PPL PRS Ltd Avis 

Absolute harassment from this company for years now. We don’t play music yet receive phone calls letter and emails off them. No idea how they got my email in the first place because we don’t advertise it. I also had a member of staff ring my place of work 8 times in a row each time saying “I’m going keep ringing until you pay for a music license” I mean that in itself lacks professionalism and is harassment!!! A few years back I received a string of invoices with different amounts on them demanding payment, the prices made no sense whatsoever. They are bully’s and using a loop hole in the law harassment people for money without any proof whatsoever. It’s disgusting behaviour

PPL PRS Ltd keeps sending me invoices for using music in my business, yet I don’t use any music at all — they just assume I do. Honestly, it’s an absolute disgrace!
You are aggressive, assuming that a company must pay while flooding the mailbox and email with invoices for non-existent services. The worst of the worst.

PPL PRS have just replied to my review on TRUSTPILOT apologising and advising me to get in touch on an email address that is an ‘invalid recipient’.
AND then just sent me another bill for £653.52.
No contact number and the email is no reply!!

I would have put zero stars but that is not an option. Looking at the reviews, customer service is not a high priority. I telephoned in to ask if I could pay for six months instead of the full year as I was unsure if our lease would be continued after the six months. I was told yes and I paid there and then over the phone. This was followed by a credit company debt collection agency three days later chasing the balance. I spoke to them and back to PPL PRS and asked why they had passed the account over and I was told that it is because of the outstanding balance and I needed to clear it. Clearly they should train their staff correctly because the original handler started this whole situation because they appear to have handled my request incorrectly. I was also told that if I gave them notice today Aug 2025 to close the account at the end of Dec 2025 it would cost me £137.44 which amounts to 50% plus of the remaining yearly balance. If all calls are recorded I would suggest management listen to my original call and implement staff training.

Given this is supporting the entertainment industry you would think they could organise a party in a brewery.
Customer email address given isn’t monitored, phone opening hours much shorter than those published on the email or website. Basically if you book once it is really hard to cancel.

This company took over £1,400 from me after my business closed, never sent a single invoice, and ignored my emails. I now have a second court summons for a service I cancelled years ago. This is causing serious stress. I will not pay and am defending it legally. Avoid at all costs

I purchased a music licence back in covid for starting an exercise to music class, however this did not go ahead and I didn't require a licence. This was back in covid or just coming out of it where we could start doing things again. I received an email out the blue maybe couple of months ago saying I owe payment for all those years and that i had to pay invoices. I haven't received any invoices at all in that time. I actually thought it was a scam. I then received more emails saying I owe hundreds of pounds for my music license . I've never received a music licence each year or an invoice. The only contact I had was months ago after all those years. I came home today to find a signed letter from a debt collectors Broodies from Glasgow saying I must pay this or legal action Will occur. They Will allow me to pay in installments lol I will be paying nothing. I Don't require a licence, I don't record music at home which is also on the letter if I don't pay they will take to court. They can take me and end up paying expenses themselves. I've received no music licence each year or an invoice so how can they out the blue think someone us going to pay because they decide to send an email nearly 5 years later... stay clear of them. Complete scam artists

We opened our modest takeaway cafe (which has a few seats at a window bar and a couple of tables) a few months ago (Munchyhub Limited). I hope they read this review in order to better assess Muncyhub's situation.

Recently, I've been contacted by this company, out of the blue, alleging that they're representing the arm of the law, accusing us of playing Commercial music, and that we owe them a full year's license (£750 inc. VAT).

First of all, I work in Marketing and I'm well aware how these things work. I'm fully aware I'm not allowed to play Commercial music without a license, therefore all our employees have been instructed not to touch our music system or play anything that's not allowed. We've put procedures in place to let anyone in the company know about this, and we've kept records of what's been played every day. We even had to trigger an internal investigation into our own company to assess each employee and see what happened. We concluded that our employees have not touched our audio system in any way (apart from me, the owner).

Now, they (this company, PPL PRS) claim to have evidence that we played Commercial music. Their evidence (which they sent to us) is a couple of pictures from the inside of our coffee shop (including a picture of our speakers, as if owning a speaker automatically means we have to pay a license - there are hundreds of pictures of our shop over the internet, posted by our customers; those pictures do not represent proof of anything). The second evidence is a few seconds bad quality audio file, allegedly recorded in our shop: the recording is like what you hear in a train station, a crowd of people talking, laughing, etc, including a dim sound of a song in the background (they claim that the audio location is GPS tracked). We do not know where this was recorded or where that sound's coming from or who produced it. We do not hold any responsibility if any of our customers or visitors or passers by play or blast random songs on their phone/speakers/etc. in or around our shop (we keep our shop doors open because it's very hot in the summer).

