TV licensing...

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I remember my dealings with Southwest water.
We decided to go for a water meter as only two of us live at home.
After fitting I worked out after a short period of time that my water meter bill would shoot up from what it was then maybe £350 to1000 a year
I queried this with Southwest water, they suggested I might have a leak, I thought if my leak is that bad it would be coming out of the ground wouldn't it.
Very soon they were issuing me read letters with threats to take me to court.
I never said I would not pay I was just querying
I wrote them back and said I will meet them in court and suggested they send a long someone with very broad shoulders.
Old story I know I've told you before, water meter was fitted by contractors And a poor job to.
Local guy came round and refitted the meter, now the bill is more like 250.

surely any type of threat from any company let alone the BBC even if represented by another company morally should be addressed by the government to stop it.

I remember one of the BBC Governors to use a better word being grilled by A Parliamentary enquiry, asked how they felt about sending people to jail?
The retort was we don't send people to jail the courts to

[Mick F]

In these Covid days, I reckon that the TVL investigators won't be coming out for visits.
It's a good time to be a TVL dodger now, as no-one would come out to check.

[mercalia]

Hi,
I remember my dealings with Southwest water.
We decided to go for a water meter as only two of us live at home.
After fitting I worked out after a short period of time that my water meter bill would shoot up from what it was then maybe £350 to1000 a year
I queried this with Southwest water, they suggested I might have a leak, I thought if my leak is that bad it would be coming out of the ground wouldn't it.
Very soon they were issuing me read letters with threats to take me to court.
I never said I would not pay I was just querying
I wrote them back and said I will meet them in court and suggested they send a long someone with very broad shoulders.
Old story I know I've told you before, water meter was fitted by contractors And a poor job to.
Local guy came round and refitted the meter, now the bill is more like 250.

surely any type of threat from any company let alone the BBC even if represented by another company morally should be addressed by the government to stop it.

I remember one of the BBC Governors to use a better word being grilled by A Parliamentary enquiry, asked how they felt about sending people to jail?
The retort was we don't send people to jail the courts to

re meters. When I was with London Electricity they replaced the meter as they some times do. Fine. The guy came &swapped out for a new 2nd hand meter and started to leave. I had to drag him back as he didnt record the current numbers, I bet they woud have tried to bill me for £1000's. Maybe they already had recorded the current meter setting before sending it out, maybe not.

[mumbojumbo]

We had meter fitted,after the tee taking cold feed to bath,boiler and Wc,making for very low bills.|It was fitted by contractor,who had no grasp of plumbing.

[[XAP]Bob]

I have two water mains, so I don’t know what they’d try to do.

[Mick F]

Do I need a TVL?
(I know the answer!)

Got a letter from Vodafone today. We're with them for our mobile contracts.

They're offering us Superfast Broadband ................. how?
Are they going to replace all the overhead wires across the fields and install fibre?
Sorry, I digress ...........

The letter is an offer is for ................

You'll get access to Amazon Prime Video, Netflix and NOW TV, and you can enjoy all your favourite shows from BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4 and My5. You'll also get one year's Apple TV+ subscription included.

I've read all the small print, and nowhere does it say I need a TVL for BBC iPlayer.
I'm willing to bet that all these companies offering online deals for "all your favourite shows" never mention a TVL.





............. and no, we won't be paying £29 a month for it (normally £31 a month) as we don't want it, ta very much.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Used to get regular offers for fibre from virgin but it simply was not available in our area for several years.

[RickH]

They're offering us Superfast Broadband ................. how?
Are they going to replace all the overhead wires across the fields and install fibre?

Simple answer is that that (almost certainly) isn't the offer. It is likely to be FTTC - Fibre To The Cabinet. The fibre is only to the green cabinet that your copper line is attached to.

If, like us, you have a lot of overhead cable but the cabinet to exchange is only about 1/3 of the total distance. The result here is that our upload speed is still less than 0.5Mb, although we do get around 10Mb download speed which is better than the 6Mb we had before going "superfast".

