Why would you want to cancel Sky?
I recently subscribed to the Sky TV, Broadband, and Telephone service, after having been with Telewest and Virgin Media for the past couple of years. What a disaster! First of all, the TV service is mediocre at best. You scroll through dozens of worthless, shopping, adult, gaming, pay-per-view, and radio channels before you get to the ones anyone other than a minority of the population really want to watch.
Sky Talk (the telephone service) required me to sign up with BT (something I did not really want to do) and pay a monthly line rental fee to them. Then, in order to get the Internet service they sent me an ADSL router that they said I had to use for their service to work, when I already had a similar router from a house I lived in previously. If that was all there was to it then I probably would not be writing this now, but it is not!
The Broadband service is slow to VERY SLOW in my opinion (and I live near the junction box so it should not be) and it is constantly dropping the connection with the Sky server. I tried to contact Sky customer service and I could not get through for two days. Then to add insult to injury they wanted to charge me for discussing the problems I was having with their services to the tune of up to .09p per minute! I was on the telephone with Sky customer service for over 42 minutes... on this call alone. Now combine that with the thousands of calls they receive everyday and I will let you do the math. WHAT A JOKE!
Why should I, or any customer, have to pay to speak to someone about a problem with THEIR service? The sheer audacity of any major corporation wanting its customers to pay to speak to them is insulting. Virgin Media do not do this, especially if you are using their telephone service. I realise this is a common practice by lots of major companies and banks, etc. But I for one, refuse to go along with this practice anymore. I have notified my bank and every other company I deal with that has this service that either they provide me with a standard or free-phone number or I will no longer use their services. To date all but one has complied.
The point is, Sky and many of these same companies are counting on the customers they claim to care for so dearly to pad their wallets even further. Well not me, never again! By the way, I am going back to Virgin Media where I had excellent service. Sky tried to claim I signed a 12 month contract with them and I would have to pay regardless until I told them that I would sue them for breach of contract because I did not receive the service I was promised and they could expect a letter from my solicitor. I have not heard from them since.
By: Getdeferyebass
Comments from visitors
@ uk resident, if u want to cancel the mcafee internet security, u need to do this via the website, all of this would have been detailed in the letter/email sent to you around the time of activation. if u requested not to have the service the cancellation should have been done just after activation by u.
u also need 2 check thru ur previous bills to c y u were over charged as u put it. sky dont over charge customers unless there are excessive calls or may be cli charges (for customers with multiroom) tel line not connected to both boxes.
u also need 2 check thru ur previous bills to c y u were over charged as u put it. sky dont over charge customers unless there are excessive calls or may be cli charges (for customers with multiroom) tel line not connected to both boxes.
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It must be worth mentioning that SKY are part of the SAME company as the News of the World was so anyone defeding them is defending such attrocities as what the News of the World did (I 100% believe the heirarchy knew about it). As for SKY TV I just cancelled mine and they are trying to bill me for £30.75 even though I paid a month in advance, like every customer, and they actually owe me money! If a million people cancelled and recieved then paid a bill of £30, that would be £30million pound Sky got for fresh air! Scandolous, but you won't read about it in the Sun, cos they own that too.
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After receiving 2 threats to have my extra room subscription doubled because of problems caused by B T, and picture freezing on numerous occassions and added to this phone calls with regard to my lapse on my warranty,it was the last straw and I decided the time had come to cancel my subscription to sky. The day after I found my programmes curtailed, everything I had recorded, stopped and the pause control not working. This has all happened even though I am still in credit. Fair? I do not think so. So beware of cancelling your subscription before your new system is up and running!
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Sky make so much money that they can afford to lose customers. One operative told me to leave if I can't afford Sky prices but they were overcharging me every month. Their excuses for overcharging me ranged from being charged for the 150 number you dial for customer service which I thought was free initially to putting internet security on my broadband which I declined when I signed up with them but they refuse to take off.
