Sky trying to charge me £60 for repair?

HWG

Hi all,
Just off the phone to Sky about an intermittent poor connection with our broadband. Its been going on for a few months, an Openreach engineer has already been sent and failed to fix it.

This time, they said because I was "out of contract" there would be a £60 charge for the repair.

I tried to argue that I'm paying them for a functioning broadband connection, and they shouldn't be trying to charge me to meet the basic service level.
I also pointed out I'm not "out of contract", I'm on a rolling one month contract. The Sky guy bizarrely insisted that no contract exists between me and Sky right now, which is nonsense.

I'm aware that Openreach can charge the customer if the fault is in their property (fair enough), but this was a blanket £60 fee and there was no discussion over where the fault may lie.

Surely this can't be legal? Charging me once for broadband and then again to actually deliver it?

[Deleted User]

HWG wrote: »

Surely this can't be legal? Charging me once for broadband and then again to actually deliver it?

If the problem is the internal wiring then they are delivering it and the cost would be your concern.

What actually is the problem? Do you know which part is failing?

Croft12

HWG wrote: »

Hi all,
Just off the phone to Sky about an intermittent poor connection with our broadband. Its been going on for a few months, an Openreach engineer has already been sent and failed to fix it.

This time, they said because I was "out of contract" there would be a £60 charge for the repair.

I tried to argue that I'm paying them for a functioning broadband connection, and they shouldn't be trying to charge me to meet the basic service level.
I also pointed out I'm not "out of contract", I'm on a rolling one month contract. The Sky guy bizarrely insisted that no contract exists between me and Sky right now, which is nonsense.

I'm aware that Openreach can charge the customer if the fault is in their property (fair enough), but this was a blanket £60 fee and there was no discussion over where the fault may lie.

Surely this can't be legal? Charging me once for broadband and then again to actually deliver it?

Its not clear from you post what the problem is:


If you are saying OR say the line/cabinet is ok (what does a line test tell you?) then the fault is either your internal wiring (nothing to do with sky - OR will fix for a £120 call out fee iirc) or your router (again not really sky). If you're in a fixed contract they'll usually (but not always) repair/replace for free but you're not. Sky gives you a login. They may be arguing you could provide you're own router and connect fine I presume?


So depending on what the actual fault is depends who can fix it.


But frankly unless you have a very good reason a rolling 30 day contract is a very bad way to buy bb. Switching provider will get you a new router but if its a line fault thats an OR issue.

HWG

Cheers for the replies. So neither Openreach nor Sky know where the fault is. But OR haven't tested the cabinet - they just replaced the ethernet socket in my flat, which didn't help. So to me, it looks like the fault is outside my property, and the Sky guy agreed.

I accept that if the fault is with hardware on my property then it's my responsibility to pay. That's fine.

But Sky are trying to charge me a flat £60 regardless.

JJ_Egan

Ethernet socket ?? nothing to do with OR /or do you mean Master Socket .


My guess as to upfront is , you can cancel within 30 days and avoid the fee > A guess.
Usual is ISP call out OR fault is after master socket ISP gets billed circa £135> £175 .
Before Master Socket no charge to ISP .

Edithgrand

I would call sky again and ask to be put through to a manager.


The easiest sulution may be to change providers though.

Croft12

Edithgrand wrote: »

I would call sky again and ask to be put through to a manager.


The easiest sulution may be to change providers though.

If they can find a good offer I agree. Once in contract put in a fault and hope they can get OR to sort it.

JJ_Egan

Edithgrand wrote: »

The easiest sulution may be to change providers though.

Ending up with the same OR network and further down the list .

Croft12

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Ending up with the same OR network and further down the list .

Thats a risk but hopefully in contract the new ISP won't be trying to charge them a fee to fix an 'OR' fault. Or if its the modem they will get a new one.

HWG

Croft12 wrote: »

If they can find a good offer I agree. Once in contract put in a fault and hope they can get OR to sort it.

Yeah that's exactly what I've done. Managed to get it a little cheaper too. A bit bureaucratic and annoying, but I can't be bothered arguing with Sky anymore.
It all strikes me as a bit crazy... Openreach is going to have to fix the fault regardless of who my provider is. All Sky did was push me out the door and to a competitor.

Croft12

HWG wrote: »

Yeah that's exactly what I've done. Managed to get it a little cheaper too. A bit bureaucratic and annoying, but I can't be bothered arguing with Sky anymore.
It all strikes me as a bit crazy... Openreach is going to have to fix the fault regardless of who my provider is. All Sky did was push me out the door and to a competitor.

It costs providers to send out OR - sometimes they just can't be bothered.