TV Licensing Complaints

Over the last two years just under 40,000 people have complained about TV Licensing.

With TV Licensing's aggressive style of enquiry, which incorrectly assumes anyone without a TV licence is an evader, it should come as little surprise than an increasing number of people are venting their frustrations via the TV Licensing complaints system.

It's important to realise that complaining to TV Licensing probably won't achieve anything, other than allowing the complainant the opportunity to express their disdain. TV Licensing, just like its BBC bosses, is under the misguided belief that its procedures work flawlessly and staff are beyond reproach. A consequence of this is that TV Licensing treats most complaints, however valid and justified, dismissively. 

A quick search of Google reveals hundreds of cases where TV Licensing has behaved in an abysmal manner. Every week, much to the BBC's and Capita's continued frustration, new videos appear on YouTube showing TV Licensing visiting officers breaking rules, acting dishonestly and threatening people over an offence they probably haven't committed.

Making a Complaint

We always recommend complaining to TV Licensing in writing, either by letter or email. Complaints in writing are advantageous because they provides a permanent record of the complaint and TV Licensing's response to it.  If you deal with TV Licensing on paper, please be sure to keep all correspondence safe and secure, ideally making electronic copies of it for future reference.

The steps for complaining in writing are as follows:

Step 1: Write a letter of complaint to: Customer Relations, TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL.

Step 2: If you receive a substandard response, as will probably be the case, escalate your complaint by writing to: The Operations Director, TV Licensing, Darlington, DL98 1TL.

Remember to include the original letter of complaint and TV Licensing's substandard response. You should explain why you find TV Licensing's first response unsatisfactory - probably because it's come straight from the can (seriously, try Googling the text) and is so vague and generic in nature it does little to address any of your concerns.

Step 3: If you are dissatisfied with the Operation Director's response then you can escalate your complaint from monkey to organ grinder. The next step would be to write to: The Head of Revenue Management, BBC TV Licensing, 2nd Floor The Lighthouse, BBC White City, 201 Wood Lane, London, W12 7TQ.
Again you should include copies of all previous complaint documents and explain why you are dissatisfied with earlier responses.

Step 4: If you are dissatisfied with the Head of Revenue Management's response then you can write back and ask them to escalate the matter to the BBC's Executive Board. The Executive Board will review all the previous documents and decide whether or not to uphold the complaint.

Step 5: If you are dissatisfied with the BBC Executive Board's decision then you can complain to the BBC Trust, who will make a final decision about whether or not to uphold the complaint. Further information appears on the Trust's website.

Telephone Complaints:

We do not recommend complaining to TV Licensing by telephone. Experience shows that communicating with TV Licensing call centre staff is often a futile exercise, as most have a rudimentary understanding of TV Licensing policy and legislation. Furthermore, given call handlers' reluctance to identify themselves, it is often difficult to follow-up one enquiry with another.

Twitter Complaints:

Twitter is not a suitable medium for making formal TV Licensing complaints, but we actively encourage the use of Twitter for public criticism of TV Licensing. If you do tweet TV Licensing critical comments, please make them as damning and witty as possible so we can retweet them far and wide.

Summary:

Complaining to TV Licensing is very time-consuming and convoluted process, which is no doubt designed to sicken complainants into giving up. In that sense it's similar to the way TV Licensing continually issues legally-baseless threats in an attempt to sicken legitimate non-viewers into buying a TV licence they don't need.