Sky TV: misselling products and extortionate bills

[cpashto70]

This is my first post, so hi to everyone who's registered or browsing this excellent resource.

If the subject of this post would be better placed elsewhere on CAG please tell me.

I have an axe to grind with Sky TV and Broadband:

I have ordered and upgraded Sky packages over the last few months with the intent of saving me money. (Upgrades advised by Sky customer services). The package, which includes Sky Sports/Movies/Variety packs and up to 2mb broadband/free evening and weekend calls has been quoted as being circa £47.00 per month. In the ten months I've been with Sky I've not had a bill for less than £72.00; this was the first bill inc. £12.00 for phone calls.

Well now I'm really starting to get angry as my last bill was £132.00. The agreed amount of £47.00 should have one out on November 17th, however Sky (without my express permission) decided in their wisdom to take out the unauthorised amount of £132.00 ten days earlier than the agreed date. I received a letter from my bank telling me that Sky had taken the money and I didn't have enough in my account to cover the bill thus leaving me in the red. The bank then recalled the payment and charged me £25.00 for the courtesy.

Sky then suspended my service. This means I cannot use the internet; I have no facility to make outgoing calls; and I don't have any TV except for the normal 7 or 8 channels.

I duly called Sky TV to sort out the bill, the amount taken, and the bank charges. Needless to say, the customer service (CS) person was totally unhelpful telling me to pay up or lose the service completely and pay 12 months charges under the contract. I told them my bill wasn't due to be paid until the 17th and they said the bill does run up to 17th but they take the payment in advance. Eh??

My efforts were pointless. I called CS many times over the next couple of days with no joy whatsover. To add insult to injury on the 16th of November I received a letter from Sky with an invoice sheet for £223.00!!!

To be honest I really thought they were taking the p**s and still do. Out of total frustration I called them two days ago and said I was seeking legal advice now, and I wished to have my line and services stopped with immediate effect. Sky told me I couldn't. I told them I was disputing the whole service I'd received from them. I told them they were in breach of contract (on several counts) and I wished to take my custom elsewhere.

Sky then said I'd need a MAC code or something to tranfer and they weren't going to give it to me until the bill was paid in full.

I really needed the phone and internet to pursue this, and my kids of 12 and 15 desperately need the web in order to do their school work. Especially my son (15) who need access to the net for his final exams.

Sky were not in the least interested and said I should direct my complaint to Sky HQ. I said I'd got no phone to do that. They advised me to e-mail it then. By now my brow was furrowing and I was ready to strangle someone.

On the evening of 26th November, and in utter frustration and desperation I decided to succomb to their demands in order to pursue the case in full. I agreed to pay the £132.00 over the phone by card and then they'd connect me back up within 5 minutes. As sson as the payment had been confirmed they said that the computer needs the rest of the bill payed before connection could resume. I told them that this isn't possile has the remainder had to paid within ten days of the 17th november. They weren't having any of it, and so I had to pay the whole lot.

My next bill of anything between £72.00 and £223.00+ was due on the 17th December. I know this will mean (by experience) that my service will be cut on or around the 6th December.

I've asked for printed dialogue sheets detailing communication between me and all of the CS numpties I've spoken to, and paper invoices with concise information regarding packages I've signed up to and total bill payemtns with dates. I don't recall how many times I've requested this information but it's going back moths now...

Sky TV and internet might be good, but the customer service department is nothing but in name. I'm sure taking on a huge household name is going to be difficult, nigh impossible, but I've been ripped off and conned beyond any doubt. Is there anything I can do to get this looked at and even get some recompense, in the form of a refund for the money they taken from me unreasonably?

Sorry for the long post, but believe me, if I went through every problem I've had with Sky you'd be reading forever.

Thank you all in anticipation.

Craig

	Record your calls Follow this link to read the review of the Truecall telephone recorder and call manager. This is the Rolls Royce of call recorders. It's a bit pricey but if you buy it with our special offer you will get it at cost: about 20% discount. How much do we make on the deal? - Nothing at all. You can also buy cheaper devices from Maplins. Truecall is the best - but the important thing is to record your calls.

