O2 Be customer moved to Sky

alstemp

Hi all

As part of the Sky buyout of Be Broadband, I have just had confirmation through from Sky to confirm that my account has now moved and I am a Sky customer. However I was shocked beyond belief to see in a "confirmation of payment details" letter, cost breakdown as follows:

Supplement for not having Sky Talk £5.00
Supplement for not having Sky TV £2.50

Effectively - because I have not selected to have Sky Talk or Sky TV, which is my choice and my perogative, I am being charged/penalised!!!

When I called Sky to challenge this and ask them to remove the charge or else I would close my account, of course, they said there was nothing they could do. I used the analogy of when I was with BE/O2, it would have been like them saying becuase I didn't have my mobile phone account with O2, I would have to pay a supplement!!!

No resolution with Sky, despite saying I woud close my acccount - obviously customer satisfaction, especially with a new customer, is not that important to them.

However the faff of having to cancel my broadband is annoying.

So I was just wondering, before I cancel my Sky broadband account and have to search for the new best broadband deal, get new router, wait to have that delivered, set it all up, blah, blah, if anyone has been successful in challenging Sky on these non TV & phone supplements??

and also - opininons on best broadband provider to go with these days. Always had a great service with Be and frustrated it has had to come to an end and not by choice.

Thanks all for feedback

jem16

alstemp wrote: »

When I called Sky to challenge this and ask them to remove the charge or else I would close my account, of course, they said there was nothing they could do. I used the analogy of when I was with BE/O2, it would have been like them saying becuase I didn't have my mobile phone account with O2, I would have to pay a supplement!!!

That's exactly what O2 did but they called it a discount. You got £5pm off for also having an O2 mobile.

Sky is just the same - think of it as the proper price is £15pm for BB with a £5pm discount if you have Sky Line Rental and a £2.50 discount if you also have Sky TV. O2's price was £14.50pm for me and £5pm discount if I had an O2 mobile making it £9.50pm. Sky's offer to me was a year's free BB and £5pm supplement for not having Sky Line rental so £5pm which was cheaper than O2.

No resolution with Sky, despite saying I woud close my acccount - obviously customer satisfaction, especially with a new customer, is not that important to them.

They're giving you a year's free BB and then adding the supplements on for not having other Sky products. Pretty much the same as every other provider - the more you have, the cheaper it is.

So I was just wondering, before I cancel my Sky broadband account and have to search for the new best broadband deal, get new router, wait to have that delivered, set it all up, blah, blah, if anyone has been successful in challenging Sky on these non TV & phone supplements??

You can negotiate a deal with them if you're prepared to take on a 12 month contract. Otherwise you've not a hope.

Nada666

I don't understand. Why would you want to challenge Sky? If you think it objectionable why were you with O2? Your outrage makes absolutely zero sense. Did you wage a campaign against O2 last year?

I am no fan of bundled pricing - but I cannot see why you think paying an extra £5 to O2 is acceptable but paying Sky is not. What on earth are you 'shocked beyond belief' about?

jai1998

I am puzzled by what the issue is here.

I also have been moved to SKY. I was on a discounted O2 tariff which brought my broadband bill down to £13 per month.

I was puzzled by all the items on the bill that SKY had sent with the charges for not having certain SKY services, but when I wrote them all out in the correct date order, my total for each month still came to £13.

No matter how they add charges to make up the amount, I am not paying a penny more than O2 had been charging me.

brewerdave

...if you had taken the opportunity to jump before you were pushed you COULD have negotiated a deal like my daughter got - a year's free b/band and a £200 credit to her O2 mobile bill!!!!:T
EDIT -and no surcharges even tho' she has a BT phoneline and no SKY TV!

alstemp

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I have to say I did not realise that O2 did something similar when they originally bought BE or that these supplements are commonplace (am not clued up on how these providers work).

But as previous posters added - so long as the monthly cost is the same as it was with O2/Be there isn't really an issue. And that monthly cost seems to be the same and cancellation no longer necessary.

Thanks again for clarification and the benefit of your experiences, most useful and one I will definitely remember.