Toll charges

jezzer

I need some good advice please if anyone can help, i received a letter back in august from pearse fitzgibbon solicitors regarding unpaid toll fees, i was under the impression i had paid these, but they said i was too late paying them despite the fact that i had spoken to someone in eflow who told me to make the payment when i rang, anyway, the bill from the solicitors was extortionate to say the least, i argued my case and they agreed that i could clear it for €750 which i agreed to, so, i paid the charge in 3 different payments and assumed that was dealt with. Subsequently i have been away looking for work and recently back, my father had a letter from the solicitors saying that the agreed sum wasn't paid and i now owed another outrageous sum of money, i stated that i had sent 3 separate payments and they said they had received 2 of them but €250 was still outstanding, i asked why didnt they let me know this but they said that they made phone calls to me on the number they had for me, i said to them that i had been out of the country without the phone looking for work so i had no way of knowing they had called, i asked why they didnt write to let me know the full payment wasnt received and they said they werent legally obliged to write and inform me of this, so now they are trying to register a judgement against me, i cannot afford what they are looking for. I just dont know what to do now, i am very worried about this, i had done what was asked of me and cleared the amount they asked but because they say they didn't receive the full amount they are now doing this to me. I dont understand that when they couldnt get me by phone that they couldnt just write to me to let me know the full amount wasnt received, it seems very unfair, any constructive advice would be much appreciated.

Caliden

How were the payments made?

I'm assuming you didn't send a ball of cash in an envelope so there has to be a record with your bank account or something.

I wouldn't have even made any of these settlement payments if someone in eflow actually told you what you've said.

Carawaystick

Check where the three 250 euro payments went.
Get a paper trail for that.
If you have paid, and have a paper trail. If you have this, ( receipts or bank statements etc) get on to the Law society.

If it's serious money they're looking for, get a solicitor.

Ask them for a paper trail for when they rang you, i.e. a written list of the dates/times they rang.


My experience of those "lawyers" was them demanding a load of cash of my brother in law, when he rang them after about an hour on the phone, they looked at the photo and it was a van with a different colour to his car. the car was in a garage in Connacht the time they claimed it went over the m50. So I've a very low opinion of that particular law firm...

jezzer

Carawaystick wrote: »

Check where the three 250 euro payments went.
Get a paper trail for that.
If you have paid, and have a paper trail. If you have this, ( receipts or bank statements etc) get on to the Law society.

If it's serious money they're looking for, get a solicitor.

Ask them for a paper trail for when they rang you, i.e. a written list of the dates/times they rang.


My experience of those "lawyers" was them demanding a load of cash of my brother in law, when he rang them after about an hour on the phone, they looked at the photo and it was a van with a different colour to his car. the car was in a garage in Connacht the time they claimed it went over the m50. So I've a very low opinion of that particular law firm...

yes a cheque and bank drafts sent, one bank draft and cheque received, good advice, i find it hard to believe that they received 2 of them and not the other and couldnt write to let me know this and i could have sorted it out, now they are saying that legal proceedings have been initiated nothing can be done, then she said to me hold on and i will see if a settlement can be made and came back and said that if another €800 is paid then it will be cleared, these people are worse than loan sharks, because they say that they didnt receive €250 which i sent as part of a settlement, they now want another €800 on top of the €750 which i already sent, how is this even legal? and my own opinion of these people is also very low, i seen online a case

interesting case here where the judge says the fines for late toll charges had no basis in reality.

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/droghedaindependent/news/motorist-wins-17k-toll-fight-27150462.html

Caliden

Was the second bank draft cashed?

