TV licence - are they kidding?

Author
Discussion

tonym911

16,409 posts

204 months

Saturday 7th August 2010
quotequote all
Don't get me wrong, I am 100% against the TV licence, but on a general principle aren't we already paying for 'licences' in advance, like the road tax disc? confused

Chrisgr31

13,440 posts

254 months

Saturday 7th August 2010
quotequote all
MudSkipper said:
I've just had the same arguement as above with TV Licensing people, they want to charge £29.10 for the next 5 months, then £12 per month next year. Am not overly impressed with them having £80 of my money just sat in their bank account, but we have worked out a way around this...

Their account year runs Jan-Dec, so in Dec I'll cancel the TV licence, and let the other half take out a new one in his name. We'll get the £80 refunded which will have been paid by then, and then start the year paying month by month rather than being 8 months is credit.
Realistically most people will take out a Licence and never have the need to cancel it, so they could be sat on your hard earned cash for years to come!
Hang on that doesn't work though. As for the first 6 months of 2011 you'll be paying a double amount each month, so that by June you'll have paid for the 2011 licence. In July your payments will half and you'll start paying for the 2012 Licence. Or at least thats how I thought it worked.

MudSkipper

2,404 posts

217 months

Sunday 8th August 2010
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Nope..it's bascially £30 per month until Dec, then it drops down to £12 per month from Jan, so no matter what time during the year that you 'start' your new TV licence you have to pay for the whole of that year (if you started in Nov it would be around £70 for 2 months then start in Jan,a fresh new year).

It's quite sickening how much of our money they are sitting on because of this policy. If everyone takes out a licence mid-year, they're sitting on £70 of your money until you tell them that you no longer require a TV licence, which in most cases doesn't happen very often

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Sunday 8th August 2010
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Rubbish. A TV licence starts from the day you buy it and runs for a year; there's no 'fixed year'.



Edited by V8mate on Sunday 8th August 17:07

Lawsome

613 posts

182 months

Sunday 8th August 2010
quotequote all
If you start a new licence on a monthly DD you will be 6 months in advance. However you can choose a quarterly DD where you pay £37.64 every 3 months from the beginning, rather than starting on £29.10 for the first 5 months with the monthly DD.

Merlot

4,121 posts

207 months

Sunday 8th August 2010
quotequote all
Lawsome said:
If you start a new licence on a monthly DD you will be 6 months in advance. However you can choose a quarterly DD where you pay £37.64 every 3 months from the beginning, rather than starting on £29.10 for the first 5 months with the monthly DD.
Or just buy it in full for £145 odd, solves everything.

zac510

5,546 posts

205 months

Sunday 8th August 2010
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Why don't you just not get it until January?

mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
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zac510 said:
Why don't you just not get it until January?
it's irrelevant a TV licence is valid for one year from the date you buy it ..

Vipers

32,799 posts

227 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
Interesting article in the Scottish Daily Mail yesterday.

If you watch live T.V. on a P.C. you need a T.V. licence.

If you download using for example I-player, then watch it, you are now watching a recorded programme, and you don't need a licence.

However that may change in the future it said.




smile

Edited by Vipers on Thursday 12th August 06:56

MudSkipper

2,404 posts

217 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
mph1977 said:
zac510 said:
Why don't you just not get it until January?
it's irrelevant a TV licence is valid for one year from the date you buy it ..
Nope, you have to pay for a whole years licence no matter when during the year you take out the licence, and then January you start paying for a complete new year.

In my case, I have just (August) taken out a TV licence for 2010 and will be paying £29pm until Dec = £145. In January I will pay £12pm = £145, if/when I cancel the licence I will be refunded £84 for the months Jan-Jul 2010. So If I dont cancel my TV licence until 2020, they will be sat on my £84 for 10yrs until it's refunded

Now think of how many other people they do this too and how much extra money they are getting from us by having our money sat in their bank account gaining interest

V8mate

45,899 posts

188 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
MudSkipper said:
mph1977 said:
zac510 said:
Why don't you just not get it until January?
it's irrelevant a TV licence is valid for one year from the date you buy it ..
Nope, you have to pay for a whole years licence no matter when during the year you take out the licence, and then January you start paying for a complete new year.

In my case, I have just (August) taken out a TV licence for 2010 and will be paying £29pm until Dec = £145. In January I will pay £12pm = £145, if/when I cancel the licence I will be refunded £84 for the months Jan-Jul 2010. So If I dont cancel my TV licence until 2020, they will be sat on my £84 for 10yrs until it's refunded

Now think of how many other people they do this too and how much extra money they are getting from us by having our money sat in their bank account gaining interest
How many times do people have to tell you that you are wrong?

Licences last 12 months.

If you pay by direct debit you have to buy the first year's licence in no more than six monthly instalments. You then buy your subsequent licences in twelve instalments - six before it's due and six after it has started.

So there' no 'sitting on money for ten years'; they are actually extending you credit for half of your licence fee from year two onwards.

mph1977

12,467 posts

167 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
MudSkipper said:
mph1977 said:
zac510 said:
Why don't you just not get it until January?
it's irrelevant a TV licence is valid for one year from the date you buy it ..
Nope, you have to pay for a whole years licence no matter when during the year you take out the licence, and then January you start paying for a complete new year.

In my case, I have just (August) taken out a TV licence for 2010 and will be paying £29pm until Dec = £145. In January I will pay £12pm = £145, if/when I cancel the licence I will be refunded £84 for the months Jan-Jul 2010. So If I dont cancel my TV licence until 2020, they will be sat on my £84 for 10yrs until it's refunded

Now think of how many other people they do this too and how much extra money they are getting from us by having our money sat in their bank account gaining interest
you pay for the first year's licence in the first six months - hence the higher charge for the first six months ....but the licence is still valid for one year from the date of taking it out

subsequently you pay half ahead of renewal and half after ....


if the DD scheme works on calender years why does my TV licence have an expiry date of 30/4/2011 ...


MudSkipper

2,404 posts

217 months

Thursday 12th August 2010
quotequote all
ah OK, that makes more sense...I'm still waiting for licence to turn up at the moment.

I did call the licensing people to ask about the payments and the woman I spoke to lead me to believe it was a Jan-Dec cycle.

I'll down down off my high horse now...boxedin

Kindersley

329 posts

164 months

Saturday 14th August 2010
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enjoy whilst you can. Its all going to be "pay per view" within 10 years.