Warning - SKY £75 Pay Once Watch Forever problems

pimeson

Cannot believe Sky are still acting in this manner.

I bought the Pay once package,declined to continue after the initial "free" period and of course got the "you've broken your contract" letter.

Here's how I sorted it.

1) Phoned loads of people on the helpline.Basically don't bother with this route.They tell you what they think you want to hear,nothing is done and you continue to get the threatening letters.

2) Email.By far the best route.Get them to confirm that you were NEVER on a contract.They tried to fob me off by offering to "waive" my fine.Use any or all of the following emails and put PAY ONCE COMPLAINT in big letters in the header.

[EMAIL="CRsupport@bskyb.com"]CRsupport@bskyb.com[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="mysky@bskyb.com"]mysky@bskyb.com[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com"]jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com[/EMAIL]
[EMAIL="AllCustomerCareEscalation@BSkyB.com"]AllCustomerCareEscalation@BSkyB.com[/EMAIL]

If you don't get a reply within 24 hours resend the complaint.They soon get the message and reply.

3) Once they admit their error,start talking compensation and ask that a customer service person's assigned to your case.£30 seems to be their starting point for negotiation.
If they say they'll credit your Barclaycard with the agreed amount,make sure they actually do.In my case they needed a final kick up the backside to authorize the payment even though I'd agreed to it with a CS representative.

Easily the worst customer service I've ever come across.

harz99

bomber2 wrote: »

well i got the dreaded call from the dreaded debt company tonight,£96.00 apparently owed to them on skys behalf.Total rubbish everything was cancalled on the appropriate date and told that was the end of everything by the operator,nothing to pay,no direct debits to follow.So tried to phone them and surprise surprise 30 mins on the phone and no luck.sent an email to [EMAIL="mysky@bskyb.com"]mysky@bskyb.com[/EMAIL] awaiting a reply,altough not really expecting one.any advice would be helpful

Post 153 above gives you all you need - don't give up, you will get it resolved!

rialto2296

I got an email confirming i had cancelled my Pay Once Watch Forever so i cancelled my DD i recieved a letter from Denise Allan yesterday saying i might have done this because you want to cancel your sky subsciption but cancelling your DD doesnt mean you have cancelled all your Sky services (i dont have any other services) and cancelling your DD we cant process your payment, do they have to have an active DD untill the day of the switch off
i have read on the forum the hassle other people have had and i dont need that below is the email confirming cancellation
Dear xxxx,

Thank you for your email concerning the cancellation of your Sky.


I can confirm that your account will be cancelled from the 1st October at the end of the 4 month offer.


We are sorry to have lost a valued customer and would like to thank you for your past custom. Should you wish to resume viewing our channels at any time, please contact Customer Service on 08442 414 141 and they will be pleased to reinstate your account


Regards


Helena
E-Mail Response Team

PHILP_2

I too am a victim of “Pay Once” Sky incompetence.
I signed up to the £75 Pay Once / 4 months for free deal via Currys in March. Sky withdrew their TV service on the last day of the 4 month period as I had requested by phone and I've had Freeview only ever since.

I've had two letters demanding my supposed unpaid subs in respect of an alleged Sky contract I have never agreed to. With the first I phoned customer services and she agreed there had been an error and said she would note my account accordingly so no further letters would be sent out. On Friday 12th September I received the second letter, this one stating that if I did not respond within 14 days the matter will be referred to a debt collection agency and this could adversely affect my credit record.

As per Pimeson's valuable entry I have sent e mails to all 4 addresses and have phoned Consumer Direct today. They took details and recommended I complain to OTELO (Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman) if I don't get a positive response. I've also posted a recorded delivery letter today to Denise Allen setting out the facts and stating that I require a full written admission of their error within 7 days (the 14 days expires next weekend, assuming it runs from the date of the letter).

I'm not sure that I would be happy with just an email response given what's at stake and their incompetence so far.

If I don't receive a positive response in time I'm thinking the best option may well be to pay up and then claim back via the County Court, as this will ensure no blemish on my credit record (this is very important to me). Seems to me to be very unlikely that Sky would contest the claim. But this will be a lot of work of course.

Will update when I have heard more.

I'm interested to hear more about whether anyone has been successful in claiming compensation and how they've gone about arguing for the amount they want?

Thanks to everyone for their help.

pimeson

PHILP wrote: »

I'm interested to hear more about whether anyone has been successful in claiming compensation and how they've gone about arguing for the amount they want?

I got £35.I wasn't really bothered about the amount,I wanted it more as an admission of their fault.

