Cancelled subscription now they want £10/month!
Hi,
I gave notice to Sky last month I was cancelling and have paid until early August so have given >1 month notice as required for the Gen Ent & Music channels.
Now they claim I am obliged to pay £10/month until November because I've had Sky+ since last November and my 'contract' is for a year. This is a surprise to me, I did not realise they are this greedy.
My box was bought 2nd hand and I installed it with my existing card from my non-HD box. At no time have Sky ever told me I must pay this money, even when I phoned to pair card with box.
Anyone else had this? Its only ~£30 total and I'll cancel the DD so they cant take any more. I understand I wont be able to playback recordings. Any advice appreciated. I expect we'll resubscribe in the Autumn so will they hassle us in the meantime and deter us from subscribing again do you think?
Cheers
I gave notice to Sky last month I was cancelling and have paid until early August so have given >1 month notice as required for the Gen Ent & Music channels.
Now they claim I am obliged to pay £10/month until November because I've had Sky+ since last November and my 'contract' is for a year. This is a surprise to me, I did not realise they are this greedy.
My box was bought 2nd hand and I installed it with my existing card from my non-HD box. At no time have Sky ever told me I must pay this money, even when I phoned to pair card with box.
Anyone else had this? Its only ~£30 total and I'll cancel the DD so they cant take any more. I understand I wont be able to playback recordings. Any advice appreciated. I expect we'll resubscribe in the Autumn so will they hassle us in the meantime and deter us from subscribing again do you think?
Cheers
0
Comments
You could send an email to crsupport@bskyb.com and/or jeremydarroch@bskyb.com as you should get a response from one of them.
Remember to put your account number and contact details in the email.
That's correct, independently acquired digiboxes are not subject to a 12 month contract when you first sign up either to Sky TV or their HD service.
You just need to email them, point this out and ask them to correct their records and confirm by email that they have withdrawn their improper claim. Don't ignore them though or you could end up getting an adverse entry on your credit reference agency rating.
Was your previous box a standard box (i.e not a sky+?)
If so, it sounds like you became comitted to a minimum 12 month term for the sky+ functions last november. The sky+ functions are free to subscribers, but £10 per month if you don't subscribe.
Whether they can enforce this or not must hinge on whether they advised you that you were entering a 12 month contract for the sky+ recording functions.
Ask them to play back the recording of the conversation to prove you were advised you entered into a 12 month contract for sky+
It depends. As ProDave says if the previous box was not a Sky+ box as soon as you have Sky+ activated you are bound to a 12 month contract for Sky+. The Sky+ functionality has alway been on a separate contract.
No I was not told there was a 'contract' when the box functions were activated. If I had been I would not have agreed. There was no promotion at that time.
This week I asked them to play back the recording from last November they told me it was too long ago! No apology.
So I've cancelled my direct debit. Thieving so-and-sos. If they hit my credit rating so be it.
Cheers
I also bougt a HD Box, for my second set, and when I had my card paired up with it I was advised that I would be tied to a new 12 month contract for the HD Package.
This is standard procedeure and as such I think the same will apply to you. So do not be surprised if SKY chase you for the money.
If you still don't pay, it will be passed to a debt collecting agency to collect and they may also add a fee for themselves for collecting the owed amount. This could be a percentage of the amount owed or a flat fee.
I would advise you to reinstate the DD and pay the £10.25pm (or all in one go by card if possible) and then cancel in early October giving the required 31 day notice.
You could end up paying a lot more than the £30ish it would cost until November.
Well anyone who accepts this kind of 12 month contract from Sky on a non-subsidised (independently acquired) Sky+ or Sky+ HDbox is naive as it is unecessary.
The reason for compulsory 12 month contracts is to allow Sky to recover the cost of their subsidy and to try and impose it otherwise is not only wrong but is commercial madness. If you tell them you refuse to sign up on those terms and they still insist on it, they are turning away good new business for no sensible reason as you've had no subsidy. Therefore, when you press the point - either with that CS rep , a different one, or with their management, they will always agree to a 31 day rolling contract IF no subsidised boxes or subsidised packages are involved.
I have had 3 or 4 separate discussions about this with Sky CS reps over the last few years and on each occasion I was able to confirm what I have just said.