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Changed to SKY from VIRGIN in May 2010 , signed up for TV , TALK TALK and broadband, SKY said they would do a seamless changeover with VIRGIN in regrds to the phone line etc
to cut a long story short, unknown to me SKY never did a seamless changeover with VIRGIN , out of the blue I received a bill from VIRGIN for 7 mths phone rental , I have now been forced to pay VIRGIN for a phone line I thought was disconnected ,or I was going to be credit blacklisted. I have tried phoning SKY emailing them have sent docs and details of all of the VIRGIN stuff and I have heard nothing from SKY, they are just not interested in people, at least VIRGIN was customer friendly , next step is to change back when contract is up in 4 months time , thats the only satsfaction I will get !
to cut a long story short, unknown to me SKY never did a seamless changeover with VIRGIN , out of the blue I received a bill from VIRGIN for 7 mths phone rental , I have now been forced to pay VIRGIN for a phone line I thought was disconnected ,or I was going to be credit blacklisted. I have tried phoning SKY emailing them have sent docs and details of all of the VIRGIN stuff and I have heard nothing from SKY, they are just not interested in people, at least VIRGIN was customer friendly , next step is to change back when contract is up in 4 months time , thats the only satsfaction I will get !
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absoultely agree with you.. SKY is milking money from the customers and squeezing..i am unable to watch the sky for the 15 days after the recent snow.. the respond to the complaint was very poor and they ask us to go for annual maintenance anything and everything.. their monopoly in this field and squeezing the common man. I know that there is no fault with the setup box or with the wire..they need to check only the cable connection at the top of the dish, which we can't climb and check.. to do this they charge £70 !!!
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Seeing your article is so timely it's almost ridiculous. I have just ended my Sky account after being with them for several years. This was by no means a rash decision. I continued with Sky despite finding out that they had been charging me an extra fee (which conveniently came under an inconspicuous heading like "admin" or something similar that you wouldn't normally query) for not having my Sky box connected to a phone line. Both my boxes have been consistently connected to the phone line. I brought this up with Sky who said that it had been going on for too long (18 months or so) therefore I was not entitled to a refund. Funny how when they take your money it's "too long" to do anything about it but let it be the other way around and debt collectors will be knocking at your door. The last straw came today when I called up to make a payment to clear arrears I had on my account. I contacted Sky last month because I was having problems clearing a bill, and set up a payment plan. Fortunately (or so I thought), I was able to clear it sooner than I had expected therefore I called to pay. They said I had to pay the arrears of £39.55 plus an advance payment so the total was £75.47. Despite this without permission they took £76 from my card, regardless of it being a matter of 53p this is fraud as I did not authorize this. After payment I was told I HAVE to set up a direct debit before the service will be reinstated, when I refused because of my previous experience, I was told I would have to pay for TWO months in advance. I found this to be utterly ridiculous. Which service provider charges 2 months in advance? Sky made absolutely no effort to apologize nor to accomodate me despite my years of loyalty, they practically showed me the door. Normally I wouldn't take it further, but I feel that I have been so poorly treated that I intend to take the matter further.
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To be honest the speed of my connection I am getting from Sky Broadband is totally unacceptable and is basically just on the same speed as dial up as it is 0.08 meg which isnt the speed you should expect when your paying 17.99 for up to 8 meg and instead am getting well below 1 meg nevermind above it, I never had problems with BT as when it came to browsing the internet or playing the xbox online I really never experienced lag but this is basically a rip off and can anyone tell me if there is a way of cancelling sky broadband without paying the cancellation fee as I think Sky has ratted me out of enough money already and I dont think they really deserve to take anymore from me as of the disastrous internet service they have given me.
+9
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For the last three weeks I have been trying to get ‘Sky’ and then by default ‘BT’ to provide me with Broadband. I have a BT line with a piece of Sky equipment on the line from a cancelled account back in 2008 when Sky worked out that they couldn’t provide me with a service then, in the same way that they can’t now.
Sky wont remove the Tag from the line, BT wont remove the Tag from the line. I have spent more than 14 hours on the phone trying to sort this, spoken to more departments that I can recall, not received the call backs that have been promised and have been ‘disconnected’ after more than 45 minutes on at least three occasions.
Apart from cancelling my BT line completely, or moving house, I see no solution. Sky have not been helpful, BT will not sort the issue and are completely unable to communicate effectively with their customers, and Virgin isn’t an option, or I would be taking it.
If anyone has a bright idea please share, frustration level is at a soul destroying level.
Sky wont remove the Tag from the line, BT wont remove the Tag from the line. I have spent more than 14 hours on the phone trying to sort this, spoken to more departments that I can recall, not received the call backs that have been promised and have been ‘disconnected’ after more than 45 minutes on at least three occasions.
