Despite the breadth of TV Licensing information available on the web there are some people who would rather call TV Licensing and speak to a person.
TV Licensing is a trading name used by the companies contracted by the
BBC to undertake TV licence enforcement and administration work. The
contractor responsible for call handling is Capita Business Services
Ltd. Calls to TV Licensing's 0300 790 6131 number, which can also be
used for goon fishing reports, cost the same as calls to a standard geographic number.
Anyone calling TV Licensing for "assistance" faces a baffling array of 71 options
spread over 7 different menus. Depending on the nature of their enquiry that could mean a caller faces almost two minutes of irritating menu
options before being connected in the right direction. In all likelihood
they will then have to wait even longer for a call handler to become
available.
Full details of all the menu options can be viewed on the Please Press 1 website, but we will summarise the most important information below.
The quickest way of speaking to a TV Licensing call handler is the following:
- Call 0300 790 6131.
- Listen to the 30 second welcome message (tortuous, but you can't do anything else at this stage).
- As soon as the voice begins to read out the first menu options press 5.
- As soon as the voice begins to read out the second menu options press 5.
- As soon as the voice begins to read out the third menu options press 3.
- As soon as the voice begins to read out the fourth menu options press 2.
- Your call will then be connected to a person who will attempt, probably very poorly, to answer your specific TV Licensing questions.
Press 5, press 5 (again), press 3 and then press 2?! Seriously?! I have better things to do with my time than pressing numbers to speak to a robotic monkey!! I'd rather watch paint dry, the good thing is, you don't need a licence for that [yet].
ReplyDeleteThe most annoying thing about call centres is that even when you get through to someone after listening to classical music for a lifetime, is that some of these people are so incompetent, that you end up listening to more classical music while you're beong passed on to the next person because the first one doesn't have a clue how to do their job. Isn't the world of information a wonderful thing?! :(
I haven't tried it with TV Licensing but when phoning a helpline, I usually press the '*' or '#' key each time a new menu is presented. This gets me through to an operator within a few seconds.
ReplyDeleteCheers. This saved me hurling things at other things in frustration.
ReplyDeleteThey don't even pick up the phone at the end just says to try again later and hangs up...
ReplyDeleteYes,several times this is what I went through . I did fill in a complaint form .
DeleteNo reply yet . I'm glad we are not alone with this problem .
Thank you! That has saved many hours of frustration and writing letters that have then been ignored. Got through and had only a two minute wait. The lady I spoke to was very helpful.
ReplyDeleteit as taken me ages to get through, eventually i get a message saying thanks for calling tv licencing blare blare then at the end of the message i get cut off, they should be called Crapita in my opinion!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much!Saved a load of buggering about!
ReplyDeleteThanks - saved so much time and frustration!
ReplyDeleteI just called now - 2 years after you wrote this post - and one of the menus has changed slightly.
ReplyDeleteOn the first menu you need to press option 4, not option 5.
The rest is still the same.
Thanks for your help.
I found a quicker way to get through the menu. Listen to the 30:sec recorded message. Then when it asks for your tv licence no verbally scream, grunt or make a weird noise of fustration in the phone. As long as it's not an actual word. It automatically puts your through to an agent. Well the waiting to be answered line anyway. I was answered after really quickly. I discovered this after calling three times. Being put on automated for four minutes at least each time. And getting frustrated with automated menu hell eating my minutes. It works for some other automated calls as well, try it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to post this. I spent several tedious hours of my day trying to solve an issue that has raised it's head over the parapet, I had googled TV Licencing, the number led to continuous recorded messages and options to choose, all leading to automatic/generic messages. This morning whilst supping my second mug of coffee, and mulling over the issue of how to actually speak to someone, I had the brilliant idea of googling "How do I actually manage to speak to someone at TV Licencing ?".... by following your step by step instructions, I got through to a "real person" and the matter has been resolved..... RELAX :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you. Very helpful.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't work anymore. There is no 2nd option for 5. Just 1 and 2
ReplyDeleteYes, doesn't work anymore, but I enjoyed reading the previous comments, lowers the stress levels a bit when all you want to do is tell someone that you've actually sold the property which they keep pestering you about
ReplyDeleteHave had an email today says it's off you and my direct debit bin cancelled through no payment it was paid April so not due till may have you sent email or it a scam
ReplyDeleteThe service of tv licencing is real bad when you can not get through to find out what has happened to my new tv licence that I paid for on July 13/7/2020 at 13.28 in the afternoon
ReplyDeleteMy new t v license was started from 02/11/2019 but received notice for renewal saying it’s expiring on 30/09/2020 , what happened for the month of October which is still left before my t v license expires , mr mavji
ReplyDeleteRidiculous the time you have to wait. 20 mins put through to someone else who give you another number to ring now been waiting for 52 mins and still nobody has answered
ReplyDeleteI've tried several times, same 'crapalli' as the other customers,so I found the email address and wrote a rather long note asking WHY I had to spesk to a ROBOT who could NOT answer my questions anyway.Then I asked IF they had received my cheque of almost two months ago...pressed SEND....and ADDRESS NOT RECOGNISED...back to square one.It would not be so bad if we had anything apart from REPEATS,REPEATS,REPEATS..just hope there is no-one at the door issueing a fine,I don't want to go down for murder !!!! Patience is a virtue I'm told mmm
ReplyDeleteTotal waste of time trying to talk to somebody to cancel my licence,they are useless,just going to cancel my direct debit.
ReplyDeleteI just need a new payment card so I can pay my tv
ReplyDeleteBeen trying to get my free licence since July without success despite 6 phone calls and the appropriate forms ..what now ?
ReplyDeleteTotal waste off time ,tried over 3 days ,different times to be greeted by the same annoying robotic voice ,just to be told at the end ,sorry no one can answer your call try again later
ReplyDeletePaid licence in full 1st November.it arrived in post saying it expires 31st december 2020 £157.50 for 3 months wtf. Rang up got through eventually to someone who had to put me through to another department 45 minutes later still no one! (Must have been lunchtime) rang back again got through to a fella who DID NOT want to hear my complaint and cut me off after spouting rubbish about language?? Now back on hold again. Anyone interested in just all joking a group where we all refuse to pay licence fee? Surely if we all do it something will change.
ReplyDeleteThese comments need approval by tv licence to be published. So much for free speech
ReplyDeleteIf you want freedom of speech why not visit to North Korea? My blog. I choose whose comments get published.
ReplyDeleteAny e-mail?
ReplyDeleteTheir email address: support@tvlicensing.co.uk
ReplyDeleteThank you for the information - I kept pressing 5 until the robot got confused and put me through to a person. Hopefully that will end 4 years of progressively more threatening letters and save some money so they can waste it in some other stupid way and trees.
ReplyDeleteI stopped checking my post box after I got a letter saying that I have no tv and was given a reference number. Since then I get a couple letters a month, maybe more. Sometimes in a red envelop (like a birthday or christmas card.) Despite giving my info for the No tv, further letters are addressed to current occupier.
ReplyDeleteNo one could pay me to watch any live tv. There's gold once every few years and otherwise it's fearmongering or begging for money for someones restaurant or brand new car or soap. I prefer being outdoors, enjoying real beauty as I determine it instead of watching TV and letting the idiot box decide what I should like or not. Tv has no place in a free thinking home. live tv anyway.
It is very cheeky for licencing to include any service that is online as that defines not television. I don't have fast enough internet to watch live streaming.
If I caught the motherfucker putting these letters through my door, I would break their hands, both of them. Same goes for any other company trying to beg money from me for nothing through the post.