Cant pay.. OR Wont Pay!!

peter999

The best thing that could ever happen is if

-all TVs exploded.

TV has been the downfall of society & is now just a tool to control & manipulate the people.

peter999

Three_Dancing_Dragons

not_a_number wrote:

Not for the British people anyway :mad:
But for asylum seekers it seems it is (so say the government in their tenancy agreement,the one we're not supposed know about ) which says that the landlord has to supply a new (not less than ) 21" tv & tv licence for duration of their stay :mad:

Well they're not allowed to work, have £35 a week food vouchers to live on with nothing for toothpaste/soap etc so I'd say a television WAS an essential there.

I'm trying to wean myself off TV. One day I'd like to be brave enough to get rid of it entirely but I love watching movies on DVD and am hoping to get Freeview when I next upgrade.

If the idea of reduced TV licenses for the over 75's is that they tend to be housebound and have little else to do, why don't I get a reduction for being disabled? Definitely think TV license debt should NOT be a criminal offense. That's insane.

real1314

a 21" TV as well as £7000 car? Might see if I can get half my family killed and live in fear of my life for that sort of deal.

I'll promise another £50 to charity if anyone can actually prove that this TV thing's true. (not that I had to give £50 on the car thing as that's a load of bull too).

celosia

eclipse wrote:

I am becoming more and more convinced of the opinion that those who scam money out of the benefits system are actually completely bonkers. It takes so much effort!! I put in a claim for IS in July, and have still only received three weeks' worth of payment. That's really not much recompense for the amount of time, effort, energy and frustration it has cost me. I'd rather have been well enough to work, quite frankly. I still find it amazing that people can falsely claim benefits; I'm entitled to mine and they still won't bloody pay me properly. ARGH!

You should try claiming DLA - it's a huge form that asks for info on *everything* and is very draining to fill in. When you've lived with your disability for 10 years as I have you automatically use the techniques and equipment that make life manageable, but it's upsetting to spend, well, not so much hours, but weeks or even months writing about all the things you can't do that healthy people take for granted. It's not fair that it accounted for a third of my income yet took 100 times more energy to apply for than my Income Support. Unfortunately it was up for renewal back in September and despite me putting together my best application yet (according to my benefits advisor) they refused to give me a penny. So even more of my limited energy is going into appealing, stress makes my condition worse, and I am having to struggle by on IS with no guarantee of any DLA at the end of it.

eclipse wrote:

However, imo it's fair that we all pay the same TV license fee. 1) TV's not a necessity, and 2) we all pay the same price for our groceries/phone bills/petrol... Seems logical that we pay the same TV license fee too.

Anyway, back on topic, I no longer have a license - I was under the impression (I feel I was *misled* by their website) that because I had a TV in the house I had to have a license. So even when my TV was in storage for 2 months I carried on paying because when I phoned to cancel I was told I would have to make bigger payments when I reinstated my license to catch up. In the new house I found I couldn't get a watchable signal so I decided to sell my TV and cancel my license, and play DVDs through my computer. After a few months I went back to the website and found out I'd been paying needlessly because you don't need a license unless you *watch TV* on your TV. You can use a TV solely for viewing DVDs/videos/games consoles without the need for a license. I cancelled mine straight away and got some of the money back but am annoyed that I paid for no reason for months because they led me to believe I was facing £1000 fine if I didn't :mad:

I have had *tons* of letters from TV licensing, some threatening £1000 fines and the like (because of a mix up with the address that I told them about many times) and I was told months ago - ok, you've cancelled, but we don't trust you cos we're sending out an officer to check you're not watching TV. Well, they didn't *say* that exactly but that's what they meant. However no officer has ever visited, making me think why the hell am I so bloody law-abiding when it never gets me anywhere and I could probably have got away with it all this time?!

Sorry it turned into a bit of a rant, but basically I now live without TV, don't miss it (I have a *huge* DVD collection), and am actually peeved that when I move in with my partner I will have to get a TV license again because he'll want to watch TV. (Unless he could get his parents to video anything he wants to watch, hmmm... there's a thought...)

Oh, and in response to:

Broken_hearted wrote:

How many times are children told to watch a certain programme by their teachers. How can they do this without a tv.

If any child of mine was told to watch a certain programme I would tell them to either show it to the children during the lesson or record it onto a DVD that could then be played back through a DVD drive on a computer. Not that they should assume everyone has a computer - if the children *need* to watch a programme it should be shown to the class during the lesson.

scarborosmoggy

Turning_into_scrooge wrote:

Unfortunately your TV license is a priority debt and has to be paid before your children's bus fares. I understand your rant totally on benefits but thats just the way it is.

Work for TVL do we :eek:

BernadetteN

Three_Dancing_Dragons wrote:

Well they're not allowed to work, have £35 a week food vouchers to live on with nothing for toothpaste/soap etc so I'd say a television WAS an essential there.

I must correct the above statement regarding asylum seekers in the UK. A single asylum seeker (single males make up a great majority) receives around 30% less in income support than a single UK resident, NOT £35 a week and the money is paid IN CASH not in food vouchers. The reason they receive only 70% of income support rates is because an asylum seeker (unless he/she chooses to live with friends or relatives) receives entirely free housing, pays no house insurance, no gas, no electricity, no water, no council tax, no TV licence and these bills have to be paid for if you are a UK resident.

It is also not unusual for asylum seekers to be provided with free food, free mobile phones or free baby items but these things come not from NASS but from other forms or asylum seekers support (eg in Dover Migrant Helpline have provided the above items to asylum seekers in Dover).

raq

my word what is this country doing ???

RayWolfe

Looking after very unfortunate people who need our help.

wurley

Those TV detector vans are a fraud. I was told by a driver of one, they can't tell who has a telly or not if you live in a terrace or flat!! They make an assumption everyone has a telly. So anyone not registred as a lisense holder must be diddling them.

Yes I know not completely relevant to the original post.... You would prob benefit from a budget makeover. A bloke I knew who brought up a family alone managed to keep everything in line by puting everyting on monthly debits (phone TV)and payment card (electric gas) Then he would take out the cash that was left over ,after these payments to live on.

How far do you live from the school? If a school bus comes past your way and there are seats left on it (Ed office will tell you) you can buy a pass to catch that bus. You may even get a discount (I don't know for sure)

peter999

RayWolfe wrote:

Looking after very unfortunate people who need our help.

If you think that you're being totally naive.

Unfortunately it's not our responsibility to help everyone in the world who needs help.
The UK cannot help everyone who needs help because there would be nothing left.

Like you wouldn't give all the money in your wallet to beggars on the street, as you'd have no money left.

The UK should look after its own first.

peter99