TV Licence article Discussion

mcc86

Thanks CW18.

The online payment section gives you the option of backdating payment so you can say you started watching TV four weeks ago and it states "Your licence will normally end up to 12 months from this date - the rest of the month and 11 months after that."

I am assuming that will cover me for the ffour weeks I did not have a TV Licence and I should avoid any risk of a £1,000 fine?

cw18

sounds like it to me. just remember that it works like car tax, and if you start it in the last few days of a month you have to pay for the whole of that month. so if back-dating takes you back into January it'll expire at the end of next Jan.

mcc86

Thanks for that - I'm happy for that to be the case.

It was an honest mistake and it is simply something I had not got around to doing so I'm more than happy to backdate it; particularly if it avoids having the threat of a £1,000 fine and being prosecuted.

The suspicious part of me was wondering if by claiming you watched TV prior to the purchase (even if you back date it) that they would look to prosecute you because you have admitted you didn't have one for the first four weeks...... I'm being over the top here though I'm sure....

sniggings

mcc86 wrote: »

I'm being over the top here though I'm sure....

you can't be to careful when it comes to these people, they get commision on every one they get so when money is concerned...

Not to worry you to much tho, as said, if it reads more like a direct debit mandate you should be alright.

Might as well try and mitigate any fine if it should go that far, buy the licence, back date it if needed.

As s said if you only watch catch up then you don't need one anyway so you can also say you admitted to something you were not doing, again mitigating any potential fine.

Remember the £1000 is very rarely given, more around the £300 mark, and the guy on your doorstep got his commision so probably that should be the end of it.

In future tho, do not speak to these people and only let them in if they have a court warrant.

Just say you do not talk to cold callers and close the door.

mcc86

Thanks Snigging - yes, after reading all this I really do regret opening the door.

I do feel a bit conned though. He asked me if I had a TV, which I confessed, but not as to what I use it for. I can imagine fighting it now though would simply result in more hassle and the risk of a greater fine.

sniggings

mcc86 wrote: »

Thanks Snigging - yes, after reading all this I really do regret opening the door.

I do feel a bit conned though. He asked me if I had a TV, which I confessed, but not as to what I use it for. I can imagine fighting it now though would simply result in more hassle and the risk of a greater fine.

yep they are not bothered what they have to say to get you to sign.

That's a question they all start with "have you a TV" which has nothing at all to do with whether you need a licence.

The fine is from the court, so fighting it should not increase the fine, as said very rarely they fine more than £300 and even less then that a lot of the time, just wait and see, as fighting it now could get them to go further with it than they were going to, they have their commision so chances are that will be the end of it.

Cornucopia

It's not a £1000 fine. It's up to £1000 based on the standard considerations of a Magistrates Court, which are disposable income, severity of offence and previous convictions.

The average fine is around £150 + costs + victims' surcharge.

It should be reasonably obvious whether you were interviewed under caution or simply completed a Direct Debit form. The Interview form is called a TVL178, and is a multi-part A4-sized form, in which you are invited to confess to the details of the Evasion offence.

The fact that you say you completed something that talks about having a TV for 4 weeks, suggests it was the TVL178, and not DD.

Personally, I wouldn't mess around with whatever payment scheme was set up for you. Just pay it for the next 6 months, and this will encourage them not to prosecute - they only prosecute half the people they "catch", so they have to decide somehow.

After 6 months, the confession (if it was that) is no longer valid, and you can then choose to cancel and just watch Catch-up, DVDs, etc.

The way TVL operates is very deceptive. If you feel that is wrong, please write to your MP about it. There will be an ongoing debate over the next couple of years about what the Licence Fee and BBC should look like going forward. Every complaint about unfair/unjust/unlawful treatment by TVL helps to improve the chances of the Licence Fee being scrapped as the anachronism it is.

You can also make representations to TVL about the subterfuge used by their staff member. If you say you intend to fight it, you may be able to get them to drop it.

dizzymanda

Hi I pay quarterly for my licence which I have needed as we used to watch live programmeso
I want to cancel as from this month we have agreed to only watch catch up what do I say to cancel shall I give them a date from which I no longer require the licence I don't want a refund obviously for when I did need the licence. We have sky

Cornucopia

dizzymanda wrote: »

Hi I pay quarterly for my licence which I have needed as we used to watch live programmeso
I want to cancel as from this month we have agreed to only watch catch up what do I say to cancel shall I give them a date from which I no longer require the licence I don't want a refund obviously for when I did need the licence. We have sky

Licence fee refunds are for whole quarters only, which fits in exactly with the Quarterly DD scheme. Just cancel from the end of the next quarter AND cancel your DD with your bank.

Once you are legally licence free, you can freely watch DVDs, Video Games, Netflix/Amazon Prime, and Catch-up services like iPlayer. (The law is presently under review, and this line-up may well change over the next 3-4 years).

Having a Sky box presents a problem, because most of the functionality doesn't work without a Satellite feed, but it receives TV programmes automatically when connected and switched on.

I would suggest getting a Now TV box instead (£10 purchase outright), with a Sky Entertainment sub (£6.99 pm). This works out at a saving of > £25 pm compared to TV Licence + Sky sub. It comes with some live channels by default, but I understand that these can be disabled.

cw18

You can't backdate a cancellation, so when you say "as from this month we have agreed to only watch catch up" did you mean start of month (yesterday) or end of month (31st) as you can't get back March now. As Cornucopia has already mentioned they only refund full quarters, so if your licence expires at the end of March, June, Sept or Dec you need to cancel by 31st of this month in order to get the maximum refund you can. My licence expired on 31st March so I cancelled on-line on 31st Dec (2010). I don't recall seeing a 'when do you want to cancel from' box when I first investigated, which is probably why I did it on the actual day. I got my full quarter refund pretty promptly and with no questions asked