Sky Digital - Unable to Cancel

Serbian · 04-02-2005 1:27pm #1

Hey Guys,

I signed up for Sky Digital in November in a house I was renting. The next few months didn't go very well as far as the rental house was concerned however (raw sewage outside the door and a garage that doesn't fit cars - but that's another story

). I moved out on the 31st January and gave Sky a call to try and tie up the contract.

I was told by the Sky rep that I wasn't able to cancel the contract as Sky T's & C's say you have to sign up for a year (fair enough). I asked about buying myself out of the contract, but the guy said it couldn't be done, I just have to make do with Sky debiting my account every month for the next 10 months. Great.

This didn't seem right to me, I was always under the impression that you could buy yourself out of these contracts, and I seem to remember in the Terms and Conditions that there was something about paying for the rest of the subscription at the lowest plan you could avail of. Does anyone know if I can buy myself out of a Sky contract?

Failing that, is my Sky viewing card worth anything to anyone? Could I sell the card to someone who had a Digibox and would it work? The card will work up to November 2005 and is set to the lowest plan (€20 per month).

Thanks in advance for any replies

Serb

cullenswood · 04-02-2005 1:35pm

Just cancel the direct debit and post them back the card. Not much they can do then is there?

Serbian · 04-02-2005 1:45pm

I did consider that alright, but they also have my Credit Card details so I won't escape payment. It's not really paying for it that's annoying me, it's more the fact that I have to have a direct debit out of my account for 10 months for something I'm not using.

Rizzo the Rat · 04-02-2005 2:23pm

why don't you contact Sky and say you are moving house? they will then move the dish to your new house (for a fee).

jaggiebunnet · 04-02-2005 2:42pm

do you still have the sky box?

Serbian · 04-02-2005 5:20pm

The house I am moving to don't allow satellite dishes and the parents already have NTL digital in their house so it's no use to them there. The box and satellite are still at the old house, but I don't have access to it anymore.

Is the card worth anything to anyone? It would be nice to recoup the cash if I could.

seano · 04-02-2005 5:45pm

Serbian wrote:

The house I am moving to don't allow satellite dishes and the parents already have NTL digital in their house so it's no use to them there. The box and satellite are still at the old house, but I don't have access to it anymore.

Is the card worth anything to anyone? It would be nice to recoup the cash if I could.

Call them up and tell them you are calling from France and want an extra box for Sky +.
Make sure they hear France

jaggiebunnet · 04-02-2005 6:11pm

Serbian wrote:

The house I am moving to don't allow satellite dishes and the parents already have NTL digital in their house so it's no use to them there. The box and satellite are still at the old house, but I don't have access to it anymore.

Is the card worth anything to anyone? It would be nice to recoup the cash if I could.

The box would have been worth something, the card isn't really worth anything I don't think...

byte · 05-02-2005 4:04pm

Yeah, you shouldve taken the box. If you sold it, you would recoup some of your losses on the card DD's.

Am I right in thinking if you cancel the Direct Debit, you would never be able to renew a subscription with Sky in the future unless you change your bank account?

Gadgie · 05-02-2005 4:42pm

I think the best thing you can do is to ring Sky and get them to reduce your subscription to the cheapest one available, and tell them why so that their sales goons don't waste your time trying to get you to upgrade instead. They may let you pay the rest of your contract subscription in advance, but if not you will be stuck with a DD coming out of your account for the rest of your contract. Remember that you will have to ring back a month before for your contract ends (ie. at the start of the 11th month's subscription) to cancel unless they allow you to specify the cancellation date now.

I would advise against just cancelling the direct debit/credit card payments as Sky will come looking for the money and blacklist you with credit agencies. For the amount that the lowest sub costs per month, it really isn't worth it.

Ask around your friends/family members/work colleagues and see if any of them are interested in buying your card from you. You might have to sell it below cost, but it'll be better than nothing. If you are doing this it might be adviseable to change the card PIN number from the default setting (usually the last four digits of the card serial number) to prevent people ordering PPV on your account!

As another poster said, you could recoup some of the subscription costs by selling your digibox second hand if you can get access to it. Try contacting the new occupier of your old place to see if you can have it back. What have you got to lose?

pH · 05-02-2005 4:59pm

The card will be tied to the old box - that'll need changing.

I agree it would not be wise to 'Sell' the card to a stranger on the net. Only sell it to a family member or someone you absolutely trust not to add PPV events or add additional channels to your sub.

Serbian · 06-02-2005 3:22am

Thanks for the replies guys. Didn't realise that the box was worth something after all. I'll see if I can gain access to the box and remote and sell them instead.

Later,

Serb

denis1501 · 07-02-2005 12:58am

Seano has it spot on.
If Sky believe the card is being used outside the Uk or Ireland they have to switch it off.
regards
D.

Sky Digital - Unable to Cancel

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