Cancelling TV license question

P-J-D_2

Hopefully this is the right forum for this.. if not could someone point me in the right direction please...

I just discovered you only need a license if you watch TV as it's broadcast. I haven't done so since January this year and am not in a hurry to, so I may aswell cancel my license. I just have a couple of concerns so am looking for a bit of feedback

First, from what I've read you are likely to get a visit from some TV " officers " who will try and strongarm you into buy a license whether you need one or not. If I answer the door to them, and state I do not watch broadcast TV, will they go away and leave me alone ??

Second, I pay by cashplan and haven't kept on top of my (well.. their) schedule lately. According to the paperwork I owe them about £50. However when I logged onto their website it says I'm "up to date with my payments" so how come I owe them money?? :mad: Presumably because being a pauper I pay in advance for a license. Well I guess I do NOT owe them £50 in that case, even though that is what I would have paid if I kept to the schedule, and perhaps they owe me money, since I haven't used my Freeview box since January. How can I work out who owes who what??


PS.. life without TV is fine..

pcombo

Cancel it dont pay the con men anything. Watch it all for freeeeeeeeee

P-J-D_2

pcombo wrote: »

Cancel it dont pay the con men anything. Watch it all for freeeeeeeeee

What a stupid comment!

Can any adults offer any sensible advice?

McKneff

They dont owe you any money, as far as they are concerned you have been wathcing tv until you tell them otherwise. You take your television licence out for a year and only under execptional circumstances do you get a refund.
Best to dig your licence out and look at the T&Cs. (and when it starts and ends) You will probably have to pay up till then, then cancel it (you may have to cancel it with notice so read it properly.

P-J-D_2

McKneff wrote: »

They dont owe you any money, as far as they are concerned you have been wathcing tv until you tell them otherwise.

A friend of mine got a refund, in a very similar position (reason being when you're poverty stricken you are made to pay for next years license in advance etc spit.)

I just don't know how to work out who owes who, which is why I asked the question "How can I work out who owes who what?"

McKneff wrote: »

You take your television licence out for a year and only under execptional circumstances do you get a refund.

What? I know for a fact I can cancel at any time and be refunded, pro-rata, quarterly chunks.

There's no point in continuing with your posts, you are making stuff up.

I will call them tomorrow.

davidlizard

Concerning the visits you will get from TVL (your first question):

They will almost certainly send you very intimidating letters, usually monthly, threatening "interviews under caution" etc etc. These go out to just about everyone not on their database - you can safely ignore these - you do not need to waste your time or money on stamps contacting them to tell them you have no need for a television - they will almost certainly not believe you. You have no legal obligation to tell them you do not require a licence.

They may visit (they may not). If they do, its recommended to simply tell them to leave and shut the door - do not bother getting into any conversation with them, and under no circumstances invite them in to see for themselves - they have some extremely unpleasant tactics to try and coerce people into admitting they require a licence, even when they do not. They cannot enter your property unless they have a court warrant, and to execute it they will need a uniformed police officer present. A court is unlikely to issue a warrant simply based on the fact you do not have a TV licence.

Its key to remember TVL "officers" have no special powers beyond that of you, me or the paperboy. They dress up in uniforms with anti-stab vests to try and intimidate people, and to try and pass themselves off as having similar legal powers as police officers, whereas they are merely employees of a private company contracted to the BBC to sell television licences.

I have had two visits in five years. Both times I told them to get off my property immediately, which they did.

Best of luck.

lapat

davidlizard wrote: »

Concerning the visits you will get from TVL (your first question):



Its key to remember TVL "officers" have no special powers beyond that of you, me or the paperboy. They dress up in uniforms with anti-stab vests to try and intimidate people, and to try and pass themselves off as having similar legal powers as police officers, whereas they are merely employees of a private company contracted to the BBC to sell television licences.
Best of luck.

they have visited our street recentley dressed as the postman surely this is illegal as the post office bears the royal logo.!

P-J-D_2

davidlizard wrote: »

Concerning the visits you will get from TVL (your first question):

They will almost certainly send you very intimidating letters, usually monthly, threatening "interviews under caution" etc etc. These go out to just about everyone not on their database - you can safely ignore these - you do not need to waste your time or money on stamps contacting them to tell them you have no need for a television - they will almost certainly not believe you. You have no legal obligation to tell them you do not require a licence.

They may visit (they may not). If they do, its recommended to simply tell them to leave and shut the door - do not bother getting into any conversation with them, and under no circumstances invite them in to see for themselves - they have some extremely unpleasant tactics to try and coerce people into admitting they require a licence, even when they do not. They cannot enter your property unless they have a court warrant, and to execute it they will need a uniformed police officer present. A court is unlikely to issue a warrant simply based on the fact you do not have a TV licence.

Its key to remember TVL "officers" have no special powers beyond that of you, me or the paperboy. They dress up in uniforms with anti-stab vests to try and intimidate people, and to try and pass themselves off as having similar legal powers as police officers, whereas they are merely employees of a private company contracted to the BBC to sell television licences.

I have had two visits in five years. Both times I told them to get off my property immediately, which they did.

Best of luck.

Thank you very much ! That really helps.

I was not aware just how nasty TVL are, if you do not possess a license. [I did not even know until recently that I did not need one, I fell for the old wives tale about owning equipment.]

I was thinking I would just invite them in, show them my gear, and that would be the end of that. Perhaps not the best idea then.

In fact I've already had my first 'run in' with TVL. Every experience with them to date has been fine, up to the exact point where I said I wanted to cancel - the guy dealing with my call started talking BS and really wound me up. He said I would get a visit, the TVL officers have the authority to enter my property, and if they "catch me out" (his words not mine) I will go to magistrates court and get up to £1000 fine. He tried to make me pay £30 before he would close my account even though I owed nothing. At some point he said ".. we all have to pay it .. "

I'm afraid I lost my temper in the end and said they could try and catch me out all they want, since I don't watch broadcast TV... probably a silly thing to say but oh well... you live and learn.. will try and keep a cool head in future..

I phoned back straight away to speak to someone else, because this guy insisted on putting down "No longer owns a TV" as the reason for cancelling despite my protests. The next person I spoke to was really nice, said he shouldn't have done that, changed it, and said he would mention it to his line manager.

I guess I can expect a stream of nasty letters and some nice people at my door then !

Kurtis_Blue

By the sounds of it they operate fairly decently, two visits in five years and they leave when requested, sounds quite fair.

They probably wear the stab vests due to a dislike of stabbings.

david39

You have said twice in the above posts that you are not watching broadcast TV, with the implied emphasis on broadcast. This suggests that you are watching some kind of TV.
I'm not being crtitical - just curious - what is it that you are watching? - or am I reading too much into your phrasing?

tripled

Good point there, you can't record it and watch it later either...