Hello,
I studied in Germany and now working here as well. While I was studying my landlord took care of the ARD ZDF fee for everyone in the house. I never looked into it at that time, I just gave the letter to my landlord, and he suggested I take the registration number from my other flatmates, and that’s it. On 11th Nov 2020, I moved to a rental flat. And I received a letter from them again. I talked to a colleague of mine and he said that it might be possible to avoid it and he started to write letters on behalf of me to convince them that I do not have a TV or Radio. After a back-and-forth letter writing for a few more months, he said that it’s not possible to avoid it and I should pay it.
So, I went to the website ([https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/](https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/)) and got registered to pay every six months. last week I received their letter aging saying that it’s my last chance to pay. I intended to pay the bill anyway, I was just waiting till the end of the 6th month. With the actual bill, they also have added extra fees “Offene Forderung ab 08.2021” of 73.44 euro. I did not understand why they charged me the extra money.
I received this letter from ARD ZDF: [https://ibb.co/3TzPtjp](https://ibb.co/3TzPtjp)
So, from the same website, I opened up a question form asking them what’s this extra charge is all about and mentioned that I’ll immediately pay my bill after understanding what that extra fee was for. But It’s been one week, and I did not receive any letter from them.
This is the message that I have sent to them: [https://ibb.co/25XP6vW](https://ibb.co/25XP6vW)
My question is that as I have the time to pay the bill till 09.11.2021, should I pay the complete fee (including the “Offene Forderung”) now and then contact them again if there was any misunderstanding regarding the “Offene Forderung” and ask for a refund or should I just wait for their reply?
I wanted to call them directly as I don’t speak German, I wanted to avoid confusion. So, I wrote them using Google translator. My concern is that it seems like they don’t follow through with their online question submission regularly as I still have not got any confirmation after I did my registration on the [https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/](https://www.rundfunkbeitrag.de/) website for the ARD ZDF fee. And also, this time after one week I did not get any reply or mail. And if they don’t check my message in time, I am afraid that they will take legal action against me. So, what should I do now? Pay the bill right away or should I wait?
Sorry for making this post that long. I would really appreciate any suggestion on this matter.
Best Wishes.
7 comments
Pay it before it ruins your credit score. You probably have to back pay for the 6 months where your colleague tried to argue with them.
Also, didn’t you get other letters before this one asking you to pay? Did you allow them to auto deduct from your bank account?
You have to pay from the beginning of your single lease (Nov ’20) and the bigger part is so overdue that they are going to get a court order to get the money from you. avoid it. Pay the whole sum that is listed in the letter (they explicity mention that you neet to pay ALL) and then keep paying on receipt of the next bill.
Just pay it. In Germany there are three things you can’t avoid. To die, to poop and to pay the Rundfunkgebühren.
Don’t you have to pay in advance? I don’t think these 73,44 € are an extra fee, they are the normal amount you have to pay for 4? month.
You don’t wait the end of the 6th month to pay. You pay for the Next 6 months, or year, or whatever time frame you choose.
Thank you u/nymales, u/1istheloniestnumber, u/MadMacMad, u/118Shak and u/Idualc_ for taking your time during the weekend to clear my confusion. I do appreciate it a lot. I wish you all a delightful weekend 😊😊
>I talked to a colleague of mine and he said that it might be possible to avoid it and he started to write letters on behalf of me to convince them that I do not have a TV or Radio
It has not been possible to get out of the fee with that reasoning since 2013. And a simple Google search should have told your colleague that. I would be *very* reluctant to take advice from that person again.