Sky Bill Higher Than Expected

venomx

Hi
Joined Sky on the Entertainment + HD pack ( £27 per month )

Shortly after, I added the Boxsets ( £5 ) , Kids £5,
Which means my bill should be £37 per month

The bill this month is £37 as expected

The bill for march is £63 and it explains

We bill you for your Sky TV subscription a month in advance.

As you added multiple packs within the last 30 days, we've charged you from the date they were added until the end of this billing period, plus next month in advance.

Your next bill will reflect your agreed monthly subscription cost.

The following two bills ( April/May ) are the normal £37

Can anyone explain why my bill next month is £23 higher than it should be ? The guy on the phone said I'm paying for a month and a half in advance, why is this ?
Thanks

Neil_Jones

Means what it says.

Due to the way the Sky billing system works if you add or remove packages in a month it always looks a bit haphazard, full of cancellations, additions and pro-rata conversions.

Your additions are pro-rata so if you join on the 1st (for example) and then add Kids and Boxsets on the 15th you'd get charged for them up to the end of that month and then the following month because of the month-in-advance thing so everything will fall onto a 31 day window.

You always pay for stuff on Sky a month in advance which is how the 31 days notice thing works. You give it, then when that runs out your account is near enough up to date.

venomx

Thanks Neil.
So it's correct I should be paying for a month and a half on my 2nd bill ( next month ) ?
HE said 6th March till 26 April will be the next bill cycle

Just trying to get my head around it as it's really confusing.

Neil_Jones

It is correct but a lot depends on when you add things and when your billing period falls, it can look incredibly complicated.

Say for argument's sake your billing is due on the 1st of March and you add Kids and Box sets to your package on the 15th of March. Because its pro-rated a payment will be added to the bill due on the 1st of April (£2.50 each for ease of calculation).

To bring things into line and back to a month in advance the April 1st bill will also have an extra £20 on it (£10 for April's kids and Box sets and £10 in advance for May) and then after that everything's beautifully synced up and settles down at £37.

It sounds like you added things on not long after you joined and that complicates things billing wise slightly because IIRC a payment is 14 days after you join and then another one two weeks later for the month in advance.

AR

I felt the same when I saw my bill. then thought its a machine and that it probably has been vetted and potentially mistake free. But having spent 20 minutes treating this like a math/logic puzzle I am 100 percent convinced that the bill doesn't correctly generate and is overstated because
 - some of the items from your previous bill don't automatically get converted into proper credits
 - some of the pro rata charges that reflect on the bill are incorrectly calculated because some of the discounts aren't pro-rated (a simple check is that for the next month 30 days my charge for an item is GBP 15, but for the same item prorated for 26 days (so should have a multiplier 26/29*15, the item is billed as 18.01)

Either the guys at sky need a better logician / engineer to rewrite their code - or they just conning people in plain sight by hiding behind a very complicated billing system. 

Neil_Jones

You pay in advance 31 days, not 30.  Calendar month doesn't come into it.  Read your T&Cs.  This is why your notice period is 31 days.  You change your package you're paying more initially to get you back up to a 31 day notice period.

rso1999

Having verbally agreed a new contract rate for Sky Q I had it installed 2 days ago.  However, going into ‘View my future bills’ I noticed that the price being charged was not the price agreed (increase of £22 month).  On calling Sky (Complaints Dept) and as a follow on from their investigation it appears that the customer service advisor (who i was informed is now under disciplinary.... something I’m very uncomfortable with) had been wrong to quote me my original deal.  The Complaints Department have since reneged on the promised deal despite them having evidence of the original conversation.  

I’ve also been told that my new Sky Q 18 month contract is ONLY for the hardware and not the Sky TV packages despite being informed to the contrary at the time of negotiation - this was news to my family/friends who have also taken out Sky Q and which they are now investigating. This would mean when my old Sky HD subscription expires in September I need to negotiate my Sky TV pack.  And, if I’m not happy with the renegotiated price and choose not to renew I would still be liable to pay the minimum package deal for Sky Q (hardware) because of the 18 month contract!!!   

Just to make people aware, get your quote in writing (I did request this but it never arrived) and even although your conversation is recorded it appears not be be binding   I’m within my 31 day cooling off period and have subsequently cancelled Sky Q (they now need to collect the hardware) and will revert back to my original contract until it expires in September.  Comments ???

brewerdave

To be fair ,I thought it was common knowledge that if you take a Q box whilst in an HD deal, then you only keep the discounts for the original period and then get stuck with full price for x months - certainly I have refused a box "upgrade" a couple of times in the past 18 months because of this. 

rso1999

Thanks brewerdave for reiterating this. I guess that being promised differently with regards price and contract has prompted to take the option of cancelling.  Like you...I’m not getting conned into something I’m not happy with.... oh!! and there is the small matter of principles with regards to the shocking customer satisfaction issues I’ve had with the whole experience. Cheers again