To be annoyed at people's incompetence?

[BackToBasics]

In December i bought a dvd/freeview box for FIL and i gave the company his address as it was for him and they insisted on having mine too.

I got a letter this morning from the tv licence people saying they have been notified by this company that i bought a dvd/freeview box from them in December but they have no record of a licence for me at my address (our licence is in DP name.)

So i have been given a premiem rate telephone number to call to tell them my address has a licence but not in my name. Or if the box was for someone else i need to tell them the address and may recieve a visit to comfirm this.

1. Why can't the stupid people who work for the licence company just look up my address in their records on their computer and it would tell them my address has a licence and that it is in X name?

2. Why didn't the stupid people at the company i bought the box from tell the licence people FIL's address because they knew it was a gift for him? They even wrote on the reciept; gift for Mr X at X address!

Why do i feel like as usual i am doing the leg work for incompetent people in offices?

ok I can answer no.1 for you.

Because some (a lot) of addresses HAVE to have more than one license registered at it (houses where rooms are let out separately are extremely common these days). In addition if the license is in your DP's name - there's no way of them telling if he's moved and that you're not a new tenant. People often move house but forget to transfer their license - so just because he has a license still registered at your address doesn't necessarily mean that you have a license (if that makes sense).

1. - quite possibly because a lot of people try and "get out" of buying a license by using the "it's a gift for X" excuse -

Our TV licence is in my name and my husband usually buys all the TV equipment and he is always getting letters from them. The first time we called up to say it was in my name, but the letters keep on coming so I've never bothered again. They keep threatening to come round and check, so I'm hoping one day they do. I can't be bothered to contact them each time we get a letter.

That still doesn't answer why the company didn't give the licence people FIL's address? They could have given his address, let the licence company contact FIL and if it was just me trying to get out of getting licence they would find out wouldn't they because FIL would say he hasn't got a dvd/freeview box!

Then the licence people can contact me as they have my address.

I hate that, when they send letter after letter threatening to come round. Bloody come round then! Why do they think it's going to scare you like they are going to come round and beat you up!

I would rather get a letter then have someone round rather than about 10 letters each 'threatening' then have someone round.

Yemi - I can tell you that if they do come round and check it will be very quick and simple - you can show them your TV license and they'll b*gger off .

BTB - because there are FAR too many people that give other peoples addresses as a cop-out to paying for their own license. The % of people who do genuinely buy for other people is MUCH small than the number that fraudulently put down someone elses address - so it makes more sense to check the buyers address first - as in most cases that is where the TV license is actually required. I agree it's a PITA for genuine people like yourself but sadly there aren't many genuine ones around.

They are crap. What a waste of time, YANBU, why should a xmas gift give you this much grief?

They did the same to us when we moved, even though we had told them we'd moved, kept sending us threatening letters and asking us to call them.

oh and BTB - if you live in a flat with an inter-com, or out in the sticks somewhere the chances of someone coming round to visit are quite slim.......most SO's (sales officers - as opposed to the not quite so nice Enforcement Officers) don't bother with their visits in flats and in the sticks as it's a waste of their time - as a lot of the time people aren't in/they can't get into the block

Well i am not phoning thier stupid premiem rate number, they can send someone round as i have nothing to hide!

The licence company kept on sending my dp threatening letters last year because his business doesn't have a licence. Dp doesn't have a tv at his business what with it being a patisserie! It even had on the address X Patisserie but no one at the licence company registered that!

I see what you mean with flats but surely the address would be 'Flat 1' or 'Flat 6' or 'No 12A' rather than just 'No 6 X Road.'

If you had a room in your house with someone staying in it surely the house licence would cover the tv? Because surely it's like having a tv in your own bedroom and you don't need a seperate licence for each room!

BTB - it's a standard letter for any address without a license - and it's not that threatening........you should see the one that you get if you REFUSE to get a license - that's not pleasant at all.

A lot of businesses (even small ones!) have TV's - in the kitchen/office/waiting area - so it being a patisserie doesn't mean that it's "not" going to have one......DH has been to some wierd and wonderful little businesses where they have a small TV.

The database of Licenses is made up of ALL addresses - whether it's a business or not is irrelevant to their computers

if the room you're letting has a lock, then it needs a seperate license (which is why students in halls need seperate licenses).

