How to cancel Setanta Sports

Kate3012

That's exactly what happened to me in June/July 2008. See they haven't improved any then!!

debtmunchkin

We have had terrible problems with Setanta. The equipment they sent us was faulty twice. They then agreed to refund us the set up fee, admin fee and subscription payment as we had not managed to view one second on their channel. A year later we are still trying to get our money back. They keep us on the phone for ages and tell us that the money should appear in our bank account within 28 days. Surprisingly enough it never has. They also refuse to respond to our emails. They are by far the WORST company we have ever dealt with and will never never never use them again or recommend them to anyone :mad:

col1967

Wish I'd seen this before I'd got it! I only got Setanta (through Sky) last Sunday. I signed up online and was told it could take up to 4 hours for it to be active. In reality it was about 30 minutes for all the channels to be active and I was quite impressed with it. I tried to watch the Community Shield and missed the first 15/20 minutes as it started to rain (a little drizzle) and the picture froze. I checked the other Sky channels and they were fine. Not a good start! On Saturday I was unable to watch ANY of the Sunderland v Liverpool as it was completely froze due to a little rain.

I realise that Setanta has no control over the weather but in the first week of subscribing to the channel I was unable to watch any of the 2 matches that I wanted to and was paying £12.99 for! So I sent an email (through their website) requesting to cancel and the reasons for it. I am still waiting for a reply!

I have now typed a letter to the address in this thread giving them 60 days notice and told them the date that the Direct Debit will be cancelled.

They really need to do a Customer Service reading all these posts and threads. No matter how much I love Football I will never subscribe to this company again and I will be advising anyone who is thinking of it to read these threads.

batch_2001

col1967, sounds like your dish is slightly out of alignment. Setanta is broadcast by the Eurobird satellite (unlike most Sky channels which are Astra). Both should easily be received by a correctly aligned minidish. No use to you now you are cancelling I suppose!

---

Did anyone who has successfully cancelled actually got confirmation of cancellation?

I am a bit worried as I rang them at the end of may, reaffirmed in writing on July14th (delay due to holiday) and have heard nothing other than a 'you are leaving' offer flyer following the first phonecall. I have reaffirmed my position via email (yesterday) and cancelled the DD.

I hoped that would be the end of it but am mildly concerned now. Reading this thread they seem to think they can change their T&C willy nilly to increase the notice period to 60 days! I don't think so, not without notification as per their T&Cs. Regarless, 15th July->15th September will be 60 days, assuming they didn't "lose" the letter. Wish me luck.

debtmunchkin

Good luck with the letter. We sent a Recorded delivery letter which Royal Mail confirmed was delivered. Setanta denied all knowledge of it!

zippygeorgeandben

Just to add my 2 penneth (or £12.99 per month in Setantas case).

After getting Martins Newsletter and shocked at the cancellation policy, i have just written a letter cancelling my subscription and set it recorded delivery. I spoke to a guy on the phone who laughed when I told him that 60 day cancellation policy is really poor customer service.

Quick question for all of you, i seem to get billed around the 10th of each month so when do you think I would be in my rights to cancel my direct debit.
Obviously, I don't want my credit to be affected by any problems in the future but I've done what Martin says, written to them with viewing card number, letter stating my cancellation and sent it recorded delivery (address in County Down) so when should i cancel the direct debit?

Thanks in advance and we need to make more people aware of this.

Ben

MaryA

Well they have a year to sort themselves out before my subscription runs out. We actually did want to subscribe for a year so went online to do it, first three months at half price £6.50 with the remainder of the year at £12.99.

But the offer is also to add a second box onto the package at a free three months, subsequently £2.99 a month.

By the way the set up fee is now £14.99.

Unfortunately our main box doesn't appear to have been activated, so at a cost to phone them up I asked why after 24 hours and they advised me that in booking online I had somehow blocked my Sky Card - now how could I do that I wonder? especially when I spoke with Sky who said that my card couldn't be blocked if I could still receive Sky 1 and Sky Sports channels.

It seems that only one box can receive Setanta Sports - unless anybody knows differently, they do assure me that only one box will be charged for and I will be watching my bank statement carefully to make sure they do too.

Thanks for all the warnings everyone.

Mary

lrr_2

zippygeorgeandben wrote: »

Just to add my 2 penneth (or £12.99 per month in Setantas case).

After getting Martins Newsletter and shocked at the cancellation policy, i have just written a letter cancelling my subscription and set it recorded delivery. I spoke to a guy on the phone who laughed when I told him that 60 day cancellation policy is really poor customer service.

Quick question for all of you, i seem to get billed around the 10th of each month so when do you think I would be in my rights to cancel my direct debit.
Obviously, I don't want my credit to be affected by any problems in the future but I've done what Martin says, written to them with viewing card number, letter stating my cancellation and sent it recorded delivery (address in County Down) so when should i cancel the direct debit?

Thanks in advance and we need to make more people aware of this.

Ben

If you cancel a direct debit online it is usually cancelled right away or overnight

KathyS_2

I was just about to take out a years Setanta subscription for my DH as a birthday present. I'm so glad Martin mentioned this subject in his weekly email or I wouldn't have known about all the problems cancelling subscriptions. Many thanks for saving me from Setanta Hell! Only problem now, what to get him for his birthday instead?!!

Oliver_Cromwell

Oh, Setanta can cancel you immediately if they want to.

I telephoned to say we had recently taken Sky and wanted to change our subscription from a Freeview one to a Sky Multi-room contract. We were told that we could have the new service but would have to write and cancel the old one. I explained that I wouldn't take the new contract without the old one being cancelled and, after a brief pause, was told that it was sorted.

As a supporter of a Conference club I have many friends that have had the trouble with Setanta described above. I've been interested to read the comments of those that have simply cancelled their direct debit. This seems the way forward with this company and certainly the approach I shall take should I ever want to terminate my contract.

Shouldn't there be a simple law that it must be easy to unsubscribe from any organisation as it is to subscribe? If one can subscribe via a website or 'phone call, one should be able to unsubscribe in the same way.

Setanta clearly have ineffective internal communications, as well as customer service that is rotten to the core. Despite me simply switching our subscription, I still get frequent post from them offering me all kinds of enticements to return. Fine: if they want to waste their money in this way...