further info Thank you for contacting Sky Help Centre. Thank you for bringing to my Attention Principle 5 of the Data Protection Act. Unfortunately, this Principle does set out to give guidance for both consumer and agency with this matter. It gives guidance on the sensitive matters surround our personal data. As you are no longer a customer with ourselves we do still retain the right to hold your information for a period of time for legal reasons this is set out within Principle 5 of the DPA which allows us to do this for Processing and Legal Reasons, this period of time is upto 5 years whereafter your Data is Securely destroyed from our systems. You have been removed from our marketing Database and therefore would not recieve marketing information from ourselves. However as there is the issue surrounding the Balance on your account - we are maintaining your account at present in line with the DPA as we still have at present business with you in relation to monies unpaid which is a disputed situation at present

i have just recieved this email Dear Mr Taylor Customer Account Number: Thank you for your email about the removal of you details. I can confirm that after an account is closed with a zero balance the details are held for a period of 5 years for legal reason after which time they are deleted. With regard to detail that can be removed today I have removed your details from all direct marketing lists. Please note that these amendments can take up to 28 days to take effect. This means that you may continue to receive direct marketing communications during this period. I hope this helps with your enquiry. you cant win they do what they want

according to sky 1/they will not except notice unless you give minimum 31 days notice no less if you do it goes on another month 2/you cannot cancell within your contract without charges thats fair but try and give notice on the telephone when your paying for the call 3/you are not entitled to copy of contracts without charges 4/they will not even talk to you if you do not know your password any complaints must be made on email or by letter they are not answerable to anyone if you are a customer you agree to all there terms like it or not you are also charged for the tel calls to them being kept on hold as cost aprox 4/5 pounds everytime with no offer of any recompence i object to be treated like a debtor when i only want to be assured that i owe money to date i have no info to support thier claim which apparently is charges after the contract ended i am a pensioner and cannot afford to be charged for something i have not had if i had been told this at the time i would have paid these so called customer advisors have no comeback on what is said even tho all calls are recorded as you are told when you call and give your full name adress postcode tel no and password before they will talk to you they will only give thier christian name and if pushed a id number which is incorrect when you quote this is all on email.so i think you were lucky to cancell so easly i have been trying sinjuly 2011 eventually being allowed to cancell when i informed them i had cancell my direct debit and given a date and fiqure to pay which i did by tel using a credit card which they tell me they will debit any amount they deem i owe this is not acceptable practice and possible illegal and if i did not it would effect my credit rating but according to sky in taking thier contract you accept the terms i am no longer a sky customer and they have all my personal details including credt card numbers and all information to take over my life when i asked for this info to be destryed and removed from thier records i was advised to pay the bill i have no confidence in skys systems and feel wide open to possible fraudlent acts

After trying to cancell my sky subsciption and various reason why i could not cancell I came through to a Customer Service Advisors called Helen then alan then ashley when i asked for a surname i was told we dont have to do and gave an id no which was said not to be reconised I said, quite seriously, "I assume you know my name and the nature of my enquiry." She answered no. I asked if she could explain why I had gone through the previous process and she replied we dont have access to that info if your not happy you will have to write or email a complaint . I stated once again that I found it entirely unacceptable that I had been forced to be kept waiting throughout a process for no conceivable reason. I then had to provide full bio data details again. She then dealt with my enquiry with the minimum of charm that tested my patience further. The fact that there was no reason to this elongated process caused me to ask if Sky made revenues from customers dialling the 0870 number. She replied I dont know. I requested I speak with a manager or someone who was her superior and she said the manager was at home and there was no-one more senior than her and they were leaving in twenty minutes. I demanded that she allow me to speak to a colleague of hers to corroborate her statement on three occasions, I was then cut-off. Not once did I use bad language or raise my voice. This was a straightforward enquiry, one which could have been dealt with so simply but one which actually served to raise my levels of disbelief at the poor level of customer service and the feeling that a large corporate organisation really had no empathy or consideration for its customers. I HAVE KNOW RECIEVED A LETTER SAYING THAT I MUSY PAY A FURTHER 24 POUND OR HAVE DEBT COlLECTORS CALLIN OR TAKING MONEY FROM MY ORIGINAL CREDIT CARD I then ask them to check the recorded calls and supply me copies of all contracts and emails/letters and anything supporting thier claim this is charged if you want it is the reply 10 pounds I have forwarded this email onto various consumer and media organisations, as I will not accept any organisation that I am a customer with dealing with me in such an unprofessional, uncaring manner. i have now had 6 emails today with varios comments none of which answer my complaint i await another responce the story continues needless to say i dont expect ant resolution can anyone advise wher i go from here