I usually pay my TV license on a Thursday, by installments obviously. For the first time last week i jibbed payment with the full intention of paying double this week.
Today, i get a text informing me that i'm behind...
My mum has just rang me! Tv licensing have just rang her, asking for me!!! How the duck did they get her number? At 38 years of age i'm finding myself explaining to my mum why they looking for me? Am fuming! Opinions please apart from the 'pay ya bills on time' and 'we dont get an installment option' Brigade. My issue here is Data Protection.

Doggie call?

Dont think its dodgy as such tc coz its true, i'm 4 days behind so it cant be co incidence! Sorry gang for the duel post. Lets stick to this one. I did try to delete the other!

Huh, my case is too sensitive, i`m with vodaphone which my girlfriend got me, i was asked to set up a `password` to access my account when i ring up, anyway, they have obviously missheard me as my password `sounds like` the password they have.!
i only wanted to know when my next bill was due but i got the `unable to speak to you without the password due to the Data protection act` crap!

i would`nt need to speak to them but they cannot be trusted, the 1st bill was taken out of somebody elses bank who i`ve never heard of??? (that was sorted but i bet the other person got charged by the bank), then the second bill was alright but the third bill i was charged TWICE! so now due to THIER errors i have to check to see when my bill is due & if it has been paid BUT due to their mess up and the `data protection act` i cannot even find out that!

I havent got a clue how they got my mums number!!! I left home at 18 years old. Lived in 3 or 4 addresses since! My point being how fookin dare they involve my mum? And how have they traced me back?
we are talking a 4 day late overdue payment not a 5 yr "a squirrel shit in the tele" avoidant payer.

that is strange!

dont sound right for being 4 days late, it costs money to trace peeps but it is pretty easy, sounds ridiculous over a 4 day mispayment though! Ask your mum to do the 1471 thing and see what comes up?

Ste, am fuming!! I'll be ranting tomoz to them. Why the fook should i be put in a posistion where i have to explain my financial situation to my mum, who is now 'concerned' about it, as a daughter i have had to disclose personal details, to my mother. Personal stuff, that at 38 years of age ive had to explain!

Honest to God, last Thur the payment was due!
if i'd done wrong i wouldnt bother ranting on here!! Few days late and their giving, what could have been a stranger my marital title, christian and surname?

Past Electoral register entries?

I was a 'kid' at my mums address and i had a differant surname?
why all this digging for a few days late?

Hmm. Very strange. Highlights something I've always been avid about - most government organisations have access to knowledge bases and search systems that we just dare not think about.

I'd be livid too thats for sure. Being late with a payment is nobodies business but yours, amazing that they called your mum.

-> Maybe you have ECHELON involvement -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_%28signals_intelligence%29

Fookin Grrrs. I am so so angry!! The majority of you know me as 'rudebox' but to those who know my name n address etc, i wouldnt expect them to go n research my fookin family tree and that? So how dare the tv fooking licensing peeps? And again, i re iterate over a 4 day overdue payment!!!

data base did any of us see that coming while we fill stupid forms in thinking nothing of it all along we were allowing them to dig as deep as they wanted into our private life TELL THEM FOOK ALL

I give them no landline number and the number of my 'brick' ie an old unused moby! No way 100 p.c would i have give them my mums number!! I'd bet my own Death on it, i'm that sure!!!!!

These databases exist, tracking and tracing is easy, but as a simple explanation, sometimes when you fill out these forms they ask for an alternative contact number, is it possible you gave your mothers number ?

I've done it, I found a place in Australia that could make and ship the business cards I wanted cheaper than anywhere in the UK... it was an excellent deal, and luckily I'd only handed out a few before somebody noticed I'd had my home number printed on them

Thanx for your opinion, Dr
but no, i aint give my mums number out! My 'brick' number is the one i give out(the one i got the text to) to Establishments and the likes...

What you can do then is to write to TV Licencing and make an SAR (Subject Access Request) for any and all information they hold on you.

They can charge for this but the maximum allowed is £10 (£2 if it's a credit reference agency).

Example of a basic letter:

Your full address

The date

Dear Sir or Madam

(Your full name and address and any other details to help identify you and the information you want.)

Please supply the information about me I am entitled to under the Data Protection Act 1998 relating to (give details of the information you want). (Please would you also tell me the logic involved in any automated decisions you have made about me.)

If you need any more information from me, or a fee, please let me know as soon as possible.

If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer or another appropriate officer.

Yours faithfully

Signature


Maybe if a few people start questioning what groups hold on us (and perhaps correcting it) life might be a bit easier, but that's another story.

ICO - Information Commissioner's Office

^i will do this later on. Cheers.

I think Capita (Crapita) runs the BBC licence database and is a private company,have a look on t'internet for others who have been in same same situation,think you will find your one of a long queue also look for the Data protection regulators web and leave a little email to complain,won't do anything but will make you feel better,I thought we were coming out of 13years of big brother but rumpy pumpy our beloved EU leader who we never voted for has a lot more suprises for us.

Thanks. Just rang the prats and paying thurs "is fine". So why all the bleeding drama, then? Still getting a letter, tho.

"They" even know what you eat and drink if you have one of the loyalty cards you get for Tescos or any of the big stores
that have them.
Collecting data can earn big money for some companies
i.e filling in Questionnaires which offer you the chance to win a prize is another way of getting data on you

Count yourself lucky. A friend of mine missed hers once and was then told to pay the rest of the balance in one go!

This is just another outdated tax, we should all stop paying it. Dont you just get sick of getting screwed in this country!!!

Their technique is to attack first and ask questions later. Changed bank account recently and they (not me) fecked up the direct debit. First contact letter from TVL was a letter in red ink saying they would take me to court.

Crapita is a regular feature creature in Private Eye.

Re: Mike's comment about Private Eye. It's well worth the money. A great read. Tells it how it is - no mamby pamby/PC stuff. A LOT of in depth reading for a small amount of dosh. HIGHLY recommended !

Crapita seem to in every week for various offences against Joe Public. The bigger the outfit - the greater the smell !

hope this helps

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide/key_definitions.aspx

The smell indeed.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/12/13/bbc_capita_ico/

"The BBC is to be forced to reveal secret sweeteners contained in its licence fee collection deal with Capita within five weeks. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) today gave the corporation a 35-day deadline to disclose the incentives written into the contract."

I thought TV license was only concerned with the address where the TV is anyway, didn't realise they could go chasing you to the ends of the earth for it. Remember getting them around early one morning when I had only returned from Berlin the night before after 3 years away, turned out the previous occupant hadn't had a license but he just kept telling me that I didn't have a license, told him where to go, shut the door in his face but had to make sure I had a license the same morning just in case they brought the whole thing down on me. They're worse than the Gestapo.