Parents Sky/broadband/phone package

WestSussexMum

I’ve just started to help my elderly parents review their monthly bills in light of the increase in various costs.  I have discovered that they took out a Sky package back in 2012 and have never spoken to anyone about it since and it is currently costing them over £100 a month.

I have created a log in for them to see what they are being charged and it appears, at some point, they have begun being charged a monthly fee for box sets (they have no idea what these are) and kids tv (they definitely don’t use this), plus there phone package moved from free anytime calls to weekend and evenings (they don’t make many calls but when they do it’s usually week days during the day.

they tried to call sky yesterday but got fobbed off from the sound of it so they will phone tomorrow and give authorisation for me to talk to them.  In preparation I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row. I’m planning on

1. checking what they actually do any from the package
2.confirming what that cost would be as a new customer

is there any recourse for the fact they have been being charged these extra monthly fees for box sets and kids tv for more than 2 years? They honestly had no idea they were being charged what is currently an extra £11 a month for these.

any advice would be much appreciated

Neil_Jones

WestSussexMum said:

I’ve just started to help my elderly parents review their monthly bills in light of the increase in various costs.  I have discovered that they took out a Sky package back in 2012 and have never spoken to anyone about it since and it is currently costing them over £100 a month.

I have created a log in for them to see what they are being charged and it appears, at some point, they have begun being charged a monthly fee for box sets (they have no idea what these are) and kids tv (they definitely don’t use this), plus there phone package moved from free anytime calls to weekend and evenings (they don’t make many calls but when they do it’s usually week days during the day.

they tried to call sky yesterday but got fobbed off from the sound of it so they will phone tomorrow and give authorisation for me to talk to them.  In preparation I’m trying to get all my ducks in a row. I’m planning on

1. checking what they actually do any from the package
2.confirming what that cost would be as a new customer

is there any recourse for the fact they have been being charged these extra monthly fees for box sets and kids tv for more than 2 years? They honestly had no idea they were being charged what is currently an extra £11 a month for these.

any advice would be much appreciated

Well box sets and the kids tv package don't auto-add themselves, and phone packages don't change themselves either.  For all Sky's other faults they do at least hold legacy package arrangements on your account even when they're been long replaced by other bundles.

As for "recourse for the fact they have been being charged these extra monthly fees for box sets and kids tv for more than 2 years? They honestly had no idea they were being charged what is currently an extra £11 a month for these" - Not Sky's responsibility to check customers are on the right deal for them.  It is (and always has been) the customer's responsibility that they are on the right deal for them.  The extra figure would have appeared on the direct debit/bank statement.

All of this begs the question as to why its took you ten years to get involved and using the word "elderly" doesn't really wash either.  If parents were sound of mind in 2012, and they wanted to join Sky, that's up to them.   No end of sound 70, 80 ,90+ year olds these days.

prowla

I think the current "Sky TV" package includes Box Sets; it looks like it includes Netflix now too.

WestSussexMum

So I spoke with Sky on my parents behalf over the weekend.  They had a legacy package which I believe changed when they added the F1channel a number of years back. The kids and box sets were included in the original package they took out in 2012 but in October 2019 sky advise me they were moved from the sky+ package to sky entertainment which split these two out and they were then an additional monthly charge and they have been paying for these ever since.  Their phone line package also changed from Anytime in 2012 to evenings and weekends at this time.  Sky were able to see that they had not requested these changes.

I’ve managed to get them onto the correct deal for them now, saving them £30 a month and will contact sky on their behalf around these changes to package that were not requested (I’m not expecting anything to come of it).

And whilst I agree with the not elderly comment, that is how they see themselves, they signed up for sky at one of the stalls that were occasionally in their local shopping centre and the only change they have requested was the formula 1, my father browses the internet occasionally but my mother never has and has no interest in it. (My mother in law is 15 years older than them and much more tech savvy). They had no idea how to check their account as they didn’t have an online account created and didn’t know about checking via their box.  All their kit is 10 years old too as they have never had any problems with it.

It has been difficult getting them to change their mindset about company loyalty and that people will give you the best deals and I have worked to get them checking all their insurance policies every year.  They’ve set a reminder to look at sky when they are nearing the end of the current deal.

macman

But is what they are getting now still worth more than £70pm?