sky, moved, from day one freeze, no sound no picture ,programe could be watched,

[stevvieboi]

i entered an agreement with sky television several years ago, when i moved to my new address, been a customer of theirs for many years, without any problems,

they installed new equipment and from day one it would either freeze, no sound or no picture with the sound, and no programe could be watched, without something going wrong.

They offered to call out to inspect the system, but i would be charged for this,

after several frustrating calls and offers to refund charges i had enough and asked them to remove their system, at the time i was informed their was no balance outstanding, but they never removed the system.

I am now been hounded for a bill of 102 pounds and am been threatened with court action and defaults set against my credit rating, and they have informed me i entered a contract with them so i am responsible for sums outstanding.

anyone got any advice on how to handle this

[becky29]

Hi

 

As far as i know they have broken their side of the contract by not providing the service. Due to the fact that Sky was unwatchable.

 

The contract should have ceased when you asked them to remove the equipment

 

Did you request in writing to have the sky system removed?

 

I would send a letter to sky outlining your complaint and stating that you asked for removal of the equipment etc and that they have broken the terms of the contract, therefore have no grounds to claim the money.

[stevvieboi]

at the time i never wrote to them requesting that they remove the system,but did send a letter to them regarding the problems and that they were in breach of contract, i have now sent a couple of letters in to them stating they are in breach of their contract, outlining the problems and all the calls made to them, and have also sent one now to the director of sky, {awaiting for replies} as their customer service has replied and basically said tough, get in touch with their collections agency to arrange to pay this off,

am still getting letters from collections ageny, one the other day stating i have 7 days from Hamptons legal threating legal action and a claim made against me with section 69 of the county courts act 1984 as well as having this registered against me

[Bookworm]

From Hamptons, it will go to, hang on, let me think, Legal & Trade, I think, then Lowell Financial, then ... Oooh, I can't remember, but they're in Glasgow... I have a SKy thread somewhere, have a search...

 

What you do is write back and state to the collection agency that the amount is in dispute, so if they try to issue court proceedings while the amount is in dispute, any action will be vigorously defended and their bullying and unlawful behaviour brought to the attention of the court. DO NOT write "without prejudice" on the letter!!!

 

Then you write to Sky and say that since they broke their contract with you by not supplying the service you had signed up for, then further compounded the breach by not removing the system when you had told them to, you do not accept that you owe them any money, and that any attempt to pursue you though courts, pass your account back to a DCA, or register any kind of adverse info on your credit file will be vigorously defended.

 

However, be ready for a long and protracted battle before they give up, they are a pain in the backside. They do try to get you by wearing you down.

[stevvieboi]

thank you for the advice well appreciated, will be sending them a letter to that effect, and see what happens

thank you

[ddvmor]

I'm pretty sure that unlike Telewest or NTL, the equipment provided by Sky becomes the property of the customer. So surely it's a simple case that they sold you faulty goods.

[Surfer01]

I think the issue may lie with whether the telephone line was connected to the receiver or not.

[Rich44]

what has the modem being plugged in got to do with the quality of the received transmission?

[stevvieboi]

hi folks today i recieved another letter from lowells from their legal team at hamptons, with the notice of intention to issue a county court claim, with further costs now added to the bill for court fees £20.00 and another £50.00 for solicitors fees. i did write to them to inform them this bill was been disputed, as both sky and lowells are refusing to budge on this, i have recieved a letter from sky confirming my contract with them was closed, but then re activated in dec 2001, and that this bill stands as i was the name on the account.

i have asked for a copy of the new contract that i would of signed, but have been informed that their is not one, and was not required as i was a previous customer.

I have informed both companies that i was not living at this address in dec 2001, as the proprty was let out in nov 2001 on a short term rental, lease can be provided of which i am sending copies to both of these companies, but unless i have a copy of letter to confirm i cancelled in 2001 i a still liable for these charges, as i dont have a copy of the letter to cancel, if even their was one, as i am sure it was done over the phone, but sky have wrote to confirm this in a recent letter, and as this goes back to 2001, and its only just ben recently i have been contacted about this bill, in jne 2006, never knew it existed till then, 5 yrs is a long time to wait to start chasing after this bill, has anyone got any advice what to do, as i fell its just going round in circles and now stressing me out thank you

[Bookworm]

I warned you they'd try to wear you down.

 

Send this to Hampton's:

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

Consumer Credit Act 1974 s78 (1) Demand

I require you to supply me with a true copy of the credit agreements under which theses account are conducted. This is my right under your obligation to supply a copy of the agreement under the legislation contained within s.78 (1) Consumer Credit Act 1974 (s.78 (1) for running – account credit) - your obligation also extends to providing a statement of account. I enclose £1 cheque in payment of the statutory fee.

 

You are notified that you are obliged to supply these documents, under S189 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. Non-compliance with my request is a criminal offence under the above Act and will result in a report being submitted to the relevant statutory authorities.

 

Take note at this stage, that any legal action you may contemplate will be both vigorously defended and contested.

 

As you are aware, a credit agreement that is not properly documented and signed by the customer is totally unenforceable under the Consumer Credit Act and therefore is a complete defence to any court claim that is issued.

 

Furthermore you are reminded that under s78 sub section (6) whilst the default continues, you are not entitled to enforce the alleged agreement in law.

 

Yours truly

 

And ignore any other letter they send you. Is is up to them to prove that there was contract in place if they want to sue you. I'm going to take a wild guess they don't have one. ;-)

[james141]

That is a brilliant letter, I have used it a couple of times, even on legitimate debts that I thought I would have some fun with

 

the first one replied back saying the "debt had been dropped" presumibly because they didnt have the info and I havnt heard anything from the 2nd one since

[buzby]

Just an observation (and of one who is looking forward to seeing Sky in court next month), My Sky contract isn't regulated under the CCA - it's a Service Contract, so the references in that letter are not appropriate.

 

As to their assertion they can re-activate and 'old' contract, they've done this with me, as my details remained unchanged, however it is a moot point at when this becomes untenable and a new contract form is required. I would expect once payments were made, the reactivated contract became 'current' again.

[Bookworm]

But the letter is not being sent to Sky, it is being sent to a DCA, and THEY're not supplying a service, presumably?

[stevvieboi]

no they aint, as regards to sky, i believe the account ran for 3 months before sky cancelled it, as no payment had been recieved, i know for sure that i never signed new contract with them, or asked to have it re activated, due to probs i had with my reciever, and their lack of customer service at that point and asked them to cancel my contract and to come out and remove their equipment from my house, i now refuse ever again to subscribe to sky, after the way i was treated before

[buzby]

I donlt blame you - and as for the DCA, I look upon them as the monkeys (with Sky as the organ grinder). I don't believe crediting the DCA with any intelligence, other than the account is disputed, go away and seek advice from your client. Keeping up with 2 or 3 additional companies, all because Sky chooses a blunderbus approach to their collections procedure duesn;t mean we have to take it too seriously!