	Bank Charges You should have started your claim for your bank charges by now. Don't wait. You should send your bank a Subject Acess Request asking for all personal data they hold on you - not just statements. You should calculate all of your bank charges and related interest as far back as 1995. You should send your bank a demand for a refund giving them 7 days. You should commence your legal action adding 8% statutory interest. If you wait for the outcome of the test case, you may not be able to claim like this. you may not be able to claim interest. You may only be offered the difference between the charge and the OFT "fair charge". The repayment scheme will try to limit you to refinds from 2001 only. A repayment scheme will not deal with any bank charges related defaults on the credit register whereas in a court action you can ask for these to be removed and to be compensated for the damage caused to you and your family by them. You should also write to the bank and to the CRA and put all charges related credit entries in disupte and warn them that you will want them removed from the Register when the test case is over. Warn them also that you are likely to be seeking compensation for these wrongful data entries. Full and final settlement Have you previously accepted a partial repayment of your bank charges in full settlement? You will still be able to claim the rest of your money back after the Test case is decided. Get all your information back to 1995 and put in your claim now.

[freakyleaky]

I have moved your thread to the Digital TV services Forum where you will get the best help.

[Conniff]

Welcome to cag.

If you believe that the dd will come out early and 'not' on the specified date, then ring the bank tomorrow and cancel the dd. Sky will want another £10 from you saying that is what it costs if you don't pay by dd, so be prepared for that.

To get all your paperwork, screenshots and phone calls (if they were recorded), you need to send them a Subject Access Request with a payment of £10. This will get you everything that the company has on you, or should if they keep to the regulations.

Ida (the one if Fife where it's cold) is the girl for you, she works for them.

	Record your calls Follow this link to read the review of the Truecall telephone recorder and call manager. This is the Rolls Royce of call recorders. It's a bit pricey but if you buy it with our special offer you will get it at cost: about 20% discount. How much do we make on the deal? - Nothing at all. You can also buy cheaper devices from Maplins. Truecall is the best - but the important thing is to record your calls.

	Subject Access Request A Subject Access Request is a demand which you can make to any organisation to disclose any personal information which they hold on you. The right to disclosure of data is provided by the Data Protection Act. There is no time limit. The organisation is obliged to reveal everything they have about you - which you ask for - as far back as you ask for. There are very few exceptions. It does not matter whether the data is held on microfiche, in an archive, on tape, in a cardex system, in sound recordings or in screen notes. Some companies are saying that they do not have to disclose where it would be difficult to do so - "disproportionate effort". This is untrue. Disproportionate effort refers to something else under the Act. If you are seeking bank charges information then you should ask for "all data held on you" and you should make it clear that you want everything as far back as it goes. Do not be put off by excuses. Do not accept being fobbed off. It is not in your bank's interest to make full disclosure to you. This means that it is in your interests to get it. If you have not started gathering your bank charges information yet, then you should start now. There will soon be a big rush once the OFT test case has been settled. Get all of your bank account informtion as far back as possible. At least as far back as 1995. If your bank says that they don't keep data as far back as this, don't accept it. Be persistent. They've got what you need in some form or other.

[Highchiefolaf]

Sky then said I'd need a MAC code or something to tranfer and they weren't going to give it to me until the bill was paid in full.

They are not allowed to do this. Offcom regulations state that payment issues cannot be used to withhold a MAC. Sky must provide this within 5 working days of the request. The ISP I work for have to abide by this, so must Sky.

[cpashto70]

Thanks very much for your advice. Appears this company is so established that common principles, such as running a legal and moral operation is of no concern to them. Until some real, weighty, and rigorous action is taken by Oftel (or other) then these conmen will continue to fleece good and honest people.

[Surfer01]

One of the reasons why we do not lump everything into one package with one provider. Sometime ago we had a dual supplier for the electric and the gas and when we went into dispute about the electric bill, they threaten to cut of the gas also. Phone, Internet, mobile phones are all with different suppliers even though it costs us slightly more. Same applies to out electric & gas. I do not recommend lumping everything with one supplier.

[IdaInFife]

Anything above £47 is for telephone calls if that is the tv/bb and talk package you are on.

You can check your full statements on my sky on sky.com and this will break it all down for you and give you an itemed list of calls.

They will only give you recompense if they have debited the amoutn and dates wrongly whic you cn check your correct payment date of my sky as well.

Regarding advance, all payments are in advance i.e my payment is sue the 27th so on the 27th of dec i will pay for 27th til 27th Jan.

If you do not want to pay by dd then sky will try and charge you £4 per month for an 'invoice' charge.

