Sky Box Sets Sting

GPB67

Newbie here, looking for some advice. My elderly parents are starting to decline health wise and my brother and I have started assisting with their financials. I have discovered that they have a Sky Broadband, Landline and basic TV contract going back some years. As part of this they are paying, and have been for a so far unknown number of years, £45 a month for "Box Sets". 
They are completely non tech savvy and assumed this was for the hire of the Sky box itself. They have never once accessed any Box Set and wouldn`t know how to even if they knew what they were. 
For all I know this £540 annual cost has been going on for years, I`m trying to ascertain exactly how long before I decide what, if anything I try to do about it. As far as I`m concerned they have been mis-sold this contract and should never have been charged for these. 
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.  

Neil_Jones

GPB67 said:

Newbie here, looking for some advice. My elderly parents are starting to decline health wise and my brother and I have started assisting with their financials. I have discovered that they have a Sky Broadband, Landline and basic TV contract going back some years. As part of this they are paying, and have been for a so far unknown number of years, £45 a month for "Box Sets". 
They are completely non tech savvy and assumed this was for the hire of the Sky box itself. They have never once accessed any Box Set and wouldn`t know how to even if they knew what they were. 
For all I know this £540 annual cost has been going on for years, I`m trying to ascertain exactly how long before I decide what, if anything I try to do about it. As far as I`m concerned they have been mis-sold this contract and should never have been charged for these. 
Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.  

Well if they're out of contract just cancel it.  If they were sound of mind when they agreed to it, its not Sky's responsibility to check they're on the right package for them.  You may get a couple of months rebate but don't be surprised if you don't see the bulk of the payments made as it would have funded the TV service, not just the box sets themselves which would have been through on-demand.

Depending on exactly what package they are on will tell you how long they've been on it, as legacy packages remain in place until one moves off it.  IIRC Box Sets were included in the old Sky Family package, and when Entertainment came along, they became effectively unbundled. before being rebundled again with Signature.

JSmithy45AD

I think one of the legacy packages was called 'Boxsets' and was the top package at that time that included everything (not just Boxsets). It's not a 'sting' as you put it but something they would have agreed to at the time. Call Sky up and see what their options are (presuming they want to retain it).

Check on what they're paying for the BB & landline while you're there.

They most probably weren't 'mis-sold' anything so I wouldn't go steaming in claiming that as you obviously weren't privy to the conversation.

Neil_Jones

It's always the assumption that anybody elderly was "mis-sold" something when the offspring decide/have to get involved with their parents finances.  its rarely the case unfortunately.  If the parents were happy to pay <whatever> to Sky per month and as I said above if they were sound of mind when they agreed to it, that's not mis-selling, that's up to them.  If a deal they had expired 15 years ago and its been full value ever since, and they've only recently gone downhill, then again that's up to them.

Maybe it would have been more prudent for the offspring to get involved with the finances earlier.  The Sky boxes are not exactly difficult to miss, and assuming offspring go to physically visit their parents at least once a month (maybe more if they live relatively close) the Sky box would have been under the TV then it shouldn''t have come as a great surprise to the OP to see payments to Sky on a bank statement somewhere.  Whether £45 is too much for what they use it for is up for debate but...

JJ_Egan

100% agree with above as not all Elderly are non compis and usual is its the children that are angry / as  help is ignored for many years  .

See many identical posts .

iniltous

It’s not clear , ( to me at least ) but if £45 is the total charge , ‘box sets’ being Sky TV including box sets , and broadband/phone that’s pretty much a regular price ,  for context until a few years ago I was paying in the region of £28-£30 for Sky TV ( no box sets ,no films, no sport,  no phone , no broadband ) and it was only when they informed me of a price increase to  £32.50, I decided to ditch them , and I was perfectly aware that pretty much the same TV package could be had for £20 ( going upto £22 AFAIR ) but I was on a legacy package, and had  been  ‘over paying’  since my ‘old’ package was superseded with something else, and I consider myself to be reasonably ‘savvy’ , it was my own inertia that stopped me acting sooner.
I didn’t ( and don’t ) blame Sky, I would expect them to act the way they did , like a business, in other words it was my responsibility not theirs to be on the appropriate package , so TBH, if your folks  can have something more suited to their needs for less money , I would arrange it and move on.

If on the other hand , the £45 was just for box sets , and was in addition to another charge for Sky TV and broadband, so the monthly total presumably closer to £90 , and it’s only the £45 for box sets you have an issue with, then you may have a point .

ItsComingRome

iniltous said:

It’s not clear , ( to me at least ) but if £45 is the total charge , ‘box sets’ being Sky TV including box sets , and broadband/phone that’s pretty much a regular price ,  for context until a few years ago I was paying in the region of £28-£30 for Sky TV ( no box sets ,no films, no sport,  no phone , no broadband ) and it was only when they informed me of a price increase to  £32.50, I decided to ditch them , and I was perfectly aware that pretty much the same TV package could be had for £20 ( going upto £22 AFAIR ) but I was on a legacy package, and had  been  ‘over paying’  since my ‘old’ package was superseded with something else, and I consider myself to be reasonably ‘savvy’ , it was my own inertia that stopped me acting sooner.
I didn’t ( and don’t ) blame Sky, I would expect them to act the way they did , like a business, in other words it was my responsibility not theirs to be on the appropriate package , so TBH, if your folks  can have something more suited to their needs for less money , I would arrange it and move on.

