Sky CLI Charges

Gavin1983

Hi There to you all.

Im a new Poster so please go easy on me!!

My normal monthly SKY Bill should be £101 per Month (Sky Top Package, HD, Multi-Room, Phone and Broadband), but when I have looked at my Last Months Bank statement I see that for some reason the Direct Debit took £155 from my account. When I phoned Sky on Friday 23rd March, a Sky Customer Service Advisor informed me to his sheer Shock that a CLI charge had been placed on my account since April 2011!!.

When I looked through my Natwest Bank Statements, I had in fact been charged around £50 extra EVERY month on top of my £101 Subscription since April 2011 until March 2012!

When I spoke to Sky on Friday 23rd March, they informed me that 3 Letters had apparently been sent to my Home Address, as there was a problem with my Multiroom. This is absolutely false as I have never received a Letter from Sky Highlighting any Problem. If I was aware there was a problem I would have contacted Sky Immediately, because there is no way I am in a situation to pay £50 per month Extra for the Service I’m already receiving!

Sky sent an Engineer to my House who verbally confirmed to myself and Sky Call Center, that the Original Installation had been Installed Wrong and no cable was Installed from the Sky Box to the Phone Point in my Bedroom by the Original Engineer.

I have sent SKY a letter by Recorded delivery asking for 600 GBP of Charges refunded Imediatley. They Declined the full amount over the Phone, but they said they would offer 2 Payments as a good will Gesture.

Have I got a case for a full Refund and is it worth Persuing through the Small Claims Court.

Many Thanks

Gavin

Kurtis_Blue

Yes, take them to county court using money claim online, as the work they carried out was incorrect leading to your losses.

Cant be sure how it would turn out but only cost you £30ish to try, fairly sure they will settle as soon as they get the claim, they cant afford the chance of loosing and possibly setting a precedence.
Might even be fun.

SkyMan

Hi, I would be interested to know how you got on with getting your refund?

I work for sky customer services and deal with customers with CLI charges on a regular basis. As far as I am aware, under no circumstances do you get the refund. We always offer 2 months worth of the charges once the problem is resolved.

I don't necessarily agree with the charges, but by using the sky service you agree to the terms that sky impose. Although it is not your FAULT that the phone lines were not connected, it is still your responsibility as the account holder. Sky expect a callback from each of your boxes each month. They will send a letter 33 days after a callback is missed to let you know that there is a problem, then again 33 days after that, and one more after a further 33 days (the 99th day is when they will start charging you the full price for the second box).

All of these letters are stored electronically on your account, and is available to view for an advisor, who can also re-issue the letter to you (an exact copy of the original).

I've had several customers who have told me that they would be contacting customer relations to get a full refund, and when I check back on their account after a couple of weeks - I can see a copy of the letter they have sent in, and a copy of the reply. And the reply has always been a copy of the terms and conditions with a refusal of a refund.

I personally don't know how people can go for months, even years with anywhere from an extra £10 to an extra £42.75 being taken from their account PER EXTRA BOX per month. I would notice if 50p was taken from my account. I always assume that if £1000s can be taken from your account before you notice, then you don't miss the money. Just a personal opinion mind you.

But yeah, I'd like to know how you got on, if you find the time.

Thanks

saynotofastway

If you have Sky Anytime+ which has a permanent connection to your sky broadband connection do you need a phone line still attached as surely it can "call sky" over Ethernet? Personally in my last 12 months contract with Sky I never had a phone line attached once the engineer left up until the contract ended and I never got charged and same goes with current contract started last year.

SkyMan

If you have anytime+ you must still have your box connected to the telephone line for callbacks. All boxes must be connected to the same telephone line in order for them to see that the boxes are in the same household. This is only strictly enforced if you have multiroom.

Sky expect a callback from each of your boxes once per month, when you miss a callback it is known as being in "violation". Sky do not check every box every month for violation, they check one postcode at a time which means you could go for months - even years before sky contact you about the problem or apply any extra charges. This is simply because they don't have the resources to keep on top of 10 million customers each month.

I have worked for sky for 2 years, and I also must keep my boxes connected to the phone line otherwise I will be charged the full price for any additional charges, even though I get my subscription for free.

Since day 1 I have had not had my boxes connected, as I don't like wires trailing around the house. I have had a warning letter from sky about the problem - I simply connected a phone line to the boxes and did a callback once per month for 2 months, and I haven't been contacted since.

If you only have a single box, sky do not enforce the phone line rule at all.

saynotofastway

I have never had multi room so I guess that's why i've never been stung with these charges. Regardless i'll be leaving at 12 months anyway unless they give me what i'm getting now (1/2 price Sky HD £17.62 a month + phone line + unlimited bb)

spike7451

saynotofastway wrote: »

If you have Sky Anytime+ which has a permanent connection to your sky broadband connection do you need a phone line still attached as surely it can "call sky" over Ethernet? Personally in my last 12 months contract with Sky I never had a phone line attached once the engineer left up until the contract ended and I never got charged and same goes with current contract started last year.

Yes you do,at the moment the box making calls over ethernet is not possible due to the software/hardware in the Sky boxes.

davemurgatroyd

SkyMan wrote: »

If you have anytime+ you must still have your box connected to the telephone line for callbacks. All boxes must be connected to the same telephone line in order for them to see that the boxes are in the same household. This is only strictly enforced if you have multiroom.

Sky expect a callback from each of your boxes once per month, when you miss a callback it is known as being in "violation". Sky do not check every box every month for violation, they check one postcode at a time which means you could go for months - even years before sky contact you about the problem or apply any extra charges. This is simply because they don't have the resources to keep on top of 10 million customers each month.

I have worked for sky for 2 years, and I also must keep my boxes connected to the phone line otherwise I will be charged the full price for any additional charges, even though I get my subscription for free.

Since day 1 I have had not had my boxes connected, as I don't like wires trailing around the house. I have had a warning letter from sky about the problem - I simply connected a phone line to the boxes and did a callback once per month for 2 months, and I haven't been contacted since.

If you only have a single box, sky do not enforce the phone line rule at all.

Unless Sky have changed their system in a major way then that may not work for much longer. A "forced callback" and the "automatic call home" connect to different servers on different freephone numbers (which can be proved by looking at a phone bill with a detailed listing of phone numbers dialled) and the checks are run on the "automatic" server. This system was setup to avoid fraudulent use of multiroom boxes at different addresses and returning the box to its "home address" once a month to make a forced call back. The "correct" solution to not wantind trailing phone cables is to fit a DECT wireless phone extension.

SkyMan

Wether an installer initiated callback is performed, or it's an automatic callback, it will still clear the violation.
This is why sky puts the instructions on the back of the violation letter so the customer can initiate their own callback to clear the violation.

Sky can see the difference between an automatic monthly callback, and an installer initialised callback but both will clear the CLI violation.

We also talk customers through the callback procedure if they phone regarding the letter, or they have trouble doing it themselves.

prowla

The requirement to be connected only applies to the 1st year of service, right?

socmwils23

If you take multi room then it must always be connected to a phone line. Its to stop people sub renting the multi room box to friends/family allowing a cheaper subscription.