Sky cancellation - does not follow sky's T&c's

Stonker

Our 12 months half price deal ends soon so it will soon be time for us to cancel.

What happens if you cancel in accordance with their T&Cs and stop the DD?

pen1

Hi Stonker,

If you cancel the direct debit at any point before Sky record the cancellation and the notice period ends, then other customers have complained that Sky's system suspends viewing and erases the cancellation notice if it was processed.

Then, that Sky won't process the cancellation until the customer restores the direct debit (or credit/debit card) and pays any outstanding payments; and that they won't backdate the cancellation to the original notice date.

This has been another issue that has been regularly raised on the Sky forum, as Sky's terms & conditions state at 11(a)(iii):

..... If you want to end the Contract for any other reason you may do so at the end of or after the Minimum Term, by giving us at least 31 days notice at any time.

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

Thus, the options available to Sky to manage accounts (e.g. suspending the service) fall short of refusing to accept "31 days notice at any time";however, multiple customers have apparently found themselves in dispute with Sky on this point.

It's one of a list of cancellation issues- another being refusal of early termination rights- that have festered for months, as feedback on Sky's social media outlets seems to have very little influence, in my opinion, on Sky's policies and procedures and them addressing regular issues of complaint.

Stonker

OK but if you cancel your contract in compliance with the T&Cs and cancel the DD, surely you have fulfilled your legal obligation

pen1

Others have cancelled their payment authority, Stonker, after payment for the notice period has been taken by Sky, but have nevertheless found their cancellation erased during the notice period.

The point is that Sky's social media outlets, especially their own forum & Twitter, have been littered by complaints for months of Sky/its agents not complying with the terms & conditions.

From personal experience, I know that you can turnaround the issues if you understand the terms & conditions and persevere with complaints
(and I've personally advised other customers on how to challenge this particular issue), but customers just shouldn't be receiving these experiences from Sky, in my opinion, and the underlying issues need addressing.

davemurgatroyd

pen1 wrote: »

Others have cancelled their payment authority, Stonker, after payment for the notice period has been taken by Sky, but have nevertheless found their cancellation erased during the notice period.

You do not cancel your contract with that initial phone call - you merely give notice of intent to cancel in 31 days and until that day arrives you are still in contract and subject to its Ts & Cs which require a valid payment method to be in place. If you remove that during the notice period you have breached those Ts & Cs and the cancellation notice is voided until it is replaced.

pen1

I agree that you're still in contract during that period, davemurgatroyd, and thus subject to its terms & conditions, and am not advocating that people cancel their payment authorities.

The terms & conditions, however, expressly state what options are open to Sky in the event that the customer breaches the terms & conditions:

11(b) If you break any of the Conditions, or you or anyone you authorise to deal with us on your behalf acts in a way towards our staff or agents which we reasonably consider to be inappropriate, or if we have reasonable grounds to suspect fraud or any other unauthorised activity, we can immediately suspend provision of the Service and/or provision of the satellite television magazine (if applicable), and/or end this Contract by giving you seven days' notice at any time (including during the Minimum Term).

However, what it doesn't say is that in the absence of Sky exercising their right to end the contract by giving seven days' notice to the customer, they can instead deny the customer the right to give notice themselves "at any time".

I would just add, that one of the common reasons that people have cited on the Sky forum for cancelling their payment authorities of late, is that it was a defensive reaction to difficulties exercising cancellation rights in the first instance, thus they decided to protect themselves from payments being taken that didn't reflect the cancellation notices that they had given.

[Deleted User]

pen1 wrote: »

I would just add, that one of the common reasons that people have cited on the Sky forum for cancelling their payment authorities of late, is that it was a defensive reaction to difficulties exercising cancellation rights in the first instance, thus they decided to protect themselves from payments being taken that didn't reflect the cancellation notices that they had given.

I don't think there is any justification for that course of action. It just leads to more problems than it solves.

pen1

It's not an approach I've ever been willing to take, Moneyineptitude, nor would I advise others to do it.

If I have a billing/contractual issue with Sky, I prefer to address it from a position of being within the terms & conditions myself, but I guess there's a limit to how much I'd allow any business to take before exercising direct debit/continuous payment authority rights.

However, in the context of what's been occurring with cancellations and people additionally expressing that complaints have not been addressed either, then I think that it's inevitable that some customers have lost their patience and cut direct debits etc. as a last resort.