Thanks for the plug coniff , i'll get shot down in flames now


If you check you bill online if you call charges for daytime calls go above £5 per month you may benefit better on the unlimited package


gives a shout if you need any more help


Ida x

	Record your calls Follow this link to read the review of the Truecall telephone recorder and call manager. This is the Rolls Royce of call recorders. It's a bit pricey but if you buy it with our special offer you will get it at cost: about 20% discount. How much do we make on the deal? - Nothing at all. You can also buy cheaper devices from Maplins. Truecall is the best - but the important thing is to record your calls.

[cpashto70]

Hi Ida

Thanks for the advice. I'm not into flaming people; only those who I feel are miselling products or abusing their finite positions.

I've checked my invoice and looked through all previous ones from my join date in January 07. No bill is the same as another. Although some changes may be reflective changed or upgraded packages on the advice of CS, who promised me big savings on comprehensive packages.

The most recent upgrade was to a package deal in or around July/August when I was assured that for an extra £5.00pm I could enjoy all the TV packages inc. all Sports and Movie channels, Broadband, and Telephone (all local calls free 24/7) for circa £50.00.

My present invoice due on 17th December is approx. £92.00 with a £12.00 cr. so total balance for this month is £77.00 +. A very low bill for me by previous accounts!

To break this new invoice down...

Sky Subscriptions: £47.00
Sky Broadband Connect: £17.00
Sky Talk line rental: £10.00
Call charges: £22.39 (only £4.00 of these charges are premium or mobile).
Admin charge for Invoice: £4.00 (I don't have anything in paper so why this charge?).

To add to my confusion and upset is the fact that the bill due date is always the 17th of each month. So why have I had my account suspended on several occasions on or before the 10th of each month?

Even if this bill is correct, why am I always being assured that my broadband, telephone, and TV is £50.00 +/- £5.00pm?

Nearly every month I ask the CS agents to downgrade my subscriptions because of this, and every month they tell me they can reduce my bills by blah, blah, blah. In the latest case about £50.00.

Yet looking at my bill, my subscription has gone up (again) i.e. The package deal or subscription...in my case now Sky World. This package was promised by Sales to save me £££'s and yet I'm still paying for the very things that should be free?

Like many others on this site and others, I will be taking my custom elsewhere next month. That's if they give me the MAC code they're not allowed to withhold, and don't fiddle the bills to make it difficult for me to see out my 4 weeks notice.

Upset? Yes.
Frustrated? Yes.
Feel abused? Yes.
Tired of it all? Yes, very.

Does anyone know Esther Rantzen's telephone no.? I could do with a agony aunt offering me words of comfort while snuggling up in between Nicola McLeans head lights.

Thanks.

Craig

[IdaInFife]

So it looks as you packae is £83 per month plus any calls (assuming your on skytalk unlimted -£5 if not)

if your payment date is the 17th of each month you normally get around 10 to 14 days after that before its switched off.

as you are now active anyway they wont have any problem giving you a mac code.

and I know how frustating it is speaking to some of the ops as they get theieself confused as well and it is something sky are dealing with at the moment as folk like me are sick of haveing to sort stuff like this out that shouldnt happen, every thing is clear cut with prices etc so it shouldnt be hard to relay that info to customers

my sky on sky.com is good as you can keep track of your billing and also you cn play around with package etc and gives you the price.

Ida x

[Armsoft]

Blimey £83 a month Sky Packages

I still remember the days when I paid sky £14 a month and thought that was expensive, but £83 a month, WOW what do you get for all that??

[cpashto70]

Hi Armsoft,

Basically I get everything...

1. All the variety viewing packs/mixes.
2. Sky Sports (all channels).
3. Sky Movies (all channels inc. Disney channels).
4. Sky Broadband.
5. Sky Talk inc. line rental and free evening & weekend calls.

All the programming is excellent, had no technical problems. Same goes for the broadband. However, upon signing up to Sky I should have been paying £7.00 per month for the broadband but because my local area has not yet been updated - Sky refer to updated areas as unbundled - I was not told I'd have to pay £17.00.

At the quoted cost about £50.00 per month I thought it was a good deal, however, I soon found out I was paying over £20.00 more per month than I should have.

All I can advise is: go through everything with the Sky agent, for total clarification, before signing up to a 12 month contract.

Merry Christmas.