Not saying I was in the right.
As I was 18 at the time, beer and the like tended to come before stuff like food and bills.

I just feel slightly smug that I was able to get one over on the debt collectors, who were utterly unreasonable.

Nowdays I have grown up a bit and tend to pay my bills on time...
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 12:39, 1 reply)

No - you weren't in the right, and your smugness is unjustified.
You got yourself into a mess deliberately, and got annoyed when you were expected to pull yourself out of the mess, and then feel smug that you got away with paying a bit less. You should be grateful, not smug.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:05, closed)

^this
so much this. it's douche bags like this that think they can just not pay for stuff and not have to worry about it that cause the councils to be overextended in the first place.
( Kitty v1.0 desperately naive, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:10, closed)

I don't think I can "not pay for stuff".
I *offered* to pay them in full. They refused.

Also, the way it tends to work is this: the council sells the debt to another organisation who then relentlessly pursues the debtor. Therefore the council will have got their money.
(Flap Burger hasn't really got a burger made of flaps, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:13, closed)

No - you're still not getting it.
You got yourself into the position, deliberately, in the first place.

There is nothing for you to feel righteous or smug about.

You got yourself a debt, deliberately, and you paid it off, at slightly less than you should have done.

Getting into debt deliberately for vanity does not make you grown-up, clever or cool, and it's not "sticking it to the man". It's childish, idiotic, and you've cheated the taxpayer out of a few hundred quid.

Whoop-de-doo.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:22, closed)

Makes
a change from them cheating us out of a few hundred quid.
(dchurch bah, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:39, closed)

Like when?

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:40, closed)

Like
taking 200 quid a month to NOT fix the f*&*ing roads for a start.

If the tax is paid in advance, why I am still driving through more crators than are on the moon, simply to get to work?

Trying to get me to pay for two properties at the same time, when I can clearly only live in one is another.

Charging me council tax for my house when it was empty for 7 months following a fire, etc....
(dchurch bah, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:53, closed)

I think you're crossing wires. Incompetence I have never defended.
But one's duty to pay council tax is a burden we all must bear.
( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:58, closed)

True
...and probably right about the crossed-wires.

I just see 200 quid a month to have my bins emptied 25 times a year as a bit strong, nay, theft by menaces (as I'll be threatened soon enough if I refuse to pay).
(dchurch bah, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 14:07, closed)

Given that the council apparently offered to cut this bill - freely and without being prompted - I'm not certain that he 'cheated' the taxpayer at all. If they offered to cut my bill by 500 quid, I'd gladly accept.

Also - "I know not paying one's council tax is a bloody stupid thing to do, but I was young and dumb back then." Seems he's already pretty much accepted that which you're currently berating him for.
( Happy Phantom has been to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne too, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:46, closed)

I thought that was on the invite.

( Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 14:03, closed)

SOME money
Not all. Then there would be no profit margin for the debt collection agency.

For a £1500 debt the agency may pay the council a few hundred quid.
(Reverend Fister "a disciplined fuckwit", Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:23, closed)

Overextended?
I've yet to see any evidence that any council is overextended.

I took a mate to the local council a couple of weeks back as he wanted to enquire about getting a pest control licence.

Five people sat about watching us at the desk, laughing and joking, one had his feet up on the desk. When I shouted across at them (after 15 minutes of watching them NOT coming to serve us), they just shouted, "use the phone or touchscreen" - neither of which had an option for asking about a pest control licence.

He gave up and now just does it for cash in hand jobs for farmers.

Of course, the whole office was closed at 3pm, and wasn't open until 10am.

If they were so overextended, you'd think that they'd soak up the extra 3 hours that most of us have to work every day.
(dchurch bah, Tue 22 Jun 2010, 13:39, closed)