I've clearly explained that we do not play Commercial music in our shop (only Royalty-Free music) and that the recording is no proof of us playing Commercial music. I took this "evidence" they sent us, to our solicitor who started to laugh about even calling this "evidence". So, we are willing to defend our position in court if needed.

Despite all these things, this company continues to harass us and have sent us an invoice for a full year's license. I clearly told them that I do not consent or approve of them sending me any invoice (all their calls are recorded). Approving or consenting to being issued/sent an invoice, basically, is like you admit their accusations and that you approve of having that bill/invoice issued against you and sent to you. We have not consented to being sent or issued any invoice. Despite clearly and repeatedly being informed of this (that we do not consent or approve of being issued the invoice), the company decided to go ahead and send the invoice anyway, and now continues to chase it.

We are going to dispute the invoice, and we are going to take this to court where we expect them to bring conclusive evidence of their made up accusations.

We've sent a cease and desist letter, and we are also asking the court to stop them harassing us if they don't stop.

I'm not sure how these guys are even legally allowed to exist as a company. They need to be reported to the police straight away. They don't stand any legal grounds for their "legal music license obligation" harassment.
Do not get intimidated by their threats of legal action or bailiffs. Let them chase all they want, and take you to court. They'll have to prove everything in court, which they know they can't.

We will update you of the developments, here.

UPDATE:
They have finally stopped chasing us and their made-up invoice, several months later.

Like wasps around your cider, these pesky nuisance callers are a royal pain. I have no idea where they got my number. Chancers, grifters, snake-oil peddlers!
Even if I did require the service they provide, I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole due to their awful telephone random cold calling.

I'm part of a small not for profit club. We have live artistes and play background music. We only open for 4 hours on 5 days a week and 4hrs on 1 afternoon. We have always paid the invoices. As we are now struggling financially, and may have to close, I contacted PPL/PRS to ask if they would look at our usage and try to reduce our costs - they then actually increased it by £499 to take total amount of £1777.
They are absolutely no help whatsoever.

Not sure where to start.

Received a debt collectors letter than few days later an invoice, debt collection letter dated before date on invoice,

Rang to ask what it was about. Was told they visited our premises on 15th April and music was playing, after getting nowhere with the advisor I ended the call and rang later in day to hopefully speak to someone else who would maybe handle the situation better,

2nd advisor says they visited our shop on 31st January, after asking which of the two given dates were correct, I was told there was photos and recordings. I then asked what dates are on recordings to be told the evidence doesn’t confirm dates. He was then Blaming the first advisor saying he works elsewhere in company and doesn’t know about it

Email comes to me with pictures of two different shops - none of which were mine, this was 20th May 2025 I was asked to prove it the pictures were not from my shop. I was able to provide cctv footage of my shop which categorically proves it’s not my shop.

Fast forward to 16th July I get an email saying I’m not cooperating so I email all of the above info.

17th July I get a call from a lady so we go over it all again and guess what ? She says the 2me advisor was from a different department so that’s why the date mix up but to my astonishment she provided a new 3rd date of 30th January and she can’t discuss anything about previous info as he no longer works there - that’s irrelevant as he would have been working on behalf of the company and not as an independent. Not sure I’m surprised but we now have photos of my shop - but yet no dates so given 3 different stories from 3 different people how can their evidence be reliable or admissible.

2nd advisor basically telling me “YOU WILL BE PAYING THE FEE IN TOTAL SINGLE PAYMENT” I now find myself in the lucky situation of having the “offer” to pay monthly direct debits

Looking forward to speaking to a 4th person to tell me the other 3 don’t know what they are talking about as they are in different departments and find out what my 4th date of visit was

I am a volunteer member of a charity committee running a village hall. I think we were conned into taking out a licence, when we probably didn't need one, as users will often have their own. The auto renewal process, total lack of clarity about charging mechanisms, unwillingness to actually talk to you to help resolve questions and vicious harassment, including debt collection, is all deeply unfair and unhelpful. It seems that this gangster outfit have the right to demand money with menaces. Their privacy policy seems to say they can grab any bit of data they can, keep it and use it. A shocking way to behave.

As ardent and brazen as only the worst telemarketing companies can be, extortionate pricing scheme and all effectively backed by the UK government! SHOCKING!!! We asked for a quote for a music licence our smalll independent refill shop and were quote over £500/yr. We declined as there is no way that is affordable for a small fledgling community business.

SINCE WE HAVE BEEN BOMBARDED WITH CALLS AND EMAILS SOME OF WHICH BORDER ON HARASSMENT AND THREATENING. This is absolutely unacceptable and they are tantamount to a government backed institution. DISGRACEFUL.

