TV Licensing has alienated the occupants of another property by wrongly threatening them with prosecution even though they have a valid TV licence.
The Somerset County Gazette reports that Brian and Elizabeth Totman, who live near the village of Bishops Lydeard, recently changed the name of their home to avoid confusion with a similarly-named property nearby.
At the start of March Brian dutifully informed TV Licensing about the minor adjustment in the property's name. TV Licensing wrote a reply letter confirming its records had been amended and the current licence was still valid.
Within the space of a few weeks Brian started to receive TV Licensing's monthly reminder letters (dubbed threatograms for their menacing tone), which wrongly implied he was TV licence-fee evader at risk of prosecution and a £1000 fine.
Brian fired off an angry email to TV Licensing correcting them on their mistake. In a bout of uncharacteristic humility TV Licensing apologised for its continued oversight and vowed to fix the problem.
At the start of this month Brian received another red-daubed threatogram incorrectly stating that his property was unlicensed and again threatening the possible (although wholly unlikely) consequences of receiving TV programmes without a licence.
After wasting more of his valuable time trying to correct TV Licensing, Brian is not overconfident that matters will be resolved: "I’ll be pleased if they do actually fix it this time but I’m not holding my breath,
"It’s the fourth time I've been told it’s all been sorted so I’m a bit sceptical."
Commenting on Brian's case, a TV Licensing spokesman said: "We are very sorry Mr Totman continued to receive mailings after our initial investigation.
"This was due to an issue with a secondary database.
"We are addressing this as a priority and are in the process of
contacting Mr Totman to offer him our sincere apologies for the
inconvenience caused."
Yesterday we took a tongue-in-cheek look at TV Licensing's brand philosophy, which states "we are not aggressive or threatening", "we never assume guilt" and "we take pride in being helpful".
Some joke that is.
5 comments:
This happened to me - years ago, so obviously TV Licensing have done nothing to solve the underlying problem with the 'secondary database'. However the good news is that I persevered with my complaint, did not give into the threats, and finally was awarded £50 compensation. So persevere Mr Totman!
theres secondary data base?
if they cant get the first one right i would hate to think how incorrect the second on was.
"we are not aggressive or threatening", "we never assume guilt" and "we take pride in being helpful".
REALLY?
Several years ago I received one of these 'threatogram' letters. I wrote back to the person named on the letter, explaining exactly what I was going to do next and what the consequences would be for her and her career. A week later I received a grovelling apology and a cheque for £20.
Mission accomplished.
Thanks for your comments.
Lee: There is money in the kitty for TV Licensing to compensate people who wrongly face their harassment/intimidation.
We encourage everyone to complain and demand recompense.
Well I decided that I would inform TVL that I did not watch live TV and they kindly set up a no license needed claim for my address! Q: How can I claim for some-thing I don't need?
They asked me for the address I gave it to them and my name Mr Ima Gune " Two weeks later I recieved a green letter stating that I did not need a license and that they would not contact me for 18 months" Its about the time when those threat-ograms will be arriving" thanks for sticking to you word TVL.
Many thanks!
Mr Ima Gune
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