Joining Sky Incompetence Broadband

howroyd

Decided to leave ee broadband and join Sky based upon reviews on MSE and from friends. What a nightmare this is turning out to be. I'd be keen to hear any advice anyone has.

I went onto "track my order" on Saturday 7NOV as I hadn't received my Sky router. The webpage said there was an error and that I must call Sky to resolve it (surely they should call me?!)

Having spoken to customer services they said their computers were at fault and he would send me a router ASAP but it would not be with me for my contract start date on Monday 9NOV.

My Sky contract started on Monday 9NOV and I have received my first bill. I called customer services Tuesday morning and was told that I would not be charged for my broadband until it was working but I would be charged the line rental because the phone line is working. The catch being the broadband is "free" with the line rental. Trading Standards website suggests that you should not be charged until all services in the contract are operational.

At 6pm on Tuesday 10NOV my router arrived, and I plugged it in to find it didn't work. It was detecting the line but not connecting to the Sky network and therefore no internet. The installation guide suggested I called customer services, which I then did. They admitted there was an issue they already knew about earlier that day and that my broadband had not been activated and wouldn't be until Thursday 12NOV assuming the issues are fixed by then. Bear in mind that I have been billed from the day before they even tried to activate my broadband and then didn't bother to contact me when they found out it couldn't be sorted for another 2 days.

It is currently Tues 10NOV as I write and I am at a loss as to what to do. Do I cancel, go through all the faff of sorting out another provider ASAP which is still going to take weeks and Sky probably not refunding me the £6.95 P+P for the router, the £5 upfront fee and maybe even my first bill? Or do I just wind my neck in and wait and plead with them to not charge me and expect no goodwill for the unbelievable amount of stress this has caused for both my work and social life?

TL;DR; I'm paying for a service which sky haven't activated yet and one person says I will be charged, the other says I wont. Do I quit Sky and wait ages for a new provider or suck it up and accept poor service is normal these days?

macman

It's BT OR who do (or in this case don't do) the reconnection, not Sky. So if you cancel and start again you may still encounter the same issue-not to mention being hit with an ETC. OR are notorious for breaking appointments, and don't always inform the provider when they do.
You have a connection date of tomorrow, so wait and see. Once it's up and running, ask them for a credit for the downtime and it will be given, possibly plus a small goodwill payment if you ask nicely.
As for work, if you are using a residential service for business purposes then you are in breach of the T&C's anyway. There is no SLA on a residential contract, so no compo will be given. Has a 3 day delay really caused such havoc to your social life though?

howroyd

I'm in a postgrad student house so it isn't technically work it is education which is allowed :-) It's a bit of a pain because there are a few of us here all sat twiddling thumbs when we were promised a seamless transition (one of the main selling points why I chose Sky). It's irritating when you don't get what you pay for and then are stuck with no other options for a quick fix. In terms of social stuff I am a Squadron Commander in the Air Cadets so not being able to easily get on social media etc to publicise all our photos etc of our remembrance parade and poppy selling sucks. It's all little things that add up but these days you kind of expect to have internet.

I am aware about OR being a nightmare and I do feel for Sky a bit here but I don't see it as an excuse. If you bought a load of apples to find they were rotten inside and the supermarket blamed the producer and still charged you for them you would be miffed. Rubbish analogy but makes the point!

Cheers for your comments, I'm looking forward to seeing if it actually gets up and running tomorrow.

iniltous

I think assuming Openreach are to blame is a little presumptuous , if as you say the line is working, then how can it OR ?, if you dial 17070 and get a AVR along the lines of 'hi I'm Zoe' then you are connected to Sky LLU kit regardless of a working broadband, this would mean that OR did exactly what Sky asked, but Sky have not set up your service, if you get a 'this circuit is defined as 01*** ******' then you are still on your previous providers network, even if you are still on your old providers network , how can you know what date Sky gave OR for the changeover, and if that date has been met or not
The one thing you can say for sure is that if you ask where the problem is/was your providers answer will be one that blames the supplier , rather than themselves, regardless of where the problem is

howroyd

Oh it gets better. Just spoken to someone at Sky to get an update. Now it isn't due to go live until 24NOV!!! You couldn't make it up.
Thankfully I am now liaising with someone from retentions who seems to have a nice little thing called customer care. I'm expecting a call back from her shortly and I very much doubt I will be continuing with my contract with Sky. Gutted, I have heard good things about Sky BB being quite good.

jem16

iniltous wrote: »

how can you know what date Sky gave OR for the changeover, and if that date has been met or not

Well in my case both PlusNet and Sky gave the same date so I would have expected that to include OR in it somewhere.

My move to Sky was indeed seamless - happened when it was meant to be and around 15 minutes downtime.

howroyd wrote: »

Oh it gets better. Just spoken to someone at Sky to get an update. Now it isn't due to go live until 24NOV!!! You couldn't make it up.

So did you check 17070 - are you with Sky for phone or not?

