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This blog is to highlight the unjust persecution of legitimate non-TV users at the hands of TV Licensing. These people do not require a licence and are entitled to live without the unnecessary stress and inconvenience caused by TV Licensing's correspondence and employees.

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Monday, 26 October 2020

BBC Accused of Frustrating TV Licence Cancellation Process

With thousands of people trying to cancel their TV licences on a daily basis, the BBC has been accused of frustrating their efforts to do so.

It's the sort of gutter trick that the BBC and its hopelessly incompetent TV Licensing contractors get up to, so we have no trouble believing it.

According to reports, the TV Licensing call centre, which is run by its operations contractor Capita, has been "overwhelmed" by people jamming the lines in an effort to cancel their TV licence.

As has previously been reported by the TV Licensing Blog, at times of high call volume TV Licensing frees up capacity by pulling the plug on incoming customer calls. Prior to having their call terminated, these customers are being played a message asking them to visit the cancellation page of the TV Licensing website. When they attempt to complete the cancellation form on the website, they are being directed to contact the TV Licensing call centre!

Customers are essentially being trapped in a time-consuming, morale-sapping loop of TV Licensing idiocy and ineptitude, undoubtedly designed to hinder their cancellation efforts.

Rebecca Ryan of the fledgling DefundTheBBC campaign group told the Express: "The BBC appears to be deliberately preventing people from cancelling their TV licences by bouncing them back and forth between their website and call centre, neither of which are currently functional.

"This is deeply worrying. People should not be trapped into paying a licence for a service they do not use, particularly when it is under the guise of a public service and categorised as a tax.

"Imagine if this happened with vehicle tax? There would rightly be uproar."

Our advice to anyone wishing to cancel their TV licence is as follows:

  • Firstly cancel any Direct Debit payment with the bank;
  • Secondly email or write to TV Licensing saying that you do not legally require a TV licence from the date stated. Retain a copy of this for your records.
  • Finally, if applicable, request a refund for any credit on your TV licence account (although be aware that TV Licensing will try to make this process as awkward as possible too).
If you do not legally require a TV licence you do not need to jump through TV Licensing's petty, pathetic administrative hoops.

More about cancellation in our earlier article.

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