Sky nightmare . . .

shoegirl

Hello all:

We recently subscribed to Sky after moving house and its turned into a running saga, with no apparent end in sight and no obvious option to us other than to cancel the subscription and get a terrestrial aerial instead.

As other Cork readers will know, TV reception in rural Cork is nothing short of appalling. It is so poor that with new developments you now see rows of sky dishes as without a really good roof aerial you basically have no reception of anything at all - even radio reception in some places I have lived was virtually nil. What is scandalous is that the government then has the cheek to send TV licence inspectors around - yet when you pay 153 euros a year you have no guarantee of any kind of a signal without premium rate services such as Sky.

So we subscribed to Sky in the hope of being able to get TV reception. There was no aerial in the house so we thought it was the best option. WRONG.

We were enabled in early July and from day 1 we had issues. Firstly we were missing several channels and it took about 7 or 8 calls to about 7 or 8 different people (who of course each gave us their own interpretation of the situation). They even tried to tell us that we couldn't have ordered the package we ordered - I actually had to go online while on the phone to sky to prove that I could still order the exact same package that I had originally ordered. After spending about 7 euros on phone calls they gave us the correct package.

Now we noticed that the first 3 or so letters we got from Sky had our address partially incorrect - and the post office seemed to have manually amended the address (basically the town name was missing). So as part of the previous calls we asked them to amend the address.

The long and short of it at this point is that since then, around 5th July, we've not had a single piece of mail from Sky. Despite numerous calls to Sky to correct the address (which every time seems to match what we tell them), we get no mail from them, and they have told us that at least some of the letters they sent have been returned. No matter how many times we try to correct the address, we still get no mail.

At this stage, we've received no direct debit mandate, and no paper contract. As a result we have been cut off at least 3 times for "non-payment" or "non return" of documents we still have no received. Every time we phone, query this, offer to pay by credit card, get told, no you can't do that because you live in Ireland, and every time Sky promise to send out a new contract and direct debit mandate. Which we then don't receive and process starts out again.

I must point out at this stage that the account is in the house holders name, not mine, and she wants to cancel and send back the equipment. (The dish was already installed so all Sky brought us was the digibox and viewing card).

What are our options at this point? No matter how many times we phone Sky the problems are not resolved and we are not confident that they will be resolved. Additionally, even though we haven't had a chance to pay Sky a subscription, we've already paid out the equivalent in telephone calls to their 0818 number (partially because we are left waiting for the call to be answered or on hold for so long each time as we have to explain from scratch).

My friend wants to get a terrestrial aerial installed for the Irish channels and I have an old digibox we could use to watch the freeview UK channels. However I do believe that as we've cancelled within the 12 month minimum contract period, we're liable for the entire cost of installation which is probably around 400 euros. Now my friend says that if they cannot get the address right, how the hell are they going to find her to get her to pay up? (Which is a fair point).

However my concern is that a couple of years ago I remember Sky having a notorious reputation for selling unpaid debts onto dodgy bit player debt collectors who - lets be honest here, were reputed to be the kind of "debt collectors" who'd threaten to break your legs if you didn't pay up. I've tried telling my friend that but she still thinks that if they cannot get her address right, no debt collector can find her. I've suggested that to be honest if Sky ever get the address right her best option is the small claims court (if it came to that).

Can anybody suggest the following:
1. best option in the circumstances - i.e. cancel and forget it - or continue to try to resolve issues that now are running for 7 weeks?
2. if its worth pursuing is there a high level contact in Sky who can resolve issues which customer services have failed to resolve?
3. any other suggestions

jaggiebunnet

if the address is the always the same as what you tell them then surely the problem is with our uber fast and efficient postal service?

bk

Start contacting Sky through registered post and also note the date, time, person you are speaking to and if possible record any telephone conversations with them.

You should send the registered letter to their complaints department, detailing all your problems and what you want them to do. Tell them that the have 3 weeks from date x to sort the problem or you consider the contract cancelled due to their inability to bill you correctly.

While I'm not a lawyer, you would likely have a very good case in small claims court against Sky if they tried anything funny with debt collectors later.

shoegirl

jaggiebunnet wrote:

if the address is the always the same as what you tell them then surely the problem is with our uber fast and efficient postal service?

I doubt this is the problem, I have no problem receiving post sent from Open university or occasional ebay and amazon stuff. I suspect that the address has been entered incorrectly somewhere and is not being updated.

The problem is only compounded by the fact that almost every single agent in Sky tells you something that totally contradicts what other agents say.

Rippy

I would suggest sending a registered letter to sky informing them that you wish to drop to the lowest price package (€21.50 per month), and enclosing a cheque pre-paying this until the end of the year. Indicate that is is a full and final payment for the year. Cancel direct debit. Get a terrestrial aerial fitted in the mean time to give you Irish channels once your sky sub. expires.
Terrestrial reception can of course vary depending on where you are. Just because many of your neigbours have sky dishes does not automatically mean bad reception. My core business is installing aerials and dishes around County Cork, let me know where you are and I should have some idea.

ixtlan

For the record, I've paid with an Irish credit card for the last 5 years...

About 2 years ago, I lost my card, and just rang them up and gave them the new number.

I didn't want to give them my bank account details. I figured I could always cancel my CC more easily.

I wonder has their policy changed?

Ix.

shoegirl

Rippy wrote:

I would suggest sending a registered letter to sky informing them that you wish to drop to the lowest price package (€21.50 per month), and enclosing a cheque pre-paying this until the end of the year. Indicate that is is a full and final payment for the year. Cancel direct debit. Get a terrestrial aerial fitted in the mean time to give you Irish channels once your sky sub. expires.
Terrestrial reception can of course vary depending on where you are. Just because many of your neigbours have sky dishes does not automatically mean bad reception. My core business is installing aerials and dishes around County Cork, let me know where you are and I should have some idea.

ooh you might be just what I am looking for. My friend rang a couple of places and one of them just never rang back even though we rang a few times and left numbers etc, and the other was an awful lot more expensive (though still less than the cheapest annual sky subscription!)

We are in Rathcormac. I believe we need a UHF and VHF aerial to get anything (obviously the days of all channels being on one band are long gone!) My friend is a particular addict of TV3. I'll pm you and you can let me know the details.

mburke

I recently got sky installed and after 2 weeks they cut off the service. I rang them and told them that I never received the direct debit mandate. They said they would turn on the service for another 14 days and send out the forms BUT then they asked did I want to set up the service via credit card over the phone, which I did and all has been fine since.

So in my case Sky did take credit card details over the phone.

Linford

I was advised by Sky that you can't pay by direct debit from Ireland, so I have to pay by credit card. They also have my address wrong and even though I told them it was wrong they still haven't changed it, its not that big a problem from as its only a small error and I still get my post.