July 21
I am a pensioner in my 70s totally at the end of my tether with Suma.
I fully paid all my IBI all on time to Suma for the years 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013.
In January 2014 my IBI was reassessed and it transpired that I had actually paid 10 euros more than the reassessment. But Suma sent me an invoice for the full amount for the four years without taking into account all my previous payments then proceeded to charge interest and late payment charges.
I visited Suma offices in Alicante, where a member of staff agreed with me that I had paid all the invoices but said that the charges could not be dropped once they have been raised.
I then visited the Ombudsman in Alicante and they looked at all the facts and agreed to take the case on. They wrote to Suma twice, but they totally ignored their correspondence and proceeded to hound me for the payments.
I then received a letter actually admitting I had paid all the four years payments but said if I did not pay the late payment and interest charges they would put an embargo on my villa.
I then wrote to three heads of departments by recorded delivery stating that this was illegal. All these correspondences have been ignored.
Because they are totally refusing to answer any correspondence I went to a firm of well-known solicitors for help. At a cost of 150 euros they agreed with my assessment that what they were doing is totally illegal and wrote to them stating as such and quoting them the law that states that it is illegal to charge a late payment on an invoice that is not paid late, and yes, you have guessed it, they have ignored their correspondence. It is now 15 weeks since the solicitor’s letter. They give me four weeks to respond to their letters but totally ignore all my attempts to sort it out. Can someone please explain if Suma are above the law?
J Pendlebury
No, they are most certainly not above the law, they just think that they are. Keep on at your solicitor to do the job, properly, that you are paying them to do.