TV Licence

Razzi

Hi all.
Whilst I dont have a problem with paying for a TV Licence (except it should be called a BBC Licence as that is all it pays for!) but I do have a problem with being ripped off:

I have 2 problems:
I recently moved town but requested a refund rather than to transfer the licence as I was temporarily moving into a house already covered by a licence. They will only refund for each whole quarter of the year that is unused, so as I had a few days under 6 months left on my licence they would only refund 3 months, so I basically have paid for nearly 3 months for nothing.
Can they do this legally? Are they not obliged (but obviously dont want to) to refund for ALL of the unused portion of a licence?
Problem 2:
I have since bought my own home, moved in and bought a new TV license on 29th July 2009. Recently I received a reminder to renew it for this year - it was only then I noticed that the expiration date of my license is 30th June 2010 - one MONTH less than what I would have expected for a 12 month licence! :eek:
I would have thought that if you bought it on a particular day of the year then it would need to be renewed on THAT SAME DAY each year, ie 12 months at a time. Or is it another con that they only let you pay for a whole month at a time, so when I paid for it on 29th July they took the 'activation date' to be the 1st July?

Both of these situations seem to be ridiculous to me - not only have I been conned by them, bit I have been conned TWICE!

Is there any way that I could claim the money I have paid to them for the unused times back fully?

This must happen to a lot of people also - I dont know how many people move during a year, but if 10000 did this then TV Licensing would end up getting on average 5000 months worth of TV licence payments for nothing!!

KeithP

Razzi wrote: »

I recently moved town but requested a refund rather than to transfer the licence as I was temporarily moving into a house already covered by a licence. They will only refund for each whole quarter of the year that is unused, so as I had a few days under 6 months left on my licence they would only refund 3 months, so I basically have paid for nearly 3 months for nothing.
Can they do this legally? Are they not obliged (but obviously dont want to) to refund for ALL of the unused portion of a licence?

I have no wish to defend the TV licence people, but surely you realised what you had signed up for?
Full details about refund terms here.

Razzi wrote: »

Problem 2:
I have since bought my own home, moved in and bought a new TV license on 29th July 2009. Recently I received a reminder to renew it for this year - it was only then I noticed that the expiration date of my license is 30th June 2010 - one MONTH less than what I would have expected for a 12 month licence! :eek:
I would have thought that if you bought it on a particular day of the year then it would need to be renewed on THAT SAME DAY each year, ie 12 months at a time. Or is it another con that they only let you pay for a whole month at a time, so when I paid for it on 29th July they took the 'activation date' to be the 1st July?

Just like you should not buy a car tax disc on the 29th of the month, you shouldn't buy a TV licence then either.

adam.mt

KeithP wrote: »

Just like you should not buy a car tax disc on the 29th of the month, you shouldn't buy a TV licence then either.

True. Maybe not morally absolutely fair but that's how these things work and what you've signed up to.

Consider it a learning process.

Widelats

T.V. licence - i lived in a shared house, the T.V. licence bill was up to the landlord, yet still the licence collector came round and said i would go to court etc, i explained that i had not seen the landlord in 3 years and that it was a shared house, he then said i could pay the licence there and then on the doorstep and avoid legal matters - obviously wasn't listening to me, i explained again that it was a shared house and none of the tenants here were liable for the bill, but he could instead of harassing me ask my landlord to buy it.

He said then i could pay right now ... i was getting tired of his lack of ears and understanding, so i asked him "You want me to pay over £100 right now for 6 other people in this house license when its not my responsibility?" He said "Yes" and nodded, so i said "No" and he nodded again, defeated and walked away.

Persist in your arguement with the T.V. people and you may well win.

whatmichaelsays

Razzi wrote: »

(except it should be called a BBC Licence as that is all it pays for!)

Wrong.

ITV, Channel Four and Channel Five all receive subsidies from the TV licence fund.

The TVL also pays for the maintenance of transmission equipment, which other broadcasters use at a subsidised rate.

System

Widelats wrote: »

none of the tenants here were liable for the bill,

Whoever uses the TV* is liable for ensuring that a valid licence is obtained.

*Before the pedants get on their bandwagon, 'use the TV' in this context means using the TV to watch programs as they are transmitted.

DrScotsman

!!!!!! wrote: »

Whoever uses the TV* is liable for ensuring that a valid licence is obtained.

*Before the pedants get on their bandwagon, 'use the TV' in this context means using the TV to watch programs as they are transmitted.

Oh no, now you've done it! Every single TV licence thread on MSE gets distracted by one or two people who think you need a licence to simply own a TV.

To those people: Please go read the many other threads on MSE that prove you're wrong before posting here. Thank you

System

That's why I was so explicit in what I meant - so there can be no confusion between 'own' (which doesn't need a licence) and use for watching live broadcasts (which does).

DrScotsman

!!!!!! wrote: »

That's why I was so explicit in what I meant - so there can be no confusion between 'own' (which doesn't need a licence) and use for watching live broadcasts (which does).

And your explicitness is going to risk permanent irreparable thread derailment by the own-camp that MSE has covered 100 times over, it would have been better if you stayed quiet

(But in seriousness, your accurately stated point is indeed very relevant to Widelats' post)

unholyangel

DrScotsman wrote: »

And your explicitness is going to risk permanent irreparable thread derailment by the own-camp that MSE has covered 100 times over, it would have been better if you stayed quiet

(But in seriousness, your accurately stated point is indeed very relevant to Widelats' post)

All these years i've been paying for something i didnt need on information provided by my parents! I watch iplayer but apparently its not live so license is not required. I assume dvds/downloaded programmes would be the same as long as you are not watching a tv channel basically or using a online service like tv catchup?

DrScotsman

unholyangel wrote: »

All these years i've been paying for something i didnt need on information provided by my parents! I watch iplayer but apparently its not live so license is not required. I assume dvds/downloaded programmes would be the same as long as you are not watching a tv channel basically or using a online service like tv catchup?

Basically you need a licence to watch TV "as it's being broadcast". So that's TV Channels and online broadcasts of TV channels (like watching BBC One live on iPlayer). Everything else is fine without a licence including DVDs, video games, online catchup services, using your TV as a monitor...

EDIT: Good info here