TV Licensing harassment letters

Lyndsay_21

we keep getting sent them as oh bought a new tv even though we have one for our adress which is in my name, surely they should just check their own records before sending out these letters!!

Count_Dante

Yep, TV Licensing are crap. I got one of their threatening letters some months ago. My mum phoned them (I didn't, because I knew it was a waste of time from reading about them here) and they 'updated their records'. A few months later I get a letter informing me that my records were being passed to 'enforcement'. I wrote back using virtually every expletive I knew; they replied finally acknowledging that I had a licence and they haven't troubled me since. A result, then.

Remember, if you own a licence (or don't have a telly) you have done nothing wrong so don't let them push you around.

moonrakerz

I've been doing up an empty house and have been getting regular letters from this power-crazed bunch.
The last one said in large red letters that my details have been passed to their "enforcement officers", who will "visit me" and who are authorised to use "sophisticated monitoring equipment".
I found this last letter to be offensive, threatening and perhaps bordering on the libelous.
I'm just waiting for one of these "officers" to call (when I'm there), I will take great pleasure in telling him what to do with his "sophisticted monitoring equipment".

hollyh

I had an interesting exchange with a tv licence officer about 5 yrs ago.

I used to live in a house that had been converted into 2 flats.

The upstairs ( where i lived ) was number 23 and downstairs was number 21.

One afternoon i had a tv licence officer knock on my door and tell me i didn't have a tv licence and did i know i could be prosecuted etc etc.

I told him i did have a licence but he wouldn't believe me he kept saying that's what they all say and his records showed there was no licence at this property.

So i left him outside and went to find the licence to prove i was telling the truth.

I was a little while because i couldn't find it straight away(always the way )

When i came back down he was looking a bit sheepish.

Then he said what number do you live at? So i told him 23 to which he replied not 23a?

There was no such thing as 23a only a 21 and 23.

After making a phone call he apologised for his mistake and left.

They were trying to get a licence fee for a property that doesn't exist !!!!!!?

abbecer

I wish i had read this post about two years back. By choice we had no tv for 5 years. We were harrassed and hounded by the threatening letters. In the end i rang them and absolutely lost it. I was due to have my baby any day and was sick of the stress they were causing me. I have never had any dealings with the police etc and was terrified that they were going to come and search the house etc. I had nothing to hide but it was the principle. Good on the OP for standing up to them. They are nothing but bullies.

Rebecca x

PS If their detector vans are so good why do they need to come in your home???

Count_Dante

Out of curiosity, does anyone know if they have a legal right of entry to your property, or would they need the police to do that for them? I am inclined to think not but you never know. It would be great to tell their crack officers from the Enforcement Division to blugger off if they came to visit, and there was nothing they could do about it. I don't know why we bow to their every whim when we should be letting them do all the work. If they have evidence that someone has committed an offence, let them put up or shut up:

Oberführer Smith of the Enforcement Division: I demand to see your licence immediately, or to demonstrate to me that you do not own a television. You had better obey, for ve haf vays of making you obey!

Hapless soul who has done nothing wrong: Go away and don't come back.

Oberführer Smith: Er, OK then.

trickytrolleys

They have no power of entry, you dont even have to answer their questions - if they believe you are using a tv without a license they have to go to court to obtain a warrant to enter your premises and they cant just go in saying "we think theyve got a tv" - they need to have reasonable grounds, so really the only way they can do you is if you let them, as soon as they say "TV Licensing" just say NO THANKS and close the door.



What really annoys me is that the DVLA dont come knocking on your door just in case you have a car they dont know about so capita (who are just a company with no legal standing) can f&ck right off as far as Im concerned

ohdearme_2

Without a court order they have no rights of entry. If they do turn up tell them to go away and refuse to answer any questions. Unless they have a court order of course, in which case you read it and let them in....eventually.
My ex got a TV in her name, Licence was in my name, it resulted in harassement and threats by the monkeys.
It obviously breaches data protection, but Information Commissioner doesn't seem too bothered about it.

trickytrolleys

also, if you ever buy a tv or anything just give a false name and (for people being harrassed by them) write to them stating that the implied right of entry to your premises is being withdrawn, that way they cant even come into your garden.

most importantly remember that the so called license is just TELLY TAX :mad:

kittykirsty

We've not long moved into our new flat, and found out that although we have tv points in the walls, the cables actually run into the downstairs cupboard and abruptly end. As well as this, the developers had kindly left us the red letters from the TV licencing people which considering all the other problems with the flat was the straw the broke the camel's back so to speak.

Two days after we moved in, an 'enforcement officer' called round as he was doing for all the flats in the building. We told him that we could not watch tv as we had no aerial, and that it's a bad reception area therefore there was no way we'd get a picture from an internal aerial. He told us that as we had an intention of watching tv, that we needed to start paying. We told him that we were not going to start paying until we could actually watch tv. He told us to sign this document saying that he had visited, and that if we didn't get a licence before March sometime, then we can expect to be asked to go to court to explain why not.

He was actually quite nice and sympathetic to why we weren't watiching tv, so OH signed the form and away he went. It wasn't til he'd gone we actually looked at the form (i know, i know) and we'd basically signed to say that he'd caught us watching tv without a licence. :eek: :mad:

So, although it probably does go without saying, we know now to make sure we read everything before signing it