Ripped Off by Sky?

MickRainbow

On the 9th of December I transferred my broadband and TV from Sky to Virgin. A couple of weeks earlier I received a letter from Virgin which I had to complete and send off to Sky telling them I was changing provider. I was told this would all be taken care of, and the transfer would take place seamlessly on the day.
A couple of days ago I noticed Sky were still taking money from my account. I contacted them and was told my account had not been cancelled as I had to do this by phone, not letter. Now my understanding was that Virgin would do all this using a MAC code. When I asked them about this they told me I did not need one, they would take care of it.
So, the upshot was I still had to pay Sky for the last 5 weeks. Plus I had to give 31 days notice. So that's 9 and a 1/2 weeks for a service I have not received. Does any one know if I can do anything about this? Thanks

peachyprice

So did you personally never cancel Sky, just left it to Virgin?

If this is the case I don't blame Sky for not taking a competitors word that you were cancelling.

neilmcl

You only require a MAC code for providers that provide broadband via the phoneline. Virgin is cable broadband (generally) therefore no MAC is needed and you need to cancel with Sky yourself, following their terms. You haven't been ripped off by Sky, just given poor advice from Virgin.

Hintza

We changed to Sky this year and they dealt with both BT and Talktalk, it all went through seamlessly. But I was a tad twitchy about it and cancelled DD after the last bill, just in case.

susancs

The account holder has to phone Sky to cancel with a 31 day notice period. I tried to cancel by email but was told I had to ring and complete the security questions asked to give notice. When I queried this I was told they had previously had incidents with ex partners who bore grudges cancelling via email and by letter and the account holder knew nothing about it.

beeg0d

susancs wrote: »

When I queried this I was told they had previously had incidents with ex partners who bore grudges cancelling via email and by letter and the account holder knew nothing about it.

Which of cause is a load of rubbish, the real reason for the requirement to phone is so the retentions team can try to retain you.

MickRainbow

Seems like I mucked up and don't have a leg to stand on then.

keyser666

exactly that

Truepat

MickRainbow wrote: »

Seems like I mucked up and don't have a leg to stand on then.

Not a case of mucked up, just a case of a small misunderstanding that adds to the rich tapestry we call life

susancs

beeg0d wrote: »

Which of cause is a load of rubbish, the real reason for the requirement to phone is so the retentions team can try to retain you.

Lol, totally agree, but told them at start of call I was irritated at having to ring instead of them accepting the 31 day cancellation from the email linked to my sky account and they must not waste my time with offers etc to save the account.