Are Sky right to do this?

jaseace1978

I have been a Sky Tv customer for over 5 years and it got to the point where a lot of their good offers were for new customers only and I didn't feel that they really gave a damn about their existing customers so I contacted them on the 30th June to cancel my service as I wasn't really watching many of the channels. The cancellation went through and I was told that there was a 31 day notice period until my account was fully cancelled. Within a week I received a phone call from Sky seeing if I'd reconsider the cancellation and they offered me Sky HD with sports for £40 if I signed up to a 12 month contract. I didn't want to pay anymore £40 and I was told that the only time I would incur further charges would be if I used Sky Box office etc which I understood. There was nothing mentioned to me about any impending price increases affecting my deal so I decided to give it another go with them offering me HD. I was sent two emails on 30th June, one confirming my order and the second with important information. Again none of these mentioned anything about price increases.On 3rd July I received a further email informing me that from September my subscription would be going up by £3.50 p/m. I contacted Sky and queried this as the deal which they had contacted me about and I had agreed a contract for was £40 p/m and nothing more. I am aware that Sky increases their prices from time to time but in the offer they had given me no mention had been made about any increases so I felt a little bit deceived. I know it is only £3.50 extra however when I was sold this deal they would have known about the increases and therefore why wasn't I told about this and why was I told that the only time during the 12 months my price would increase would be if I ordered from any pay services. That is my point and not the fact that they increase their prices yearly but how this was sold to me. Sky have basically said that it is tough luck and they can increase prices whenever they want which I do accept however I can't accept that I was given a deal which I thought was good enough to sign back up to them then this deal increases a few days after I agreed a contract for a set price. Can they legally get away with this or is there a case for the package being mis-sold to me?
As it happens I have now told them to cancel the package once again as big companies seem to think that they can do what they want to.
As I say my issue is not with the yearly price increase but with the information I was told on the phone when I agreed to the deal on offer for 12 months with absolutely no mention of any price increases affecting me.

jem16

jaseace1978 wrote: »

Can they legally get away with this or is there a case for the package being mis-sold to me?

It's not missold though. It's their price at the moment.

As it happens I have now told them to cancel the package once again as big companies seem to think that they can do what they want to.
As I say my issue is not with the yearly price increase but with the information I was told on the phone when I agreed to the deal on offer for 12 months with absolutely no mention of any price increases affecting me.

It's normal for all companies. No-one guarantees that there will be no price increase.

The problem with cancelling now is that they can probably hold you to early termination fees.

jaseace1978

My gripe is over what I was told when this offer was given to me during the phone call and that was that the price quoted was all I'd pay over the twelve months. No mention of price increases affecting this offer and it was on that basis that I agreed to sign up. I know this boils down to my word against theirs but I've told them to feel free to listen to the calls which are all apparently recorded but I doubt they will. A misrepresentation was definitely made when this deal was given but proving it might be another matter.

VisionMan

jaseace1978 wrote: »

I know this boils down to my word against theirs

Not really. Everyone believes you.

jaseace1978 wrote: »

A misrepresentation was definitely made when this deal was given

There is no misrepresentation. They made you a deal and then the prices went up, unfortunately. And yes, they have the right to do it. See if they will let you cancel with no penalty due to the short period between the offer and then the price rise, thats your best bet.

DevilsAdvocate1

I do think this is bad practice though. So basically, a company can sell you a deal and then change it a few days later in their favour. If it had been a few months then fair enough, but a few days seems wrong. I would be taking it up with trading standards.

jaseace1978

Typical sky though, but as I can't get Virgin in my area I'm fairly limited especially with the sports. Lots of complaints from others about them if you do a Google search but probably not many take them further.

VisionMan

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

I do think this is bad practice though. So basically, a company can sell you a deal and then change it a few days later in their favour. If it had been a few months then fair enough, but a few days seems wrong.

I agree it shouldn't have happened, but unfortunately it did.

DevilsAdvocate1 wrote: »

I would be taking it up with trading standards.

That would do no good, as they have the right to do it at any time. Still, I agree three days is harsh so I would pursue the action I recommended above.

Chino

jem16 wrote: »

The problem with cancelling now is that they can probably hold you to early termination fees.

As the OP did not agree to any price rise during the first twelve months of the contract, this on the Citizens Advice website suggests that Sky cannot hold the OP to an early termination charge if the OP wishes to cancel as a result of the price increase:

"If you took out your contract on or after 23 January 2014
If your provider increases your regular (usually monthly) subscription price beyond what you agreed when you signed up to the contract, then you:
•must be given 30 days’ notice
•can leave the contract without charge if you wish. You will need to give notice you are leaving as agreed in your contract - this should not be longer than 30 days."

(http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/phones_tv_internet_and_computers_index_e/consumer_problems_with_contracts_packages_and_offers_e/your_terms_and_conditions_have_been_changed.htm)

jem16

Chino wrote: »

As the OP did not agree to any price rise during the first twelve months of the contract, this on the Citizens Advice website suggests that Sky cannot hold the OP to an early termination charge if the OP wishes to cancel as a result of the price increase:

"If you took out your contract on or after 23 January 2014
If your provider increases your regular (usually monthly) subscription price beyond what you agreed when you signed up to the contract, then you:
•must be given 30 days’ notice
•can leave the contract without charge if you wish. You will need to give notice you are leaving as agreed in your contract - this should not be longer than 30 days."

(http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/consumer_e/phones_tv_internet_and_computers_index_e/consumer_problems_with_contracts_packages_and_offers_e/your_terms_and_conditions_have_been_changed.htm)

That only applies to phone and broadband contracts, not TV.

corf999

I think sky always increase their prices in september every year - As per their right to do so under their T&C's.

jaseace1978

I get the yearly price increase thing but when Sky bombard me with phone calls wanting to offer me a deal to come back to them and tell me £40 p/m for 12 months which I agree to, the least I expect is for them to honor that price for the 12 months