If not, cancel it with the bank. Send the bank draft for 250 via registered post and tell them, that's the end of it and that further communication can be done via your solicitor.

jezzer

no it wasnt cashed, so i can get it cancelled and send another one to them, do you think that will work Caliden? will they not continue to pursue me as they now say that legal action has been initiated?

marmurr1916

They're out to scare you into giving them a load of money. You probably shouldn't have paid the €750 in the first place. But you agreed to it and now you're stuck. Send them another €250, cancel the last bank draft for €250 and then do what Caliden said. They won't bother you any further.

jezzer

Thanks guys much appreciated, they are vultures and dont care about what they do to people, your right i probably shouldn't have paid the €750 but they scared me into it with their threats, where they arrive at the extortionate figures is beyond me, on both occasions they said oh we will see what we can settle at and went off and came back and quoted crazy figures straight out of thin air, advice much appreciated, i'm going to resend them €250 by registered post and put an end to this.

munchkin_utd

the only thing is that when youre still dealing in sums in the 100s it might be as cheap to settle, as any reduction in the amount you pay by dragging it out with court cases is only going to eaten up by solicitor fees, negating any real benefit.

The case of the girl owing 17,000 though is crazy, and theres so much room on the downside for her laywer to earn his few hundred euro fee to make it worthwhile to fight the case.

jezzer

there should be legislation brought in that can stop companies charging these unrealistic fees, if a money lender charged what they charge they wouldnt get away with as much, in my case i sent the agreed settlement in 3 different sums, one of the payments apparently went missing according to pierce fitzgibbon which is not my fault, i did what was asked of me and now they still are trying to get even more money out of me, i'm resending the €250 which went missing and they can do what they like after that, i wont be bullied and harassed any more

Carawaystick

I'd ask the solicitors for a detailed breakdown in writing for the reasons for their 750 charge.

the nra say the tolls are EUR 3.10, plus another EUR3 late toll, plus another 41, plus a final default toll of 102.50
giving a total per crossing of 149.60

Which would give a figure of 748 for 5 trips, not 750...
It's only 2 euros, but if you're been shaken down, it's probably unlawful to extort more than you owe.

BowWow

Carawaystick wrote: »

I'd ask the solicitors for a detailed breakdown in writing for the reasons for their 750 charge.

the nra say the tolls are EUR 3.10, plus another EUR3 late toll, plus another 41, plus a final default toll of 102.50
giving a total per crossing of 149.60

Which would give a figure of 748 for 5 trips, not 750...
It's only 2 euros, but if you're been shaken down, it's probably unlawful to extort more than you owe.

€750 was a compromise and a reduction on the original charges he had failed to pay.

Carawaystick

BowWow wrote: »

€750 was a compromise and a reduction on the original charges he had failed to pay.

Why would the nra reduce their charges? cui bono?


The NRA advertise the price of a crossing as substantially less than the price the Op's paid. If there are byelaws to apply punitive charges, then there should be byelaws to allow the nra charge less than these statutory charges.

Or those solicitors in Kerry are having a laugh/making mistakes, like they did with a car I wrote about earlier.

jezzer

BowWow wrote: »

€750 was a compromise and a reduction on the original charges he had failed to pay.

No, I didnt fail to pay it, I paid it in 3 different installments of €250 each but they claim to only have received €500 meaning they misplaced €250 because i sent it.

BowWow

Carawaystick wrote: »

Why would the nra reduce their charges? cui bono?


The NRA advertise the price of a crossing as substantially less than the price the Op's paid. If there are byelaws to apply punitive charges, then there should be byelaws to allow the nra charge less than these statutory charges.

Or those solicitors in Kerry are having a laugh/making mistakes, like they did with a car I wrote about earlier.

I have had personal experience of "doing a deal" with the Solicitors. i.e agreeing to a reduced figure to stop the matter progressing.

jezzer

BowWow wrote: »

I have had personal experience of "doing a deal" with the Solicitors. i.e agreeing to a reduced figure to stop the matter progressing.

It seems like they just pull figures out of thin air

BowWow

jezzer wrote: »

No, I didnt fail to pay it, I paid it in 3 different installments of €250 each but they claim to only have received €500 meaning they misplaced €250 because i sent it.

Apologies so. I read the following as a compromise you had reached.

"the bill from the solicitors was extortionate to say the least, i argued my case and they agreed that i could clear it for €750"

jezzer

sorry maybe i took you up wrong, yes they were initially looking for over 2k and i had it reduced down to €750 which i paid in 3 installments but they say they only received €500 so they obviously misplaced €250 so now because of that they are looking for a further €800 from me or if i dont pay that it will go to court so they can place a judgement against me