TV Licensing withholding refund until set date

BigAnnieG

I have already paid up a year of my TV license within six months (as is standard), but have only had the licence since October.

After much debacle (which is an entire story on its own) I finally got them to agree to a refund.

We are moving house in two weeks, and are refusing to watch any TV, nor plug it in, etc.

I have just had a response that they WILL process my refund... but only AFTER the given date.

However, as I have already well-overpaid my licence to beyond our moving date, are they allowed to do this? If they have agreed to a refund, and know which date to which they need to calculate the refund, why can they withhold the money? It's not like they're waiting on more direct debits from me - they'll owe me five months' on the licence that I've already paid for.

The money they owe me will be sitting in their account, instead of earning interest (albeit miniscule but that's not the point) in mine. Is this legal? What are the rules on the timescales of refunds, especially once one has been agreed in writing?

FYI, I cancelled the licence 4 weeks ago, asked for a refund, got told to cancel the licence, then told to apply for a refund, .... they've dragged this all out by three weeks already, when it should have been easy to already have processed the refund.

Cornucopia

Unfortunately, TV Licensing (part of the BBC) are largely a law unto themselves, and in fact the legislation gives them the power to set the terms and conditions of the TV Licence (which presumably includes refund terms).

Their policy changes fairly regularly, but at the moment, how they handle refunds depends a lot on what you tell them about why you want one.

The ONLY straightforward reason that you can give is that you are giving up watching TV broadcasts/iPlayer. If you tell them that, then they should action the Licence cancellation and refund immediately with no further admin steps.

If you give them any other reason (and I assume that you may have mentioned that you were moving home) then you get locked in to the more arduous refund processes related to the reason concerned.

The only thing you can try is applying for the cancellation and refund again based on ceasing to watch TV broadcasts (since you have committed to do that). That might reset the refund process, especially if you make a fuss (formal complaint).

[Deleted User]

Are you not watching TV or steaming services after you move?

If so you only need to update you address after moving

HWW

Because of their Silly TVL nonsense Annie, it is best to tell them you are going abroad permanently & require a refund for the unused licence - end of.
That way, they cannot try to get your next UK address out of you!
As you will be going LLF, it is none of their business, but as they are Nosy & greedy - they try to make it their business.

Cornucopia

HWW wrote: »

Because of their Silly TVL nonsense Annie, it is best to tell them you are going abroad permanently & require a refund for the unused licence - end of.
That way, they cannot try to get your next UK address out of you!
As you will be going LLF, it is none of their business, but as they are Nosy & greedy - they try to make it their business.

Unfortunately, that doesn't work any more, HWW.

If you tell them that, then they have a policy of requesting evidence - copies of airline tickets, copies of visas, etc.

As I said above, the ONLY reason you can now give them which does not involve further bureaucracy is that you are no longer going to watch TV Broadcasts/iPlayer.

Fortunately every other reason ultimately comes down to that one, so I suggest that people seeking a TVL refund proceed on the basis of being as economical with the truth as they are.

Cornucopia

!!! wrote: »

Are you not watching TV or steaming services after you move?

If so you only need to update you address after moving

Good point, and there's one reading of the OP's post which suggests that they are trying to do something that is simply too complex for TVL to handle - going legally licence free at a new address at a point in the future.

House_Martin

HWW wrote: »

Because of their Silly TVL nonsense Annie, it is best to tell them you are going abroad permanently & require a refund for the unused licence - end of.
That way, they cannot try to get your next UK address out of you!
As you will be going LLF, it is none of their business, but as they are Nosy & greedy - they try to make it their business.

Are you advising the poster to lie HWW ? What is the point in that ?
Capita will be constantly writing to the poster or visiting if the new property does not hold a TV licence.
Who in their right mind wants hassle like that for a meagre 40 p a day licence fee which is the bargain of the century IMO

BigAnnieG

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. It does seem that they are simply incapable of understanding that a prepaid license, cancelled from a predetermined date, can be refunded from the day a refund is agreed!

I don't plan to watch or stream any TV when I move, so this is entirely to be LLF and not dodging anything. We only use the TV for the playstation now - if the beggars want to come and check they wouldn't find any aerial nor could we be watching iPlayer as you now have to log in (even to listen to the radio!) And I refuse to use any app that demands that kind of big brothery "oh but it is so we can personalise your experience (but also gather humungous amounts of data mwahahaha)" behaviour!

I think my main query was whether they are ALLOWED to withhold the refund, as they have already agreed in writing to process it. Does anyone know where the law (and not the TVL understanding of the law!) sits with that?

Thanks for all your replies!

Cornucopia

BigAnnieG wrote: »

I think my main query was whether they are ALLOWED to withhold the refund, as they have already agreed in writing to process it. Does anyone know where the law (and not the TVL understanding of the law!) sits with that?

TVL and the law are not great bedfellows. I don't think there is any legislation pertaining to refunds, and there may even be nothing in the licence ts & cs. (They've been chopped up into web-bits now, and dumbed down).

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/terms-and-conditions-top11

So... if you want to disprove their take on events by using the law, I think you will be out of luck. The least worst option will be to sue through the small claims process for any loss you have suffered due to their policy.

If you are/just want to go legally Licence-free now, then just tell them that that is what you want to do, and either get an immediate refund or make a complaint if they say no.

From what you've said, you may have thought that your move was a good time to make the formal change to LLF when it's unfortunately complicated things.

Cornucopia

House_Martin wrote: »

Are you advising the poster to lie HWW ? What is the point in that ?
Capita will be constantly writing to the poster or visiting if the new property does not hold a TV licence.
Who in their right mind wants hassle like that for a meagre 40 p a day licence fee which is the bargain of the century IMO

It's not an offence to lie to Capita - they are just ordinary people working for an ordinary company after all.

Sadly, HWW's advice would no longer be effective.

You can see how if it did work, if would be a good way to throw TVL off the trail of a legally Licence-free address and deny them your personal info, none of which is illegal. Given the unlawful nature of the TVL approach, whatever people do to undermine them (within the law) is fine by me.

If you have something constructive to add that will address the OP's questions, then please go ahead. Otherwise, I'd ask you not to drag the thread off-topic with your unique take on the TVL debacle.

tenchy

Cornucopia wrote: »

TVL and the law are not great bedfellows. I don't think there is any legislation pertaining to refunds, and there may even be nothing in the licence ts & cs. (They've been chopped up into web-bits now, and dumbed down).

http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/check-if-you-need-one/topics/terms-and-conditions-top11

So... if you want to disprove their take on events by using the law, I think you will be out of luck. The least worst option will be to sue through the small claims process for any loss you have suffered due to their policy.

If you are/just want to go legally Licence-free now, then just tell them that that is what you want to do, and either get an immediate refund or make a complaint if they say no.

From what you've said, you may have thought that your move was a good time to make the formal change to LLF when it's actually complicated things.

These scumbags are issuing T&Cs ? When you pay your licence can you not reject the T&Cs ? Something like, "here's my licence fee and I reject all your T&Cs. If you do not accept my rejection of your T&Cs THEN DO NOT CASH THE CHEQUE".


I remember once looking at the so-called 'Purchasing Terms and Conditions' printed on the back of all purchasing orders issued by my former company (FTSE100 company). The first T&C was "None of your sales T&Cs apply, all our purchasing T&Cs apply". My site needed a TV licence and we sent a PO to TV Licensing. Guess what? They didn't complain.