I got a TV Licence that runs out in September. I received a letter saying - start budget payments for when your licence runs out in september. A week later I got a letter saying your licence is due to expire - try our budget payment scheme. Two days later I got a letter saying - you do not have a licence for this address - get one now or else.

A week passed and then I got a letter saying your licence runs out in October - think about a budget payment scheme to spread the cost. Three days later I got a letter saying - your licence has expired - buy one now or else - we know who you are. A few days later - a letter saying - we see you have just bought a new television - you need a licence for this and do not appear to have one.

Today I received a letter saying if I do not buy a licence then I will be taken to court for licence evasion.

What the hades is going on? With the money it has cost them they could have paid for my licence, and they still have no idea what is what.

Anyone else have such problems?

Dragon

With regards to the bit about having a new TV... From past experience of working at a High street store, I know that when you purchase a TV, the sales assistant has to take your details to send to the TV licence people. (The number of people who don't know their own postcode... yeah right!) This happens if its your first or 5th TV in your home. The details go to an errata screen and then off to the licence people and I believe that a standard letter is send out to all who purchase a TV. Confusing, I know... But with the average household having TV's in most bedrooms/living room, they do tend to cause some confusion. However, they will catch some without licenses, so I can see why they do it.

Perhaps a call to the licence people would help? Ignoring the letters wont do any good! Anyways, you will have a TV licence from the date you first supplied your details... It comes in the post and if ever an inspector turned up, you'd just show them that. Perhaps scan it and email it to them, or fax etc?

the worse thing is if they have no record of a licence or a note that it is in default guess who's house the detctor vans come str8 out too.
gets them a result str8 away & makes the figures look good.

Aye - but the point is that not all these letters are going to be sent for free. Now if they send me a letter telling me I have a licence, why then send me half a dozen threatening ones saying I do not. It is pretty obvious that I do.

Dragon

Originally posted by Dragon
Aye - but the point is that not all these letters are going to be sent for free. Now if they send me a letter telling me I have a licence, why then send me half a dozen threatening ones saying I do not. It is pretty obvious that I do.

Dragon

they probably have multiple it systems that don't like talking to each other.

Dragon - how do you normally buy your TV licence? If it's by direct debit then it will renew automatically. Otherwise (e.g. if you get it from the post office), you should still only need to get another when the old one runs out.

Don't worry about the demands, I've had those and all I did was photocopy my existing licence and send that to them to prove I have got one. They can't charge you for the letters either. They can be scary though!

I was more concerned for this happening to the elderly or those not firing on all cylinders. I have a licence so the letters are filed in the bin until it runs out.

More over - isn't there any concern for the huge waste of resources?

Maybe it is just me.

Dragon

Originally posted by Dragon
More over - isn't there any concern for the huge waste of resources?

I think the nasty accusations push the wasted rescources to second stage in my opinion. Have you not called them? Once you've sorted it out, perhaps request that all correspondence is sent via email, or you would prefer to be called due to green issues and whatnot.

Lots of interesting info and opinions here:

http://www.tvlicensing.biz/

They've really annoyed me! We had a licence under someone else's name in the house and they decided to charge me for not having one! I've called them loads and sent all the relevant stuff to them but now I've got a warrant out for my arrest! I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do! Who do I call now as TV licence peeps obviously don't listen and the courts don't answer? A woman came to my house and said to call the number she wrote on the card but I could never get through. When I explained to her what had happened she rolled her eyes. It looks like they get this problem a lot. Gah!!

I've had this sort of stuff for years. They cant do a thing unless you have a tele without a licence. I usually bin their threats and get on with the rest of my life without a qualm. They've just set me a letter to say they're sending enforcement officers around. So what.

Originally posted by ickle
They've really annoyed me! We had a licence under someone else's name in the house and they decided to charge me for not having one! I've called them loads and sent all the relevant stuff to them but now I've got a warrant out for my arrest! I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do! Who do I call now as TV licence peeps obviously don't listen and the courts don't answer? A woman came to my house and said to call the number she wrote on the card but I could never get through. When I explained to her what had happened she rolled her eyes. It looks like they get this problem a lot. Gah!!

a warrant for your arrest, or a court summons.

Turn up at court, with your tv license. Laugh as the case is dismissed and they have to pay your costs.

if the person named on the licence does not reside their it could be an issue. they may have a licence for their new residence & cancelled the previous one.

someone told me that technically a tv licence only covers 2 tv's - any one else heard of this.??

"If you are going to be sharing a house, a separate tenancy agreement would normally mean your room is classified a separately occupied place. In this case, if you have a TV in your room, you will need your own TV Licence.

However, if there is only one TV in a communal area, then only one TV Licence is required. Similarly, if your house can be treated as one place shared by all, then only one TV Licence is required - a joint tenancy agreement would normally indicate that there is only one separately occupied place. "

just pinched this from the tv licence site don't know if it's appropriate for anyone on here.

yeah make sure you have a licence, accept the summons and then get your solicitor to counter claim against them for the distress caused - you chould be able to get an award.