[mumbojumbo]

We live in an area dominated by terraced housing,which is inundated with adverts for garage doors.

[Mick F]

If, like us, you have a lot of overhead cable but the cabinet to exchange is only about 1/3 of the total distance ...............

More like less than 10% here.

The green box in the village is probably the one we are connected to, is about 250yds from the exchange.

Green box.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.52353 ... 312!8i6656

Exchange.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.52353 ... 312!8i6656

From the box in the village, the wires are underground to a pole about 200yds up the hill. The wires are then overhead for the rest of the journey.

--------------------------

Any road up, this is off topic!

My point is, that they send you this bumf to upgrade for all this entertainment package, but not warn you that you need a TVL.
If we took the offer up, and because they say we can view BBC iPlayer, and the authorities then prosecuted us, would our defence be valid that we were sold a package without needing a TVL?

What we need is a test case.
No, we're not volunteering!

[thirdcrank]

Why not write and tell them and/or complain to a toothless advertising watchdoggy?

[simonineaston]

My point is, that they send you this bumf to upgrade for all this entertainment package, but not warn you that you need a TVL.
If we took the offer up, and because they say we can view BBC iPlayer, and the authorities then prosecuted us, would our defence be valid that we were sold a package without needing a TVL?

This is just another example of the drift towards whatever the opposite of joined up thinking is. (I think the current slang uses the word silo, but since that has an American slant, I'll give it a swerve...)
As we move more and more into a world of out-sourceing and corporate insulation, folks cease to care about other folks, thus the people selling the aforementioned comm.s package couldn't give a [rude word that rhymes with twit] whether you need a telly licence - nor indeed whether you don't buy one and are then prosecuted. So long as they've hit their sales target for the month, that's all they care about. In the context of their job, they're simply not encouraged to think about people as people, just to 'hit the figures'. They will almost certainly be geographically miles away from 'Mr & Mrs F, in Cornwall' and you as an individual are remote and unknown to them, why should they care about you?? They will never meet you and probably will never even talk to you... You don't matter to them, at all!!
It's bad enough in the relatively trivial context of telly, but this is exactly the sort of thing that rippling through all areas of our lives - anywhere where there are potential cash-cows. In its worst case, you end up with Grenfell-type scenarios, where no-one cares a fig for anything outside their own job context and the end result is tragedy (fortunately rare). Look at what's happening at the inquest - everybody concerned is busily justifying their own actions and removing themselves from any accountability or responsibility. The corporate lawyers will (probably) have done a good enough job so that by the end of the inquest, no-one will be held to account and no-one will pay for the 70+ lives lost. Everybody manages to wriggle off the hook - its Mick's telly licence issue writ large...! Welcome to the New World - hope you like it...

[merseymouth]

Hi all, I don't know if this question has been raised before, but here goes. If I have a second home would I need a TVL for the second property?
Not there yet, but maybe if I do the National lottery I'd have the problem. TTFN MM

[simonineaston]

If I have a second home would I need a TVL for the second property?

One of the few things that's fairly clear-cut... see here.

[Oldjohnw]

If, like us, you have a lot of overhead cable but the cabinet to exchange is only about 1/3 of the total distance ...............

More like less than 10% here.

The green box in the village is probably the one we are connected to, is about 250yds from the exchange.

Green box.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.52353 ... 312!8i6656

Exchange.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.52353 ... 312!8i6656

From the box in the village, the wires are underground to a pole about 200yds up the hill. The wires are then overhead for the rest of the journey.

--------------------------

Any road up, this is off topic!

My point is, that they send you this bumf to upgrade for all this entertainment package, but not warn you that you need a TVL.
If we took the offer up, and because they say we can view BBC iPlayer, and the authorities then prosecuted us, would our defence be valid that we were sold a package without needing a TVL?

What we need is a test case.
No, we're not volunteering!

I very much doubt that ignorance would-be a great defence.