Switched back to Sky from Virgin, but now paying two amounts at start of October. Why ?

Bollard

Hello MSE people, 
I switched from Virgin to Sky recently, after Virgin's price soared after my contract ran out. On Aug 21 I negotiated my deal with Sky and called Virgin to cancel all my services. The Sky engineer came on Sep 18 and now I am up and running with them, while my Virgin services come to an end today (which is 31 days for some reason, not the 30 days they say they need for cancellation.  My first Sky bill is for £95.15 on Oct 3, but to my surprise Virgin still say I have to pay £139 on Oct 5. I contacted Virgin and they said that my account is £23.16 in credit and I will receive a cheque for that in 35 days, but still need to pay Virgin £139 on Oct5
 I am really confused, in my mind I am paying for two lots of services. Does this make sense to you. Is it simply that I'm paying for Virgin in arrears and Sky in advance ? If its not and I'm paying for the two services at the same time (despite only using one), should I have done something differently, just so I know for next time.   
All answers gratefully received. 

Neil_Jones

Sky you pay for in advance, two payments in the first month to bring it 31 days in line with the notice you give.  You've always paid in advance.  If you think its confusing now, wait until you change your package halfway through a billing period

With regards to Virgin, I believe you pay in advance for this too at a full monthly amount, and once the account is closed you should get a pro-rata refund for the rest of the month at some point later if you had any credit.  sky doesn't work like this, your debit is adjusted automatically on the final payment.

Chino

My last Virgin Media bill

Bollard

Neil_Jones said:

Sky you pay for in advance, two payments in the first month to bring it 31 days in line with the notice you give.  You've always paid in advance.  If you think its confusing now, wait until you change your package halfway through a billing period

With regards to Virgin, I believe you pay in advance for this too at a full monthly amount, and once the account is closed you should get a pro-rata refund for the rest of the month at some point later if you had any credit.  sky doesn't work like this, your debit is adjusted automatically on the final payment.

So I'm not getting charged twice, its just the way its all billed ?

Neil_Jones

Bollard said:

Neil_Jones said:

Sky you pay for in advance, two payments in the first month to bring it 31 days in line with the notice you give.  You've always paid in advance.  If you think its confusing now, wait until you change your package halfway through a billing period

With regards to Virgin, I believe you pay in advance for this too at a full monthly amount, and once the account is closed you should get a pro-rata refund for the rest of the month at some point later if you had any credit.  sky doesn't work like this, your debit is adjusted automatically on the final payment.

So I'm not getting charged twice, its just the way its all billed ?

The Sky thing is documented:

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/manage-your-bills-and-payments - You only start paying for your service from the date it becomes active. Your first payment will be taken 14 days after your service begins. This amount will cover the 14 days used and the remainder of your first month.  This means your first bill might be higher than you expect.  A second payment will be taken approximately 14 days after your first bill was paid, depending on the date you’ve selected your Direct Debit/Credit Card payment to be taken. As payments are made in advance, this will cover your next month’s subscription.

The Virgin thing, since your notice only ends today, should balance itself out eventually:

https://www.virginmedia.com/help/virgin-media-last-bill - "From the date you’re installed with us, we bill you a month in advance for your monthly service or package charges and this continues right up to your date of disconnection. Because of this, you may receive a bill showing charges over and above your disconnection date. Don’t worry; once your services are fully disconnected we’ll refund any of these advance charges on your final bill."

Your Virgin situation is not uncommon:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4974624/virgin-media-cancelled-but-still-being-billed