Appalling Sky Service and Inability to reinstate service - help

Sulli

Due to problems with Sky's service, the fact you can't (easily) use a better router etc, we decided to cancel sky a couple of weeks ago.

As we have an impending wedding, and on further enquiry with sky regarding retention of our email address or email forwarding and them saying that neither is possible, and them offering a discount on services (not much), we decided to forego the cancellation and accept their offer, at least until after the wedding etc.

I contacted Sky and after being passed from pillar to post, was passed to retentions and they applied the discount and reinstated all services. The person I spoke to said he did the TV but would speak to the talk side for them to do it. After getting cutr off from them a couple of times, I called back and someone else in retentions said she saw all ntoes on account from previous call and all services should be reinstated.

I followed this up with an email, just to be sure, as follows:

"I have just spoken to several people at Sky, and Kevin in the reinstates dept. has reinstated all accounts and applied a 25% discount to them for the next 6 months.

He did state that he needed to speak to Sky Talk, but then transferred me to Sales for some reason, so I again had to call and speak to Sky Talk. I got through to Cancellations and they went to check all was reinstated with Sky Talk (she did state that Kevin had noted that all accounts now reinstated), but I again got cut off - that is 5 people and an hour on the phone today to simply reinstate my account!

Please could you confirm that all reinstatements have gone through OK and that all services will remain as was? I am anxious that this is the case and we are getting married in just over a month and with all booking etc it is essential we have all communication working. "

Only to have received an email back this morning saying:

"Thank you for your email about the reinstatement of skytalk and broadband. The cancellation for these services were applied on 2/1/2010 and we cannot stop this process.
I hope this information has helped with your enquiry. If you require any further assistance, you can respond to my email. You can also contact our customer services team on 08442 414141 , where one of our advisors will be happy to help ."


I have responded complaining about this, and the completely inadequate response - I hope this has helped????? What planet are they on?


I would appreciate any advice as Sky are cr*p, but I need the service up and running at least until we are in a position to cancel it properly.


One reason I am not going through changing providers is that Talk Talk told me there is a tag on the line and they will charge me for receonnection, and there will also be at least a weeks downtime. BT told me different and just said Sky can cancel the cancellation and provide me with a MAC code, ut according to the email above they can't cancel it - are Sky messing me about?

penrhyn

When you cancel Sky broadband you are able to keep your @sky.com email address for life. It provided by Google so no skin off Sky's corporate nose.
If you have been told otherwise you were misinformed.
From the Sky Website:-
http://www.sky.com/services/email/emailforlife/
Life Email -
Sky Email is for your life...

Some email accounts are linked to other products. So if you cancel your subscription, you may automatically lose access to your email.
That means, not only will you not be able to send or receive emails, but you won't be able to access any stored emails or keep in contact with friends or family.

Sky Email equals life email. If you cancel your subscription to Sky Broadband or Sky TV you will still be able to keep your Sky Email address. Life email guaranteed.
As long as you continue to use the account, we'll keep it active. It's that simple.
Email at the heart of the family

If you're a Sky account holder you can create up to 10 email addresses. So, you can give each member of your family their own personal Sky Email address. As Sky email is webmail (an email account accessed via the web) your family can keep in touch no matter where they are.
If your children move out, go off travelling, or start university you can keep in contact - even if the phone calls stop - with Sky Email.






If Sky started to process your cancellation of all services on the 2/1 and you have only just asked fro them to be reinstated then that reinstatement would form a new contract i.e another 12 months.

Sulli

Thanks for that, dead helpful, I have just emailed them.
They really are a bunch of f***wits, just irritating how reliant you get on certain things that cancelling is such a ballache!

syko29793

I would also advise you to check how SKY were providing your services.
I dont know if you are aware of the different ways lines are provided (pstn/llu etc) But if you are on a fully unbundled sky line and you cease your service without first arranging a new account with a new service provider then you will have to pay your new supplier for a new connection and you will lose your number.
To check if your on a full LLU with SKY put your number here in this link
http://www.dslchecker.bt.com/adsl/adslchecker.welcome

If its SKY LLU it will say broadband is unavailable or number not recognised.

This may explain why you have conflicting info from BT and Talk Talk. you need a return to donor order to transfer to a new provider

Jemma-T

Sulli wrote:

Due to problems with Sky's service...

Leave!

See who else can provide services https://www.samknows.com/broadband/search.php

Sulli

This gets worse - sky state the cancellation cannot be retracted on their system and they are also unable to provide a mac code due to this. I have spoken to a manager in the complaints management team, and she agrees that I have been given incorrect advice, poor service etc, but once it's cancelled and gets onto their Penfold system (*?) there is no way to retract it. That means that it has to run it's course and once line is off I have to go through process with a new provider to get it live again, hence losing my phone number and having some length of downtime!
I said that their system appeared to contravene the OFCOM regs in terms of provision of a MAC code, but also the physical act of someone switching the line off in just over a week could be stopped, it was just their system, which they control, that they can't. They are looking at this, and to be fair the manager did empathise and was sorry, but sorry doesn't sort out lack of line/broadband.
The good news is, yes, I do keep the email address, as per email for life link above - although why 5+ sky staff, including responses on email advised different, is beyond me.
As for leaving sky, yes that's the way to go, they are poor when you either want to leave or there is a problem - OK they are cheap and OK when no issues, but I would prefer a company whose main objective is to resolve complaints to my satisfaction.
I am waiting for a call back, and then will have to speak to BT and see how long they will take to get my line back up after it gets turned off, as well as sorting out a wireless dongle to cover the downtime.
Thanks for all help - Jeremy Daroch's direct line would help - tried a few but just managed to get through to their head office! I want to shout at him ;o)

spike7451

IIRC back to when I worked for Sky BBand,Penfold is the provisioning system used by Sky & what you were told is correct.

Sulli

Not surprisingly, the Manager in the Complaints Management Team who promised to call me back yesterday, did not!
Still up in the air - anyone thinking of joining Sky - don't!

penrhyn

Maybe Danger Mouse could sort it out.:D

Sulli

As an update on this, I have been pursuing a resolution via Sky as we have wedding invites etc printed with our current phone number on, and we are now advised we will lose our phone number. This was never advised, and we were never offered, and have now been refused, a MAC code, which would mean we could retain it.
After looking on Sky's website and their failure to adhere to their customer charter I contacted OTELO, who advised on pursuing Sky via the [EMAIL="mysky@bskyb.com"]mysky@bskyb.com[/EMAIL] email address - which means it is registered as a formal escalated complaint. I have done this, and again they haven't even acknowledged it within 48 hrs, never mind respond to my complaint as their charter specifically states.
Any suggestions as to how to escalate this or to even get them to respond to me would be appreciated - If Martin was on TV today I would be phoning up to ask his help!

penrhyn

Sky applied the cancellation of you services on the 2nd of January.
Are you still in receipt of broadband TV and Telephone or has this now all ceased?