Elderly taken advantage of by SKY

welliesrgreat

My grandpa has been with Sky for over 17 years. He has been paying just over £100 a month for TV (whole package, only watches sport!), phone (free evening and weekends) and broadband (broadband lite).In contrast i have been with them for 5 years and pay £51 for the same package.

I have recently contacted SKY on two occasions to reduce his bill. They managed a measly 20% discount for 17 years of loyalty - paying full price during that time. Potentially he has paid £20400 !!!

After a combined 2.5 hours on the phone i finally settled for £60.99 - SKY SPORTS and Original bundle, broadband lite, line rental and anytime phone calls. On top of this they will charge him a £10 admin fee for apply 'discounts'. Truly unbelievable.

My Grandpa lives on his own and sport is his great love. He is deaf and has limited mobility. One customer service agent suggested he downloaded the app to access his VIP discount!! To top it all the customer service agent worked in the accessibility dept!

So, good people of MSE, who can i complain to and take this further? Is there someone i can email, call or write to? Should i take it to the press - a lady did recently when she was looking at her uncles account.

Any advice would be great, many thanks!

pmduk

To put it bluntly, Sky's job is to produce a profit for it's shareholders. They're not a social service and owe no special duty of care to the elderly. It is always the consumers' own responsibility to ensure they're getting the best deal possible. Presumably your graldfather was happily paying the bill each month and enjoying the service?

welliesrgreat

He has enjoyed the service, i agree. Sky are not a charity, agreed. However, there appears to be no parity in the offers that are 'generated' depending on the day you call, the weather outside or if you are a long standing customer. I am trying to access some kind of fair approach to customers who otherwise would not know that they can 'haggle' or have 'access' to discounts.

Every organisation has a duty of care to its customers. In my opinion he has been taken advantage of.

[Deleted User]

welliesrgreat wrote: »

So, good people of MSE, who can i complain to and take this further? Is there someone i can email, call or write to? Should i take it to the press - a lady did recently when she was looking at her uncles account.

Any advice would be great, many thanks!

Sorry, but what exactly is it you'd complain about? Sky are supplying a service that your grandfather asked for (and presumably enjoyed). It's not up to them to haggle the price down on his behalf and to their detriment.

BTW your maths is a bit out as he wouldn't have been paying £100 17 years ago.

Neil_Jones

If I'm honest I opened the thread and expected to see a story along the lines of "Sky have charged my grandfather <some ludicrous amount> a month for phone, tv, satellite, mobile and broadband. He doesn't even have a dish/tv/phone or a mobile".

I don't think the OP's post is "taking advantage of" somehow. If he enjoys his sports then good for him and he was obviously happy to pay it. If this was a "Sky stuck the dish behind a tree and I can't get a signal" thing or a power of attorney situation and he lived in a care home and Sky were still taking the money then that's a different situation. But realistically if your grandfather was happy to pay it and is sound of mind and can look after his own affairs then with all due respect why are you getting involved? Its his money. I'm sure he'll be grateful you've knocked £480 odd a year off the bill for him though.

Feel free to issue a complaint if you must and if it'll make you feel better, but I think you'd be wasting your time.

welliesrgreat

My main point is that the offers and discounts are only available to customers who are able to call and haggle with customer services. There are numerous groups of people who are not able to do this and so miss out on discounted rates that the rest of us can access.

As this website often promotes ways a consumer can get a better deal with a variety of companies, I thought it was a good place to start.

Why am i getting involved? Because I think he is being ripped off. Why should he pay more than others just because he is deaf and elderly?

[Deleted User]

welliesrgreat wrote: »

My main point is that the offers and discounts are only available to customers who are able to call and haggle with customer services. There are numerous groups of people who are not able to do this and so miss out on discounted rates that the rest of us can access.

As this website often promotes ways a consumer can get a better deal with a variety of companies, I thought it was a good place to start.

Why am i getting involved? Because I think he is being ripped off. Why should he pay more than others just because he is deaf and elderly?

Only Sky know the real numbers but I suspect he's paying the same as a majority of their customers which is the full price. I'm still failing to see why his age or disability come into it at all, they have a multitude of contact methods besides the phone.

[Deleted User]

welliesrgreat wrote: »

Why am i getting involved? Because I think he is being ripped off. Why should he pay more than others just because he is deaf and elderly?

He isn't getting " ripped off" because he's deaf and elderly though. You need to realise that the majority of Sky's customers regardless of their health, age or personal circumstance are actually paying the full price for their services and are either content to do this or not motivated enough to leave or haggle a discount.

You are proposing to complain that your relative is being treated unfairly because he is unable to haggle, but retention discounts are not a right they are 100% discretionary.

Any complaint therefore will get you nowhere, as you've already bargained on his behalf for a reduction several times.

IAmWales

Have you checked his gas and electric bills? Chances are he's on the standard rate for them too.

This isn't a rip off, this is an elderly gentleman whose family neglected to check that he was getting the best deals he could. You could have called long ago, or he could have contacted them through live chat, text relay (or similar) or via the accessibility team at Sky.

[Deleted User]

IAmWales wrote: »

Have you checked his gas and electric bills? Chances are he's on the standard rate for them too.

Hopefully the OP will be spurred into action with regard those bills by your post!

The difference with those utilities is that they are essential parts of every day living, of course, unlike Sky which is undoubtedly a luxury.

No one can "haggle" a better price for gas and electricity by simply threatening to leave, though I accept Grandad could probably save money by swapping suppliers regularly.

brewerdave

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

The difference with those utilities is that they are essential parts of every day living, of course, unlike Sky which is undoubtedly a luxury.

...and that is a central part of my haggling philosophy with SKY- "I am a pensioner on limited means and your service is a luxury" ..................:)