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Re: council tax payments over 10 or 12 months
Update:
i had to spend quite a bit of money sending recorded delivery letters to MP’s Councillors and LA CEO. The involvement of my MP and CEO actually stalled the process in that although the LA erroneously went ahead with my details in the bulk hearing the costs £100 were not applied to my account. it took the LA over a month to let me know this bit of information though.
in the meantime my MP demanded answers from the LA this moved them to finally take proper note of my complaint. My case was looked into by the department manager who blamed the whole issue on a junior member of staff who apparently was new and not quite aware of how things should work. This same manager accused me of misunderstanding - don't see how a court summons can be mis understood, and implied that the whole issue was partly my fault!!
i dont understand how this DM ‘didnt get it’ they were in the wrong, just shut up, give an unequivocal apology (to send me away happy), and look at gaps in their procedures making appropriate changes, so this type of incident doesn't happen again. However this DM’s response was so unjustified and so wrong in its tone that i did not want to draw a line under it and remained most definitely unhappy. I saw no alternative and referred the matter to the LAO who came back to advise that there were not going to investigate as, the LA were agreeable to 12 monthly payments and costs etc had not been applied.
BUT
The involvement of the LAO lead to a proper letter of apology from the said DM and a small financial offer of compensation. As soon as i read this final letter of apology i felt better - the whole tone was now right and there was no further trying to pass the buck on the LA’s part. Now if they had sent this letter (with the right tone) in the first place, the DM could have got on with some proper work instead of explaining again, to yet another 3rd party, what had gone wrong and what they were planning on doing to resolve it.
its not just/or always about financial compensation - a sincere apology can go a long way in repairing bridges.
im very thankful to this site which continues to give me the courage i need to fight my corner.
Update:
i had to spend quite a bit of money sending recorded delivery letters to MP’s Councillors and LA CEO. The involvement of my MP and CEO actually stalled the process in that although the LA erroneously went ahead with my details in the bulk hearing the costs £100 were not applied to my account. it took the LA over a month to let me know this bit of information though.
in the meantime my MP demanded answers from the LA this moved them to finally take proper note of my complaint. My case was looked into by the department manager who blamed the whole issue on a junior member of staff who apparently was new and not quite aware of how things should work. This same manager accused me of misunderstanding - don't see how a court summons can be mis understood, and implied that the whole issue was partly my fault!!
i dont understand how this DM ‘didnt get it’ they were in the wrong, just shut up, give an unequivocal apology (to send me away happy), and look at gaps in their procedures making appropriate changes, so this type of incident doesn't happen again. However this DM’s response was so unjustified and so wrong in its tone that i did not want to draw a line under it and remained most definitely unhappy. I saw no alternative and referred the matter to the LAO who came back to advise that there were not going to investigate as, the LA were agreeable to 12 monthly payments and costs etc had not been applied.
BUT
The involvement of the LAO lead to a proper letter of apology from the said DM and a small financial offer of compensation. As soon as i read this final letter of apology i felt better - the whole tone was now right and there was no further trying to pass the buck on the LA’s part. Now if they had sent this letter (with the right tone) in the first place, the DM could have got on with some proper work instead of explaining again, to yet another 3rd party, what had gone wrong and what they were planning on doing to resolve it.
its not just/or always about financial compensation - a sincere apology can go a long way in repairing bridges.
im very thankful to this site which continues to give me the courage i need to fight my corner.
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