Is it possible to get out of a 12 month contract?

SingleMumOf2_3

Sorry if I have posted in completely the wrong area.

I signed up with Sky 2 months ago after switching from Virgin (biggest mistake grr).

I have internet, tv and phone line.. the basics. For the last month my internet has not worked properly and I have missed assignment deadlines and not been able to use it as I should.
I have phoned them over and over and have tried all the "steps" each time they have asked me to try. They promised I would get a new router by friday (just gone).
They have credited my account for 1 months internet to make up for it and keep promising someone will phone me but no one ever does.

I am in desperate need of a steady internet connection with an exam coming up in 4 weeks. I need to access the forums and the resources to be able to revise.

My question is... is it possible to get out of the 12 month contract, due to sky not providing me with the services I have asked for?
Or am I stuck in the contract until the 12 months if up whether they get my internet working or not?
I now wish I had stayed with virgin as I never had any internet problems whilst with them.

I have even borrowed a friends sky router and it does not work at all with their router (I have used the relevant network key etc).

They will not send out someone to check the phoneline until I have tried their new router, but one advisor said its on is way whereas another said it hasnt been dispatched yet.

I desperately need internet! Have tried to find their terms and conditions for cancellation, but am struggling to find it.

Would be ever so grateful of any help anyone can give me. Thanks.

Hammyman

There are some issues with the current Sagem router provided by Sky due to be resolved soon - resolved for the time being by disabling wifi and connecting to the router with a network cable. You couldn't use your friends router because it had the wrong user/pass on for logging onto the ADSL service - the wifi network key is irrelevant as that only logs you onto the router, not the ADSL. You can buy/borrow another non-Sky router and use this site to generate the username and password for logging onto the Sky ADSL network:

https://www.cm9.net/skypass/

SingleMumOf2_3

Sorry only just noticed your reply. I am still waiting for my new router to turn up. But we have tried a friends and it still will not work on theirs either.. so I am doubtful a new router will fix it.
Have been on to them again today. They have credited money on my account and told me to go and buy a dongle (as I was stressing to them the importance of having my internet connection with my upcoming exam in 3 weeks.. and being unable to revise how I should without OU resources).
Anyway.. one of the big managers who has been dealing with it is away until Tuesday.. so they cannot help me before then.

Because they have credited money for the last month I havent had internet... aswell as money to go and buy a dongle for a month.. and have said they will be crediting more for my trouble.. does this mean that I will have no defense in asking to cancel my contract?
If they can fix it in a day.. I will have no issues staying with sky. But realistically this is impossible. I am going getting a dongle later, but know from past experience in the house I live in that coverage is rubbish and disconnects frequently so I will still end up frustrated and will struggle with downloading documents I need.

Really wish I had never gone with them lol. Also.. if they did allow me to cancel my broadband with them.. I am guessing they would not allow me to disconnect ALL services with them? (I have broadband, tv and phone line package).

tomoney

Well your not gettin what you have paid for and they are not keeping to there side of the contract

You need to contact them and express your wis to cancel without penalty due to the lack of internet

macman

If the line, extension wiring or your equipment or wireless set up is at fault, then switching ISP's will make no difference whatsoever.
Have you caried out the standard tests?

SingleMumOf2_3

Well after over a month of no internet they finally sent me TWO new routers after promising it had been despatched over 2 weeks ago.
I have plugged it all in for over 24 hours and so far it is working perfectly.
They credited my account over the weekend with £25 so that I could buy a months worth of a dongle so that I could do my much needed revision.
Which was nice.. because it saved alot of stress. But I still feel quite annoyed that I havent been able to revise properly for the last month all because they were lazy at sending a new router and making me do the same silly list of things to try over and over.
The CEO is calling me back today or tomorrow.. and I do not know whether to express my desire to get out of this contract.. causing more stress then having to set up broadband with someone else.. or to just stick with them?
And maybe just a little bit tempted to ask for a discount for a month or 2 for my troubles.

matti25801

SingleMumOf2 wrote: »

Well after over a month of no internet they finally sent me TWO new routers after promising it had been despatched over 2 weeks ago.
I have plugged it all in for over 24 hours and so far it is working perfectly.
They credited my account over the weekend with £25 so that I could buy a months worth of a dongle so that I could do my much needed revision.
Which was nice.. because it saved alot of stress. But I still feel quite annoyed that I havent been able to revise properly for the last month all because they were lazy at sending a new router and making me do the same silly list of things to try over and over.
The CEO is calling me back today or tomorrow.. and I do not know whether to express my desire to get out of this contract.. causing more stress then having to set up broadband with someone else.. or to just stick with them?
And maybe just a little bit tempted to ask for a discount for a month or 2 for my troubles.

what you want to be mindful of is the new router you would of recieved is the same make and model has the one you had before. the problem with this is the firmware which is actually the same firmware has the first one and the update has not yet been updated. when i spoke to them on friday just gone they told me it would take up to 4weeks for everyone to receive this update.

if your speaking to the ceo you should make a list of things to talk about and have information at hand to back you up. on the sky website they posted an isssue with the sagemcom router on the 6th of may dunno about you but i didnt get told about it until the 17th after ringing up on the 8th 9th 11th 13th 14th 15th and 17th but when i asked the guy he didnt even know about it....

shocking performace from such a large company who taken months to sort a problem out....

p.s the reason why no one ever phoned you back is because you would off been waiting for the tech teir 2 team. they have 1000's of opened cases all for the same thing.

personally if you speak with the ceo i would serious suggest you mention leaving sky broadband he might throw a sweetener out there secially has its a well know fact that an unhappy customer will go away and tell there friends.

if you need a friend through all this feel free to pm ive been tryin to sort mine out for 2 months :P i know how stressed you feel :P

paidinchickens

Don't know if this helps but we can not be tied into a contract as hubby is in the forces and virgin have that on the notes we can leave any time! This served us well when we had a snotty rep that would not sort our issues out and when we said we wanted to leave he said "ha you can't your in a contract" hubby only said I am in the forces and he back tracked very quickly!!! I do not know if that is for everyone in the forces or just for the people that work at this camp. (we live off camp)

macman

paidinchickens wrote: »

Don't know if this helps but we can not be tied into a contract as hubby is in the forces and virgin have that on the notes we can leave any time! This served us well when we had a snotty rep that would not sort our issues out and when we said we wanted to leave he said "ha you can't your in a contract" hubby only said I am in the forces and he back tracked very quickly!!! I do not know if that is for everyone in the forces or just for the people that work at this camp. (we live off camp)

You can be tied in, being in the forces does not exclude you from standard contract law. However VM may well have decided (as might other ISP's) that they will waive the normal minimum term contract in such cases, because of the potential bad PR that might otherwise result.
But they're certainly under no obligation to do so.

Hammyman

SingleMumOf2 wrote: »

Sorry only just noticed your reply. I am still waiting for my new router to turn up. But we have tried a friends and it still will not work on theirs either.. so I am doubtful a new router will fix it.

Unless you've generated the broadband username and password from the link I gave you and entered it into your friends router then your friends router won't work on your line even if its a Sky one and they are on Sky.

You cannot just put any random login details to a router on a ADSL line even if its from the same company. Each ADSL connection has a uniqie identifier and a specific username and password is assigned to that identifier. It isn't like the old dialup days where any user/pass for that ISP would work.