If on the other hand , the £45 was just for box sets , and was in addition to another charge for Sky TV and broadband, so the monthly total presumably closer to £90 , and it’s only the £45 for box sets you have an issue with, then you may have a point .

As JSmithy45AD it's probably a legacy package called Box Sets.

Sky Original, Variety or Box Sets (pre 2018)

The previous changes saw the end of these old Sky TV plans:

• Original (£20 a month) – the standard Sky TV channels (eg Sky One, Sky Atlantic, Fox)
• Variety (£32 a month) – additional entertainment (eg Discovery), kids and music (eg MTV) channels
• Box Sets (£38 a month) – The Variety bundle plus box sets and HD channels

Not fantastic value compared to recent packages but not exactly ripoff territory either.

tempus_fugit

Yes, the Box Sets package was always a full package including box sets, so it wasn't £45 just for box sets - who on Earth would pay that? So, the difference for having Box Sets as opposed to not having them would be a few pounds a month, not the full £45 a month.

As said by others though, we have to assume that the parents were fully compos mentis at the time they took the package - no-one can prove otherwise at this late stage anyway - and all that can be done now is to cancel the package and stop paying for it. Any refund for past use, whether to not they actually viewed any box sets, is probably highly unlikely.

GPB67

iniltous said:

It’s not clear , ( to me at least ) but if £45 is the total charge , ‘box sets’ being Sky TV including box sets , and broadband/phone that’s pretty much a regular price ,  for context until a few years ago I was paying in the region of £28-£30 for Sky TV ( no box sets ,no films, no sport,  no phone , no broadband ) and it was only when they informed me of a price increase to  £32.50, I decided to ditch them , and I was perfectly aware that pretty much the same TV package could be had for £20 ( going upto £22 AFAIR ) but I was on a legacy package, and had  been  ‘over paying’  since my ‘old’ package was superseded with something else, and I consider myself to be reasonably ‘savvy’ , it was my own inertia that stopped me acting sooner.
I didn’t ( and don’t ) blame Sky, I would expect them to act the way they did , like a business, in other words it was my responsibility not theirs to be on the appropriate package , so TBH, if your folks  can have something more suited to their needs for less money , I would arrange it and move on.

If on the other hand , the £45 was just for box sets , and was in addition to another charge for Sky TV and broadband, so the monthly total presumably closer to £90 , and it’s only the £45 for box sets you have an issue with, then you may have a point .

£45 just for box sets. Total monthly bill is £92 a month for Box sets,  Broadband, Landline and Basic TV, no sports, movies etc. Contract is cancelled. This is just one element of a right can of worms we`ve found in my parents financials. Wish I`d got involved somewhat earlier but when is the right time? They are resisting our efforts to help as they "don`t want a fuss". !!!!!!. 

iniltous

As already stated box sets was a legacy TV package , and although £45 is undoubtedly a lot , chances are the original £38 has gone up over the last few years , presumably to £45, but that should be the ‘only’ charge for Sky TV ( there certainly shouldn’t be another charge for TV unless sports or cinema were included and they are apparently not ) so if the bill ( for example ) includes box sets and another TV pack ( Sky Signature for example ) then they are being double charged and should get a complete refund for the time double charging has taken place, however some do pay considerable amounts to have ‘Sky’ , the £47 remaining , although high, could be the legitimate ‘list price’ price Sky charge for phone and broadband if some sort of calls packages included , although usually if a bundle of services are taken then a discount is applied.
£97 for what they get is absolutely outrageous, but may be the genuine non discounted price , you need probably need to forensically examine your folks  Sky bill , FWIW , I would think some Sky customers have negotiated what your folks have ( TV, phone, broadband ) for £45 a month not £97, it does show the magnitude of the liberty’s Sky will take with those that simply pay with no consideration given to if it’s a reasonable price , ultimately though, although high unless Sky have charged twice for product , then a refund may not be due…although in total a lot less, I suspect I could have saved at least £10 a month , for around 3 years ( so £360 ) if I had acted sooner , plus, I have since been inundated with offers to come back for between £18-£21 , I dare say if I never cancelled and continued to pay , the £32.50 they wanted that proved to be the straw that broke this particular camels back, no doubt would be approaching £35-£40 per month , so more than twice the price of what they can and do offer to some customers.
I remember when I cancelled , which they don’t make easy , passing you to the retentions team to dissuade you from leaving, the ‘attitude’ towards price was unusual ( to me anyway ) as they obviously they asked why I was leaving , I said the only Sky TV I watched was re runs of the Simpsons and £32.50 for that was ridiculous, they offered the £20-£22 package as the ‘obvious’ solution, I’m better off by £10 and still get to watch , they seemed surprised hen I said , no just cancel it, and I have not missed Sky TV at all