TV Licence article Discussion

Swan_2

leo~saphira wrote: »

Remember, even if you do not have a TV, under the Communications Act 2003, you still need to be covered by a licence if you use any other decive. This includes computers, mobile phones, games consoles, digital boxes and DVD/VHS recorded

moonrakerz wrote: »

If this statement was not qualified with: "to watch or record TV as it is being broadcast" or "may" or "might" or similar "weasel words" - send it to your MP !

I agree, it's absolutely outrageous as it stands :mad:

Jamopy

I received a threatening letter on reddish/pinkish paper last week telling me i needed to contact them to arrange payment by the 23rd of June or my details would be passed to their collection agency. Having read this thread i've decided not to pay it.
However would it be best just to ignore them totally or to contact them, tell them i don't need a license, and deny their implied right of access?

I'm not worried about myself so much, but my girlfriend is shy and doesn't like confrontation, so wouldn't want her getting bullied on the dorrstep by visiting inspectors.

Gloomendoom

I got sent dozens of threatening letters over the course of two years or so and nothing ever came of it.

The funny thing was that I did have a TV licence, paid for by direct debit, no less. I was really hoping that they would turn up one day to arrest me. It would have given me great pleasure to have waved the licence in their faces.

So much for their infallible database.

climbintheladderouttadebt

Me and my (now) ex were round a friends house one day when the TV licensing man turned up. My ex gave his name and explained the house was someone else's (gave the tenants name). Thought no more of it. We went home, all was well. Months later, after the birth of our child, my ex was arrested for not having a TV licence, turning up to court or paying a fine! Turns out, the TV licensing man said we lived at the friends house, and we were liable to buy a licence for the property! The 'friend' never gave us any post, we had no clue! £180 fine that we contested was upheld in our local court. I was astonished.
I was further annoyed when my ex and I split, he decided, though we weren't yet watching TV in our flat, to buy a licence before getting Virgin installed. He set up everything in my name using my card without my permission, and TV licensing didnt even talk to me! When I complained they didn't believe me until they checked their phone records. No apology was ever received. I decided to get Virgin installed and kept the TV licence, as it was for this address, set up with my details, I just needed to change the name from my ex's to mine. A TV licence officer visited my home and told me I was breaking the law, that the licence wasn't valid as it was in my ex's name (thougn I'd paid for it!) and then told me it was cheaper to pay by quarterly direct debits. Both bits of info are, of course, lies. No complaint I ever made with TV licensing was upheld. I refuse to watch TV now as I do not wish to pay the TV licensing company any money. They should not be allowed to get away with such awful atrocities. My DVD and video players keep us happy when we're not outside/playing games indoors.

Jamopy

climbintheladderouttadebt wrote: »

Me and my (now) ex were round a friends house one day when the TV licensing man turned up. My ex gave his name and explained the house was someone else's (gave the tenants name). Thought no more of it. We went home, all was well. Months later, after the birth of our child, my ex was arrested for not having a TV licence, turning up to court or paying a fine! Turns out, the TV licensing man said we lived at the friends house, and we were liable to buy a licence for the property! The 'friend' never gave us any post, we had no clue! £180 fine that we contested was upheld in our local court. I was astonished.
I was further annoyed when my ex and I split, he decided, though we weren't yet watching TV in our flat, to buy a licence before getting Virgin installed. He set up everything in my name using my card without my permission, and TV licensing didnt even talk to me! When I complained they didn't believe me until they checked their phone records. No apology was ever received. I decided to get Virgin installed and kept the TV licence, as it was for this address, set up with my details, I just needed to change the name from my ex's to mine. A TV licence officer visited my home and told me I was breaking the law, that the licence wasn't valid as it was in my ex's name (thougn I'd paid for it!) and then told me it was cheaper to pay by quarterly direct debits. Both bits of info are, of course, lies. No complaint I ever made with TV licensing was upheld. I refuse to watch TV now as I do not wish to pay the TV licensing company any money. They should not be allowed to get away with such awful atrocities. My DVD and video players keep us happy when we're not outside/playing games indoors.

That sounds horrible!

