TV License paid for a year only get 11 months

wealdroam

GSXRCarlos wrote: »

I've just moved into a house, i was expecting <£15 a month, turns out they want the full £150 before april (when it returns to <£15) which works out at £30/month from Nov-March

i hadn't budgeted for that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh...................

GSXRCarlos

wealdroam wrote: »

Oh...................

i know, robbing b**tards!!!

i keep reading about paying a year in advance, is this true?

rsykes2000

GSXRCarlos wrote: »

i know, robbing b**tards!!!

i keep reading about paying a year in advance, is this true?

No, i works out to be 6 months in advance.

GSXRCarlos

i suppose 6 months would make sense - ie i need approx 6 months of this year +ficticious 6 months up front

i wonder if they'll refund my six months when i die????

owen-b

I too was hit with this this year and I was furious.

THe first reply says "thems the rules, your fault" (pretty much) but I beg to differ. If anyone can show me where on their website they point out that if you buy online then you only get to the last day of the preceeding month next year, I'd be grateful.

I'll save you some time - it's NOWHERE on their site. I took this up with them over a number of emails and they absolutely deny they have any responsibility whatsoever for a) the rule in the first place or b) having to tell you on their site.

The reason they gave me overall was that it was too much work to have their system keeping track of licenses that expire on various days throughout the year, much easier for them to have it track licenses that always expire on the last day of a month.

They told me repeatedly that had I asked in advance, they'd have told me this and so it was my fault. I replied that this was an appalling attitude, that it implied that customers should check every last conceivable detail that isn't listed in a products description before buying but they insisted it was perfectly fair.

I asked them why they didn't at least make the point on their site, openly. They replied that it would encourage people to break the law by waiting to the end of the month and that they can't be held responsible for people breaking the law by going unlicensed. I said that if they made it clear as a disclaimer then they would never be held responsible for people breaking the law and their customers could make an educate decision. But no, they refused still.

I suggested that it was illegal to let a customer believe a license lasted 12 months but then sell licenses for 11 months and only tell the customer the end date of the license AFTER MONEY HAD CHANGED HANDS. They said again that I should have asked first (insane!). They also said that nowhere is it stated, anywhere, ever, that a license lasts 12 months.

I replied that if they went out on the street and asked how long a license lasted, not a single person would reply less than 12 months. They claimed that this is meaningless as they don't actuyally state 12 months anywhere.

So the upshot is this:

1) Licenses, by their own admission, do not have a minimum term.
2) It is the customer's responsibility to check the duration etc by asking before buying
3) It is not the License company's responsibility to inform the customer prior to buying as to do so would encourage the customer to break the law by going unlicensed until the end of the month
4) Ultimately it is the BBC that is responsible, as I got right to the very top of the TV Licence company being told the above over and over again and was eventually directed to a department at the BBC and in Government, who made the rules in the first place.

I'm appalled.

nhill

Freddie_Snowbits wrote: »

What is this Oggle Box, watch on line pay nought

That's not true. You must still own a licence unless your equipment is not powered by mains electricity.

out-law.com/page-11251 (can't post links)

Television watchers must have a TV licence if they watch live television, whether on broadcast networks or streamed over the internet. A home licence covers users for any watching on a wireless device. If that device is plugged into the mains electricity then the premises must have a licence or the viewer is committing an offence, the TV Licensing Authority has previously said.

owen-b

So technically that means using TVCatchup on an iPad means you don't need a license? I expect they've covered themselves for laptop usage, but the iPad isn't a laptop.

wealdroam

owen-b wrote: »

If anyone can show me where on their website they point out that if you buy online then you only get to the last day of the preceeding month next year, I'd be grateful.

I'll save you some time - it's NOWHERE on their site.

I think you are wrong here.

I found the following on their website.
Seems to cover your point.

An initial Licence (i.e. the first TV Licence a person is issued with) may cover a period of slightly less than 12 months. A person needs a TV Licence from the day they first install or use television receiving equipment - which can be on any day of the month - while the Licence expiry date is fixed i.e. Licences are set to expire on one of 12 end-of-month dates.

This means that an initial TV Licence will expire on the anniversary of the last day of the month preceding the month of issue (e.g. a TV Licence issued on 15 August will expire on 31 July the following year). Any renewal of that Licence is given the same expiry date for the following year (i.e. a full 12 months).

owen-b

When i asked them to show me the part of their site that explained those precise points they very pointedly avoided the question and told me that if they were to make it clear then they would be seen to be encouraging the breaking of the law. Therefore, I can only assume that's been added since I had a right royal go at them over the course of half a dozen emails back and forth earlier this year.



My next post, on the next page, contains a quote in which they clearly admit the information was NOT on their site at the time I purchased.

owen-b

Here is a direct quote from an email in which they did in fact answer my question, "Where is this information on your website?"

Our website does not refer to the dating of new licences, as this may encourage some people to defer purchasing a TV Licence that they need, simply to obtain a more favourable expiry date. This could leave people open to prosecution if they are then found watching television when unlicensed.

So as I added to the end of my last post, this must be a new addition. Shame it's still buried in the 'About Us' (which seems an odd place to put it) and not the main site, although perhaps it's been added to the pages you see when you start the purchase process?