TV Licensing: Maths Fail

[kingandy]

 I went to renew my TV License yesterday.

Given that I figure I will always want a license until I do not any more[1] - and even if you move, you can get it moved over to your new address - I decided to go for the "Direct Debit" option.  This will be £145 (ish) per year.  You have the option of paying yearly, quarterly or monthly.

The Quarterly option charges a £5 premium.  This is a fair and not unreasonable charge for the trouble of waiting up to nine months for your monies.

The monthly option, however, was somewhat more suspect.  The system decided that the monthly payments for this year's charge of £145 would be split evenly across the remainder of the calendar year, and that next year's monthly payments would begin immediately come January.  So I'd be paying £145 for the August-December period, then £145 for January-December next year.  Effectively, for the first 12-month August-July period I'd be paying £217 for the TV license.

It's all very well if you're renewing or setting up your TV license in January, but a leetle bit suspect at all other times.

So I went for the yearly option...

[1] This will most likely occur only when the TV License itself is abolished, or some rich sugar daddy comes along and offers to pay all my bills and expenses for me thank you very much.  Whichever is sooner.

Comments

[elektrobard.livejournal.com]

Yeah - I got on the phone to someone about that very same thing in April because I thought they'd made a mistake.

"Oh no, young Smith. It is YOU who are mistaken" was pretty much the answer.

Was all very annoying.

[amber-missy.livejournal.com]

I think the way they do it (and I agree it's very weird) is that you pay for your 12-month licence: 6-months in advance of getting it and 6-months after. So if you're buying one from Jan 2010 to Dec 2010, you'd start your 12-month direct-debit in July 2009 and finish paying for it in June 2010.

I only know this coz I queried it when we moved house - we tried to transfer it, but because we hadn't sold the original house, we had to cancel that one and confirm that the house was empty and re-start a new one at the new (second) address. I ended up querying the refund as it didn't fit in with how I thought the licence worked.

Very odd and stupid!

[kingandy]

Ahhh I see. That does sort of make sense ... working on the principle that they are effectively lending you £145. Spreading it either side of the actual payment date, rather than across the year, does seem a little fairer.

Still, there didn't seem to be any kind of explanation of that, so I suspect it's a system that gets less used that it otherwise might...

[anne-l-davies.livejournal.com]

Yeah, every year when I ring up to renew they try to convince me onto the monthly direct debit. Having read seemingly the entirity of their website I'm aware of their charging system and feel that the money os much better off in my bank account earning me interest than it is in their's. So I always say "no". It seems to greatly upset the phone minion.