After reading stories like this i wouldn't pay for a tv license on principle regardless of cost.

moonrakerz

Jamopy wrote: »

After reading stories like this i wouldn't pay for a tv license on principle regardless of cost.

Thank you for sponging off the rest of us Law abiding citizens !!!

Gareth83

Been living in my house for 13mths with no TV Licence.

Had a visit today from an enforcement officer who my mum (who was visiting) invited in!!

Had the usual caution and crap and he saw I had a TV etc. but was off. Advised him I was given it 4 weeks ago.

What happens now? Will they send me to Court?

derrick

Gareth83 wrote: »

Been living in my house for 13mths with no TV Licence.

Had a visit today from an enforcement officer who my mum (who was visiting) invited in!!

Had the usual caution and crap and he saw I had a TV etc. but was off. Advised him I was given it 4 weeks ago.

What happens now? Will they send me to Court?

No. You where not committing any offence, the tv was off, so not being used.



.

Intellectual_Curmudgeon

Be careful if you are telephoning the BBC on an 0300 number from certain telehone service providers! I just sent this email to Watchdog ...... I then went onto the OFCOM website, only to find that they don't seem to have a facility to accept email complaints and the only way to contact them seems to be on ...... an 0300 number :eek:
__________________________________________________________________

I just got my Vodafone at Home landline bill. I noticed that I had been charged 0.857p for a call that I made to 0300 790 6086 on 2 June 10. (I thought that 0300 numbers were free?).

I keep a spreadsheet of all my ingoings and outgoings and I put comments on when I make payments. I just checked my comments for June and this is what I had put:

"2jun10 - I phoned 0300 790 6086 @ 14:09 (eventually) spoke to 'Y*******, who advised that he could send me a dd form, but that I wouldn't be able to use my TV in the meantime!! Then he put me through to E*** who set up a payment card. She said that I would be covered immediately if I made a payment of 5.60. I couldn't find my bank card (it was in the safe), so I rang back minutes later on 0300 555 0300 <1> and spoke to Phil who took the payment of 5.60 (auth code 6*****) and will send the card out".

The eventually bit signifies that they must have kept me on hold for ages (according to my VAH bill, I was on for 19m 17s - I normally would have timed it, but I genuinely thought the call was free). The second call I made cost me 0.15p, so all in all it has cost me just over £1.00 extra to pay the 'TV Tax' that (in my opinion) we shouldn't have to even pay in the first place! I am definitely going to complain to OFCOM about this!

I also rent out a house. The most recent tenants moved out in May and the property is currently empty. I received a ('guilty until proven innocent tone') letter at the address, which stated that I had until 29 July 2010 to inform TV Licensing that the property was empty, or they would pass the address onto the enforcement department. It also stated that I could let the BBC know on-line by visiting www dot tvlicensing dot co dot uk/notv, which I did and guess what ........ ? It told me to ring ........ wait for it ......... 0300 790 6130. Just checked my VAH recent calls and I have been charged 0.15p for that as well.

It's not the amount of money, it really is the principle! The BBC are betraying the trust of their enforced customers (almost all the programs I watch are on ITV NOT BBC).

Why the hell doesn't the website link work? I didn't even get to speak to a human being when I made the phone call to report the property as being empty....... just a recorded message which I had to press <5> then <4) then <2> to get to, which then informed me to ignore any further letters that I might receive. Most disconcerting as I like to get a person's name when I make a phone call (to put in my spreadsheet note)!

Furthermore, why doesn't the BBC just use a landline number which are usually free to call from most telephone providers. Are they getting a 'kick-back' from the 0300 merchants? In which case, they would have a vested interest in keeping unsuspecting 'customers' on hold!

Finally, why can't the BBC channels be scrambled and offered as a subscription service, just like all the other pay-to-view channels? It's tantamount to not having dessert in a restaurant but still getting charged for it!

I don't suppose that you will feature this complaint on your Watchdog television programme (but even if you do, I will probably miss it because I will be watching something on ITV anyway!). :rotfl:

mjm3346

This explains 0300 numbers


http://blog.moneysavingexpert.com/2009/03/03/loan-shark-hotline-hoorah-its-not-a-freephone/