Topic: Q for those of you without a TV....

[Hyacinth]

(rant mode ON)

...when do they stop hounding you with threatening letters? Lords sake, their monitoring equipment is so hi-tech they know when I'm watching (still legally so far, but bet that'll change in time :-\) on iPlayer watch again, cos I get a msg in a lower bar on the screen saying that this is being notified....BUT...if they'd ever just come round, have a cuppa tea and do a  civilised snoop, even,  it'd save youz-all guys who DO have a tele and pay the licence, in the cost of the bloomin stamps, which must really mount up. >:(

Now they say they're coming to see me in March (after saying they were coming in November, December,  January, February...)

Well, I've got news for them. 2 pieces of news, actually.

1) I'm going on hol in March.

2) When they DO come, there'll still be tea on offer, BUT

NO choclit digestives.

That'll larn em.

(rant mode OFF)

 ;D

[asbean]

A friend of mine has the same problem.  They've been hounding him for years.

[Hyacinth]

It's my poor Postie I'm feeling sorry for...every second day he trudges the hill with his load, then trudges up the steep path to my front door, then has to say "another of these for you"....

And by law he can't just tear them up - which is what I do.

Poor love :'(

..years you say? I'll have to tell him ::)

[saddad]

They do eventually stop, but only after a visit... then you get five years grace and the carousel starts again....  ::)

[1066]

I used to send those threatening, badly written and often factually incorrect "letters" back with things like "come on down" and "bring it on". I eventually signed the piece of paper that tells them I don't have a TV, but the letters still came - till I rang them up and they backed down within seconds and I'm now on a SPECIAL LIST. Whatever that means! But I don't get the letters for up to 3 years - then it will all start again....................  ::)

[saddad]

Our "special listing " has come to an end and we are about to start the process again...  ;D

[Kea]

I have a TV now but I know what you mean about annoying but I did find it funny when they turned up on the doorstep and told me they had detected my TV and noticed I didn't have a license. I just told them their detection equipment must be faulty and shut the door.

You could write i don't have a TV on the letters and post them back postage unpaid wrapped around something heavy!

[Flunky]

If people are watching the IPlayer (BBC) then why should you not pay for a TV license ?

If you watch TV (BBC) then you should pay your dues until it changes. I dont have problem with it. I would rather not pay it but I have to.

[Hyacinth]

 ;D ;D ;D

I'm in for the long haul, then..(or rather, my poor Postie is ::))

I did ALL the right things :o

I wrote to them saying that I wasn't renewing my licence for the following reasons:-

1) the tube had gone on my analogue TV & to replace it now would, logically, need an outlay for a newfangled digital thingumyjig, which I wasn't prepared to pay...

2) I didn't have/want Cable or a satellite dish & therefore had to rely on a communal terrestrial aerial to receive a signal and wasn't about to pay for a satellite installation or a monthly amount to cable for the minimal amount I watched television.

3) The communal aerial was being turned off by the Estate owners.

4) That even with this functioning aerial,  the reception was c*rp cos I lived in a 'dead' area, even with a booster aerial.

and so..

5) I HAD DECIDED TO NOT HAVE A BL**DIN TELEVISION.

 ;D ;D ;D

But then (sigh) when a couple of months back, I got a letter from them, I phoned them up straight away...went through it again...EVEN apologised for the fact that if they arrived unannounced at certain times I'd not answer the door anyway, but that they were welcome to sit outside my house until I was ready to receive Visitors - at which time they would be made welcome with Tea and Choclit Digestive Biscuits :D

All that's changed is there will be NO Choclit Digestive Biscuits... an another thing....if any of them take shugga, tough. Ain't got none, not going to buy none. So there.

Gal's gotta make a stand.

[Lauren S]

I think I pay enough already to AOL to be able to watch on iplayer.

This disagreement could go further...Why don't they make touring caravaners, campers, chalet owners pay up too  ::)

[tonybloke]

They ain't hassled us since we moved to this house, Probably 'cos we removed the tv ariel as soon as we moved in, and have broadband only (no phone or tele channels) no sky dish, etc.

