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Wow that seems like a good deal! Sky Talk,TV and Broadband for an ideal price! That's what I said to myself back in Oct 2007 when I signed up to Sky, having moved to a new address.
One year later (after persevering with a diabolical broadband connection) I decided enough is enough and rang Sky Customer Services to cancel the broadband and also Sky Talk, but expressed that I was still happy to continue my TV subscription (Incidentally the date of this long, laborious phone call was Oct 21st 2008).
June 4th 2009, I rang my bank as I had some financial enquiries, only to discover that Sky had been continuing to charge me for my phone calls - even though I was now in a contract with BT and had been ever since the cancellation date with Sky. Having heard this I instantly got on to the phone to Sky to resolve the matter and after only a mere 37 minute wait of listening to vocal Sky advertisements (over and over again), I was eventually speaking to a customer services representative. I explained the scenario and was then put through to another department.
After explaining the situation yet again, to a sympathetic ear I might add, I was told that they had recognised there mistake with the charges and even though they had record of my cancellation, they had unfortunately failed to actually CANCEL. That's just great isn't it? I was told that someone would get back to me within 72 hours of the call. If you haven't guessed already, no they didn't get back to me, so again I rang them a further 3 times until I decided to phone Ofcom - who advised me to write a letter.
Finally 2 weeks later I received a call from the management department who told me that I could have the fee they owed me deducted from my Sky TV bill. I nearly split my sides laughing when she told me that and I responded by telling her absolutely not and that I wanted a cheque for the amount sent to my address as I had no faith in this multi-million pound business. She replied by telling me she was only trying to resolve the matter as quickly as possible and that if I wanted my money back I would have to wait yet another 28 days for customer relations to look into it.
The date today is 30th July 2009 and have they contacted me? No - of course not! There's no sign of even an apology let alone the money they owe me for having charged me for 9 months of phone calls that they were not entitled to. WHERE IS MY MONEY?
You can guarantee if I or any other customer had failed to make payment they would of cut us off without a thought and they'd still demand their money!
By: Heather Dymock
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same bush in my experiance and experts at passing the buck. I have a simular problem a few
months ago with Virgin&BT that took weeks to get sorted,I wanted rid of Virgin phone and keep their broardband and revert to BT for the phone, and finished up paying line rental to both due to
the incompetence of these companies and very near wrecked my marriage of 49yrs. with all the
stress they caused,to us. BT took the blame for the cock up an refunded their charges until our
number was returned to us. It all comes down to "Too many Chiefs and lack of Indians" and of course very poor training,in my book.
I explained situation to the debt collection agency and they said they would put the matter on hold until I (yet again) spoke to Sky.
After umpteen phone calls I finally got through to someone who agreed to give me a refund. When I tried to check on the status of the refund, I finally spoke to someone in Livingston (the first native english speaker!) who then advised me that the cheque had been sent to my old address - I gave up after that - it would cost me more in phone calls than what I'd recover - they're betting on that!
The only advice I would give anyone considering leaving Sky is DO IT IN WRITING and don't agree to anything on the phone!
God help you if you had real problems!
Line in quick (naturally), but no sky talk or router or broadband ORDERED let alone provided. After numourous calls, eventually told they would activate my bb on 20th July,THEN send my router out. In other words give you bb but not the implements to use it. The word crazy comes to mind.
Checked if router on way on 20th. Still not ordered. Lady who I spoke to parcelled one up herself and sent it off. I got it on the 24th. Lovely, fast bb at last. Wrong. Speeds rubbish.
After more tedious phone calls doing all their tests again, I did my own speed tests. Also the 192.168.0.1 to test for downstream speed. Speed tests showed I was getting 128kbps and the sky test above shows that my house is only getting 160kbps. I should be getting 1.3 initially.
Skys answer to the above, they are not responsible for the lines, BT are. They are an outsource to them, so they have to go by what BT gives them, with no control over it. Didnt tell me that when ordering.
I could only order Sky connect they said. My exchange is only 3769 meters away from me, not exactly far away. Now please dont laugh, it would be impolite to the lady who was only trying to do her job at customer services, when I asked why the slow speed with the exchange so close, she said maybe the cables go a long way round. Seriously thats what she said.
BT say the best I can get, even with them is .512, so what happened to the promised 'at least 1mb' sky.
My answer to above. I have cancelled my complete package including sky tv, where I have been a customer for 'n' number of years, with a months notice. I am now looking for another provider. Any suggestions anyone.After the ladies experience above I await the end day of cancellation with interest.
Get back in touch with Ofcom. They are the regulator and should sort it. They also keep a record of the service that operators give to their customers and can fine, or, I believe, revoke licences.
Make sure you ask for compensation.
Other course is the small claims court and add on reasonable compensation for interest, your time and inconvenience - although that means more work for you.
robbol