Warning about Sky broadband

ABYaffle

I rang sky to cancel my phone and broadband last November. I was told that I need do no more as I was moving to talk talk who should notify them at a later date. (I specifically rang to cancel myself as I never trust another company to do it correctly.)

Talk talk installed in December as expected, and I assumed my sky account had been cancelled. This month I noticed that sky have continued taking money out of my Bank every month, so I have asked them for a refund.

Sky say it is impossible to refund me as they kept my account open "in good faith" as they expected talk talk to ask them to close it. They also say that instead of taking over the line, talk talk installed a new line (which is presumably why talk talk didn't contact sky).

I find it incredible that sky are refusing to refund my money even though they acknowledged that I rang them to cancel, and they know that I haven't used any of their services since.

According to sky the matter is now over. Does anybody have any advice on my next step? Apart from discouraging people from joining a company with such appalling customer service.

Dimey

Sky once took money from my bank account for film rental when I hadn't rented any films and could prove I hadn't and they admitted I hadn't.

I took them to the small claims court and won my money back plus expenses. Sky even tried to negotiate with me to pay just half the money the judge had awarded. They are bonkers.

If you have written proof that you cancelled the contract you too could take Sky to the small claims court to get your money back.
But first you should send your evidence to Sky and give them written notice that you want your money back.

ABYaffle

It was a phone call to cancel last November so I didn't have any evidence. Now I have emails from sky acknowledging that I rang to cancel and was told I didn't need to do anything more. I think that will be good evidence. Can't believe they tried to negotiate with you even after the court had given their decision. They seem so arrogant. I'm determined not to let them get away with this behaviour.

Dimey

Arrogant is the word.

The e-mails sound like they'll do the trick.

Just spell it out in a letter to the CEO's office and give them a final chance to settle otherwise you'll have no choice but apply to the County Court Small Claims section for their impartial adjudication.

Give Sky say 2 weeks to pay up by.

If they don't pay then you can apply to small claims online nowadays. Info here including fees and link to forms: - https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money/overview

You will probably find you won't hear a word from Sky. They'll forget to file a defence and they'll only wake up when the judgement is served. But even if they do defend, your case is straightforward...

You cancelled. They acknowledge you cancelled (email evidence). They took money from your bank account without your permission. You want money back plus expenses.

One last thought. Was the money taken via direct debit? If so see if your bank can get it back first.

System

Sky also record many of the calls, is it worth asking them to locate the call and listen to it? This may be possible.

jb66

I dont see how this is skys fault. Talk talk failed to take over the line like normal.

scoobers

If Sky were given notice of cancellation and still left the account active then it's their fault. Why should the OP be left out of pocket?

You can issue a small claims notice at https://www.moneyclaim.gov.uk/web/mcol/welcome
I think it's about £80 but if you succeed you will get the amount back from the respondent.

[Deleted User]

It took the OP ten months to discover that the Sky Direct Debit was still being taken each month?

Dimey

jb66 wrote: »

I dont see how this is skys fault. Talk talk failed to take over the line like normal.

OP said that Talk Talk did take over the line as agreed.

As Scoobers said, the problem is that after cancelling the Sky contract, Sky started to take money from OP's account without his permission.

Certainly OP can't check his bank statement often if he's only just discovered this. Unless it's only recently that Sky started taking the money.

macman

So the OP didn't cancel their DD after the supposed final bill, and didn't check a bank statement in ten months? Yet the fault is entirely Sky's?
The line issue here is because you can't do an LLU Sky to TT transfer (TT don't have the skills to manage this), so they've presumably provisioned a new line instead and then ported the old number to it. Hence it's not a MAC transfer.

peachyprice

I find it incredible that you didn't cancel the direct debit, hey ho.