pslewis

I see reports that ITV Digital Receivers are coming to get our boxes!! OR we are to pay £40!!!

Bloody Cheek!!!! I paid £100 for a years TV and got only 5 months!!

To me they owe ME £50 at least!!

Anyone had a letter?? well, they can come get the box if they want - do I have to let them in???? Legally????

Pete

MarkO

When they turn up on your doorstep, just tell them that when ITVd went bust, you assumed that there would be no further transmissions, and that the set-top box was thus rendered useless. So you threw it in the dustbin.

They can argue the toss with you, and possibly even sue you, but since the whole point of 'em collecting the boxes is to recoup tiny lumps of assets (each worth around £40) I suspect it would be financially unrealistic for them to do so....

CTR

Takes the p!ss, if they want it they can come and get it at an exact time. No in the morning or afternoon, an exact time like 2pm. If they dont turn up within 5 minutes I wont answer the door. They can p!ss off if they think Im taking it anywhere, or sending it, or waiting around all day for someone to collect it. Otherwise Ill guess they have to take me to court for £40.

negri

these guys have got no chance of getting any the boxes back . i dont think any one got a years tv out of it , they owe us money !! cheeky f**kers

johnfelstead

I recieved a cheque from the administrators for a couple of weeks worth of lost airtime, about 6 months ago.

I bought my digi box the day the service started, so i own it. I wont be getting any visits. There are 2 types of customers, those on contract, those who bought outright. If they own the assets, then fair enough, they are entitled to take that off you, it's their property.

pslewis

HEY, NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They dont get hold of their assets until they pay me back what they owe me!!

SIMPLE

Pete

Chris L

If my memory serves me correctly, I actually wrote and phoned OnDigital / ITV Digital to come and collect their useless box after we changed to NTL Digital (before they went bust). They never did bother so it went to the local household waste skip.

Oh please let them call.....

I think they are really wasting their time - how much is it costing to organise people to return / collect boxes and then chase them up???

Chris

pslewis

36000 letters have gone out, at a cost of what? 50p each taking everything into account? Thats £18,000!! They NEED 450 people to come up with the £40 to break even on that cost, lets say 3600 actually pay up - they have got £144000!!

The cost of collecting the sets from those who ignore them is going to cost CONSIDERABLY more than the letter cost - hence I very much doubt if they will bother.

They are playing the 'average' game - they will get substantial money in and then when everyone realises its a legalised scam they have the dosh.

To send couriers out to 'hope' to collect boxes just HAS to cost more than £40 each surely to god?

Pete

Little Miss WRX

Prize muppets.

I am just thankful I never bothered with digital.

DRUNKNORGY

LOL, The company who is handling this is a Cheltenham law firm, They employ about 150 people, so quite a biggie. If I had one, I would be inclined to wait until they sent out the bailiffs. Let them work for it , Only problem is I only live 1 mile from their offices . I reckon they are just chancers.

flashheart

Wonder if it will be possible to charge ITV Digital rent for the boxes cluttering up peoples homes ?and how long does an article have to be in your hands with no response from the original owner before it changes ownership to you?
anyhow i think the dog took a fancy to mine and tried to sh*g it .

fast bloke

dear dear dear.... if only it were that simple. Pete - you really are as dumb as I thought you were.


36000 sets. 1 class action costing <5k. 36000 baliffs kicking down 36000 doors retrieving 36000 sets.


Really big question is - WTF are they going to do with them now?

MikesWagon

[whisper mode]

I never got a letter.....

[/whisper mode]

Mice_Elf

Amusing paperweights?

pslewis

Well done Fat Bloke - usual cretinous answer from you!!

Pete

Chris J

There was a bit on working lunch (beeb 2 12:30) about this, and apparently one viewer is intending to charge them storage fees for the box since the service stopped. The presenter said that they would support him on that.

Chris

chiark

Storage fees must be well over the £40...

Mr evolution

I think I'm going to send ITV digital a bill for re installing the the sky digital I took out so I could watch the extra champions league games between that and the £25.00 a day I'm charging for storage they are going to owe me a few quid. If they are good little boys I might keep the box for them at no extra cost and that is out of the goodness of my heart not because of the Champions league games that I now get for free that before I was paying for.

gregh

>> I bought my digi box the day the service started, so i own it

Are you sure John? the news articles I have seen say that no-one owns the box they have always been 'rented'

Greg

rich1231

If legally the boxes belong to the original company then if you are asked to return the hardware or make it available for collection and you dont then it is not going to cost the administrators much more as it is the ex subscriber that will be hit with the baliff and court charges.

Rich

Diablo

In all seriousness, the law is against you here.

I doubt very much there is a Court in the land that will accept storage fees as a justifiable set off for retaining what is, effectively, third party property.

Why do people who really don't know the law make such sweeping statements on national tv

For one, both sides would have to agree to the charges in advance.

