Sky and their ridiculous customer service!

clb776

So after a long problem my mum has had with her sky account, she informed them she would cancel the direct debit and pay once the bill was received! (was being charged and not refunded for broadband and talk but doesn't have them!) so she never got an 'invoice' (but was charged £4 for this!) anyway...she didn't get it so didn't pay on time so was cut off! Obviously she realised why and called them up and paid it and was told she had to re set up the direct debit (which she did!) this was Friday. It's now late Tuesday and her sky is still not working. Basically there is a technical problem with skys direct debit system and her direct debit cannot be added, therefore it cannot be switched back on. How long does this take? Well according to sky it normally takes up to 72 hours but there is no time scale so it's just a matter of waiting! No idea how long it can take or anything! This has made me so angry! You pay for sky in advance (all paid up until the 16th June! But can't watch it! What a joke!!!!!

visidigi

so she deleted a direct debit and now you complain?

You have to expect a reaction to your action - she got one, and as usual it wasn't a good one.

clb776

She deleted the direct debit and has paid the bill. They cannot turn her sky back on because of a problem their end. She has tried since Friday. Her sky is cut off even after it has been paid. A reaction could be don't pay your sky we will cut it off. Fair enough. Not oh yes, pay it but we can't turn it back on and we don't know how long that will take because there is no timescale. So basically she has to carry on paying for it (it's due to be paid again next week I think) but she can't watch it until they have sorted out their system problem, for which there is no known date for it to begin working again!

yrp01

It is a system problem with sky you wont be charged for the duration(you dont get charged when your account is blocked)

But in sky's eyes the direct debit was removed and payment wasnt recieved by your payment due date so therefor sky can with-hold services the duration it takes for sky to put them on is to theyre discretion as long as they dont charge you for it.(in your eyes it looks like they have but when your bill comes next month you will have a deduction).

So unfortunately you really have no leg to stand on you can complain and call it a failure of customer service but it isnt it is a system issue caused by the fact your bill wasn't paid by your payment due date which cause your account to become blocked.

In my experience that person has sent away a CRF form(customer resolution form) which will have a 3-5 day timescale. If after 7 days it hasnt returned then you can ask a manager to escalate it to a DRE (didn't resolve escalation) and then it should be fixed in 24hrs there is nothing sky customer services can do beyond this.

Also just to set a point sky hates invoice customers if your invoice and pay by some other way than over the phone/net via debit/credit card then there is gonna be a delay example bank giro take 3-5 working days to get to them. If your payment isnt in sky's system by the 00.01am the day after your payment due date sky is very likely to cut you off no matter how good your history is with them as all theyre block orders they do are system automated now with no override even for managers of customer services.

TheBoyandMe

I am sick and tired of being diverted to the overseas call centre.

crunchynuts

TheBoyandMe wrote: »

I am sick and tired of being diverted to the overseas call centre.

Not so sure; sometimes useful - the overseas guy I had cancelled my HD sub as I requested with no awkward questions or charming sales patter to try to get me to stick with it....

baconbuttieman

thats a contradiction in terms, sky customer services lol

McKneff

To be honest, i have been with Sky for nigh on 20 years and I have never had any bad customer service.

Allways excellent, knew exactly what they were talking about, clear, concise information, if they couldnt help tey put me
straight through to someone who did.

Just thought Id get my tuppence worth in.

Cancelling a direct debit is rarely a good idea.

dresdendave

As per the previous poster I have always found Sky customer services helpful on the rare occasion I have needed to contact them. I was once given a £5 credit on my bill without asking for it just because I'd been kept on hold for 15 minutes.

And no, I don't work for them.

yrp01

I do work for sky and basically we are ultimately bound by the system the £5 credit is a discretionary tool we can use for small compensation and i think my manager can give up to £20 but will rarely do so.

The biggest thing with customer services people have to understand that we are bound by our systems and policies as all our moves are audited and checked if not by my manager by his managers.

The one time we were given offers to compensate people but got removed due to overuse.:D

The reasons why we have these problems because our system is shocking so bad in fact we actually sue'd the makers of our system but sky is to cheap to replace it i suppose.