Has anyone else experienced the 'bullying' tactics by the TV Licence Company?

Question

Has anyone else experienced the 'bullying' tactics by the TV Licence Company?

Answer 1

Your experience seems in line with their nasty, threatening advertising campaign. Have you noticed the similar threatening attitude of vehicle excise licence publicity, and the DWP on benefit fraud?



While I don't condone evasion - not at all - it does seem to me that pressure needs to be brought to bear on the government to stop public authorities from threatening and intimidating the citizens they are supposed to be there to serve.



Remember also that if we don't turn out the New Labour fascists - which I hope we may now be able to do in June - they will soon be threatening us if we refuse to get (and pay through the nose for) one of their nasty, totalitarian ID cards with its secret, encrpted details about us.



Together we can stop these bastards - but don't forget we will then have to fight The Other Bastards!

Answer 2

Yes,just this morning I received a phone call

reminding me to pay my instalment(on card scheme)

and could I do it today else I may be likely to prosecution.

I mean FFS, it's only £11.00 and I have been in hospital this is why there is a lapse in my payment,and I added I would be paying it on Tues to which it will be £16.00,it is not a massive amount, and I have no problem with paying it, it was his attitude and manner" like it was his money I owed.It's not like I'm trying to dodge paying,but they have no comprehension of life in our world at times.Gestappo like morons I'd say.

Answer 3

You have my complete sympathy.

I manage quite well without a TV as well, and it has taken me years to get the messsage accross to the TV licensing people that I do not have one. I'm not at all sure that they believe me, but the last time I had one of them knock on my door I told him (yet again) that I have no set, so don't need a licence. The cheeky so and so asked me to "let me have a look round, to check" so I told him to "F off", and asked him to give me his address so that I could call round to his place sometime, unannounced, and have a snoop round his house. He went off mumbling something about detector vans, so I called after him that he should get one to park itself permanently outside my home.

Haven't heard a word from them since.

Don't care if they believe me or not. I do not have to prove anything. If they want money from me they have to prove I have a TV, and they, obviously, can't.

Don't be intimidated by them.

Don't get a licence just to shut them up. Why should you pay out £140 a year for the rest of your days just to aoid dealing with those fools?

Next time you get a letter, or visit, from them, reply (once again) that you have no TV, and ask them when they are taking Noel Edmunds to court following his very public announcement, last week, that he has not renewed his licence, and will not be doing until the BBCs output improves.

Sorry that this answer is so long, but they really annoy me.

Answer 4

as I am mostly attired in painters overalls even when I am finished work, at home one time I answered the door to one of the inspectors, and told him that I was just working in the house and that there was none of the family in.

He then asked me if there was a T.V in the house, so i informed him that the union would not allow for one of its members to disclose the contents of any home we work in .

he then asked did I have a T.V licence at my home , so I told him that is a question that should be asked at my door step not at my place of work, he then asked me where I live so I told him to find my address in the list of millions of names they claim to have on their data base , he was just about to say something when I interrupted him telling him that I did not like being bullied by a stranger at my place of work and if he did not leave I was phoning the police .

I have not seen nor heard from the inspectors since that was over twenty years ago, and for the record I have never had or even seen a T.V licence ,,,,

Answer 5

Write to your MP. I know of someone who did this and it worked.

Answer 6

It's high-time the licence fee was scrapped !



We pay monthly subscriptions on cable in ADDITION to the licence fee - Besides which in Eire (Southern Ireland for the non-UK people) they don't for a licence at all - despite being part of the British Isles !



The BBC licence is no longer the 'bargain' it used to be - and they should find alternative ways to fund their programing !



Incidentally - I had the same fight about fifteen years ago - I gave up having a TV for about four years - and was contantly having letters and visits from their detection team !

Answer 7

There is a chap who refused to pay saying that the BBC didn`t offer value for money so hasn`t paid foe years and nothing done to him even though he publicises it,he has a group of about 2,000 others who have refused to pay as well and none have been prosecuted,I guess they will never as this would mean a lengthy court case involving personal perceptions of what is value for money/good entertainment,

I wonder what they could do if we all stopped paying,,nothing probably,

Answer 8

Kitkat has got it wrong.you only need a licence for a pc or laptop if you use it to watch television programmes as they are being broadcast.If you watch on catchup or I player you are fine.



http://www.tv-l.co.uk/information/index.jsp



http://tvlicensing.metafaq.com/templates/tvlicensing/main/answerPage?_mftvst:answerRef=%24http%3a%2f%2fapi.transversal.com%2fmfapi%2fobjectref%2fEntryStore%2fEntry%2fhttp%3a%2f%2fwww.metafaq.com%2fmfapi%2fMetafaq%2fClients%2ftvlicensing%2fModules%2flicensingInfo%2fTopics%2fgeneral%3a138369%3a3&_mftvst:moduleID=%24licensingInfo&_mftvst:topicID=%24&id=RMEO9UB9OA741GQM2RUAG59G7S

Answer 9

I can't top what Our Celia has said :-)



Just wait till 'optional' * snort * ID cards come in..TV licencing will be the very least of it.

Answer 10

A friend of mine is like you and doesn't watch TV and they couldn't grasp the concept that he didn't own a television set and bullied him for ages with threatening letters and visits. I myself do watch TV, but very rarely watch the BBC because I despise having their political agenda shoved down my throat. I say ban the BBC and let us choose how we want to entertain ourselves.

Answer 11

Maybe this is wrong but it rings a bell in the dense thing between my ears.Don't they insist on you having at least a black and white tv licence on account of listening to a radio.Didn't the original B+W tv licence cover one tv and one radio due to the BBC radio program es,but besides that I used to pay my licence at the Post Office for the twelve months.Suddenly last year there was no payment accepted anywhere except as you went through the bits and pieces you end up standing order only.Well ok except they want everyone to be six months in advance so on your first year of standing orders,they add half a months payment to the months payment.There has been a lot of groups lately where they have a community aerial so have fought that all of them would split the cost,so far many have won the cases.

Answer 12

When our son was born, my husband & i decided not to have a tv till little one grew to 5years. We spent all the time we would have been staring in front of the tv, reading. It was a difficult time in other ways, and i know for certain that not having the complications & distractions that a tv brings into a home helped us cope better.



That said, people thought we were crazy. The cable guy could not believe we were for real and kept hounding us with pitches & deals.



Doesn't really answer your Q but this was my experience during my tellyless years...

Answer 13

I certainly COULD survive without our TV licence: it's all garbage...except for the occasional film now and again...I must say, that's one thing that is MUCH better in Spain: free TV!!!!! :D

Answer 14

Links to vent your spleen to about the TV licence

Answer 15

a baby got beaten to death in london

if they had no tv license they would of caught up with them quicker and harassed a lot more

my mum says the law in britain is all about money

the tv licensing harass us all if we don't pay they will take us to court or get the bailiffs round all to pay for johnathan ross and his ilk , it stinks

Answer 16

If you don't have a TV there is nothing they can do. Stick your ground and tell them to get stuff, basically. I know I would.

Answer 17

I've heard that from other people. I'm a good boy and I've always had one. Well, apart from when I was a poor student.

Answer 18

lol - I get a letter almost weekly telling me how much closer they are getting to my address and how my address it top of their list of places to visit. etc.....yeah right!

lol at Shady's cool reply

Answer 19

theyve always been like that..untill they visit your house and see you havnt got one then theyll be satisfied.

Answer 20

You have a PC, therefore you DO need one, as you can use it to watch TV. I think that's shite, but tis true now.