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Original poster

A right good Rodgering and the £500 service charge...

299 replies

Hiphopapotamus4 · 21/05/2017 07:53

Sorry for not coming back sooner with an update. To be honest I was a bit creeped out that more than one of you had looked on Rightmove at every single house for sale in the entire county. I mean, there are literally thousands, who has the time for that?!
But also I didn't want to be like the Victorian safe poster and some of you did offer some helpful suggestions so I am back.

The bad news is, this is looking more like a scam. The council don't have any record of it and the local landowners and parish council know nothing either.
Roger called a street meeting and the 10 houses that pay agreed that a "man from the council" had come round years ago to explain what it was for and they have all paid it since. The other house that doesn't pay and us are much newer to the street which explains why we don't pay and neither of our solicitors mentioned anything when purchasing.
Some of them have a direct debit set up and some of them send a cheque. The bank details and address are different to the council tax ones Sad
Roger has reported this to the police and I'm awaiting further updates from him.
Some of them want to keep paying it because they are convinced it's real and don't want to get behind on their payments. Two of them think we are just kicking up a fuss to try and get out of paying it Confused

The general consensus at the end of the meeting was that it might be a scam, but it might not be. I'm convinced that it is Sad

Sad news all round really (but Rodger did come and now my lawn with his new mower!)

OP posts:
peppatax · 21/05/2017 07:56

Wow - what a scam!!

More importantly, did he make a good job of the lawn?

PS I missed the Victorian safe thread?

glitterglitters · 21/05/2017 07:56

Thanks for coming back! It's such a shame that it's a scam but at least it's been identified now and it seems like a big enough scale that it'll be easy to investigate for the police.

If it hadn't have been for you nobody would be the wiser so well done @Hiphopapotamus4 !!!

TheNumberfaker · 21/05/2017 07:56

So what did the 'man from the council' say it was for?

RockPaperCut · 21/05/2017 07:57

Wow. I hope the police catch the person responsible. That's an awful thing to do.

BigGreenOlives · 21/05/2017 07:57

Thank you for coming back & updating. I hope that the conmen are caught & prosecuted.

StealthPolarBear · 21/05/2017 07:58

Excellent update thanks op. I hope they catch the scammer

sparechange · 21/05/2017 07:58

How awful that it's a scam but how even more awful that some are going to keep paying it

Will you update us if the police find out anything interesting please..

senua · 21/05/2017 07:59

Thanks for updating us.Smile

When is the next payment due? - when Roger et al don't pay then that should flush out Service Charge Company and their debt collectors, and prove if this is real or scam.

RockPaperCut · 21/05/2017 07:59

This could be just the tip of the iceberg. Are your neighbours elderly?

purplecoathanger · 21/05/2017 08:00

Thanks for the update. It's hard to believe it's scam! Blimey, fancy getting away with that for so many years (if it is).

Longdistance · 21/05/2017 08:01

Some of them sound like they're in denial about being conned. Stubborn fools!

glitterglitters · 21/05/2017 08:01

@RockPaperCut I was thinking that. If they were happy to pay "the council" with different details etc that would normally Red flag to other people how many additional "insurances" and "bills" will they have? Also is it just the road or is it more widespread than that? 😵

EllaHen · 21/05/2017 08:02

Oh, you are a good egg Hiphop.

LottieDoubtie · 21/05/2017 08:03

Thanks for the update! I wouldn't worry too much about those that claim to have looked at every house on Rightmove - surely nobody really has time for that?

Sounds like a scam- your poor neighbours. If Rogers mowing the lawn he seems to be on your side and a bit grateful for you for uncovering all this.

Supersoaryflappypigeon · 21/05/2017 08:05

Christ that's awful.

GoldilocksAndTheThreePears · 21/05/2017 08:06

Thanks for the update! How fucking terrible to scam people like this, utterly despicable. I hope they all stop paying and don't give you grief

LordRothermereBlackshirtCunt · 21/05/2017 08:06

Some of them sound like they're in denial about being conned. Stubborn fools!

This is actually quite a common reaction to being scammed. I don't understand the psychology of it, but I've seen it happen a few times.

NiceCuppaTeaAndASitDown · 21/05/2017 08:06

Thank you for the update. How awful though. I hope they all get a huge refund but I know it's not likely.

zzzzz · 21/05/2017 08:07

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Frouby · 21/05/2017 08:08

I reckon it's Rogers scam. He is mowing your lawn to earwig on conversations to find out your next move.

50ShadesOfEarlGrey · 21/05/2017 08:08

Yes, I understand why you were a little concerned, that thread had taken on a life of its own!
Extraordinary views by some, thinking you have stirred this up so that you don't have to pay, rather than thank you Hipho for potentially saving us all this money. If it does turn out to be a scam, as seems likely, what an incredible one to pull, I wonder if they have done it to other developments?
Lovely to come back with an update.

TweedAddict · 21/05/2017 08:08

Bloody hell, I really feel for your neighbors. Well done you for looking out for them

Ktown · 21/05/2017 08:08

Poor sods
That's terrible
They shouldn't be too difficult to identify with an address and bank details though

Original poster
Hiphopapotamus4 · 21/05/2017 08:09

All the neighbours are elderly, DH is furious as he used to care for one of them (before we moved here!) and one day the guy was really excited as he had "won the lottery" and just needed to send them an admin fee to get his money. DH put a quick stop to that and reported it and now it turns out he was paying this charge the whole time.
DH no longer works in the care industry but said these kinds of things are far too common.

OP posts:
putdownyourphone · 21/05/2017 08:12

Oh dear. If they are worried about getting behind on payments they can set the money aside and if the payments are genuine then they have it saved to pay up (sounds unlikely tho)

Well done you for asking questions.

(And wtf someone checking all the houses for sale in the county - way too much time on their hands)