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?

I got a`letter after buying a freeiew box, didn't do anything and they've not followed it up yet.

It does really annoy me though. The licence is for the address, not the person so like the op says, if they can tell there is no licence in my name thet can tell that there is a licence in dp's name and that should be enough!

A programme dp and i were watching the other night about jobs and what people earn was good. A man who cleaned the sewers of all the rubbish people put down their drains ie; condoms, tampons/towls, cooking fat was his job to clean it out to prevent blockage. He earned between £9000 and £12000 a year! That is bad for the job he has to do!

are you sure it's a premium rate number? I thought it was a 0844 number - which I'm sure at the same rate as 0845??

current crappy wages for DH is 12k basic per annum, (officially) 37.5hr week (but he has to do his paperwork outside of those hours - so by the time he's travelled to where he's licensing that day, and done his paperwork it's about an extra 10-15hrs a week which he doesn't get paid for and to get through all the work he's send he usually has to work 10hrs a day - otherwise he gets penalised for not finishing it all - so actually around 50hrs + the 10-15hrs unpaid paperwork time). And bonuses get paid 2 months in arrears, expenses he pays out of his own pocket (and if he's lucky gets it back 8 weeks later - which this month has meant that we're £400 short of what we need as they haven't paid him........supposed to be 3 weeks maximum from putting in the claim). He's out "on the street" (so to speak - he's not a hooker - honest ) in all weathers until 9pm everynight, often in very unsafe areas.

He's been lucky so far in 2 1/2yrs in the job that the worst he's had are very verbally abusive "customers" (threatening to beat him up, shoot him, stab him etc etc) - oh and he once had a rock thrown at him as he walked back up the garden path to go back to his car. That's pretty mild compared to the people that have ended up with stiches/breaks/fractures from being physically beaten up .

Then they like to "move the goalposts" so to speak every 2/3 weeks - changing the "rules" on how they have to do things, then 2/3 weeks later they'll change back again to what it was, a few weeks later they'll change to something different........god they're cr*p - but they pay the bills (when they pay expenses on time LOL).

12k isn't crappy wages, i thought you were gonna say 5k or something. 12k is about average according to that programme.

With the hours though, my dp does a 65+ week because he is self-employed so he doesn't get paid hourly, if he did we would be loaded Dp will be at the shop between 4.30am and 5.30am in the morning then leave at 5/6pm at night. He doesn't get a 'lunch hour', in fact he is lucky if he can sit down for 10 minutes, most days he doesn't sit down or have a break because things get so busy at the shop but he does get to pick at the things he makes in the patisserie.

And having to do things 'out of hours' is just part of work life. Thousands of jobs have people working unpaid out of hours to catch up or do paperwork. As does my dp. This is life

right ok - I'll remember that next time DH comes home having been threatened again...that 12k is "so" worth it - and when he's spent double his "official" working hours - working for stuff he doesn't get paid for doing....and when they owe him £400 (like they do now) which means that bills haven't been paid.....and companies are now threatening to take him to court.

I know a lot of people who have to do "extra" out of hours stuff I know it's "normal" - but not many that work almost as many "out of hours" hours as they do "official"!

DH can relate to the lunch hour thing - he doesn't get offical breaks either.....and the tight gits complain if he has "too long" between visits!

I know what you mean about being paid hourly - if only he did - I could stay at home and put my feet up (well....as much as you can with 3 DS's LOL) instead of going back to work LOL.

Picking at stuff in the patisserie sounds yummy - he doesn't need an assistant in the mornings does he (I'm looking for work ).

TV licence people make me very cross indeed. Hate their aggressive, Big Brother attitude. The tone of their letters is bloody rude. Yes, I'm sure they do have to chase people who don't want to pay, but they shouldn't start from the assumption that everyone is guilty until proved innocent. I was chased by them for bloody years after I moved into a shared house and actually bought a TV licence - no-one else there had bothered but it was a big mistake for me to do it as I just got endless hassle from them. Had even more hassle when I moved into my own place and didn't have a bloody TV - they just wouldn't stop writing and claiming that I must be lying as no-one ever lives without a telly. Grrr.

Bought a Freeview box for my mother and have had the nasty 'we know where you live, you scum' letter from them saying no licence in my name. That's because it's in dh's name. Idiots.

cheeky git!

I don't know what letters you've been getting in the post - but I'm sat here with the "bog standard" one that goes out to any of the 28 million addresses without a license and it's not particularly nasty.

I had a worse one from EON the other day because they decided to send me a letter 3 days after I'd paid our bill, telling me that I hadn't paid my monthly payment and that I would now have to pay IN FULL within 7 days or face action!

Edam - if you knew how many people DON'T have a TV license (or forget to transfer their license when they move) you'd understand why they have to take the "guilty until proven innocent line". It's the only way for them to do it.

