To ignore the TV license people?

[Fellia]

So the TV licensing people knocked on my door at half 8 on Saturday morning.

I was in bed and didn’t answer but I’m expecting them to come back.

They put a red letter through my door saying I am watching tv illegally and they can “help me watch legally.”

I’m finding this absolutely ridiculous. I do not watch tv apart from Netflix/DVD’s and the one tv I do have isn’t connected to actual channels (sorry, I don’t know how to explain this properly as I don’t know much about it)

But the fact is I do not watch regular TV. I have written to them, called them numerous times to explain this and I had a visit last year (at a different property) where I also explained this.

AIBU to just ignore them if they keep coming to my door? I’m sick of being harassed by them for no reason.

Nah, they're real but there are only three of them, four if they've managed to fix the broken one by now...

No yanbu.
I ignored them as i wasnt watching tv. It would be netflix or id play on my playstation.
They called out unexpectedly and with confidence i allowed them to come and see that i do not watch normal tv.
They asked if they could see if my tv worked and i handed them the remote.
They put the normal tv channels on and told me i was watching it right now and if i dont set up payments they will prosecute!

Bastards. Ive paid ever since even though i never watch anything on BBC or normal tv for that matter

Sorry but you're wrong. If you can 'watch or receive' a signal then you need one.

If you can receive the signal then it's assumed you're watching and you can be fined. If you don't pay the fine you can go to prison.

The WOIRA thing is the only thing that withdraws the right for them to knock on your door.

You don't need to de-tune it, I don't think that's even possible with modern TVs, just unplug from aerial if it is.

I filled in the form on their website and had no more bother from them.

I don't know if I have a good 'branch' of the licensing division but I get a letter every year. I immediately pick up the phone, and tell them that I only watch Netflix and Prime, and have a TV that my son exclusively watches DVDs on. All of which is true, and they don't bother me again for another year. Last time the guy even said, "Ah yes, nothing's changed then!" - very pleasant.

I'll find out his name if he ever calls again, and everyone can talk to him...

Frustration - you could also unplug from aerial socket to be sure.

I've never had a tv license and just send them a form yearly stating that I still don't need one. Never had a problem with letters, calls or visits. Certainly never heard of de-tuning a tv. We're just not connected to an aerial or anything

But you can receive a signal to watch iPlayer on your phone/ tablet. Why don’t you need a license for that too? (Not being argumentative, genuine question)

When I was in Graduate Halls last year at uni, beneath the pigeonholes for male there were 5 A4 sized cardboard boxes. In each one I would say there were maybe 150 letters. They were all individually addressed letters to students demanding payment for TV licences. This, even though if 1 person per house of 6-12 people had one, that made the whole house legal. Additionally, there were no living rooms and id say only 1/3rd of students had a tv in their bedroom. I bet it scared quite a few international students, with no idea of the law, to pay. Meaning they had multiple licences per house.
The porters just put them all in these big boxes and threw them out ... the companies are extremely wasteful with their fucking letters.

I receive a threatening letter about once every 2 months, and a few times a year a knock at the door - they always start asking me questions without ever introducing themselves let alone showing any ID.

There will be a cold day in hell before I consider myself answerable to these twats.

Either shut the door in their face, or if you are so inclined toy with them 'yes of course you can come in' ..pause.. (at which point they will think bingo we have a gullible one.. 'as soon as you show me your warrant' - and watch the look of disappointment on their faces with glee - then, of course, still shut the door in their faces!

Better things to do in life than watch crap TV, haven't had one in years.

If you engage with them they will bother you more.

I chuck their letters in the bin and haven't seen a licence twat in about a decade.

it took them about five years to stop harrassing us! And tbh I think it is only because the person in the house they keep confusing us with has been there for ages now.

We are
NUMBER , VILLAGE, NAME OF HOUSE
They are
SAME NUMBER, NAME OF COTTAGE, VILLAGE

and even though the names are different and the address syntax is different, AND we have a licence ....the TV licence folk are too stupid to work it out that xxxcottage is not the same as xxxhouse and like to send us many many letters.

Dh phoned them/emailed/returned their letters, but still they arrived.

We are too difficult to find for a visit I think! And I would NEVER let them in if they did knock.

mail * not male obviously. there were no boxes beneath a man.

All I can tell you if IF your TV can receive a signal and IF you let the man in and he checks, you'll get a fine.

I ignored countless letters for years, and possibly/probably knocks on my door too. Never answered the door to people I didn't know, never responded to letters about a TV I didn't own, never filled out any forms. Nothing ever came of it.

We’ve had the sam thing.
I did answer to them once, invited them in. Ther was no tv there, only a computer screen.
Since then I’ve only declared that we dint have the need for a TV licence.
I’ve noticed that since then, they’ve added the fact that it’s all live TV, incl stuff from abroad, not just British channels.
Apart for me that, they never come back again.

So maybe letting them in once would help ensure they leave you alone??

You do not need a TV licence to own a TV. Just like it is not an offence to own a car without a driving licence.

You do actually need to pay road tax if you own a car, regardless of whether or not you use it, unless you declare the car off the road (SORN). Perhaps they just need to provide a way for households to declare themselves exempt from the tv license (like lala does), though I imagine a lot of CF would try it on.

It’s 2017 & we have to pay a stealth tax to the BBC to fund its hidden political agenda, which has been shown to be institutionally embedded.

What nonsense. It's not stealthy, it's not a tax, you can avoid paying it by the simple expedient of not having a TV or watching iPlayer, and if you believe they have a "hidden political agenda" you should learn not to believe everything the Mail and Express tell you.

Thing is, even you do watch BBC, or, accurately, a little bit of BBC, £175 is hilariously bad value. That's what's lost TV its top spot - shit shows, repeated.

Some BBC work is bloody brilliant, but it's the foreign news that reaches people who need it worldwide. That deserves funds, alongside foreign aid, but not by ripping off the public.

This is interesting, I've never had a tv license, i used to watch bbc iplayer sometimes but stopped when that stopped being allowed as I literally maybe watched an hour a month and it wasn't worth paying however-much a year for that. I've never had so much as a letter from tv licensing people.

rather than behaving like Rik from the Young Ones, it is much simpler to fill in the online form. If that doesn't work raise a complaint.

You do need a licence to use BBC iplayer

Sorry but you're wrong. If you can 'watch or receive' a signal then you need one

Stop talking rubbish.

You have to actually watch it.