Take Sky elsewhere or pay for broken contract after losing house

macman

How could you bill a service with no line or address to attach it to?

JohnDinton

I have now looked at Sky's broadband terms and conditions.

Clause 11(b) says you have to pay an Early Termination Charge if you end the contract before the end of the Minimum Term unless you have a right to end it under 11(c).

11(c)(iii) says you can end the contract during the Minimum Term if 5(b)(ii) applies.

This is clause 5.

5. Changing your Address and telephone number (a) You must tell us immediately of any changes to your Address or the telephone numbers you have provided to us. We recommend that you provide us with at least 2 weeks’ notice of your change of Address.
(b) If you change Address:
i. this Contract will continue unless you exercise a right to end it under this Contract;
ii. if any Product which you are subscribing to is not available at your new Address you may either end this Contract or select another Product that is available there in which case this Contract will continue.
(c) We may charge you any costs we reasonably incur as a result of transferring your service to your new Address. We will tell you the amount of this charge before charging you.

The first point to make is that under 5(b)i only the customer has the right to end the contract if there has been a change of address.

The customer has an obligation to notify a change of address and phone numbers. If the customer does not notify the change and Sky finds out, possibly because a new tenant has requested service at the old address, that would be a breach of contract by the customer which would entitle Sky to terminate the contract and raise an Early Termination Charge.

That does not apply in this case because BertNErnie did notify a change of address. There is no limit to the number of changes of address which can be notified, so notifying a temporary change of address is sufficient.

Under 5(b)ii the customer can terminate without penalty if the Product is not available at the new address. "not available" is very wide. The right to terminate is not restricted to any particular reasons for non-availability. It does not say not available and cannot be made available within 2 days or 10 days or 21 days or whatever period might be considered reasonable.

Under 5(c) Sky can charge its reasonable costs as a result of the transfer. There may be scope for negotiation that in the case of temporary accommodation the costs would be disproportionate to the benefit of providing service for a short period. The reason for non-availablity may be that the temporary landlord or host has refused permission for the installation of a new cable.

Intuitively I would have said that anyone moving abroad could be required to pay the Early Termination Charge. As it is, a move abroad is within 5(b)ii and there is a right to terminate without penalty.

If, as macman says, Sky's practice is to restart the minimum term on a change of address, that is contrary to 5(b)i. Of course it may be that Sky offers to waive its charge under 5(c) in return for starting a new minimum term, but that is a matter for negotiation.

Unfortunately there is no indication that BertNErnie has read any of our replies, so it is unlikely he will be taking any action. If Herbalus or anyone else has had early termination charges unlawfully imposed within the last 6 years it may be worth going through the complaints procedure, and referring to the clauses I have referred to above. There are no costs apart from the cost of writing letters.

It is also worth bearing in mind that if the total amount paid to Sky is over £100 and any part of it has been paid by credit card, the credit card provider may be jointly and severally liable for damages for breach of contract under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

This is not legal advice. Anyone reading it should not rely on it but take his or her own legal advice.

PasturesNew

Do you have a friend who doesn't have Sky who will let you "park" your service there?