Apart from cancelling my BT line completely, or moving house, I see no solution. Sky have not been helpful, BT will not sort the issue and are completely unable to communicate effectively with their customers, and Virgin isn’t an option, or I would be taking it.
If anyone has a bright idea please share, frustration level is at a soul destroying level.
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My partner and I are both in Sky contracts. We are moving in together and have been told we cannot have 2 accounts in one house and neither of us will be able to canell out contracts.
So what they have offered us is that one of us minimises our contract to the basic and continue paying for it untill we can get out of the contract.
So one of us will be paying near on 20 pouns a Month for a service we are not allowed to use.
Anyone any idea if this is legal?
So what they have offered us is that one of us minimises our contract to the basic and continue paying for it untill we can get out of the contract.
So one of us will be paying near on 20 pouns a Month for a service we are not allowed to use.
Anyone any idea if this is legal?
+5
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You think it is difficult dealing with Sky from the UK. We have dealt with them from Spain for 10 years but when we tried to cancel the service OVER A YEAR AGO they continued to charge us. Below is a letter we have today sent to their director of Customer Service !!! You can find the Executive team for Sky on http://corporate.sky.com
Dear Mr Zappia
Our problem is very simple and requires a simple action:
We lived in Spain between 2001 and June 2009. During the whole of this period we received and paid for Sky TV on a monthly basis. In June 2009 we moved to Panama and cancelled the service.
Despite the cancellation Sky continued to charge my credit card monthly when we did not receive any service.
We want a refund of the 400 GBP overcharged and will not accept any excuses for failure to reimburse it.
Sky received the money so we want it refunded from Sky.
I would have thought for an organisation that can afford to pay its CEO 2.7 million GBP last year a refund of such a trivial amount would not be a problem
I am copying all of the correspondence to Mr Darroch which he so far has failed even to acknowledge - a lack of courtesy which belies your exaggerated claims above.
Please send a confirmation that you will refund the overcharge within the next 5 working days.
If you do not respond I wil take appropriate actions within Sky, within your regulatory framework and finally with whatever legal recourse I have
Regards
Dear Mr Zappia
Our problem is very simple and requires a simple action:
We lived in Spain between 2001 and June 2009. During the whole of this period we received and paid for Sky TV on a monthly basis. In June 2009 we moved to Panama and cancelled the service.
Despite the cancellation Sky continued to charge my credit card monthly when we did not receive any service.
We want a refund of the 400 GBP overcharged and will not accept any excuses for failure to reimburse it.
Sky received the money so we want it refunded from Sky.
I would have thought for an organisation that can afford to pay its CEO 2.7 million GBP last year a refund of such a trivial amount would not be a problem
I am copying all of the correspondence to Mr Darroch which he so far has failed even to acknowledge - a lack of courtesy which belies your exaggerated claims above.
Please send a confirmation that you will refund the overcharge within the next 5 working days.
If you do not respond I wil take appropriate actions within Sky, within your regulatory framework and finally with whatever legal recourse I have
Regards
+5
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It's true this companies just want to get easy cash from our pockets making us wait for so long hours on the phone for a problem that is caused by them...so creating a problem to them seem to be the best way to make money out of our pocketsF... off Sky and BT Virgin media is the Best and you all will lose your customers because you don't know how to respect the money of your customers.
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Sky and BT Anal Fisters - 18-Oct-10 20:07
could not agree more about Sky - they are AWFUL! Have not tried Virgin yet, but might give BT vision a go.
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Q.why would you want to cancel sky
A. Because there shi* !
A. Because there shi* !
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people on here keep talking about bt offering sky sport ..they only do 2 of skys 5 sports channels ...they're mickey mouse advertising is making britains dumb consumers out to be complete fools switching to half a service from a full service will always be cheaper ? ...i consider myself to be an idiot and even I can see the big picture ...by the way sky charge 11 quid phone line rental with free evening and weekend calls and 7.50 for up to 20 mbps broadband internet ...my friends and I are all going to sign up NOW !!!
