:34:35 GMT
I agree that DD is the way to go. When Edinburgh Cooncil scrapped Standing Order payments I was furious as I hate any organisation being (in theory at least) able totake anything they can find out of my account. However, given the hassle of dropping in 10 cheques a year I caved and am glad I did. With on-line banking its dead easy to cancel a DD and the whole system is vastly more secure than dropping off cheques. I would rather still be the one in control and be able to use Standing Orders but that, unfortunately, is modern life.
W
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Post by willien on Jul 3, 2023 18:54:42 GMT
Should have said, for the immediate issue Andy's advice looks sound.
I would still recommend sucking it up and setting up a DD going forward.
W
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Post by zou on Jul 3, 2023 20:10:58 GMT
Contact your bank to get the cheque cancelled, square up the council and then write them a strongly worded letter in return telling them their procedures are lacking and the upset and inconvenience their failures have caused you. Yes, this. Bear in mind the burden of proof of payment is on you, so dropping a cheque through the postbox is somewhat lacking on that front. |
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Post by spinno on Jul 3, 2023 21:17:40 GMT
Our local council (my ex-employer) has a dead letter drop.
They used to say that any payments made that way were risky,I would have thought in today's big brother world it would has been easy enough to monitor.
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Post by willien on Jul 3, 2023 21:21:24 GMT
Our local council (my ex-employer) has a dead letter drop. They used to say that any payments made that way were risky,I would have thought in today's big brother world it would has been easy enough to monitor. Costs money = not done properly. |
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Post by nimbus on Jul 3, 2023 22:12:11 GMT
Sending nasty letters about this must be standard practice with councils, that from my local council is couched in unpleasantness, it's surely not necessary. Our council does offer phone payment as well as DD, very few must use cheques now. I remember an acquaintance who prided himself on not paying until the latest possible date after receiving the letter.
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Post by mark101 on Jul 4, 2023 7:26:37 GMT
Direct Debit is the way to go. All my regular bill are DD. I do monitor them for errors along with all my other outgoings, but have yet to have an issue in the many years of running my DD payments.
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Post by Fenris on Jul 4, 2023 8:22:50 GMT
Contact your bank to get the cheque cancelled, square up the council and then write them a strongly worded letter in return telling them their procedures are lacking and the upset and inconvenience their failures have caused you. Yes, this. Bear in mind the burden of proof of payment is on you, so dropping a cheque through the postbox is somewhat lacking on that front. Yeah - unless there is a record of you actually posting it, there is no proof that you did. Just because you do this every month isn't proof enough that you did it this month as well. Sorry. |
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Post by Chester PB on Jul 5, 2023 15:10:14 GMT
I'm surprised they still take cheques, given the time needed to manually process them and apply the credit to your council tax account, and then send some unfortunate office junior to queue up (perhaps for a long time) at a bank branch to pay them into the council's account. The cost of this process will, of course, add to the council tax you pay. I've been on direct debit with 4 different councils over the last 25 years and had no problems. Don't forget the time you spend writing the cheque and delivering it.
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Post by Ivor E Tower on Jul 8, 2023 20:21:20 GMT
I've been into the bank this morning had had the cheque stopped. The council phoned a day or two back to say that they have had a good look and cannot find it, so despite me knowing full well that I effectively gave them the money, it falls to me to make up for their mistake. They also informed me that I can make one-off payments rather than set up a DD so I've made a replacement payment by this method.
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