Is Sky in breach of contract?

RainbowsInTheSpray

As mentioned in a previous posting, I have technical issues with Sky, namely that my landline stopped working a week ago. 

This was notified to Sky almost immediately by email. Sky contacted me by return email this week and, to cut a long story short, eventually by mobile phone when I was made to wait in a muzak queue for their Tech Services dept. in deepest sub-continent. After over half an hour I gave up, having other matters needing my attention in the house. I later reported this inability to 'get through' to them, again by email. That was two days ago and they have not replied.

Anyone know when can I legitimately suspend my direct debit to them? I suspect this is the only thing which would get their attention. I'm paying for a service which, if it were goods, would be considered of 'unmerchantable quality'.

[Deleted User]

Legitimately, never, if you value your credit file. That will be far worse than having no landline for a week.

Escalate a formal complaint and then discuss compensation at a later date.  But never throw yourself under a bus to get someone's attention.

pbartlett

As @Deleted_User says - compensation is best claimed after the event, not during...

RainbowsInTheSpray

Fine, fine.
But isn't there some notional date, after being given notice of a problem, by which they may be considered in breach of contract if they have done nothing? A period of X days..?

Korkyb

Ultimately they may well end up "in breach of contract" but as advised previously if you cancel your DD you will then also be in breach of contract which can only weaken your position & lead to further issues.

Frustrating situation.

Browntoa

Unless you have a business contract then you have no priority

It's been snowing ( you may have noticed ) and I assume MBORC ( matters beyond our reasonable control ) has kicked in for openreach . This allows them to prioritise reduced resources to where it's urgently required like hospitals , elderly vulnerable etc.

MBORC normally suspends their contractual requirements during that period.

Don't stop the direct debit , it will only affect you

You may be part of a bigger complex fault , for example some anti 5g moron set fire to equipment in Essex the other day . Not only did it damage the mast but destroy load of broadband equipment etc next to it . Not an easy fix quickly

matelodave

As said, use the correct complaints process - stop keep phoning, write either by e-mail or recorded delivery snail mail (or both) and mark it complaint. Ranting and cancelling your DD will only harm you, not them.

It may be frustrating but you probably aren't their only customer and unless you have a specific quality of service clause in your contract (unlikely unless you have a business contract) then you'll have to wait your turn. As Browntoa says, there may be a problem which is difficult to fix - like a dug up cable, someone driving into a street cabinet etc. All these aren't under SKY's control. We had our optical cable dug up by the water company a couple of years ago and part of the difficulty in effecting the repair was the time it took for the council to give permission to Open Reach to close the road to do the job.

If you have a need to get a working broadband connection then either use your mobile phone as a hotspot or get a mifi dongle to tide yourself over and see if SKY will contribute towards its cost.

RainbowsInTheSpray

Ok so, well-intentioned advice (which I accept is the case) to one side, I take it that nobody has the information requested in my last post.

prowla

As per the advice requested in the OP, do not stop/suspend your direct debit.

RainbowsInTheSpray

No, it wasn't advice. It was information. I quote: "Anyone know when...(?)"

Browntoa

There are no circumstances under which sky will be in breach of contract . It will , following exhausting their complaints procedure , possibly be forced to allow you to leave following a deadlock letter .

But first you need to exhaust their complaints procedure.

You are a residential customer , you are entitled to £8 a day compensation according to

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/auto-compensation.

The threat to "cancel your direct debit" shows an ignorance on your part of contract law and a total neglect to actually take your time to read the readily available terms and conditions and their readily available complaints procedure