TV Licensing is ripping off thousands of innocent customers by automatically backdating their TV licences to cover periods when they weren't legally needed.
The shocking practice has been highlighted in a recent thread on the popular Money Saving Expert web forums.
Forum user alewin explains the situation: "My TV licence had expired at the end of July, when I was away just before that and returned recently. I did not tell them that I would not be needing a licence.
"Today I went to purchase a new TV licence (not renewal) as I did not want to pay for the full previous two months when I did not need one. However the new licence expires at the end of July, just carried on from when my old one finished. It did not start from today like I requested.
"What can I do? In hindsight maybe I should have used a different email address this time. Not very happy about it, I can't cancel it now can I?
"I paid in full via credit card."
For every other product or service in the world, the vendor assumes that if you don't pay then you don't need or want it.
TV Licensing adopts a slightly different interpretation, assuming that if you don't pay for a TV licence then you really should have done as you couldn't possibly survive without the legal need for one.
If a licence-holder subsequently buys a new licence for the same property, or renews their existing TV licence beyond its due date, TV Licensing will automatically backdate the new licence to cover any periods the property was unlicensed.
They do this irrespective of whether a TV licence was actually needed during that unlicensed period.
It is an unfair, discriminatory practice - exactly the sort of underhand tactic you would expect when dealing with a gutter organisation like TV Licensing.
In order to avoid the same problem, we would advise anyone leaving a legitimate gap between their current and future TV licences to contact TV Licensing in writing to explain the situation. Email is probably best, so there is evidence of the correspondence.
A quick "the property will be unoccupied between [X] and [Y]" is sufficient. No further dialogue is needed and no-one needs to prove their circumstances to TV Licensing.
If, having done that, TV Licensing still attempts to backdate the licence, then we recommend seeking further legal advice.
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1 comment:
I would email them and tell them they have 7 days from the day after the email is sent to alter the licence to the date that the person renewed from and not the backdated date. Failure to do so will result in court action without further notice from day 8 which will also result in a claim for costs and compensation.
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