Cancelling Sky hassle

MummyMoo

Evening all :hello:

I'm hoping someone can help me help my Grandparents. They have been with Sky (tv and landline) for 25 years this October but they are paying over £100 a month for sub par TV services, so after two years of me nagging my grandma to change suppliers she has finally agreed. Found a great package for them with Talk talk. I phoned Sky today to cancel with my Grandma next to me to confirm I can talk on her behalf (I do so with utilities for her and the likes) but they said they couldn't take any action because it's in my Grandads name. My grandad is unfortunately in the late stage of vascular dementia and so lacks the ability to speak. I explained this to Sky and they transferred me to the accessibility team who said I needed to email them a copy of the Right of attorney (all 16 pages) before we can discuss the account. My grandma doesn't want to give them this information as she worries that this information may get shared the same as phone numbers and emails get shared to other companies, and to be honest I understand where she's coming from with it. She said she feels like cutting them off at the bank but I have advised her that they would simply take her to court as she hasn't gone through the right channels and procedure.

Where does she stand legally? Does she HAVE to send Sky a copy of this private and important document? I can't help but feel they are trying it on because she wants to leave them, whereas if she phoned them to do an add-on service they would do it without hesitation.

Thank you for reading and I hope someone can advise me on this xXx

steampowered

Personally I would just give them the power of attorney. I can see why they want it; other organisations will want to see it too before they allow someone who isn't the account holder to take action on that account.

I can't see a 16 page document getting shared. That doesn't fit in a database like phone numbers and email addresses do. Even if it was shared, I can't see what confidential information would be in there - except for perhaps your grandad's address, which they have anyway.

JReacher1

sign into your sky account online. Go on live chat and just say you are your grandad and cancel it via the live chat service.

Although I would point out that the point of a power of attorney is to show people that you have a legal right to speak on a person' behalf so it seems pretty obvious you would have to send it to any organisation you wanted to deal with.

daytona0

MummyMoo wrote: »

Evening all :hello:

I'm hoping someone can help me help my Grandparents. They have been with Sky (tv and landline) for 25 years this October but they are paying over £100 a month for sub par TV services, so after two years of me nagging my grandma to change suppliers she has finally agreed. Found a great package for them with Talk talk. I phoned Sky today to cancel with my Grandma next to me to confirm I can talk on her behalf (I do so with utilities for her and the likes) but they said they couldn't take any action because it's in my Grandads name. My grandad is unfortunately in the late stage of vascular dementia and so lacks the ability to speak. I explained this to Sky and they transferred me to the accessibility team who said I needed to email them a copy of the Right of attorney (all 16 pages) before we can discuss the account. My grandma doesn't want to give them this information as she worries that this information may get shared the same as phone numbers and emails get shared to other companies, and to be honest I understand where she's coming from with it. She said she feels like cutting them off at the bank but I have advised her that they would simply take her to court as she hasn't gone through the right channels and procedure.

Where does she stand legally? Does she HAVE to send Sky a copy of this private and important document? I can't help but feel they are trying it on because she wants to leave them, whereas if she phoned them to do an add-on service they would do it without hesitation.

Thank you for reading and I hope someone can advise me on this xXx

Well, you seem to have your head screwed on! Cancelling the direct debit (or whatever it is) in itself would not get your grandparents out of the contract.

Data protection-wise Sky have a point, if it is in your grandfather's name then he should be the one expected to cancel! What if you were lying about the vascular dementia just to cause some hassle? Trust me, people do that sort of stuff! That's what data protection protects from! It makes sure that only the named person has authority on their account and stops people without authorisation from cancelling it!

A bit heavy that the "Right of Attorney" documents have come up, but I don't see why Sky would be asking for these documents as a way of getting more data and selling it on... Unless Sky are already selling your grandparents' data, I would just assume that they are asking purely for verification purposes.

As a more practical solution, I would explore the possibility of either:

- Emailing in from your grandfather's email address and cancelling this way. Play up the fact that he can't speak but CAN type.

- Pretending to be your grandfather on the phone (or get a male family member to do so).


Given you have revealed the vascular dementia you may not be able to blag them on the phone, but it is something to consider in the future...


PS, my grandparents moved from Sky to Talktalk about a year ago because of the prices, but they found that Talktalk was actually WORSE! Less channels, shocking customer service and dodgy charges for services they didn't need or ask for. They may be going back to Sky...

unholyangel

Its not even about data protection really - that only protects them from disclosing/processing personal information without consent/reasonable grounds. You can authorise someone and while they may discuss bills with them etc, iirc they won't let them make any account changes.