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Village iDiot no1 - 20-Sep-10 12:45
Sky has 6 call centres across the uk ...all of them handling calls from Sky customers wanting stuff for free... it's sky's own fault FOR TRYING TO ATTRACT NEW CUSTOMERS IN A RECESSION !!! .. existing sky users say they are LOYAL because they pay their bill for they're services and in the next breath prove they're not by talking about virgin ..bt ..talk talk or some other motley crew touting a 3 month cheap rate for they're half baked service !! ..for all sky customers who cant get they're service for FREE try this experiment ...go to your local shopping area ...try standing in your favourite supermarket and annoucing that you shop there all the time and pay your bill and you want your trolley full of stuff for free.... THEN count the minutes till the police turn up ...sounds silly ...not really.. SKY fields over 50,000 calls a day with people ..begging ..shouting ..comparing ..threatening .. cheating and swearing ..because they cant have whatever part of what SKY do for free ..some leave ..most come back when they realise how awesome SKY is and how cheap and tacky the other pretenders are by comparison ....i am a sky customer and enjoy what I have chosen to see and hear from sky ...they give me the odd perk because I like premium services and I want to pay ....frankly if you want what I have and cant afford if ..get off to the cheap seats ...OK !!!
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what a sad loser u r have u actually listened to urself do u think they rly care about 1 little person provide YOU with a free phone what makes u special cheapo
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When I tried to cancel sky sports because it is cheaper with virgin I rang a premium rate line and was kept waiting for 10 minutes before I had to press a number for cancellations and it just cut off.Am going to cancel my standing order NOW!
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Steve, Leicester - 17-Aug-10 10:30
I have had nothing but trouble with sky with all 3 services! Sky tv they couldn't organise a piss up in a brewery for starters I had signal problems which many visits from engineers that couldnt be solved with conflicting opinions of your dish needs realigning, yopur hd box is faulty which was not may I add so my perfectly good box was replaced with a refurbished one that then gave me the extra added problem of recording issues and to top it off and 1 engineer didnt even show up!
Problem 2 I made several phone calls to sky about my phone package with them requesting my phone number be changed as I recieved harrassing phone calls the result was they said they would do so and yet again what a surprise sky failed again!
Problem 3 Very slow broadband with speed tests done and both have come well below par I pay for 8mb and I expect around 3 to 4 mb and only get 0.08 what a bloody joke and phone calls to sky for tech support well I would hardly call it tech support they decided to put it down to my computer having a virus which may I add it doesnt and did not as they also told me I would have to pay for a full computer check by a professional to prove this which may I add was done so cheers sky all I can say is miserable crap to no customer service to which we have to pay for and I can now say I am a customer that is leaving for pastures new to go to virgin cause like I said rubbish customer service oh in general rubbish service and I will also say sky are in breech of the the supply of goods and services act 1982 and will be recieving a formal letter of complaint stating all outlined above and more and that I intend to take further action as I will not be leaving quietly YOU ARE CORPERATE LIARS AND I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
Problem 2 I made several phone calls to sky about my phone package with them requesting my phone number be changed as I recieved harrassing phone calls the result was they said they would do so and yet again what a surprise sky failed again!
Problem 3 Very slow broadband with speed tests done and both have come well below par I pay for 8mb and I expect around 3 to 4 mb and only get 0.08 what a bloody joke and phone calls to sky for tech support well I would hardly call it tech support they decided to put it down to my computer having a virus which may I add it doesnt and did not as they also told me I would have to pay for a full computer check by a professional to prove this which may I add was done so cheers sky all I can say is miserable crap to no customer service to which we have to pay for and I can now say I am a customer that is leaving for pastures new to go to virgin cause like I said rubbish customer service oh in general rubbish service and I will also say sky are in breech of the the supply of goods and services act 1982 and will be recieving a formal letter of complaint stating all outlined above and more and that I intend to take further action as I will not be leaving quietly YOU ARE CORPERATE LIARS AND I WILL NOT BE SILENCED!
+1
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ANGRYSKYCUSTOMER - 12-Aug-10 22:40
Been with Sky for 12 years on their full package of sports and movies and decided to take them up on their advertised offer of a free HD box and free installation with a multiroom subscription. Logged in on my Sky ID, completed the online upgrade form and proceeded with the order. A day later I get an email asking me to call Sky. I call them only to be told my order is being manually processed and I will get a call within 24 hours. 3 days and no call back so I call again only to be told I have to pay £199 for the HD box. Argued that the advert said free HD box and that the upgrade process did not request any payment. I was told this was a website error and that the fee will be £199. I stated that the error was not my problem and they should honour it. I was again told it was £199 for the box. My service is due to end at the end of this month (August 2010). Sky have no idea in how to treat existing customers, they just want as much money as they can squeeze out of you.
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