WOW. I have just read other people’s experiences of PPL and PRS. Why is it they don’t send you a notice before the renewal date of your contract. Effectively they auto renew your contract and then send you an overdue notice a month later.
My experience…. We wanted to give them notice and not renew our contract as our business is ending. They insisted we would pay a months notice and add on a huge cancellation fee. Had we had the renewal notice we could have cancelled free of charge.
We have asked to speak to their complaints department as this smacks of sharp practice. This is something energy companies used to do until the government stopped it a few years ago.
I will await them continuing me but on the basis of your experiences not holding my breath.
I will look to speak to FSB to check if what they are doing is actually unfair.

I wouldn't even have given them 1 star, but had to choose one.
I paid this company £669.82 which covered dates stated on invoice for
12/07/25 to 11/03/25 then 12/03/25 to 11/03/26 for both ppl and prs.
I have now received an invoice for £295.65 for dates 12/07/25 to 11/07/25 and when I tried to speak to them about the fact that I have already paid until March 2026 they just fobbed me off trying to say that I have only paid until July 2025.
I am now in the process of having trading standards look into this for me.

We play no live music or licences music yet they still hound the business for payment. We are chased constantly by debt collectors and now have received a court order. This has to stop.

“My shop is small, and they keep calling to bother me. I’m not good at English, and when they asked me, they offered a price that was too high. I didn’t agree, and I didn’t listen to them anymore. Then they sent me a bill of £862 and demanded that I pay it. If I don’t, they said they would take me to court. Be careful with services like this; they are trying to scam us for money.”

Extremely disappointed with this business. The charges they’ve imposed are completely unfair and unreasonable. It feels like they’re more interested in squeezing extra money from customers than providing a decent service.y and honesty, but instead,This kind of behaviour is unacceptable and I strongly advise others to be cautious before dealing with this kind of licensing.

Extremely concerning experience with PPL PRS – serious legal and ethical concerns.

An account and invoice were created in our name without our knowledge, consent, or any signed agreement. To our knowledge, no lawful contract was ever formed. We do not play or stream live or recorded licensed music within our business premises and therefore do not require a licence.

Despite this, we were repeatedly contacted by telephone and letter, even after we had explicitly requested that all communication be in writing. One letter from PPL PRS, dated 13th May 2025, warned that surcharges would be applied if payment wasn’t received within 3 days — yet it wasn’t delivered until 20th May 2025. Shockingly, the additional charges were applied on the same day the letter finally arrived, to an invoice we never agreed to and do not believe we are liable for. This felt both unreasonable and coercive.

Even more concerning, none of the letters included any direct contact information. We had to find contact details via other Trustpilot reviews, where we were alarmed to discover numerous similar complaints from other businesses.

After submitting a formal complaint, we were notified today that it has been closed — without fair investigation or resolution. Despite multiple written requests, PPL PRS has failed to provide any verifiable, time-stamped, or meta-dated evidence to justify the charges or the creation of the account.

We also recently received another letter (only just opened today, after returning from annual leave) requesting an email address so they could send us audio clips and recordings — despite already having our email on record. Then, to add insult to injury, we were told today via email that the complaint was closed due to “no contact within 10 days.” This clearly demonstrates that PPL PRS had our contact details and simply chose not to send the requested information.

This felt like a deliberate communication failure, and the closing of our complaint appears obstructive, dismissive, and unjustified.

Our most serious concern: PPL PRS confirmed that audio recordings and filming took place inside our premises without our consent or prior knowledge. They have not provided any meta-dated evidence to demonstrate this was lawful, nor have they shared any time-stamped data to support their claims. This raises serious concerns under:
• UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018
• Protection of Freedoms Act 2012
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA)

We were also informed that our personal and business details may be shared with third-party debt collectors, despite there being no confirmed obligation or valid agreement in place. This raises further questions around data protection compliance and the lawful basis for processing.

We have reported these matters to:
• Trading Standards
• The Telephone Preference Service (TPS)
• Our Member of Parliament

We are also preparing to escalate the matter to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), our legal team and will pursue further action if necessary.

We respectfully request that PPL PRS immediately close all accounts associated with our business and cease all further communication unless in writing.

Based on our experience — including unwanted contact, ignored communication preferences, lack of evidence, and non-consensual filming and audio recording — we cannot recommend PPL PRS. We strongly urge other businesses to proceed with extreme caution and to demand full documentation before acknowledging or responding to any claims.

EDITED * After attempting to contact the complaints department via the email supplied by the complaint department AGAIN today regarding the request for our complaint to be escalated , we have received the following:

ACTION REQUIRED: Please contact us online
Thank you for your email to PPL PRS. This email address is no longer in use.

We have received automated emails from PPL/PRS stating the above as a response from both the Complaints Team email we have on file and the email consistently posted as a contact here on all Trustpilot replies! Utterly ridiculous!

Quite honestly, the level of mis communication from PPL/PRS is not only unprofessional, it’s DISGRACEFUL!

Had a telephone call with Isobel of Customer Services this morning renewing our licence. Found her pleasant helpful and very patient with me. Sorted out my queries to my satisfaction. Well done.