Its because the contract is between him & sky. You can't terminate an agreement you aren't party to unless you have the legal authority to act as that persons agent and in that capacity (ie a mortgage broker may have the capacity to act on your behalf to mortgage lenders, but wont have the capacity to act on your behalf to your bank).

If she isn't open to the idea of pretending to be him online, perhaps suggest she voice her concerns to sky and see what they say in response. Suggesting this as she's probably going to have to disclose it to a few companies so this might help alleviate her fears and acclimatise her for the next time she needs to do it.

ritesh

I do sympathaise and understand your concerns. My mother also suffers from vascular dementia after her stroke. My sister and I too had to get Power of Attorney for her and as such we have had to send these to various bodies in order to be able to make joint (between my sister and I) decisions on her behalf. It is a pain but a necessary step to sort out all her affairs.

Once the documents were sent things happened quite quickly.

I hope you manage to get everything sorted.

peachyprice

MummyMoo wrote: »

Does she HAVE to send Sky a copy of this private and important document?

This is exactly what the document is for, she's going to have to show it to a whole lot of other people as time goes on. It's not 'private' in that sense and yes, they are quite within their rights to want to see it.

Sicard

I have had similar experiences with these scoundrels. They have a reputation of making it as difficult as possible to cancel. Of course they'll be those who may pop in and say 'I cancelled with no problem' but they're probably connected to the company in some way.

The best way is to send a letter by registered post with you grandma's signature. If you cancel dd they'll put her on the bad credit blacklist.

Valli

Sicard wrote: »

I have had similar experiences with these scoundrels. They have a reputation of making it as difficult as possible to cancel. Of course they'll be those who may pop in and say 'I cancelled with no problem' but they're probably connected to the company in some way.

The best way is to send a letter by registered post with you grandma's signature. If you cancel dd they'll put her on the bad credit blacklist.

It is perfectly reasonable of Sky to either speak with the holder of the contract or to request proof of PoA.

It actually isn't OPs contract to cancel. Once Sky have their proof it can be sorted.

Now is there anything else I can help you with?:rotfl:

Sicard - you've been here a while. You should know better than to accuse posters with whom you disagree of working for "the company" under discussion!

Morglin

MummyMoo wrote: »

Evening all :hello:

I'm hoping someone can help me help my Grandparents. They have been with Sky (tv and landline) for 25 years this October but they are paying over £100 a month for sub par TV services, so after two years of me nagging my grandma to change suppliers she has finally agreed. Found a great package for them with Talk talk. I phoned Sky today to cancel with my Grandma next to me to confirm I can talk on her behalf (I do so with utilities for her and the likes) but they said they couldn't take any action because it's in my Grandads name. My grandad is unfortunately in the late stage of vascular dementia and so lacks the ability to speak. I explained this to Sky and they transferred me to the accessibility team who said I needed to email them a copy of the Right of attorney (all 16 pages) before we can discuss the account. My grandma doesn't want to give them this information as she worries that this information may get shared the same as phone numbers and emails get shared to other companies, and to be honest I understand where she's coming from with it. She said she feels like cutting them off at the bank but I have advised her that they would simply take her to court as she hasn't gone through the right channels and procedure.

Where does she stand legally? Does she HAVE to send Sky a copy of this private and important document? I can't help but feel they are trying it on because she wants to leave them, whereas if she phoned them to do an add-on service they would do it without hesitation.

Thank you for reading and I hope someone can advise me on this xXx

I hold LPA for my father, but I received only two confirmation sheets, that can be shared, if necessary, from the Court of Protection.

You don't need to share all the bumph that is sent during the registration period. .

One sheet for finances, and one sheet for Health and Welfare.

It's normal for some companies to want copies, and many companies won't do anything without sight of them.

If she wants to change, then just send them the copies.

Lin

peachyprice

Sicard wrote: »

I have had similar experiences with these scoundrels. They have a reputation of making it as difficult as possible to cancel. Of course they'll be those who may pop in and say 'I cancelled with no problem' but they're probably connected to the company in some way.

The best way is to send a letter by registered post with you grandma's signature. If you cancel dd they'll put her on the bad credit blacklist.

It's not her grandma's account, it's her grandad's, the grandma can only cancel it once they've seen the PoA. It's not Sky being difficult in this instance, it's Op's grandma.

Oh, and no, I don't work for Sky. Very disingenuous of you to throw that rookie comment in.