TV Licence article Discussion

madmuppet5

cw18 wrote: »

If I were claiming to have been charged for some I hadn't received and was asking for a refund, then yes......

Well I wouldn't want anyone who hasn't been CRB checked and who has just sent me a threat of a £1000 fine mooching around my flat :cool:

drsquirrel

The article really needs to make a few changes, the dector vans are a lie and the myth should not be propogated.

Also saying they need a court order to come in is all and well, but it should also mention that they cannot just get a court order out of thin air.

Not that the article should be showing ways non paying but viewing, but it shouldn't be out to help the TVL fear mongering for people that dont pay because they dont want to watch.

madmuppet5 wrote: »

If Tescos asked you to confirm that you hadn't bought any milk and they sent someone around to check your fridge would you be happy with that?

It's worse than that.

You will get letters every 2-6 weeks, all very agressive, saying someone will visit and that the local <enter county> enforcement team will visit, are in the area etc. and they are giving the information you need when they take you to court. mmm

But this is harassment? Well no it isn't, because apparently you can call or fill out online that you don't need one. Why should you do that? Well you shouldn't have to but it gets worse. It says the will book a visit for an officier to come and check! And even then it will only last for 2 years!

So its not harassment because you can stop them by letting them in...


Even though I am in the "actually does not watch live tv" camp, members of my family actually suggset I should pay just to stop the letters, and for a while I had a worried wife about having people turning up at the door and such.

Franko101

The TV Licensing article deprecates quarterly direct debit because of the £5 annual surcharge, but doesn't mention that if you pay monthly, when starting you pay double for the first six months.

When I did a quick comparison in a spreadsheet it looked like because of that early overpayment with monthly it would be somewhere after twelve years out before I'd have paid more for quarterly. The way things are going, I'm not sure the licence fee will even last that long. Also, paying quarterly, you can avoid having much of an overpayment in Capita's paws in the event of a change of circumstances.

What have I missed or miscalculated?

adouglasmhor

TKW wrote: »

Interesting, I've just checked and, on my laptop, the network activity ceases when I pause the stream.

Well on mine - not only does it continue to download but I can play the files from my temp file when no longer connected to the net. Very strange, there must be some explanation.

drsquirrel

madmuppet5 wrote: »

Well I wouldn't want anyone who hasn't been CRB checked and who has just sent me a threat of a £1000 fine mooching around my flat :cool:

They're not really there to check, they are there to scare you into paying (or not claiming it back). Half of them don't even know what is what, and will just outright lie about stuff.

There isn't much they can do to actually tell these days unless they sit down and go through your computer, or your tv menus and all that. Because you have an aerial or able to view live tv doesn't mean you need to pay. They will stand around looking at your aerial and dish in a menacing manor to make you feel guilty (most don't even realise dishes can be used for more than video).

The only people that pay are the ones that are bullied, the ones that dont get walked over by them dont pay - and can still watch if they wish.

If you don't want to talk to them at the door - which you shouldn't, ever, regardless of if you are "not guilty", they will just say "well I will keep coming back then". I really don't understand how these people are trained to act like this, its not like its a rewarding thing, so money? bonuses? maybe most infringers caught in a month the employee gets a bonus? I really want to hear from ex-TVL employees more about this.

[Deleted User]

I've not paid TVL for years and I don't plan to any time soon. They can only do you if you let them into your home and sign the confession paperwork. Not going to happen.

Browntoa

I rented out a room for a while , they moved out and transferred their TVL to their new address

got a letter addressed to "the room" asking if there was a valid TVL for the address and took the time to ring up and give them my VALID TVL

still getting letters and eagerly waiting for a visit or for them to take me to court as they would lose

cw18

drsquirrel wrote: »

You will get letters every 2-6 weeks, all very agressive, saying someone will visit and that the local <enter county> enforcement team will visit, are in the area etc. and they are giving the information you need when they take you to court. mmm

I think it's wrong to say 'you will get', as I've never had. And I cancelled my licence at the end of 2010, so they've had plenty of chance to chase me.... especially given the TV purchases I've made since then! OK, so I completed the on-line form. A couple of minutes that didn't cost me anything but the time, and it's all done and I don't have any headaches from hassle.

Franko101 wrote: »

The TV Licensing article deprecates quarterly direct debit because of the £5 annual surcharge, but doesn't mention that if you pay monthly, when starting you pay double for the first six months.

When I did a quick comparison in a spreadsheet it looked like because of that early overpayment with monthly it would be somewhere after twelve years out before I'd have paid more for quarterly. The way things are going, I'm not sure the licence fee will even last that long. Also, paying quarterly, you can avoid having much of an overpayment in Capita's paws in the event of a change of circumstances.

What have I missed or miscalculated?

Yes you pay for the first licence in 6 payments - and when I first purchased this way in the late 80's it was made very clear to me that it was done this way. Alternatively you can pay it all up front and they have all your money for the full 12 months (or 11, depending on what date you start it )

Then you pay 6 months in advance and 6 in arrears for subsequent licences. So they earn interest on some of your money while you could still have it, but then you don't hand over the other half in a lump sum at renewal time so you're earning interest on money that you could have already passed to them. So I've never been able to see a signigicant difference between paying annually and monthly. The surcharge for paying quarterly is (I believe) considerably more than I could earn in interest on such a paltry sum over the year (especailly as I'm having to hand over part of the capital every quarter), but if you can find me an account that would make it worth paying the surcharge I'd love the details so I can put my savings into it please

darren1217

My Friend only watching satellite tv (not sky or any other uk broadcaster) he watches programs from Argentina or some other non uk channels he is 60 and pays direct debit for his licence, How can he prove he never watches live tv from the uk. He was getting phone calls every day for 2 weeks from the tv licence company. even though he had paid via a paypoint and had proof, his English is not great and they harresed him non stop and were very rude at times.

madmuppet5

drsquirrel wrote: »

They're not really there to check, they are there to scare you into paying (or not claiming it back). Half of them don't even know what is what, and will just outright lie about stuff.

There isn't much they can do to actually tell these days unless they sit down and go through your computer, or your tv menus and all that. Because you have an aerial or able to view live tv doesn't mean you need to pay. They will stand around looking at your aerial and dish in a menacing manor to make you feel guilty (most don't even realise dishes can be used for more than video).

The only people that pay are the ones that are bullied, the ones that dont get walked over by them dont pay - and can still watch if they wish.

If you don't want to talk to them at the door - which you shouldn't, ever, regardless of if you are "not guilty", they will just say "well I will keep coming back then". I really don't understand how these people are trained to act like this, its not like its a rewarding thing, so money? bonuses? maybe most infringers caught in a month the employee gets a bonus? I really want to hear from ex-TVL employees more about this.

Some very good points.
TVL staff do get a bonus, £20 I think for selling you a licence. I've got a stack of the threat-o-grams some beginning with "What to expect in Court". Now I can see how these would be scary and intimidating for a lot of people but they are not worth the paper they are written on. The latest that I received stated "We've begun an investigation into your property". That must be the third time I have had that one :rotfl:
Obviously the investigation can't be completed without your assistance, so don't let them in.:beer: