Sky Broadband & Phone termination fees a few days before contract ends?

RufusMcDufus

I've just initiated a switch from Sky broadband and phone to Now TV.  My 18 month contract with Sky ends on 3 Feb 2022. 
With Now TV I don't get an option on the start date for the service, and they estimate that to be 24 Jan 2022.

Will I be liable to early termination fees with Sky do you think? It's very unclear from the contract.  I realise the termination fees won't be enormous (maybe 20 quid or so looking at their rates) but it seems a bit unfair as I had no control of the switch date and didn't want to spend a month out of contract with Sky just to avoid termination fees, or spend a period with no broadband.

RufusMcDufus

I realise I might be confusing termination fees with penalty fees here. I fully expect to pay up to the last day of the contract.
I haven't heard from Sky about this yet but just asking really if it's a common issue.

Neil_Jones

There is no penalty free switching window like you see in energy.

If your contact ends 3rd Feb and you up sticks and go before that date, you agreed exit fees will apply before that date..

So to answer the question... yes its "common" because that's how it's always worked.

The only saving grace will be that the fees are usually pro-rated to the end date, so it should only be a month and a bit's payment.

RufusMcDufus

Thanks. I got a reply from Sky too and they said early termination fees would be applied.  Thing is because I couldn't specify a start date for the new supplier (which seems to have become a "thing" recently), and I didn't want a period with no broadband,  I either had the option of ending the old contract early, or taking a month out of contract and doing the switch within that period - so in fact it looks like ending the old contract early is the slightly cheaper option in my case.

Also funny in that Now TV is effectively Sky anyway!   When I completed payment for the Now TV contract I immediately, within a few seconds,  got a "sorry you're leaving" email from Sky.

Neil_Jones

You've never been able to specify a start date, its always a window of around 14-17 days after you hit submit on the sign up form.  Note that if your contract had ended and you moved to out of contract pricing then if you left two days after a full month had been charged you'd have got most of that payment back anyway.  The whole early exit thing is designed to discourage leaving early, since you've agreed to stay with them and they agree to charge you less than the going rate (usually, anyway), so if you go they aren't out of pocket.

And Now has always been Sky in different packaging, but its effectively a separate ISP, much like Plusnet is owned (and run) by BT at arms length but is its own entity..

matelodave

Interestingly I've just signed up with Vodaphone for broadband and phone and they allowed me to specify the date of the transfer (13th Jan)  which was confirmed by BT when they sent me their sorry you are leaving e-mail and phoned to ask me why I was leaving(to save £25 a month for a better deal was my reply)

My router was delivered yesterday and so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next Thursday

RufusMcDufus

Yep, this is the first provider which I think I've not been able to specify a start date, though I did sign up my father's property for Now TV a year or two ago and I think it was the case then too.  I can't recall not having the option before with other providers, and I've switched around quite a few times over the years.
Thing is if I go onto a rolling monthly contract with my old provider then surely I'd have to pay the full month at the start of the month? So looking at the early termination charges and how much cheaper the new provider is,  it might be cheaper to switch before contract end date than after.

Neil_Jones

RufusMcDufus said:

Thing is if I go onto a rolling monthly contract with my old provider then surely I'd have to pay the full month at the start of the month? So looking at the early termination charges and how much cheaper the new provider is,  it might be cheaper to switch before contract end date than after.

As I said above, if you roll over and a full month's payment goes out, you'll get the bulk of that back.  If you pay (for argument's sake) £30 for 30 days service (since you always pay in advance) and you end up moving away on the second day, you'll get £28 back either soon after or in the next run depending on the company.

RufusMcDufus

Sky contacted me by letter. There are no early termination charges to be incurred for terminating the contract a couple of weeks before the final date.

This is good news. Looks like terminating the contract within the final month is sufficient to satisfy the contract, presumably as I've already paid for the final month of the contract.

Marvel1

matelodave said:

Interestingly I've just signed up with Vodaphone for broadband and phone and they allowed me to specify the date of the transfer (13th Jan)  which was confirmed by BT when they sent me their sorry you are leaving e-mail and phoned to ask me why I was leaving(to save £25 a month for a better deal was my reply)

My router was delivered yesterday and so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next Thursday

Same, just signed up for Vodafone and they allowed me to pick my date, the earliest date was the 31st Jan and just so happens same date my current contract ends.