Hi all. I wounder if anyone has any experience in the following issue. I'd be curious to see if you got a more favourable outcome than me.
I moved house last month, and as instructed filled in an online form in advance to inform the council of my upcoming change of address. My new house is under a different council.
Today I checked my bank balance to find that a direct debit has gone out for council tax in the area I no longer live in. This is paid in advance, so I called the council and after waiting on hold for the obligatory half hour was eventually told that "yes Mr Simple, you have paid for a month too many... But... You have to wait until the 22nd before you can apply for a refund... And then it might take 10 days for it to come."
I asked why I had to wait and he fed me a line about it taking time for the money to reach their accounts. But then he said that he could see the payment on the system?
I asked him (politely) how I was supposed to cover the cost of everything in the meantime when theyre holding on to over £100 of my money that I hadn't budgeted for. All he could say was sorry.
Unfortunately, sorry doesn't work as currency at the supermarket or petrol station. I told him this and he said that I could speak to a manager, although he might not say any different. So I said "yes please" expecting to go back on hold, then he said "ok, he'll call you in the next 48 hours".
Has anyone had similar, and did you manage to get the money back any faster? It just seems disgusting to me that if I owed them money I very much doubt they'd take "call me back in 14 days" as an answer. Not to mention the fact that this is over £100 I've effectively already spent before they propose to give it back.
Any advice or similar experiences?
I moved house last month, and as instructed filled in an online form in advance to inform the council of my upcoming change of address. My new house is under a different council.
Today I checked my bank balance to find that a direct debit has gone out for council tax in the area I no longer live in. This is paid in advance, so I called the council and after waiting on hold for the obligatory half hour was eventually told that "yes Mr Simple, you have paid for a month too many... But... You have to wait until the 22nd before you can apply for a refund... And then it might take 10 days for it to come."
I asked why I had to wait and he fed me a line about it taking time for the money to reach their accounts. But then he said that he could see the payment on the system?
I asked him (politely) how I was supposed to cover the cost of everything in the meantime when theyre holding on to over £100 of my money that I hadn't budgeted for. All he could say was sorry.
Unfortunately, sorry doesn't work as currency at the supermarket or petrol station. I told him this and he said that I could speak to a manager, although he might not say any different. So I said "yes please" expecting to go back on hold, then he said "ok, he'll call you in the next 48 hours".
Has anyone had similar, and did you manage to get the money back any faster? It just seems disgusting to me that if I owed them money I very much doubt they'd take "call me back in 14 days" as an answer. Not to mention the fact that this is over £100 I've effectively already spent before they propose to give it back.
Any advice or similar experiences?
