Sky refusing to cancel elderly parent's contract after long term hospitalisation

marcusdh

I have been paying my father's Sky TV and Broadband bills for over five years. He is eighty-nine and earlier this year, the contract was downgraded to save costs. However, six weeks ago, my father suffered a stroke and will now no longer return home. The house is empty and nobody is using the Sky services. Sky refuse to cancel the contract on the basis that the contract is in my name. I already have a Sky contract at my own house.

JJ_Egan

They are correct  you are in a valid contract .

Try a nice letter to them explaining the situation you are in .

Neil_Jones

The TV and Broadband should really have been in your father's name, then this situation would have solved itself.  If you then wanted to pay it, you could have transferred the due from an account of your own prior to the debit coming out.

But yes, write a nice letter, explain the situation and see what happens - its perfectly possible to have more than one Sky account in your name, especially if you have more than one home for example.

neilmcl

Surely, if it's been 6 years you are out of contract and should be able to cancel anytime, with the appropriate notice period.

brewerdave

neilmcl said:

Surely, if it's been 6 years you are out of contract and should be able to cancel anytime, with the appropriate notice period.

Presumably Sky would argue that the "downgrade" earlier in the year, started a new minimum contractual period.

5limJim74

neilmcl said:

Surely, if it's been 6 years you are out of contract and should be able to cancel anytime, with the appropriate notice period.

Downgrading could also mean removing content and accepting a discount, and if you accept a discount it could involve a new contract.

Whilst they’re well within their rights to enforce the contract, there’s no harm if you explain it in depth to an advisor or via a letter to see whether there’s anything you can do.. also find out the contract end date etc, the termination charges may be as bad as you think, but it’s not really their fault if it’s in your name. Good luck getting sorted 

JJ_Egan

Note its not elderly parents contract its the OPs contract .

Boohoo

JJ_Egan said:

Note its not elderly parents contract its the OPs contract .

I think all the OP can do is ask Sky how much it will cost to terminate the contract early.
There is info on Sky's website about the costs but the OP in my opinion is stuck with paying this contract(as it's in his name) until it ends or pay it of early but at a steep cost.

Boohoo

Just had a quick look on Sky's website and I looked at this page.
https://www.sky.com/help/articles/charges-for-ending-your-sky-contract-early
This maybe of help to the OP.
Another option is if the OP knows a trusted mat/relation and they have a Sky dish they could use to OP's dads box and card and they pay the OP the monthly cost but then the OP would have to be sure that person/s would pay him.

Chino

OP - you are being disingenuous with your thread title. As you have explained, the contract is in your name, not your parents':

Sky refuse to cancel the contract on the basis that the contract is in my name.

marcusdh

Many thanks to everyone that offered advice and took the trouble to research on my behalf. The contract was in my name as my father is living on pension credit and I helped him out by paying this bill. However, all correspondence etc was at his address. Moving forward, I will write to Sky Customer Services and explain the situation. Personally, I have had a Sky contract since 1990 and so, I am hoping that they will show a bit of customer loyalty, goodwill and compassion. Otherwise, I'll be stuck with unused services and bills until next July. Thanks again for your all help.