I did for the 'poll tax' they summonsed me for 3 years unpaid - I turned up at court , it got adjurned and then at the second attempt the magistrate awarded me leave to claim compensation for the distress after I produced payment slips for the full amount...the prosecutor asked me why I'd not simply told them I'd paid and my solicitor replied, I was never asked they just issued the summonses - and the burden was on the prosecution to proof their case not me defend my position...in the end I got 500 sovs back from the council which was nice :)

I guess I'm probably on a hit lisdt now - if I ever fall behind with the Council Tax - I'll get took to court in revenge :)

ignore them - as long as you're covered i wouldn't be bothered - if anyone turns up show them the licence and tell them to go away
there's no defence for this kind of crap - no wonder the frigging fees go up each year
i'm getting my own back - i have only just started paying for my licence and i have managed to evade them for the last 10 years
- and before yo do gooders say it - i don't even watch any of the bbc channels cos i have sky and therefore they're taking money off me for nothing anyway so i'm not responsible for the increases

I have moved house a lot over recent years, so I have learnt the following from the TV licence people:

- The TV licence belongs to the person named on the licence, not the address. They can allow others to watch TV in that address under their licence, unless there are separate tenancy agreements whereby each person owning a TV must own a separate TV licence.

- If the person named on the licence moves from that address then they usually inform the licensing authority who issue them with a new licence for their new address. Any licence in their name that they left behind at the old address becomes void - so if your licence holder moves out of your house you have to check whether you still have a licence or not.

- This can actually mean that you need to get two licences for the same adress for a period of time. For example I moved from an address in Cambridge towards the end of August last year. The licence was in my name and they informed me of the above (that I would take the licence to my new address). Unfortunately licences can only run from the 1st of a month, so I as I was moving 5 days before the end of August my licence would transfer to my new address from that date, and unless my former housemates got a licence from 1st August they would not be covered for the last 5 days of the month! So for most of August we had 2 TV licences.

- You don't actually need a copy of your TV licence. When I moved my new licence was lost in the post. When I called to ask for a replacement they did send one, but they explained that I didn't have to worry about having one as the detectors have a list of all those address who HAVE got a licence, so all they do is traget the addresses they KNOW haven't got a licence and detect whether TV equipment is being used there. So as long as they have a record of you having a valid licence you don't need to worry.

- I know they do pass your name on when you buy a TV, but they should check to see whether you already have a licence before sending a letter saying you need one. I bought a new telly earlier this year and didn't receive a licence reminder.

Thank you all. We've got a joint tenancy so only need the one licence and always has been. I'm glad to know you don't need the paper bit as the girl who's name it was in has moved and we don't have contact with her anymore.

It's a warrant for my arrest. :(
I'll go down and :rant: at them.

Originally posted by terrano
ignore them - as long as you're covered i wouldn't be bothered - if anyone turns up show them the licence and tell them to go away
there's no defence for this kind of crap - no wonder the frigging fees go up each year
i'm getting my own back - i have only just started paying for my licence and i have managed to evade them for the last 10 years
- and before yo do gooders say it - i don't even watch any of the bbc channels cos i have sky and therefore they're taking money off me for nothing anyway so i'm not responsible for the increases
So I'm a "do gooder" for not liking the fact that you avoid paying your license, thus increasing the cost of mine? Nice attitude... (and I like the fact that doing good is seen as a strange attitude!)

You should also remember that the tv license fee pays for far more than just bbc1-4...

This thread makes me wish I'd thought about tv licenses when I was arguing about software piracy in another thread! It seems a very good example of something else where people don't think it matters to avoid paying, and an awful lot of people only pay because in this case they can't get away with it!

They pestered my Mum for years even though she didn't have a telly. Every so often a letter would arrive saying that there was no television licence registered at that address and threatening all sorts of dire consequences if she didn't get one. I wrote plenty of sarky letters back saying that I didn't realise it was compulsory to have a telly even in this day and age. But they never gave up. Personally I don't think they should be able to do this - it's up to you to tell them you have a TV, not for them to just assume that you must have one and are not paying for it.

Eventually my Mum decided that she did want a telly again but by then she was over 75 so got a free licence anyway.

Originally posted by ickle
Thank you all. We've got a joint tenancy so only need the one licence and always has been. I'm glad to know you don't need the paper bit as the girl who's name it was in has moved and we don't have contact with her anymore.

It's a warrant for my arrest. :(
I'll go down and :rant: at them.

If the girl who's name it was in has moved though, you do need to check whether that licence still covers you. As I said the licence actually belongs to the person, not the address - so it may well be the case that when she moved she contacted the licencing people and had the licence changed to her new address - thus making any licence in her name at her old address obsolete. If she hasn't told them she's moved then it may still cover you, but it is up to you to check this.

Originally posted by ickle
I'm glad to know you don't need the paper bit as the girl who's name it was in has moved and we don't have contact with her anymore.

If she's transferred the licence to another address then you'd need to buy another one. Though you'd still get letters as the licensing people are so crap. I received letters saying enforcement people would be coming round, even though I said I had one.

Am I right in thinking that TV license covers BBC radio stations as well? Plus a load of stuff they're starting to put on the internet...