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tv licence
Nov. 27th, 2006 02:13 pmI need a TV licence. For my international friends unfamiliar with the concept, we in Britain pay a tax for the privilege of watching television. Getting one used to be quite simple - go to the Post Office, fill in a form, pay your money, all done.
This year, for some unknown reason, the system changed so that you can no longer do it in Post Offices, but instead have to find a shop with 'PayPoint' facilities. There are slightly fewer PayPoint outlets than Post Offices (16,000 vs. 17,500), and while almost everybody on the island knows where their nearest Post Office is, few could probably name their closest PayPoint operator. Given that the presence of a PayPoint machine is typically only noted by a sticker on the door, often obscured by a myriad of other stickers, this isn't surprising.
So, with the deadline for my licence approaching, I was lucky enough to find a PayPoint place near work today. 'Do I just have to fill in a form?' I ask. No, the lady says, write down your address and home phone number on this notepad here, and I'll key it into the machine for you. Okay, I think, a little low-tech, but it should work. Then there's a bit of wrangling over the phone number, because I do not have a home phone number but the lady insists that she will be asked for one. I give my mobile number and hope for the best.
At least 5 minutes later, which is how long it takes to send the details through apparently, not counting the failed attempt because she couldn't read my handwriting, she tells me that it's coming up with the wrong address. I point out that it's come up with someone else, perhaps because it didn't recognise my address. She insists it's me, since it has my flat number on it. I point out that the entire road has flat numbers along it, and that having the same first initial as this man does not mean that it is actually me, especially since the second name is somewhat different. In the end, we agree to cancel the application and I walk out, 15 minutes of my life wasted and no tv licence.
Aaaaargh.
Apparently this move to giving us an inferior service will save the BBC £100m over six years. That's £16.6m a year, or approximately 69 pence per licensed household. 15 minutes of my time however is worth about 4x that much. Worse still, I only use the television maybe 5 or 6 times a year, so I'll be paying about £20 for each programme I watch. Isn't life grand!
(EDIT - 'relocalised' post to en-GB rather than en-US...)
This year, for some unknown reason, the system changed so that you can no longer do it in Post Offices, but instead have to find a shop with 'PayPoint' facilities. There are slightly fewer PayPoint outlets than Post Offices (16,000 vs. 17,500), and while almost everybody on the island knows where their nearest Post Office is, few could probably name their closest PayPoint operator. Given that the presence of a PayPoint machine is typically only noted by a sticker on the door, often obscured by a myriad of other stickers, this isn't surprising.
So, with the deadline for my licence approaching, I was lucky enough to find a PayPoint place near work today. 'Do I just have to fill in a form?' I ask. No, the lady says, write down your address and home phone number on this notepad here, and I'll key it into the machine for you. Okay, I think, a little low-tech, but it should work. Then there's a bit of wrangling over the phone number, because I do not have a home phone number but the lady insists that she will be asked for one. I give my mobile number and hope for the best.
At least 5 minutes later, which is how long it takes to send the details through apparently, not counting the failed attempt because she couldn't read my handwriting, she tells me that it's coming up with the wrong address. I point out that it's come up with someone else, perhaps because it didn't recognise my address. She insists it's me, since it has my flat number on it. I point out that the entire road has flat numbers along it, and that having the same first initial as this man does not mean that it is actually me, especially since the second name is somewhat different. In the end, we agree to cancel the application and I walk out, 15 minutes of my life wasted and no tv licence.
Aaaaargh.
Apparently this move to giving us an inferior service will save the BBC £100m over six years. That's £16.6m a year, or approximately 69 pence per licensed household. 15 minutes of my time however is worth about 4x that much. Worse still, I only use the television maybe 5 or 6 times a year, so I'll be paying about £20 for each programme I watch. Isn't life grand!
(EDIT - 'relocalised' post to en-GB rather than en-US...)
