Leaving Sky - issues

wilf3uk

Hi all

Bit of background information here - I had Sky tv and broadband in my name, but my ex took over paying the bill. I split with her over a year ago and she continued to pay the direct debit.

When she moved house she tried cancelling the sky, but as she wasn't the account holder they wouldn't allow it. I changed my details online to reflect her as the new account holder, but again they said it had to be me who cancelled it.
I rang up and was told that if she cancelled the DD, they would take that as we wanted to cancel our packages and they would send a final bill over. This is exactly what we did.
To air on the safe side, I also emailed to say that I wished to cancel my package. I got an email back saying that I needed to ring as I had missed the account password from the previous email. I rang up and was conveniently cut off (after a 20 minute wait) the moment that I said I wanted to cancel.
I emailed back, this time providing the password. A few days later I received a reply stating that the services were cancelled and indicating that there was no fee due. This suprised me slightly, as I was expecting to have to pay for the current month, so I messaged my ex to see if she had paid off the remainder. She hadn't.
I then logged onto my online banking and saw that a charge of £72 had been taken out of my bank account - my ex had been paying the sky for over 13 months, so this came as a total shock.

Are they even allowed to just use my bank details again after such a long period of that bank account not being used? Luckily for me there was money in the account to cover the bill, but thats not the issue.
I sent a complaint to sky informing them to refund me the balance that they had taken from me. My email stated that I did not give permission for this money to be used. It also stated that my ex would ring up to pay the balance once I had been refunded(which she would have). Low and behold, no refund arrived, nor did a reply to that email.

Well, that was exactly a month ago and I'd brushed everything aside. My ex has said that she will give me the money at some point, so all was fine......until I checked my online banking today and saw that I had been charged £19 today :mad:

They obviously have started me up on another direct debit! I've emailed to complain and requested a refund. Part of my complaint email included their email stating that my services were cancelled and that no further balance is due.
I have requested that they send me confirmation that my account is cancelled and also that they remove my bank details from their system, as they are acting too reckless to hold such information.

Does anyone know if they are allowed to just take money like this without warning?
Are they acting in accordance with the law?
Should they have stored my bank details?

Any help would be appreciated, as I get the feeling that this is not going to be solved quickly, or efficiently

HappyMJ

If there is a transaction on your statement that you did not authorize you mst speak with your bank. They can reverse the transaction. They can't take the money without warning...acting in accordance with the law...probably not but it's not criminal it's civil so it doesn't really matter. Should they store your bank details..no.

The easiest way to get this resolved is to talk to your bank.

[Deleted User]

I'd check with your ex that she didn't order any pay-per-views in her last month as a Sky customer. Unfortunately, you are still liable for any unpaid bills as you remain the account holder despite her paying the bill for how ever long.
You should have cancelled Sky when you left and formally transferred the account to your ex.
By the way, how did your ex pay the bill after your split? Was this by a new direct debit or simply by paying it with a credit/debit card or cheque?

wilf3uk

My ex paid by direct debit. We rang sky, added her to the account and changed the payment to her debit card.

She didn't use any pay-per-view - I can still view the bills online. Sky have just continued charging whatever they feel like

The issue isn't so much about who should have paid the sky - its more to do with skys poor cancellation procedures, which have left me still paying for a service that I cancelled (in accordance with their t&cs) in June.

The sky forums are filled with people having a similar problem. Emails are always replied to with a generic reply stating that important information was missing, so you need to ring up to cancel. This, despite following the 'email cancellation' instructions precisely.

Heinz

Just like GPs with 0844 numbers, Sky make money hand over fist with theirs (unless callers have their line rental).

That's why they insist you phone despite that being outwith the requirements of their T&Cs.

I recommend 020 7126 7020 as a cheaper alternative.

pen1

wilf3uk wrote: »

.... The issue isn't so much about who should have paid the sky - its more to do with skys poor cancellation procedures, which have left me still paying for a service that I cancelled (in accordance with their t&cs) in June.

The sky forums are filled with people having a similar problem. Emails are always replied to with a generic reply stating that important information was missing, so you need to ring up to cancel. This, despite following the 'email cancellation' instructions precisely.

As I experienced myself recently- being well aware of what Sky's terms & conditions state and how they respond if you choose one of the cancellation options other than ringing their Cancellations/Retentions Team- the "missing information" is something other than what is specified in the terms & conditions.

Therefore if you choose "one of the following" per the terms & conditions, but you didn't choose telephone, Sky then demand that you speak to them on the phone.

Customers have also complained that staff wouldn't then backdate the notice period to its original point of receipt and/or that staff claimed that telephone is the only valid method of cancellation- in contradiction of the terms & conditions.

Personally, I challenged Sky's right to telephone contact after I chose an alternative method of cancelling one of my services, and Sky then cancelled it without the need for any further information that I hadn't included in the original message sent via sky.com.

As you indicate, the Sky forums "are filled with people having a similar problem" (a range of issues where the common theme is "cancellations"); therefore, I think it's important to note complaints procedures:

Sky Customer Complaints Code of Practice

The Code of Practice gives Sky a maximum of 8 weeks to resolve a complaint, before the customer can complain to an ombudsman.

If you subsequently need to complain to the ombudsman, then the service is free to consumers- a regulatory requirement. The service providers are charged a fee irrespective of outcome if the ombudsman accepts a case for investigation, thus encouraging the provider to seek to resolve complaints in-house within 8 weeks.

http://help.sky.com/my-account/make-a-complaint/sky-customer-complaints-code-of-practice

Ofcom

The regulator, Ofcom, monitor consumer experiences for phones, internet & pay-tv, and provide an online monitoring form ("Tell Ofcom") for the submission of feedback.

Note, that this is for feedback to help them identify industry concerns and that they don't investigate individual complaints.
http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/tell-us/telecoms/customer-services/

Sky TV Terms & Conditions (UK):

.... you must do one of the following:
1. Call us on 08442 414 414; or
2. Write to us at: Sky Subscribers Services Limited, PO Box 43, Livingston, West Lothian EH54 7DD.
3. Fax us on: 01506 484343
4. Send us an email by visiting the "Contact Us" section at sky.com
• You must give your name, address, post code and customer number when you are cancelling any product or service you have ordered from Sky.

http://www.sky.com/shop/terms-conditions/tv

pen1

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

.... You should have cancelled Sky when you left and formally transferred the account to your ex. ....

This is where some problems occur, because Sky won't transfer accounts from one person to another (the only exception to this I'm aware of, is in some instances where the named account-holder passes away).

Therefore, to avoid issues such as break in telephone/broadband service or the named account-holder being subject to early termination charges because they're within a minimum term, it's not unusual to see examples on the Sky forum, where accounts have "drifted on" with the remaining resident, for example, meeting the payments but not being the account-holder.