Switching from Virgin to Sky - confused...

BB1984

Hello,

Hope someone can shed light on my confusion...!

A couple of weeks ago, my OH agreed to switch from virgin to sky+ when visited by a pair of "Skywalkers". I was perfectly happy with Virgin, but he really wanted Sky+ so I went along with it......on the basis that it would all be easy and we wouldn't have any stress switching over! (by the way it's tv, phone and broadband)

OH signed the paperwork there and then, and spoke to someone on the phone to confirm he agreed with everything. An installer came to fit the dish and box last weekend, so now we can watch the sky tv, but as the skywalkers had told us, the phone and broadband wouldn't work until a BT man had come to sort out the phone line. Fine.

According to the Skywalkers, they would sort out everything with Virgin, we wouldn't have to do a thing.

However, we hadn't had a letter or anything from Virgin referring to us leaving - I was expecting a final statement/bill. And most of all, I was concerned that we'd end up paying for both virgin and sky! So today, OH phoned Sky, and the guy he spoke to said that what the Skywalkers told us didn't sound right - apparently it's not normal for them to cancel Virgin for us. He put a note on our file saying that if we ended up paying for both, we would get our account credited from sky for what we paid to virgin...not sure whether to believe that will happen...!

OH then phoned Virgin, who had no idea whatsoever that we were leaving them - all they knew about was that we had cancelled our phone account! Apparently we pay for Virgin a month ahead, so basically we will have to pay for November and December before it's actually cancelled, and they'll come and pick up the Virgin box at the beginning of December.

Our phone and broadband should be installed on monday...I'll go mad if we have any problems with that as I need broadband to work from home.

Basically, can anyone tell me if what I've said above is normal and anything to be concerned about? I'm really annoyed with Sky for lying about how "simple" the switch was going to be, worried that we're going to end up out of pocket, and I'm trying my hardest not to take it out on my OH because it was him that wanted the damn thing in the first place!

Thanks,

BB

spike7451

The 'skywalkers' as you put them do not work for Sky.They work for a marketing company & get paid on commision only so it is in their interests to get you to sign up.The company IIRC Topaz Promotions & I went for an interview with them just over a year ago & spent a half day out with a salesman.They know absolutly sweet FA about Sky apart from their sales literature.
As for arranging your switch from VM to Sky,all they do is send the paperwork you signed off to Sky.They don't arrange anything for the customer as,well,they don't get paid for it.They (as I was told) £40 a sale.
I have a friend who works for Sky selling Sky in a local shopping center & he told me a few dodgy things about these so-called salesmen.
PS,I did'nt get the job thankfully..

macman

If you are on VM cable then it runs on it's own network, nothing to do with BT's ADSL network. Therefore there is no 'swap' of phone service, BT simply installs it's own line, which can co-exist with a cable service.
As mentioned above, the doorsteppers are purely interested in getting your signature and their comm, they'll tell you whatever you want to hear. Much better to sign up online to get the cheapest deals and any cashbacks.
Are you sure that you are not still in contract with VM? Remember that any tariff/package change in the last 12m will have put you onto a new contract.
PS: you don't need to take a Sky sub out just to get Sky+ facilities.