Please note, t.v. liscensing authority have NO RIGHT OF ENTRY INTO YOUR HOME! unless they accompanied by a police officer who is carrying a valid warrant. don't let the Illegitimates in!
They also try to find out if you have a t.v. by telephone, posing as market research ( 020 number)asking about mobile phones, sim cards, then computers, then t.v.!
 my m8 Garry B'stard had such a call last week, told 'em to try and do the impossible!!

[Hyacinth]

If people are watching the IPlayer (BBC) then why should you not pay for a TV license ?

If you watch TV (BBC) then you should pay your dues until it changes. I dont have problem with it. I would rather not pay it but I have to.

To watch 'live', yes. one needs a TV licence.

To watch later via the 'watch again' one doesn't.

Yet.

[Hyacinth]

Sorry, Tonybloke, no idea this would cause such a flurry of answers :o and we cross-posted...

Yes, like you, no bloody evidence in sight, natch, and I'm aware that they can't legally come into my house..BUT I'm reeeely reeely nice and this is the third bloody pakit of Choclit Digestives I've bought...and eaten...and...NO MORE!!

Gonna spend that saved money on a tele I haven't got + satellite + cable costs on a bloody Fat Club subscription  if they keep on breaking dates :o

 ;D ;D ;D

[bluebedouin]

..Why don't they make touring caravaners, campers, chalet owners pay up too  ::)

In a way they do,it's included in the licence, subject to conditions.

[1066]

NO choclit digestives.[/quote]

and wasn't about to pay for a satellite installation at which time they would be made welcome with Tea and Choclit Digestive Biscuits :D

All that's changed is there will be NO Choclit Digestive Biscuits...

BUT I'm reeeely reeely nice and this is the third bloody pakit of Choclit Digestives I've bought...and eaten...and...NO MORE!! 

Hyacinth - I'm sensing a common theme here and its not the TV licensing but the chocolate biscuits!!!!     ;D ;D ;D

[Hyacinth]

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D @1066

sharp as a tack, you, intya? 8)

[1066]

not sharp but it does take 1 to know 1 !!! Glad it made you smile tho!

[Melbourne12]

I've never had a television.  Not when I was a lad, and not in nearly 40 years of being a householder.  We have had many amusing encounters with the TVLA.

So, from experience I can tell you:

• The threatening letters never stop.  Ever.  No matter what you do. The best you can do is earn a short intermission.
• The best advice is simply to throw all correspondence in the bin.  Do not reply.
• If they come round, don't let them in.  Just say that you don't have a television and politely close the door.  Don't engage in conversation.  They will lie to you and say that the law has just been changed.  It hasn't, or certainly not in a way that obliges you to buy a licence when you don't have a television.
• If you get a phone call telling you that you have won a video or DVD recorder, tell them that you don't have a use for such a thing.

Now the bad advice.  Very occasionally I get sufficiently grumpy to break my own rules and write to them.  I've tried various formulae over the years, but the best one goes something along these lines.

"I am happy to confirm that your records are correct.  I do not indeed have a TV Licence.

If you check your files, you'll see that I have been a householder this address for 18 years, and at various addresses for some 20 years before that.  In all that time I have never bought a TV Licence, in spite of regular harassment by your TV LEOs.  So it seems to me that your duty is clear.

Yours etc"

And finally a story that shows just what sad sacks these people are.

Three years ago my elderly mother died, at a ripe old age.  My brother and I dealt with the estate, and notified all the authorities appropriately.  After a few months, following the date of expiry of her TV licence, the usual silly threats arrived.  My brother foolishly wrote to them, then phoned them to explain.  Eventually he got a response promising to update their database.

And I suppose, in a way, they did exactly that.

A month later a letter was delivered, addressed to the deceased personally.
"Dear Mrs Jones,

We have been informed that you no longer qualify for the subsidised elderly persons licence.  If you still have a television, please renew your licence by paying ££££ in one of the following ways ......."

and of course it ended with the usual blood-curdling threats.

I was quite inclined to reply and give her new address as the local crematorium, but my family didn't share my sense of humour in the matter.