I emailled them back after they'd admitted fault simply saying now compensate me for the time/telephone calls etc it's taken me to sort it out.I gave phone contact details and a day later got a phonecall from one of the customer service people.They went through the whole sorry tale,thanked me for bringing it to their attention as it would help them improve their customer service and we settled on £35 as a fair price.

She agreed to credit the money to my credit card.

Inevitably this didn't happen.After my call Sky unilaterally decided to downgrade my compensation to a £35 credit ON MY SKY ACCOUNT.

One brief,firm and reasonably polite phone call later they eventually delivered the cash as promised.

p

chris_k

I gave notice yesterday by phone to cancel my Sky 4 month package. I was told repeatedly that I could cancel on the last day and there was not a notice period. A very arrogant person in disconnections initially told me he coudn't carry out a disconnection on a date in the future. After challenging him he then said he could only terminate in 30 days rather than the end date of the contract. I was annoyed by his attitude so told him to do carry it the disconnection.

harz99

pimeson wrote: »

I got £35.I wasn't really bothered about the amount,I wanted it more as an admission of their fault.

I emailled them back after they'd admitted fault simply saying now compensate me for the time/telephone calls etc it's taken me to sort it out.I gave phone contact details and a day later got a phonecall from one of the customer service people.They went through the whole sorry tale,thanked me for bringing it to their attention as it would help them improve their customer service and we settled on £35 as a fair price.

She agreed to credit the money to my credit card.

Inevitably this didn't happen.After my call Sky unilaterally decided to downgrade my compensation to a £35 credit ON MY SKY ACCOUNT.

One brief,firm and reasonably polite phone call later they eventually delivered the cash as promised.

p

We asked for a £100, and settled on £50, which arrived by cheque about 14 days later.

harz99

PHILP wrote: »

I too am a victim of “Pay Once” Sky incompetence.
I signed up to the £75 Pay Once / 4 months for free deal via Currys in March. Sky withdrew their TV service on the last day of the 4 month period as I had requested by phone and I've had Freeview only ever since.

I've had two letters demanding my supposed unpaid subs in respect of an alleged Sky contract I have never agreed to. With the first I phoned customer services and she agreed there had been an error and said she would note my account accordingly so no further letters would be sent out. On Friday 12th September I received the second letter, this one stating that if I did not respond within 14 days the matter will be referred to a debt collection agency and this could adversely affect my credit record.

As per Pimeson's valuable entry I have sent e mails to all 4 addresses and have phoned Consumer Direct today. They took details and recommended I complain to OTELO (Office of the Telecommunications Ombudsman) if I don't get a positive response. I've also posted a recorded delivery letter today to Denise Allen setting out the facts and stating that I require a full written admission of their error within 7 days (the 14 days expires next weekend, assuming it runs from the date of the letter).

I'm not sure that I would be happy with just an email response given what's at stake and their incompetence so far.

If I don't receive a positive response in time I'm thinking the best option may well be to pay up and then claim back via the County Court, as this will ensure no blemish on my credit record (this is very important to me). Seems to me to be very unlikely that Sky would contest the claim. But this will be a lot of work of course.

Will update when I have heard more.

I'm interested to hear more about whether anyone has been successful in claiming compensation and how they've gone about arguing for the amount they want?

Thanks to everyone for their help.

Any further news?

PedroH

I always solve these problems of trials by entering details of an account where no money can be taken. Including Sky!

Mancunian

got this problem with my a pack I got for my mum.

our problem is slightly different as I gave my mum an old )subsidy paid) Sky+ box and because of this she has to stay for a customer for 12 mths.

I emailed Darroch (i got resolved via james.murdoch previously) requested an OTELLO complaint but nothing.

I have now sent one to all the people the fellow poster advised:-

[EMAIL="CRsupport@bskyb.com"]CRsupport@bskyb.com[/EMAIL],
[EMAIL="mysky@bskyb.com"]mysky@bskyb.com[/EMAIL],
[EMAIL="jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com"]jeremy.darroch@bskyb.com[/EMAIL],
[EMAIL="AllCustomerCareEscalation@BSkyB.com"]AllCustomerCareEscalation@BSkyB.com[/EMAIL]

but the last one bounced.

Looking back at my old James Murdoch communications and they seemed to get dealt with by

[EMAIL="ExecCustEnq@bskyb.com"]ExecCustEnq@bskyb.com[/EMAIL]

NB. I used to work for the dreaded NTL and was reliable informed that a complaint costs the company £500!!

I think we need to set our dosh claims a little higher!! haha