Sky have 'undercharged' me line rental charges... bill going up by £18.99+VAT

jessibell · 7 August 2018 at 12:07PM

Hi All

I've had an email saying that I've been undercharged and that the undercharge has been corrected on my next bill. Sure enough when I looked at the bill in detail, my line rental, which just said 'free', was actually discounted when you click the + sign. I will now be charged this from October.

I'm very lucky to have not paid this for a long time apparently, it seems this discount has been there for years and has always been the cost of the line rental, ie not a fixed amount.

I haven't called them yet to talk to them about it, but that takes my bill from £114 (no I've never got round to haggling, shame on me), to £133 which is even more obscene. My problem is that I upgraded to Sky Q in June so am very much in contract so won't be able to cancel. I do feel that I've not 'agreed' to pay that charge though.

Is there anything I could do, or a good approach to take?

Thanks in advance :A

mije1983 · 7 August 2018 at 12:10PM

Line rental is seperate to TV so it doesn't matter if you have recontracted for TV, unless you also recontracted for the phone at the same time? If you didn't, and don't want to pay the correct charge, then move your phone to a different provider. You can't force them to give it to you for free.

[Deleted User] · 7 August 2018 at 12:35PM

I didn't know you could pay Sky £133, wow.

What's your broadband package and what are you paying? Are you out of minimum term for the LR/BB?

jessibell · 7 August 2018 at 3:48PM

I have sky cinema and a fairly standard bundle. I got sky Q as upgraded box and router, so I'm on faster internet. Wifi is still pants thought

Bill estimate 1 Nov – 30 Nov
TV = £76.50
Variety £33.50
Sky Cinema £18.00
Sky+HD Pack £13.00
Sky Q Multiscreen Pack £12.00
See It First FREE
Broadband & Talk £56.49
Caller Display FREE
Withhold Number (all calls) FREE
1571 - Voicemail £2.00
Sky Talk Line Rental £18.99
Sky WiFi FREE
Sky Fibre Max £25.00
Call Diversion £2.50

[Deleted User] · 7 August 2018 at 7:03PM

jessibell wrote: »

I have sky cinema and a fairly standard bundle. I got sky Q as upgraded box and router, so I'm on faster internet. Wifi is still pants thought

Bill estimate 1 Nov !!!8211; 30 Nov
TV = £76.50
Variety £33.50
Sky Cinema £18.00
Sky+HD Pack £13.00
Sky Q Multiscreen Pack £12.00
See It First FREE
Broadband & Talk £56.49
Caller Display FREE
Withhold Number (all calls) FREE
1571 - Voicemail £2.00
Sky Talk Line Rental £18.99
Sky WiFi FREE
Sky Fibre Max £25.00
Call Diversion £2.50

Just wow, sorry to tell you but that's a ridiculously priced package you're on.

You're on a legacy Variety package which is basically the new Entertainment plus Kids which is available for new customers for £20 plus £5 for the Kids add-on (if you need that). HD for Entertainment is another £5, no idea what your Sky+HD Pack gives you extra for £13.

Sky Cinema is available for both new & existing customers for £10 a month (18 month contract).

Sky Fibre Max (including LR) is available for new customers at £30, the full price is £43.99 which is what you're paying plus your add-ons.

You need to seriously talk to them again and if you get no joy, go the complaints route.

Edit: If you need multi-room I think you should be paying less than £85, if multi-room isn't needed then knock £12 off that.

2nd Edit: If you do manage to change to Entertainment and you don't need the Kids package then you could knock another £5 off the above. Of course if you've recently re-contracted then you will have a bit less leeway to re-negotiate but in my opinion (unless they mentioned it at the time) then they've not done you any favours at all.

[Deleted User] · 8 August 2018 at 12:38AM

I have Sky for TV (multiscreen) only and Virgin for (superfast) broadband and I still don't pay £133 in total!:eek:

kerri_gt · 12 August 2018 at 12:29PM

take your broadband and talk elsewhere if you can at least, Now offer fibre broadband and talk for £20 a month for the first 12 months, and don't tie you into the ridiculously long 18mth Sky contract either (6mths shorter is quite significant). Use a cashback site too.

ginnza · 12 August 2018 at 1:16PM

You need to use your broadband and line rental as leverage to get your tv deal down
Switch to another provider and when sky contact you say the switch is going ahead prob within a few hours then give sky a call and ask him to reduce your bill on tv as you have had to swifh broadband provider to save money they should talk about reinstating the broadband on a lower price and work to reducing your over inflated bill

hgm · 13 August 2018 at 12:01PM

The prices the OP has quoted for his TV are the standard Sky "out of contract" prices with 31 days notice for the "old" type bundles. So I suspect his 18 month contract is for Sky Q boxes and not for TV content.
All the latest Sky offers seem to be for existing customers as well as new customers and the discounts are for taking out a new 18 month contract for packages. There is no difficulty in obtaining them. You just phone up and ask - no negotiating necessary.
Entertainment at £20 pm essentially replaces Variety (which includes Box Sets and Kids as well I think). Cinema (including HD) is £10 pm. (After 18 months they increase to £25 and £18 respectively.)
If you want Kids and/or Box Sets they are £5 pm each.
Multiscreen at £12 is essential if you have Sky Q mini box.
I have just made a similar change myself but including Sports as well (£20 pm) as my discounts were ending and it was in fact quite painless.
(There are offers for Fibre as well but I don't know details as I have ADSL. Phone contract periods are completely independent of TV though)

Sky have 'undercharged' me line rental charges... bill going up by £18.99+VAT

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