Additionally, you couldn't get the Insolvency Practitioners concerned to invoice you for the box, and then set the invoice value against your loss from the failure to provide a service on the simple grounds that you cannot apply set off to a pre insolvency(the contingent claim for loss of service)and post (the invoicing for the box)insolvency transaction.

In other words you are stuffed.

Bottom line is the boxes are not, and never become your property until you pay for them. Call the law an *** if you like, but thats the way it is.

And don't forget, no one is going to raise an action against those who try and retain the boxes on an individual basis, but on a multiple basis thus employing economies of scale.

And if you loose (which you will), you will probably be liable for bailiffs (if required) costs as well, not to mention legal costs.

So all of a sudden, it makes perfect commercial sense to pursue recovery.

And as for what will they do with them now? Simple - sell the technology and the boxes to a new company or abroad. That is, of course, if the technology and the boxes even belong to ITV Digital in the first place


D



[Edited by Diablo - 12/12/2002 1:26:33 PM]

Jon1T

The liqudators wind up a company on behalf of the creditors (ie those who are owed money by ITV digital). The creditors are paid from the assets of the company at a % in the pound. The set top boxes are amongst the assets of the company. So the less set-top boxes are collected, the less assets the company has, and the less money a creditor will recieve.

So if you get F all, you know who to blame...

Chrisgr31

My assumption is that the receivers have no intention of selling on the boxes or anything like that. What they are seeking to get is as many £40s as possible and to encourage people to pay they will send people out to collect the boxes.

I believe that one could charge them rent for storing the boxes, but only if you had written to them in advance stating that that was your intention, and givinig them an opportunity to collect it.

It is I suspect no coincidence that they have waited until a month or so after Freeview started broadcasting. Their hope is that those who are using the set top boxes to view Freeview will want to carry on watching it and will therefore pay the £40. They will collect a few to make their efforts look serious.

All it needs is a significant number of people to refuse to pay the £40, and ask for the box to be collected, or to say the box has been thrown away, or to be out when they come to collect it.

I don't see how they can take a class action against those that have the boxes. After all those that have the boxes in their possession have rights, and the courts are likely to consider them. Therefore if the receivers want to take them to cort they will have to do so at a court local to the respondent, each case only involves £40 so therefore it is small claims, and I believe that with small claims there is no option to claim costs etc.

What about those who have moved how are the receivers going to find them?

For £40 its too much hassle, the recievers hope that if they send out 50,000 letters asking for £40 thats £2,000,000 even if only 25% of people pay they have more than covered their costs, and the 50,000 letters that have gone out are only the first batch!

Chris

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

I'd be inclined to open my box, stuff it full of dog ****, close it, and let them take it!!!
Alcazar

3times

Someone told me that it will cost approx £70 per box to be collected so I agree that they will see how much money they can collect off the letters.

If they do contact me I will tell that the box was binned when the service collapsed.

I did think of saying that when I 'bought' the service the salesman did not make it clear that I was only renting the box not buying it, this is what I would consider a material fact, but I think I will go with the first option.

carl

So what happens if you have destroyed the box (e.g. by taking it down the tip)? I guess you're liable for the £40, but in light of the bankruptcy of ITV digital your actions would be IMHO justifiable. When they went down the pan, did they send out a notice saying "make sure you keep hold of the box as we may want to recover it"? Surely you've made it available for collection for far longer than the period required under "unsolicited goods" (I guess you may only get away with this if you've notified them that it's available for collection).

mik

Radio news report last night stated (not word for word) that "Expectations of recovery are high, as most people don't want to be credit blacklisted".

No idea if this is a likely outcome, but it was certainly threatened. [img]images/smilies/mad.gif[/img]

Chrisgr31

I am not sure how they can credit black-list people especially those who have a genuinue reason for not being able to return the box.

I see Which are saying that one should return the box, as the new ones are far better so thats what I would do.

As I have said before they are just trying to get as many £40s as possible. The maximum retail value of the untit is less than £100 and that is after it has been reconditioned, collected, distributed to the shops, and has to include ratilers profit.

There is no way they are going to want to collect them from people and go through all the hassle for the 2nd hand value of them.

If just 10% of the people who they are demanding £40 pay up then they are laughing all the way to the piggy bank.

Anyone actually got a set top box that is surplus and is willing to tell them to come and collect it, and see what happens?

Chris

pslewis

Well, my box has laid idle for so long that it probably wont work anymore!!!!

One things for certain - they will get a dodgy box off me, I doubt that it will work properly after so long

They are trying their hand and whats all this bollox about a 'Class Action'??? Each individual is just that - all the court can state is that the boxes SHOULD be handed over, we ALL know thats the LEGAL viewpoint anyway. BUT what if Mr Black threw his away after ringing ITV Digital to come get it? Mrs Cream has moved house and didnt inform ITV Digital? Miss Honey's box broke down and she asked for a replacement - found out they had gone bust so binned the old set.

This 'Class Action' statement just doesnt hold water!!

Pete

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Hold Water? Now there's another idea. Fill it with water, switch on, and then let them have it back.
Alcazar