Alasdair vs Sky

[Alasdair]

Below is a copy of my draft letter for sending to Sky. They seem incapable of getting much right, but my immediate concern is the way their direct debit collections are timed so that in a few instances I know of there is an over collection of money from bank accounts and in particular to my account twice meaning I've paid for 5 months in two payments. The only offer given is a credit to the account. I know that the interest from mine alone isn't much but depending on the factor of clients this happens to it could be a considerable sum. Sky aren't the only company to do this and from experience the banks don't issue a refund under the guarantee scheme. I have previously suffered this through Scottish Gas costing one of those (unlawful) bank charges when I was with the Clydesdale. All that was offered from the bank was they would hold the charges in a secondary account pending the outcome of my claim from Scottish Gas. Who eventually paid.

 

I think there is scope for a template letter that could be submitted to the direct debit regulators requiring they look into just how much extra profit this translates into for DD originators overcollect in advance payments if anyone who is good at using the legalese these organisations understand would be prepared to give input.

 

Any comments on my letter below would also be appreciated as I think its a bit long.

 

=================================================================

 

Letter to Sky

=================================================================

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am writing with serious concern about the ongoing manner in which my sky account is managed, the lack of presenting relevant information when contacting your company & the continuing failure to manage the direct debit so that it collects for the due services one month in advance.

 

As a brief summary of the account if you check the notes held will show a continuous stream of errors from the original phone call when the salesman denied the existence of the £10 per month introductory offer. This was only admitted after being sent to me with my installation date papers within my right to cancel time, at which point I phoned and pointed out the account level was either changed to this or I would use my right to cancel the agreement.

At the installation the only new equipment provide was the digital box, therefore if issues arise with the second hand dish that was already in place I would expect the new one to be provided as stated in your correspondence. Although as additionally in my account notes not by the company sent out for installation. As this was carried out on the Sunday and repairs were being made to your system it required a manual activation. This was achieved later that day.

However the member of staff at this time who I would credit with being helpful was unable to set the correct account level. After numerous calls back and an email sent to customer services the lower priced package was confirmed, but due to your system the first direct debit would still be for £36 instead of the expected £20 with the account being credited for the balance.

I agreed as this would mean the whole introductory period was paid with a small portion to be credited towards my next bill at the level eventually selected. This payment was debited from my account on the 2nd of August 2006.

 

I phoned your customer services on Monday the 16th of October to enquire when I needed to adjust the package level as I did not want to continue with the film, sports & world package, but reduce to the basic services.

I was told that I did not need to do this until the 21st of October and because it would have immediate effect I was better to wait since I would lose channels I had already paid that week for. I pointed out that I did not want to have another £36 direct debit being claimed and was answered that by waiting to this date there was sufficient time to prevent this.

However on the 18th of October 2006 another £36.11 was debited from my account instead of the £21.99 for the package less £6 previous credit giving a total debit of £15.99. This was three days prior to the date I had been told would be a safe date to reduce the services and avoid overpaying again.

Surely if this payment was in the system the customer services should have seen this was about to be debited. Although I would have lost services paid for, at this point I would have reduced the services and cancelled the direct debit at the bank to prevent an over payment.

Failure to present this information has meant that I have had to rebalance my account by adjusting other payments to avoid additional direct costs at my bank, but the re-scheduling of payments may incur further account charges via the other direct debit originator.

Again yes I have been told my account will be credited with a balance adjustment and as the problem has already occurred I have again agreed to accept this.

Although this may appear a fair offer, it no way reflects the true cost of managing your errors. Small as it may be on an individual there is an interest loss at my cost for the advance monies paid & an interest gain for yourselves from the early collection. There is a direct cost of telephone calls for me having to sort out these problems & also my time that I have had to devote to what should be a simple transaction of subscribing to a digital service.

Additionally on both occasions I was not offered the option to exercise my rights under the direct debit guarantee scheme, where you accept the error in amount debited and my bank would provide an immediate refund.

 

In my opinion a credit should be given that not only matches the exact overpaid amount but which takes account of these additional factors. Any additional costs incurred as stated earlier through other affected direct debit originators will be re-claimed.

I have also cancelled with immediate effect the direct debit instruction and will manage payments via a statement & cheque to ensure future payments are at the correct level. I am not prepared to pay any additional administration fee for not paying by direct debit.

 

If you do not wish to accept this I consider there has been enough errors on your part to terminate the agreement with a refund of all advance payment.

 

 

==================================================================

 

 

Cheers

 

Alasdair

[buzby]

I'm currently taking tem to the Small Claims Court - check foir the Sky Subscriber Services thread. You'll not get a substantive reply from them, either because they don't understand it, or they'll lie in their responses, missing out the real reason for your complaint.

 

Regarding your situation - EVEN if you cancelled that day, the system refunds you pro-rata for the cancelled services, and it does this automatically. They actually hope you'll forget to call back on what they tell you is the 'due' date. There appears to be a 7 day black hole where money is taken and does not show up on your account. I cancelled my DD for that very reason, I reduced my service pack yet they still took the full fee.

 

My action is the first of two - 1) to reclaim monies arbitrarily charged for 'Inovices' never sent or received, and 2) Compensation for fees paid to ensure my credit file was undamaged, and costs of corresponding with their multiplicity of Collection Agencies and Credit Reference Agencies.