Hi all

I used to be with Sky for my phone & broadband,

I contacted them on the 4th April to see if they would do me a better deal as Virgin were offering me a deal that was £15 a month cheaper..

. The call centre drone I spoke with wasn't interested in retaining my custom after something like 16yrs and so I started the cancellation process.

This would take 2 weeks, my new provider would also notify them that they were taking over my phone number.

I paid for my service in advance at the end of March which means my account was up to date aside from any call charges right up to the end of my contract.nn

I have emails from Sky telling me that I am leaving and end date is the 20th April.

Virgin installed my cable phone line and service on the 19th April and I have been using that since then.

My sky modem was unplugged on the 19th too.

The emails from Sky state that they have received notification that my phone number is being taken over, that my service will end on the 20th April and the number would be transferred by the 29th April... I think it actually transferred about the 27th although I can't be exactly certain.

I then receive a letter telling me that my service was ending on the 1st may, in direct contradiction of the previous contact I had via email.

As I was already paid up until the end of April, I cancelled my DD so they couldn't 'accidentally' take payments they shouldn't and a figured that was the end of it.

Today I got a letter demanding payment of £46.99 and a threat of action plus a £7.50 'late' fee and informing me that my services have been suspended...

. quite what services they think they're suspending I have no idea as I've not been a customer since the 20th April.

I have not been notified of any final bill that's owed (by my calculations, there's actually a chance they owe me a little bit of a refund) there are no call charges to pay because I had their 24/7 free calls package which was paid in advance for the month.

.. even if I assume the worst and that my billing date (usually the last day of the month) is 2 weeks later than my billing cycle. that only means I may (and I stress may) be liable for 3 or 4 days service.

I have received no Final bill of any kind, the only contact is

A: them telling me the date of my contract end

B: Letters/Emails trying to get me to rejoin Sky

C: Letters demanding money after service has ended

I can find no contact email address for them and refuse to speak to them by phone as I'm not paying call charges (no longer free if not a sky customer) to try and get them to sort out their screw up. I can't even find an address for their complaints team.

If anyone has an address of their complaints dept, an email address that actually works or a freephone number I can call... Please let me know.

Additionally, any advice on how to deal with these incompetent nincompoops would be most welcome. I'm concerned that they may try and mess with my credit score because of their failings.

Use their lethargic complaints procedure and exhaust it.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/how-to-make-a-complaint

Thanks for that, it didn't come up when I searched, only a number or their 'live' chat...

there's no email address I can find anywhere

... it's almost like they are making it as hard as possible for you to complain and retain a record of what's discussed.

Letter written and printed,

I also withdrew any and all consent for them to contact me in future with any marketing and withdrew any and all consent for my private and personal information being shared with any party regardless of affiliation.

So if they sell my info on after this date... potentially a breach of data protection laws.

Hmm I wouldn't want to chance my arm on that!

They do, and will pass on your information, you signed a contract which gives them that ability, however, that isn't the issue.

Keep everything in writing, if they ring just tell, them that whatever they wish to convey can be committed in writing and hang up.

As with the majority of telecomms companies, they are poor at communicating anything over the phone, least of all communicating accurately!

use live chat and your old account number

should be sorted in 2 mins this time of day.

you also get a printout to save of what was said and done.

Hmm I wouldn't want to chance my arm on that!

 

They do, and will pass on your information, you signed a contract which gives them that ability, however, that isn't the issue.

 

Keep everything in writing, if they ring just tell, them that whatever they wish to convey can be committed in writing and hang up.

 

As with the majority of telecomms companies, they are poor at communicating anything over the phone, least of all communicating accurately!

By my understanding, they only had the right to use that information whilst they have my consent... that consent has now clearly been withdrawn... So any use of my personal information after the date of notification would technically be a breach of data protection.

I'm not a legal expert obviously... but surely It's not really that different from withdrawing implied right of access to a company (such as Capita TV license harassment) should you wish to stop uninvited and unwanted trespass on your property... and I apologise profusely for calling you Shirley.

How effective or binding it is.. I honestly have no real idea... just how I could prove that they sold on my details after the date of the letter is one thing, getting a body like the ICO to take up such a case is another... But precedent for this kind of thing needs to be set if it doesn't already exist. People need to be able to take control of their personal information...

Anyway... we've gone way of topic Shirley

Letter was posted... we'll see what response it gets to the original issue.

The WOIRA (removal of implied rights of access) isn't really legally binding AFAIK, although FMOTL will say otherwise, yes it can be used, but any breach of it, would mean you taking out a claim for a tort of trespass, but I wouldn't like to waste money on that.

It's so much easier to either ''put wood back in t'ole'' or simply not answer the door in the first place, after all, it's your home, you control who you want to answer the door to.