BTB - if you're officialy renting out a room then the lodger would need a seperate license. DH often gets visits for - so if it's seperate tenancy agreements then they'd each need a license. If it's a joint tenancy agreement then just the one license would cover it (but in those circumstances if there was a TV in the house - but it wasn't yours you would still be liable to pay if the owner of the TV didn't have a license).

Room 1, Room 2, Room 3, Room 4 and Communal Room xxx tdsfds road.

Or

Bottom floor left, bottom floor right, upper floor back, upper floor front etc. - Where each individual room needs a license.

and a lot of flats these days are rather cunningly named - he gets what looks like "normal" houses, no1,3,5,6,34, and 48 XYZ street - gets there and find they're actually flats!

www.tvlicensing.co.uk/aboutus/howtocontactus.jsp

do it by e-mail

Imo if these people used their brains more and some common sense instead of relying on the computer, they wouldn't send out half the letters they do. This goes for alot of companys as half of the letters sent out are unnecessary!

Off the subject of licences, when i was pregnant with dd i recieved a comformation card on the Friday morning for my appointment at 2pm that day and in the same mail i had a letter saying i had missed my appointment for 2pm that day and had a new appointment time!

The second letter saying i had missed my appointment was posted on the Wednesday, two days before the actual appointment they were telling i had missed! Their explanation was "sorry there was a mix up on the computer!" i mean WTF is that all about? Why can't people just use their brain then things like that wouldn't happen. Instead it's easier to blame the computer when someone must have typed that letter into the computer and sent it!

I agree B2B. So many letters get sent out everyday because people in offices aren't doing their jobs properly. If i were you i would egnore and let them send someone round.

BTB - EVERY single address in the country is on the TVL database (about 28 million addresses)......unless you want your license to be even more (ridiculously) expensive than it already is then I'm afraid you have to put up with the computer errors.....as having someone checking them would mean employing more people, putting their costs up (and they already get paid a sh*t wage as it is )

Poor excuse imo. Computer errors is just an easy cop out for people not doing their job properly! I am not just talking about the licence people, i mean the majority of office people. If some office workers spent less time on the internet ie; facebook/mn etc rather than working, maybe less errors would happen because they would focus more or spend more time in doing what they are supposed to be doing!

B2B something similar happened to us once when we used our house name not number on the licence. We told them umpteen times it was the same house but they ignored us.

So nice to see their faces when they turned up to say we had no licence and dh calmly produced it!

Bet they blamed it on the computer!

IS your house name registered with the ROyal Mail? WHy couldn't you have given a number as well?

BacktoBasics don't you feel like you are taking this a little to far.

fine you're pissed off but you've seen it explained as to why its happened.

And yes, occasionally people make mistakes, so do computers - you're never gonna wipe that out completely.

Get over it.

Like when i phoned up a company to request some statements. She said "no problem they will be sent to you staright away." A month later no statements so another phone call "We don't have any record of you requesting statements but i will send them to you." Another few weeks, no statements so another phone call "Oh you can't get them from us you will have to contact X company for them."

I contact X company who then spend the next 7 months saying they don't have them and i will need to get them from the first company. In the end X company DID have them and sent them to me. There excuse "we didn't have them to hand!" Maybe but it doesn't take 7 months to get them to hand does it!

ArmadilloDaMan-office worker i bet!

why is it a poor excuse? People already hate paying as much as they do for their TVL - if they had to employ more people (even on their current crappy wages) costs would be recouped somewhere......and that would more than likely end up being passed onto the customer - me and you!

I'd rather put up with a few (really quite minor IMO) inconveniences that pay even more for my TVL!

You know what - my DH had what seemed like a "good" visit to an address last week. They didn't have a license, agreed there and then (without any of the usual fuss/debate/palaver) to get it - all very pleasant - even gave DH a cup of coffee while they were finding out their bank details etc......before he left about 15 minutes after arriving DH asked if he could use their toilet (beats peeing behind a bush on a cold winters night ) they agreed.......and then after he'd left called up to complain about him........because he asked to use the toilet WTF????

What's their currant crappy wages?

If they put the tv licence up by £5 per person, the person has probably already paid that in phone calls to primiem rate numbers anyway so the customer loses out anyhow.