The problem is that their complete terms of service are hard or impossible to find on the website and the bits you can find are aimed at new business using Sky provided (usually subsidised) boxes or special package deals (also subsidised). Some CS reps take the bits they can find as gospel for everything, because they too find it hard to find the bits that refer to unsubsidised boxes and packages (if they even exist).
But persistence pays off, and eventually, you will get someone willing to use common sense, as I have done on 3 or 4 occasions.
To the O/P, as I said a while back, stick to your guns, and don't pay up unless they can pass your challenge to explain what your special deal was that supposedly tied you into a 12 month contract. If there was no special deal or Sky acquired box, and if they can't prove that you were informed of this ludicrous claim, they haven't got a legal leg to stand on.
O/P might also wish to demand a complete copy of ALL their terms and conditions including those for for independently acquired boxes, Sky+ and Sky+ HD subscriptions - something that is sure to give them major problems because I've asked before, and they haven't so far been able to do it and - what they did provide me with was ambiguous.
Every email they sent I replied restated my case, I never lied (unlike them) and I was polite. It was a little scary but I'm glad I didnt give in, it was only £20 in the end they were demanding (I had already given a full months notice) so someone there decided not to continue adding £10-25 per month. But I would have refused to pay them even 20p.
I resisted the temptation to observe that a company chaired by the discredited James Murdoch couldn't find a telephone recording!
They've told me if I resubscribe the Sky Plus will be on a months notice - I told them this is how it should be anyway for unsubsidised boxes. If they'd accepted this 3 months ago I wouldnt have been so annoyed that I bought a combined Freesat/Freeview Recorder (Technomate 8000 ) so the result is I wont using Sky Plus for a while now if ever.
Thanks again for your advice and if anyone else is in similar position - be polite, always reply, stick to the facts and dont be bullied.
Cheers:)
Glad to hear that you won in the end, well done for sticking to your guns, and for not ignoring their ludicrous emails.
It must have been tempting to send them a bill for all your wasted time and trouble!
Oh they will have found it with no problems, all the calls are recorded and their system files them with direct links from your account. However, Sky can only ever "find" a recording when it proves a point in their favour. If, as in your case, it puts them on shaky ground (ie: you were not advised of the new minimum 12 month contract), the recording will not be made available and declared lost.
I agree - ALL calls are recorded - but gthe anouncement at Sky says that they 'may' be recorded, this allows them to claim it wasn't recorded if it doesn't support their claim.
Well done.
There was and is no minimum 12 month contract required in the circumstances described by the O/P. This is a fallacy perpetuated by Sky's practice of ignoring all references to independently acquired boxes in their T&Cs and on their website.
Anyone in that situation who is asked to agree to a 12 month contract need do no more than politely decline, and they will still be allowed to sign up (either by that CS rep, his or her superior, or by someone else in a later call).
Nice work sticking to your guns. Most people, me included, would have just paid. We need people being a PITA to keep them honest!
It's a pity The News Of The World shut down, I'm sure they would have had a copy:D
Well done Kipper2.
I did that with VF over an item of billing (in fact i did call from work and it was recorded) VF said there was no record of the conversation, yet hours after I told them it was recorded this end, I got an email saying the items on the bill would be removed !
Also, consider making a request for all information a company holds on you under the data protection act. Do this quietly through the proper procedure (ie. Don't tell the CS rep that you're going to do it), and you may find that the "missing" recording turns up. It's a separate department, after all.
get the sky rep name, when you phone
So at a later date, if sky claim to have lost the recording, point out to them...dont worry, I have a back up of that recording
Some problem for me .Was offered 6 months free HD pack and was told I could cancel after 6 months with no charge and I cancelled after 6 months. I have now been invoiced for £46.69 for Early Termination. My HD box is over 2 years old and was not supplied by Sky. :mad:
Remember to put your account number and contact details in the email as you will likely get a call back within 48 hours (although not guaranteed).
I've been using a Humax Freesat PVR that is superb and does everything and more a PVR should do better than Sky+ (and Sky + is a very good PVR). I hope no one followed me and bought a Technomate 8000 - absolute rubbish as a satellite PVR.
Cheers
Good to hear, my Sky TV turns off on 28th March and I've been looking at the Humax 1000s Freesat+ PVR 1Tb to replace my sky box - its nearly £300 but with interest free credit it'll cost me £25pm so I'll still be saving £9.50pm for a year, then no monthly bills after that.