What has Sky said is the problem?

Thankfully I am now liaising with someone from retentions who seems to have a nice little thing called customer care. I'm expecting a call back from her shortly and I very much doubt I will be continuing with my contract with Sky. Gutted, I have heard good things about Sky BB being quite good.

Your problem is that whoever you choose to move to instead will have exactly the same date as it's usually 14 days from order - that would make it the 25th even if you ordered today.

So what are Retentions offering?

howroyd

So did you check 17070 - are you with Sky for phone or not?

What has Sky said is the problem?

Didn't bother checking 17070. Sky told me the phone line was activated monday but the broadband can't be activated until 24th. No reason given, just that it was a problem with OR.

Your problem is that whoever you choose to move to instead will have exactly the same date as it's usually 14 days from order - that would make it the 25th even if you ordered today.

I put an order in with Virgin Media, they are installing for me on the morning of the 24th. It is the same delay as Sky but I now do not trust Sky to have it sorted by then and nor do I trust their customer service to contact me if something goes wrong, as they haven't all this week. Nor have they even called me on the two times they promised to. Not something I want to have to deal with for 12months.

So what are Retentions offering?

In short, nothing. They said they will refund my upfront payments and anything owed to me (so I assume the £5 upfront payment, but not the £6.95 router P+P). The refund will take up to 45 days though! I found this funny since they always demand payments instantly, but they won't honour that the other way around!

Interestingly, I have received the £75 M&S voucher as a reward for joining Sky and I am now in possession of an "£80" Sky Hub I don't need/want (unless I can find a way to put DD-WRT on it). Swings and roundabouts.

jem16

howroyd wrote: »

Didn't bother checking 17070. Sky told me the phone line was activated monday but the broadband can't be activated until 24th. No reason given, just that it was a problem with OR.

That to me sounds like you are not on Sky's equipment but still on BT's equipment.

Out of interest can you do it now?

I put an order in with Virgin Media, they are installing for me on the morning of the 24th.

Let's hope you ordered through uSwitch who were doing a great deal on 50mb BB plus weekend calls/LR

howroyd

jem16 wrote: »

Out of interest can you do it now?

Just tried, "This circuit is defined as....." Explains why my EE broadband which should have been cancelled on Monday still works. How long for is a mystery but I'm not paying for it, cancelled my DD!

jem16 wrote: »

Let's hope you ordered through uSwitch who were doing a great deal on 50mb BB plus weekend calls/LR

I did indeed, very good deal.

jem16

howroyd wrote: »

Just tried, "This circuit is defined as....." Explains why my EE broadband which should have been cancelled on Monday still works. How long for is a mystery but I'm not paying for it, cancelled my DD!

So you are not on Sky's equipment which is why their BB won't work.

So somewhere along the line the switch has not taken place. Sounds very like the order did not go through for whatever reason. You will still be liable to pay for EE BB and possibly even phone line rental until it is properly cancelled so cancelling the DD was not the best idea as it may well trash your credit rating.

Did you ever receive a "Sorry you are leaving letter/email from EE" as you should have done? I received this email from PlusNet within hours of ordering with Sky. if you didn't this should have alerted you to a problem.

Presumably you also never received any letter from Sky?

Although I don't in any way condone what has happened, if you had not received any of those I'm wondering why it took you until 7th November - 2 days before start of service - to check your order? I had checked through My Sky the same day and it was all there.

Sometimes you have to be a little more pro-active.

I did indeed, very good deal.

If you don't receive further emails and then a contract within a few days then please follow it up.

howroyd

jem16 wrote: »

You will still be liable to pay for EE BB and possibly even phone line rental until it is properly cancelled so cancelling the DD was not the best idea as it may well trash your credit rating.

Did you ever receive a "Sorry you are leaving letter/email from EE" as you should have done? I received this email from PlusNet within hours of ordering with Sky. if you didn't this should have alerted you to a problem.

You are being rather presumptuous here. I have it in writing from EE that my contract will be cancelled on Monday 9NOV so I see no issues here. I have paid my contract up until 12NOV, so if anything EE owe me money but I know that isn't how it works!

jem16 wrote: »

Presumably you also never received any letter from Sky?

Again a bit presumptuous, yes I received a confirmation that my order had been processed and everything would go live on 8NOV. I also had this assurance verbally through a phone call.

jem16 wrote: »

Although I don't in any way condone what has happened, if you had not received any of those I'm wondering why it took you until 7th November - 2 days before start of service - to check your order? I had checked through My Sky the same day and it was all there.

Sometimes you have to be a little more pro-active.

I agree I could have checked earlier but equally Sky could have informed me. I really don't think there is a finger of blame to be pointed at me here!

jem16 wrote: »

If you don't receive further emails and then a contract within a few days then please follow it up.

Will do, I have already had the confirmation email of installation on 24NOV. Just awaiting a call now, but will get in touch if it doesn't come soon. Cheers for the advice.