H get approx 600 visits to make every fortnight (as do the other 500 or so SO's) - from that he'll get about 100 people buying licenses, similar number of empty houses (with no-one living there), about 30 a fortnight where they've forgotten to transfer their old licence, similar number where the "overlap" between them buying a license and the work being sent to DH has resulted in an unnecessary visit and the rest either there's no-one home when he visits or he just runs out of time to visit within the time period.

If the latter happens it goes back into the cycle and he'll sometimes get the address again a few cycles later. Before any of the addresses are visited they're sent a letter - but again this often overlaps with the work being sent to him.

that is cheeky Fio!

DH told me of a cracker a while back though - he went to a house, they let him in (after a couple of minutes) and claimed they had no TV.....but they had what could easily have been a TV cabinet in the corner.....which had a "clean" area in the middle - and dust around the side - there were also various cables and wires behind the cabinet - plugged into the wall - but not going into anything. After a few questions about this "mysterious" rectangle that was free from dust they cracked......and took the TV out of the cabinet freezer in the ktichen

TheIceQueen, i know it's easier said than done but if things are that bad for your dh in his job then i would say to him find something else. It's not as easy for my dp because he is self-employed, he does have the business on the market at the minute because he has to sell due to ill health. He is disabled and the doctor has said to him if he carries on doing the hours and the job he is doing he will be dead within 10 years!

Dp would love to work for someone, have holiday, a lunch break, have a start and finish time etc and when he sells the shop he will do that because it will be an easier life for him! being self-employed isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Phone them on their freephone number that they don't tell anyone about - 08000 850 133

I had a "going round in circles" to do with TVs/licences once when I worked for a Housing Association. I can't remember the exact details but I had to buy a TV for one of the HA's properties. The shop wouldn't let me buy it unless I gave them the name and address of the person/house it would belong to for the licensing people. Problem is:
a) I didn't know who tenant(s) would be
b)didn't know postcode of property.

They then tried to get me to give my name and address instead which I refused to do as it wasn't for me it was for work . They wouldn't let me give the HA name and office address as it was a business property.

I couldn't believe the hassle I went through just to buy a TV!

I don't think you should have to buy a licence anyway, i would rather watch adverts like on ITV etc. I don't even watch BBC 1 or 2!

he's looked for other stuff - but hasn't found anything yet. It's pretty bad at times - but not always so - I just get hacked off with people firing abuse at them without knowing the reality of what it's like working as a TVL sales officer.

Mind you - the reason he ended up in this job is because we tried to set up a business a few years ago - it failed and he needed to get a job FAST. And this is what he ended up with. He wanted to be self-employed to get away from the working for someone else, etc etc.

Aside from the abuse he does meet some lovely people as well (in fact it turns out he licensed a MN'er quite a while ago now - who said he was very polite )

And apart from the stories of verbal abuse - he comes home with some funny stories (like the hiding the TV in the cabinet freezer LOL) too.....and the occasional old dear giving him cartons of orange juice "because he could do with the vitamins" LOL.

Backtobasics - this is off the point, but re your last post: equally as easily (or not) your dh can get another job...

My dp has to sell his business first which could be a while then he will and is getting another job walnut. He can't just get another job and abandon his business and all his staff!

Then why would you give that advice to others backtobasics ...

well - as to having to buy a TV license - we don't particularly agree with it either - but DH just goes along with it to convince non-licensed TV owners to get one..

You know when he applied for this job, they weren't too bothered about references - the first thing they wanted to check before offering him the post was..........that he had a TV license!

And yes I agree that your DH shouldn't have a problem finding another job. It sounds like the patisserie has done reasonably well (well it didn't flop likes business did) - so he's got a lot of credentials there which future employers will love.

Because the person i gave the advice tos dh wasn't self-employed walnut so it's easier to walk away so to speak then if you have ties ie; a business...

Everyone else's circumstances always appear easier to manage to an outsider but it's not usually the case, regardless of employment type.

Tbh icequeen, with the way supermarkets do cakes now so cheap etc no one wants bakeries anymore. Dps shop does everything from scatch and so is a proper bakery as opposed to one that just buys stuff in and bakes it off. Hopefully someone will come along, fingers crossed.

This has very recently happened to me. I tore the letter up and put it in the bin. I will let the idiots come and do a search round the house and then I'll produce the licence in dp's name and tell them to get lost. We have been at the same address for five years and this has happened on two other occasions, its soooo STUPID. I would not waste my time and moneyon contacting them. Let them do all the work.

I sent a letter inviting them round to the house where they could search high and low for a tv, enjoy tea and cakes and a good natter if they liked. The letters stopped for 12 months. Then the letters started again and I wrote back and threatened to take them to court for harrasment, as I had two threatening letters it was viable - guess what a visit from a tv licence person and no more letters.