£75 'No Commitments' Package from Sky Plus free Ipod/Payg Mobile/Phones/Hi-fi

cerihjones

We took advantage of the offer for elderly mother in law and got it installed very quickly. When I phoned up on her behalf to arrange installation the chap in scotland intially asked for Direct Debit details. When we said no we would opt for the cancellation clause, he went on to say that there was no need for the Direct Debit unless she wanted films or sports premium services etc.

On Monday she got an Oops letter. I phoned up on her behalf and spoke to a lady in the Yorkshire call centre. She said initialy that sky dont do six month contracts. I explained that I had the letter from them saying that it was for six months not twelve. She said that a note would be made of it and we probably wouldn't be cut off.

Today sky cut off the service. I phoned up luchtime and got through quickly to the 0800 number. I was told intially that unless we signed a twelve month contract and Direct Debit we would not be reconnected. The Scottish lady told me sky dont do 6 month contracts and I need to get hold of the company I bought the system from. She tried to convince me that the deal was 6 months free and pay for six months. I again pointed out the contents of the letter that sky sent me, she said that she had read it on her computer screen as she was talking to me and it didnt say that. After some persuasion she let me read my sky letter to her including the part that says minimum contract term for this offer is six months and they will contact us nearer the time to see if we wish to continue the service at the end of the six months. The bottom line seems to be the fact it was a SKY PACK DEAL which apparetly their computer system isnt geared up to deal with.

Through being polite but firm, I managed to get through two more levels of supervisors and sky was turned back on. I was told that the only reason they want the Direct Debit is to claim payment if any premium service is used, as apparrently there is an additional fee if you use a premium service without being signed up for Direct Debit, plus of course going to the trouble of billing customers for the use of the premium service and getting the payment for it.

There is obviously a problem and lack of communication regarding this offer. I dont know what good it will do, but I am going to give Dixons customer service team a ring in the morning to tell them about the problems associated with the product.

dipper833

As regards the Sky/Dixons Digital TV deal I first contacted Sky, who'd failed to respond to the email enquiry I sent them last weekend, and asked their Customer Support department to confirm the terms & conditions of the deal. This was done and I was then asked to phone another number in order to arrange for installation. I was then told that I was ineligible (as I had cancelled my Sky service within the last 12 months) and passed onto someone else - only to be then told that the deal did not exist & that I had been misinformed. I've never encountered such a crappy unco-ordinated outfit in my life and I didn't proceed any further with the matter.

deanos

Folks the Direct Debit will be needed because you can order any films from the box office or the naughty channels as you will have to pay for those.

harz99

dipper833 wrote: »

As regards the Sky/Dixons Digital TV deal I first contacted Sky, who'd failed to respond to the email enquiry I sent them last weekend, and asked their Customer Support department to confirm the terms & conditions of the deal. This was done and I was then asked to phone another number in order to arrange for installation. I was then told that I was ineligible (as I had cancelled my Sky service within the last 12 months) and passed onto someone else - only to be then told that the deal did not exist & that I had been misinformed. I've never encountered such a crappy unco-ordinated outfit in my life and I didn't proceed any further with the matter.

Use your wife, husband, girlfriend, boyfriend, partner living at the same address, if they have not been a Sky customer, and order via Dixon's website.

I agree with your views of Sky, but many other organisations (BT for instance) are as bad or worse. It's a sign of the times I'm afraid. Most of the time, with a bit of thought you can work round the restrictions.

harz99

deanos wrote: »

Folks the Direct Debit will be needed because you can order any films from the box office or the naughty channels as you will have to pay for those.

And if you do not want any more than the basic deal, they do not need your DD. So it should be an opt in by the customer, not a harvest by Sky for their own benefit (they hope you will forget to cancel the mandate, then they will leave your extra packs on and charge you until you wake up).

harz99

*zippy* wrote: »

We had the oops letters today too and our 2 free sky packages cut off as they say we didn't send the contract and DD mandate back, we too never received these. Useless on the phone and OH got very frustrated with them, just waiting to see if they turn it back on now, they say they are sending the forms back out and we have 14 days to complete them.

Interestingly, we have, despite receiving an "Oops" lettter as described in an earlier post, NOT had the extra two packs cut off after 20 days so far.

I wonder, those that have been cut off - did you buy your packs at a Dixon/Curry's shop and do the paperwork there or buy via the net and phone the special number direct yourself, which is what we did - is there a common thread to lay the blame at?

harz99

steverobbo wrote: »

It does seem that the only people who know a thing about the terms and conditions of this offer are the team on 08700 240 777.

I spent nearly an hour on the phone to the general customer services number trying to get an answer as to why I needed to complete a dd mandate. When I called the number above, they said they knew everything about the offer and 'the system' could not cope with a product that has no direct debit details.

It is a shame I've had to spend so much money on phone calls to get this far, but it does appear the only way to get an answer is to call the number that was included in the original registration pack. Either way, they couldn't guarantee I wouldn't lose the channels again as they said it was a known issue (shame it was know known by their own staff).

The system can cope as "Freesat from Sky" is precisely such a product. Also with Freesat I have been given free access to all movie channels for a month in the past to try and entice me to subscribe, again without a DD!

So more b******s from Sky's salesforce.

steverobbo

harz99 wrote: »

The system can cope as "Freesat from Sky" is precisely such a product.

I really don't know. I was hoping Sky could give me an explaination for the channels being blocked, which I felt I had already subscribed to.

If Sky are offering this deal to get new customers, the first impression of the company is that they can't be trusted and the product is not as simple as it should be.

mo1960

I received two of the letters yesterday and phoned Sky customer services and was told if I don't fill in one of the DD forms my channels will be blocked.
When I refused to give the woman DD info and requested the head office address so I could write and complain, the she was quite shocked and couldn't understand why I was annoyed.
I then phoned 08700 240 777 and the lad I spoke to informed me he would make sure I would not receive anymore of those letters and ensure my channels were not blocked and advised me to ring this number and not the one ending 404040, as they don't know anything about the pay once watch forever deal.

harz99

steverobbo wrote: »

I really don't know. I was hoping Sky could give me an explaination for the channels being blocked, which I felt I had already subscribed to.

If Sky are offering this deal to get new customers, the first impression of the company is that they can't be trusted and the product is not as simple as it should be.

I fully agree with your impression, however as my advancing years have made me ever more cynical I rarely trust any company or person until I know them reasonably well.

One of the important messages coming from this appears to be - DO NOT USE ANY OTHER PHONE NUMBER OTHER THAN 08700 240777 to contact Sky with any queries etc. about the £79 offer. I apologise on two counts; one for shouting and two for advocating use of an 0870 number, but there does not seem to be any alternative!!!!!!!!!