Page 1 of Return your ITV digital boxes or pay £40 - EDITED : not any more !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2561331.stm

I wonder how many they will actually get back, if any. Isnt it cheaper to keep this, even if you do end up paying £40, than it is to buy the new freeview box?

This item was edited on Monday, 20th January 2003, 22:38

I wonder how much it will cost them to actually collect the boxes? I have cable now and don`t even use the box for Freeview as the reception on my other aerial is pants. I`m certainly not going to bother giving them £40 for something I don`t use, and there`s no way on Earth I`m sending it back to anyone at my expense.

I heard the bloke on radio 5 this morning and he took a battering from the presenters. It was extremely funny when one of the five live presenters said "What are you gonna do if people say, no you`re not having it back"
the bloke had this pathetic response in a whiney voice "Can we have it back please". The real answer is that if people refuse to return the box there is nothing they can do and they won`t bother taking action.

I`m a bit annoyed by this - I paid a subscription for a couple of years. They broke the contract by stopping the broadcasts and declaring themselves bankrupt to get out of paying the football teams - in fact the final few months had a decreasing amount of channels for the same cost.
I don`t have a contract with Grant Thornton or whoever claims to own the box, which as far as I`m concerned is mine.
What would they do if someone claimed they threw it away when ITV digital went bankrupt and it became useless?

I paid for a years service up front and it went out of business 3 months later I have not used it since I am not going to give it back. I was going to give it to my sisters kids as it is full of music videos and kids programes now. The only thing that worrys me is the smart card in it can they stop us using it by deactivating it?

I`ve not tried it myself but know someone who says they have - apparently it doesn`t need the smartcard inserted in order to pick up the free to air channels.

They can whistle for it : the cash value of these boxes is not worth £40 in real terms...

And what about the folk who flogged theirs on eBay ?

No worries on the smart cards I have bought 2 of the ex ITV boxes from makro and no cards were included but both pick up all available channels.

It could get a bit dirty if the receivers start blacklisting people who refuse to pay £40 or return box ( no expert on financial stuff but think the costs involved would probably outweigh the return ) as it would appear the contract states it is down to the customer to return the box but if the boxes are now being officially sold by the receivers will they issue a software update for the boxes as apparantly ITV had the updates for these boxes .

They can f*** off quite frankly, especially as they continued to bill me 3 months after going bust

I think they intend to sell your debt on to private debt collectors, they will huff and puff and send you letters threating court action, instalment payments say fiver a month..ect, and also that they will call round your house but never will.It is all bluff just ignore the debt collecters letters, you will never see them. ......Just ignore the bastards.

This item was edited on Wednesday, 11th December 2002, 00:01