Has anyone cancelled and got a refund for their TV license without moving house?

[Mariamariaaa]

I don't normally watch any TV - just YouTube videos (not live). So we don't currently have a TV licence. However, I would really like to watch the upcoming Olympics live. I thought I could pay for a license now, watch the Olympics live, and then cancel the license again in a month or so as I will be going back to not watching any TV. However, the TV licensing website says you have to provide evidence for no longer needing a license if you're applying for a refund on unused months - for example evidence that you're moving abroad or into a care home. They don't seem to consider the possibility that people might want to cancel their license purely because they no longer want to watch any TV.

Has anyone done this and been able to get a refund? Do I just need to suck up that I'd need to pay for a full year just to watch the Olympics? Or does TV Licensing just not want to advertise this but it will be perfectly possible to cancel the license whenever you want, even without moving house?

Thank you in advance

Anyone at all?

I cancelled a month after taking it out, no refund, if you write in you can get 3 months refunded in a months time, and I also got threatening e-mails. There's no point cancelling until 3 months left.

Couldn't you opt for the direct debit option and then cancel the direct debit with an explanatory email?

I paid by dd and for some reason that's 6 months in advance. We watch Sky recordings, Prime, Netflix and YouTube we never watch actual live TV so I cancelled and they refunded me almost a year's worth. I had a couple of nasty letters and a visit. I answered the letters stating we didn't watch TV and told the very nice man at the door we didn't. I had to sign a declaration again saying I didn't watch TV and that was at least 18 months maybe 2 years ago not heard from them again.

Thank you for your replies. What I'm struggling to understand is what the legal situation is / what actually is allowed and what isn't. Surely I should be able to terminate a contract I no longer need, right? But then why the threatening emails and nasty letters?

If I cancelled the direct debit from my side (after filling in a cancellation and refund form with an explanation), would I make myself in any way liable to be prosecuted by them?

My dh was enraged by the threatening letters and the visitor but I found a polite but firm no has worked so far. I've signed the declaration and posted it, done it on the doorstep and filled it in online. It's annoying but what can you do 🙄

I cancelled mine maybe 2 years ago and got a refund for the unused months. I don't remember having to provide evidence though, I just said I don't watch TV and then they sent an exemption letter. I'm still in the same house, no other changes

I would read the terms and conditions very carefully before you sign up.

I now subscribe to DiscoveryPlusUK and they are saying for £6.99 per month (until cancel) or £29.99 for year (autorenews so need to cancel renewal) you can get the Olympics. I don't know exactly what that means, it gives the impression its all the Olympics and live though it says its every unmissable moment.

I hate the threatening letters from TV Licence, we got them as well when we sold our house before buying a new one and there they were telling me I had set up a business at my old house and we were all watching TV there and I needed to pay for a business TV licence with various threats if I didn't. There wasn't even a TV in the property and no business. I called them and they said they would stop the threatening letters for 6 months. Sold it now.

Mariamariaaa We are in exactly the same position. DD2 (11) is a swimmer and would love to watch the swimming and diving at the Olympics, but as we have no TV and we don't watch anything live, we don't have a TV licence.

I looked up to see if they have a live chat, but I can't find anything.

I tried the virtual assistant and got nowhere! Just says 'thank you for your question' or 'virtual assistant is thinking'.

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences. @Whinginadeville and @Riverskye that sounds very promising - thank you! @Silkiecats 's experience less so - argh!

I will try to look up a Terms and Conditions document. I've mainly found the website very vague. @Land0r I tried the virtual assistant as well and have also sent a few emails, but their response was completely unhelpful.

I will check out DiscoveryPlusUK now as well - thanks for the tip Silkie

Ah thanks so much again @Silkiecats! I didn't know about Discovery before but have just looked and it looks as if all the main sports I am interested in will be available there. I might just go with that then as the safer option - there's even a free trial on at the moment. Thanks so much for this tip - I really appreciate it

Glad you like it

I'm no fan at all of how the licensing system is run, but I think they probably see it as an annual commitment that you're signing up to, rather than the likes of Netflix, Britbox et al - and the monthly direct debits are for your convenience in spreading out your agreed annual payment.

I suppose, playing devil's advocate, they probably see it that they provide a year's worth of programming - including things like the Olympics and the Christmas special dramas, and to expect to pay for those pro-rata and then not pay for the months when they only put rubbish on invest less in new programming, which subsidises the big events, makes you a bit of a bad egg - if you aren't moving or unable to keep watching but simply wanting to pick and choose, because your preferred viewing happens to be in one concentrated block rather than every Tuesday evening throughout the year.

I think the TV licence has long had its day, though - I really can't see how much longer they can continue with an obsolete way of paying for your multi-platform, multi-channel viewing.

Thank you for this explanation - that makes sense!