Deceased License

mrmurphy1966

My mother is recently deceased. During the process of cancelling my late mothers TV license, I was struck by the lack of correspondence (no correspondence) sent out to me by email and/or by postal mail, acknowledging the cancellation. Upon questioning TV licensing about this, they said to me that they do not have any processes in place that involves (a) sending out correspondence to confirm the deceased license has been cancelled, and (b) sending out any correspondence regarding the refund of any monies due. I suggested to TV licensing that they should alter their processes to accommodate the above. Managing the financial affairs of a deceased is stressful enough, and any process which makes this process easier to manage, would in my view be the correct direction of travel. I do not think TV licensing make this process easy at all, and as a result, they could take steps to make this process easier to manage. What do you think?

Ozzig

To be fair I found their process very easy, one phone call, TV license cancelled and informed if they'd heard nothing in 6 months they'd write to "the occupier" of her house.

EssexExile

Ozzig said:

To be fair I found their process very easy, one phone call, TV license cancelled and informed if they'd heard nothing in 6 months they'd write to "the occupier" of her house.

And I found their process awful. I filled in the online form asking for a refund. There then followed a series of emails back and forth asking for my dad to respond in person, difficult as he'd just died and was the reason for the refund request, then asking for my mum to respond in person, difficult as she'd been dead several years, and eventually an email asking me to fill in the online form that I'd filled in months earlier to start this whole process off. They eventually sent the refund but were easily the worst organisation I had to deal with.

Ozzig

Personally, I found all the bereavement services I spoke to, to be very helpful, be they TV licensing, British Gas, Virgin Media ... they all had very empathic agents and all made sure they completed what they promised to do. 

In fact, due to scrolling through last called numbers looking for British Gas, I called their bereavement line in error.
When I apologised and explained I'd mis-dialled they still had my details on record and were happy to help with my non-bereavement related issue.

brewerdave

Ozzig said:

To be fair I found their process very easy, one phone call, TV license cancelled and informed if they'd heard nothing in 6 months they'd write to "the occupier" of her house.

As a contrast, I informed TVL of my mother's death - no reclaim because she had the "free" license - perfectly pleasant comms , initially BUT we got a nasty letter to "the occupier" about ten days after whilst we were still clearing out the flat before handing back to the managing agents !!

mrmurphy1966

TV license refunds - apparently - come via the HM Treasury... which I was told after attempting to request a refund and/or or get an update about a refund to my deceased mum’s account. It's not the value of the refund, rather, the process which - for me personally – I am finding exhausting. Ironically, their processes are somewhat intimidatory when TV licensing want your money, but when it comes to refunds as a result of the death of a loved one (dotting the I’s and T’s regarding a loved one’s financial affairs) – for me personally – their processes are extremely challenging.