Sky increased bill without notice

JDW1

I would appreciate advice please. Our problem is that Sky increased their charges without any notice. The story is we had to cancel, being retired we couldn't afford Sky TV on my pension alone (my wife's pension has been delayed by the Government until she is 65 but that's another story) Later on Sky offered a deal in order to get us back and now they claim that after 12 months they are entitled to increase our direct debit without giving notice, adding that their online account includes the information and we should have logged on each month to check the charges. I know that, as usual the contract was for 12 months which I thought was ongoing until one side wanted to cancel, giving one months notice. I have endevoured to read all their terms & conditions with regard to price increases and as far as I can see they should give 31 days notice. Needless to say we have now cancelled but Sky have refused to refund the overcharges. Has anyone else experienced this, are Sky entitled to do this and if not what can we do to complain further please.

[Deleted User]

Nothing you can do at all I'm afraid as they haven't increased their prices or overcharged you, you've come to the end of your discount that's all. They're not obliged to inform you of that as it's seen as your responsibility to keep track. That said now you've scheduled a cancellation they may well offer a decent deal, have a look at your online account.

JDW1

Thank you Colin for the advice. I thought that might be the case but it was worth asking. Thanks for your time.

Neil_Jones

The 31 days of which you speak is with regards to when Sky increase their prices and is typically accompanied by a news article on sites like this one plus an email and/or a letter to your home address.

What you were actually on was effectively an introductory deal, typically half price or somewhere around that figure for 12 months for the full package. When the 12 months run out the discount ends and you pay the going rate, at the moment typically £80 odd a month.

As you've now cancelled and in your 31 day notice window, you will probably find a discount coming your way soon typically via your online account, and play your cards right you probably wouldn't need to pay full price for the service for a long while.

JDW1

Thanks for the confirmation. I think we will be better of going the Freesat route
We do record quite a lot of programmes and as far as I know that facility is lost when Sky ends.

Phil&Michelle

Ditch it and get freeview and an Amazon fire stick with subscription to Prime and Netflix it will be cheaper. So much more to watch and no adverts :-)

JDW1

Thanks for your suggestion about getting Free view and fire stick, I will have to look into that. I would be happy with Free view or better still Freesat as I have the dish already connected. What I will miss though is the sports especially football but there again a good percentage has now been lost to BT sports, especially champions league (Chelsea) My broadband provider TalkTalk want £34 a month for Sky sports only.:(

[Deleted User]

JDW1 wrote: »

Thanks for your suggestion about getting Free view and fire stick, I will have to look into that. I would be happy with Free view or better still Freesat as I have the dish already connected. What I will miss though is the sports especially football but there again a good percentage has now been lost to BT sports, especially champions league (Chelsea) My broadband provider TalkTalk want £34 a month for Sky sports only.:(

Try running your postcode through https://broadband.moneysavingexpert.com/ for BB/LR and/or TV packages or https://www.uswitch.com/broadband/ for BB & TV or https://www.uswitch.com/tv/packages/ for just TV. You can select BT Sports & Sky Sports options which will at least give you a bargaining tool.

Now TV allows day passes so you can select individual match days which may keep the costs down.

teddysmum

Cancel tv and let it go off. That is when you get the best deal (check on your My Sky account).


It does clearly say, many times on the website and on leaflets, that after the 12 or 18 month discount the price will be £X (ie full price).


I cancelled and meant to stay away last year,but while waiting for an ordered HDMI lead, I got an offer too good to refuse. I doubt I'll get the same again,so it is likely to be Freeview and the Humax box for us.The tv is Panasonic so has Freetime catchup (unusual for a Freeview system) built in, but we will manage, as I only accepted tv as a freebie when we transferred to Sky from O2 for broadband ,not intending to keep tv, but got a line of good offers,so still there until November.

JDW1

After 12 months of no Sky the deal I had (which has just expired) was so fantastic I could hardly believe it and it was an ooffer I couldn't refuse. It was said to be 75% off which worked out to £21 a month for everything including sports, movies, box sets and HD. I doubt that I will ever get as good again, but I intend letting Sky cancel later this month and will see they offer anything comparable in the future. I might have to wait the 12 months again, so will have to be happy with Freesat until then. I am investigating other avenue though lol. Thanks to everyone's advice, I now acknowledge that Sky probably did state somewhere that the full price would apply after the 12 months, but I must have missed that bit. It happens, you know when age, oldtimers catches up with you lol.

teddysmum

I had the same offer,but took no sport so I paid nothing for most months then £14 (reduced by the accompanying credit). Mine is up soon and I don't expect it to be repeated, but will look.